...A camera buff friend of mine told me that to beat an I Phone 11, you would need to spend $1,000 PLUS on a good camera, and even with that, you won't benefit in photo quality/pixels, as it's only because the camera will have a telephoto lens...
Well, most decent cameras are approaching that price range or a bit more. I don't know what you mean by telephoto lens reducing pixel counts/photo quality unless you are talking about cropping.
One thing to consider is not to take more camera equipment than necessary. I pondered about taking my Nikon Z7 and a multitude of lenses (or even just one lens), however I will be at a hunting safari not a photo safari and do not need the extra weight or the hassle of the bigger cameras. I even considered my Leica M with just one lens (but it is manual and too much of a hassle to give to someone to take photos).
After some research I decided to test the Fuji X100V, it is 28MP and 35mm equivalent. It is 5"x 3"x 2" weighing 1 lbs, so pretty compact and handy. I am looking at some case options with a belt loop so I can carry it on my belt and not worry about digging it out from my backpack. If a camera is not handy, it does not get used. So far testing has been pretty good, the f2 aperture is open enough for low light photos and it has enough overall resolution to do the equivalent of a digital zoom. Next test will be the video capabilities. I should have it dialed in by the time my hunt comes along in August.