I am planning my first trip to Africa in a month and to limit weight would only like to take one lens with the camera. My question is should I stick with the lens that came with the camera a 40mm? or buy the 55-300mm lens at a local big box?
Thanks for your help

Are you going hunting and want to use it for trophy pictures and photography around the camp? If that's the case then I would buy the latest version of the 18-55mm Nikon zoom lens because you will probably want some wide angle to standard focal length capability. Besides, it's small and inexpensive.

If your primary purpose is wildlife photography from a touring vehicle, such as in national parks or private reserves, than a telephoto is definitely needed. The one-lens solutions are the 18-200mm (the most compact) or the 18-300mm Nikkors. Image quality will be slighly less than with a premium telephoto only zoom (like the 70-200mm f/4G), but you won't have to change lenses for wide-angle scenery shots or trophy pictures.

https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-18-300mm-vr


http://www.bythom.com/18200lens.htm


Premium quality telephoto zooms are big and heavy and expensive, which will sort of defeat the weight saving objective.

What's your budget? If you don't want to invest a lot in a lens, but want the best you can get for a once in a lifetime trip, then rent a lens.

https://www.lensrentals.com/

My daughter used an 18-200mm on our trip to Namibia to good effect.



Everybody's got a different style but the wide angle gets used a lot.




But if you read all the reviews, like I do, the Tamron 16-300mm is probably the best one lens choice. It gives you a little more wide angle and costs less than the Nikon lens.