Duffel Bag Suggestions?
 

My sister and her husband are going to Botswana in about a month (mid-June) for 5 day safari trip and a few more days afterwards in Victory Fall. The Moremi Air is their charter flight company with weight limit of 15 kg.

What kind of duffel bag (brand, size, model, etc.) should they buy for this trip? The bag itself shouldn’t be too heavy but is big enough to carry all the stuffs they need for the trip. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. It would even be better if you can suggest some places to purchase the bag.

Thanks!

We are also going to Botswana and purchased the LL Bean 'adventure duffels' in medium. We have already done a test run of packing and everything fits nicely in that size, with a little room left over. I like the bags since they are water proof (and look dust proof too). I think they only weight about 1.5lbs and cost $39.50.

I recently got a bag from bagsbuy.com (also found on ebags.com) believe called Skywards 30" that weighs a tad over 2/lbs; cost $30. REI has lightweight bags, but their prices tend to be high.

I just bought two new duffels at REI and they were only $29 each for the Large size. They are already packed up quite compactly which works out well for us since we have a stopover enroute and will be putting them in our large suitcase.

moremiles -

good to hear REI prices more reasonable (by far) since last I looked (a few years back).

Yes, I was pretty surprised myself and they seem durable-not a huge choice of colors but I bought the deep red rather than the black.

My question is this:

are the "rolling" type duffles allowed on the bush planes in Botswana? We are planning on doing Wilderness Safari trip in 2008 along with a trip to Madagascar. Anyway we can use the wheelie soft sided duffles on this long trip?

thanks

ijkh, I have wondered the same thing. Sure do sacrifice a lot of weight with a wheelie though. Seems like adds a good 5 lbs, or more.

Incidentally, I did see a duffle on one of the sites that Sandi linked above. It is a wheelie, but apparently the hard portion with wheels can be zipped off. It was pretty reasonably priced as well. The removable wheels feature is not described in the product information (not that I saw, anyway.) It was indicated in one of the user reviews, otherwise I would have had no idea about it.

Everything I've seen suggests that bags need to be soft-sided. The experts can probably better address that, though.

Shane

I previously asked the question on wheeled or non-wheeled duffles and the response was to go with the non-wheeled version. The reasons are the added weight issue which is a concern for in-country flights and the potential to damage to the bag due to the very small luggage compartment on the small planes. It was pointed out that once in country you will probably not handle your luggage anyway and can alwasy use a cart of skycap in the airport.

For Botswana where luggage weight is even less than East Africa, go soft without wheels. You'd be surprised just how small the luggage hold is on those Bots puddle hoppers.

Most planes in East Africa are either 12-, 19- or 40-seaters (private charters are often 4-seaters), depending on the expected pax load for each segment. Of course, you will some paxs with wheeled bags (hey, Micato actually sends these 7/lb empty bags to clients), but they can easily be damaged. If you can find a soft-duffle for $30or less, why not! Besides, they fold up to practically nothing and don't take up room as a wheeled bag would.

Thank you all so much for the suggestions. I did check the ebag website and found a duffel bag "Skyway Westport" on sale. They have 2 size of this bag.

36" bag with dimension of 36"x18"x15" which weight 3 lb.
30" bag with dimension of 30"x15"x13" which weight 2 lb 8 oz.

Which one is a more suitable size for this trip?

Thanks!

wangy -

I bought the 30" and for me even with all "my stuff" will be more than sufficient. 36" is really really big. My actual clothing won't be taking up much space, it's the extras that do. Besides, I have gifts and other items to bring to friends; on the return will have lots of things to bring home - souvenirs, of course, and other "stuff" in reverse!

The only thing I'm not too keen about this bag, all the outside pockets. Even though I will lock them, I just don't want to be in the position where some unscrupulous character may choose to put something (read: contraband) inside. Ok, we all have our quirks... but this can happen.

Otherwise, this is certainly a great bag for a car trip somewhere when home - beach, skiing, etc. Even for domestic air travel... and lightweight to boot!

wangy26,

Did Moremi air, raise the weight limits to 15kgs? on my prior trips, they had a 10kg limit? You sure of this?

Thanks
Hari

I too am taking a soft-sided 30" duffle and believe it will be sufficient to hold my clothes and items for trip. Just wondering if anyone worries about zippers becoming broken along the way. I was also wondering if anyone might no of some sort of very light weight mesh or nylon type laundry bag with drawstring that could be put over the duffle in the event of a zipper disaster?

Thanks,
- Granny Joan

You can have bags wrapped in plastic in many airports. But I wouldn't put anything else over the bag...too easy to get trapped in the baggage carousel or other machinery.

Personally, I will only buy bags with two zipper pulls that you can lock together.

The duffle I has two zipper pulls, I guess that gives me an extra zipper should one fail. Hadn't thought of that.

Thanks,
-Granny Joan

I had a suitcase zipper disaster two years ago; pleased to say I never leave home without duct tape. I just gave the mini-roll of tape to the TSA agent and asked him to seal it up after inspection. No problem.

I have duct tape on my list of items to bring and was wondering if they would use it at airport if a disaster happened. Good to know that they will.

Thanks
-Granny Joan

I always use an inexpensive strap that you can buy at any place that has travel items...Target included. It is a canvas strap that adjusts in size. It wraps around the suitcase and holds it snug and tight. I buy them in bright colors as it makes my bag easy to see. If you are really worried about exploding ...oohhhh maybe not a good choice of words for traveling...make that rapid over-expansion of your luggage, use two of the straps. They are cheap and I have used mine for traveling to Europe, Mexico, Jamiaca,,,etc without ever having a problem. Under $10
Plus I feel they might put off a would be thief as you have to undo them to get into the bag.

Of course, they add weight....the bane of all our existence.