Buzz Off or Other Safari Clothing?
 

All,

I just ran across a sale on Buzz Off clothing in the National Geographic catalog. Are these clothing products truly better than non-treated clothing?

If we go with basic non-treated clothing, does anyone have any suggestions of chain stores that carry safari wear? I know a lot of this stuff is available online (Ex Officio, etc.) but I'd like to try things on if possible. We checked at Galyans/Dicks and came up empty. We're just looking for the basics in khaki like convertible pants, etc.

You only need khaki, brown, tan clothing - slacks, shirts, shorts, or convertible pants, and maybe even a photo-journalis-type jacket. There is a spray product (sounds like premathin???) available from Travel Smith, Magellen's, and R.E.I. You can check their sites, see what's available, order, try on, and return if you don't like. But these companies also have the spray which you can use on ordinary cotton/twill clothing.

I wear regular clothing, never spray clothing, but use repellent on exposed skin during mossie biting time or whenever else needed. My clothing is no worse from not spraying.

Some of us are food for biting/stinging critters, others of us are not. You have to decide for yourself.

Ericka,

I have a variety of Buzz Off wear, but never use it on safari. Buzz Off is highly effective for the US North Woods where misquitos are thick and menacing. It surrounds you in netting and completely protects you. Great stuff.

If you are doing normal safari activities, even walking or gorilla tracking, you won't need Buzz Off. Just basic neutral colors are fine. Blue attracts tetsee (sp?) flies, so I'd avoid that.

Do you have an REI store or a Gander Mountain or an Eddie Bauer? (Maybe these are more local in my area) Even Army Surplus. How about a camping store? Other on-line sources of adventure wear are LL Bean, REI, Columbia, Marmot, NorthFace, Tilley--the famous hat people. You could type those in the search engine.

Just spraying yourself moderately with insect repellent should be fine.

Lynn

Excellent ideas as always! Thanks!

I JUST got back from Ghana, West Africa and this year took a buzz off shirt and it worked just fine...knock on wood...just took my last Malarone tablet yesterday. No mosquitos attacked me.The week after I returned from Ghana last year, the owner of the travel store where I shop told me that they had just gotten the buzz-off shirts and pants in. Start looking for the clothes way before you need them because the company only did a small amount of them in order to test them out and it can be VERY difficult to get them. Over 90% of my travel clothes are Ex-Officio and have been since the 90s. I find them highly functional and very long lasting...I especially love the long-=sleeved Baja-Plus shirts.I'm fine in them no matter how hot it is. I wore the same clothes last year in Ghana,too.And wear them throughout Southeast Asia. I hate pants, but wear the Ex-Officio pants under my 35-inch travel skirts.Check...distantlands.com...magellans.com... travelsmith.com...exofficio.com...The first three stores are in California. Happy Travels!

I would highly recommend buzz off clothing. since this was my first trip to africa (i just got back) i went a little crazy with buying buzz off clothes but i really think it was worth it. especially since we were there in the summer, it made me feel a lot better to be wearing it. i also sprayed my skin with insect repellant every day just to be sure! i would definitely buy a few pieces of buzz off clothing esp since its on sale:)