kathypa

We will be staying at tortillas, rekero, loisaba and sala's camps in Kenya. We have bought "tech" clothing where all the labels say cold wash, tumble dry o. Low and cool iron. Anyone have experience with such clothing and how they were handled at the camp laundry? Ie- what happens if a hot iron is used on them? Seems like a silly question but we are taking limited clothing and don't want to get stuck with one pair of pants.

TC

Kathy, In most camps the laundry is hand washed and hung to dry. It is then folded and returned -- no ironing. You will fill out a small laundry list with your clothing as it goes to the laundry. Although I don't think its necessary, you might wish to note "no ironing".

sandi

I sure wouldn't use an iron on 'tech' cloths, which aren't needed in the first place, waste of money. Best is cotton or linen and should be ironed to avoid psitsi (sp) eggs from settling on the items. Few camps have dryers, so items will be line-dried.

'tortillas' I believe would be in Mexico. Believe you are referring to Tortilis which is a type of acacia tree.

TC

Sandi, Do you mean the tse tse fly? I have never heard this -- ironing to get rid of eggs. According to Wkik:

" Female tsetse only fertilize one egg at a time and retain each egg within their uterus to have the offspring develop internally. When the tsetse larva finally leave the uterus and begin their independent life it crawls into the ground,and forms a hard outer shell"

sdb2

I believe Sandi is referring to putzi flies. Read about them, they sound gross.

TC

Oh! That's a different story. Gross!

Cateyes555

Oh yes, many camps do iron your laundry! I've had more than one item damaged (i.e. ruined) because of this. You can ask in advance not to have something ironed (or ask if they do ironing at all because probably not every camp does) but I wouldn't count on that message getting through to the person doing the laundry!

sandi

sdb - thanks for correcting my spelling, as I howled with laughter looking at how I did spell putzi... just tossed in all the possible letters, my bad! Putzi are not the same as tse-tse flies, the latter if you're bitten is a nasty bite and hurts.

Deet products or other repellent types do not work on the tse-tse... you just avoid them when driving thru woodland area as your guide should advise you roll up your windows, turn on the a/c till thru the area. Hint: if bitten, do not scratch as the discomfort only gets worse. These tse-tses though do not carry sleeping sickness, they're just a PIA!

The reason people advised NOT to wear black or dark blue as these are the colors of the Cape Buffalo where tse-tse like to settle on and bite. Cape Buffalo has a much thicker skin than humans why we don't like these and buffalo probably don't even feel.