NB

Hello all
We keep on reading that for being on safari in Botswana, you have clothes made of "natural fibers". We were planning on wearing all the (earth toned) Ex-officio gear we got six months ago for a trip to Costa Rica. I'm talking about convertable pants and T shirts made of polyester that wick moisture, don't wrinkle, are lightweight to pack, and dry quickly after washing.
Is there a specific reason that this type of clothing is not good to bring? We thought it would be perfect but are now confused by everyone who says to bring cotton.

tashak

Your current clothing will be just fine! I've worn exactly this stuff myself in Bots, even in pretty hot weather. I think that people often prefer cotton, and since the camps are so good about laundry (and its included in the price) might as well have them wash and iron everyday!
The Ex Officio gear is lighter anyway, and that is a big plus.
Only caveat-- in truly hot weather, I find that the poly pants are still much hotter than cotton, and you don't always want to remove the legs (because of sun or bugs). So the only thing I'd add to your wardrobe is a couple pairs of polypro (or similar) underwear trunks-- the ones that look like bike shorts. (REI and most of the adventure travel catalogs sell these...a salesperson at REI convinced me to take these, and they were completely right. Especially in hot weather, the extra wicking layer is fantastic and keeps the soggy nylon from sticking to your skin, and keeps you cooler in hot weather AND warmer in cold weather. )

Sundance

I like the ex-officio clothing for the reasons you mentioned. The ex-officia shirts I have are a "cotton-nylon" blend. Also took cotton t-shirts and shorts. The one fabric that really doesn't work is denim!!
I agree with tashak's recommendations as well.
Sharon

eenusa

My husband wore similar clothing on our Botswana Trip. The camp manager suggested we put a note with the laundry not to "iron" his clothes - just as a reminder. It worked out very well.

Guenmai

About 90% of my travel clothes are Ex-Officio...since the early 1990s... and I have traveled on every continent in the world in them...except Antartica...which I don't intend to travel to. Today, I just took them out of my travel storage container, for inventory, for an upcoming return trip to Bangkok/Singapore. I only took Ex clothes to Ghana last Dec/Jan. They are my all-time favorite and I've worn just about every brand of travels clothes since I started doing overseas travel in the early 1970s. Ex-Officio has clothes marked for 90-degree weather...to keep you relatively cool in that type of heat. And now they have the clothes treated in mosquito repellent so that the mosquitos don't bite...those hit the travel stores around Jan 2004... and are good for a couple dozen washings before the repellent wears off. For a two-week trip I pack six long-sleeved Baja-plus shirts, three travel skirts, and two pairs of pants. That's it! I personally don't like to travel with all 100-percent cotton clothes. Sort of had to in the old days, since that's basically all that was available...the original Banana Republic, remember? Cotton does not dry out quickly if you get rained on or fall off into a body of water plus depending on what kind of weather you are in...amount of humidity...they take forever to dry after washing and they have a tendency to mildew. Happy Travels!

Kavey

We didn't worry about cotton fabrics - we took our regular clothes plus some very lightweight trousers from Rohan (a UK company, same idea - wick away moisture etc). We were very comfortable.

We also added a note to ALL laundry lists asking them not to iron.

anissrob

We are going on our first safari in December to Mala Mala and then Botswana to King's Pool and Xigera. Would it be okay to bring some regular cotton tee shirts and shorts OR should we only bring clothing with bug repellant built in? Also, is it necessary to wear long pants and long sleeves all day, even in the heat? I want to protect myself from bug bites but I have a feeling that its going to be too hot! I'd rather wear a tank top, shorts and sandals. Please advise!

Clematis

Ex-Officio wear is great. The reason you must tell them not to iron it though is many of the camps in Botswana have coal irons. It is hard to adjust the heat on them and they will burn the Officio fabric. We had two accidents that luckily were on the underside of collars but a friend had to wear her shirt with a huge black iron-shaped tattoo on the back.

PS - Ex-Officio's underwear dries overnight.