fallgirl

Hi all.

My husband and I will be travelling to Siingita Boulders for 2 nights in October and are curious what typical, appropriate attire is for game drives, dinners etc? Does the attire vary from morning to late day drives? Is it recomended to always wear long sleeves and pants? Also curious what footwear is best? Any advice would be great as we are first timers?

jcasale

I can't speak for Siingita, but at the 2 safari camps we visited (Elephant Plains in Sabi Sands and Nxabega in the Okavanga Delta) the attire is basically layers. The morning was very chilly so we usually started out with a t-shirt, chamois shirt and jacket and then started pealing things off as the sun came up. In the afternoon it was the reverse process. Best shoes to bring are good comfortable gym shoes. I also brought some Tevas for hanging around the camp. I ended up leaving my gym shoes there to make room for the few things we picked up for our kitty sitters, etc. If you wear short sleeves or shorts, make sure you put sunscreen on. As for dinner, most people just came to dinner in what they had been wearing for the evening game drive since very few of us bothered to be escorted back to the tent to change for dinner. Generally we were eatin g outside and so often people left their jacket on. I didn't bring anything at all dressy (or even resort casual) and I was fine the whole time. Relaxed and comfortable is the key. Enjoy!

sandi

Singita and the other high-end camps are a bit different, but that doesn't mean dressy clothing or jackets and ties for men.

When we visited, everyone did change for dinner - black slacks with a shirt/sweater and great scarf for women with flat shoes; slacks with sweather or shirt for men and many wore mocassins or loafers. On cool evenings some men wore sports jacket. Some women were even wearing little slip dresses with shawls. We saw few, if any, in safari clothing at dinner.

For other meals - breakfast & lunch - people wore whatever their choice for safari.

Long sleeves and pants are mostly suggested for mosquito biting time - dusk to dawn. When any exposed skin should have repellent applied.

I don't own gym shoes, and wore mocassins or some other flat shoe during the day. I had a pair of Teva's with me, but never put them on... didn't choose to go on game walks.

There are lots of threads here on Fodors re clothing for safari. Do a search for them and you'll get more information then you'd think would be available. Besides, you should get a packing list from your tour operator.

Roccco

fallgirl,

2 entire nights, huh?

Yes, at Singita rates, I, too, limited my time to 2 nights. Since then I have learned and prefer to spend more time at less expensive camps that are really not that much of a step down from Singita but are 1/3 the price.

Anyway, to answer your question, "smart casual" is the order of the day at Sinita, from my 2 nights of observation.

austkaye

Dear fallgirl,

Have been to Singita Boulders for the last two years in December and shall be there this year in December for 2 nights. I wear the clothes I wear for the afternoon/evening gamedrive, minus the outer ultrawarm layers that I would be wearing for an October evening. I do not remember seeing anyone really dressed up, except at Thornybush in 2002, and the lady in question did not do so for the 2nd evening. When gameviewing at that time, morning and evening shall still be cold, so you take enough clothes to keep warm, let alone adding extra garments only for evening wear, so I wouldn't be bothered with items for evening only. I always wear walking boots - winter or summer - as you always do a little walking when you have coffees or evening drinks, so I really see it as a small protection against snake bites - and I have seen puff adders and spitting cobras around that area in both june and july. I travel with nieces in their teens and early 20's, and during the day in warmer months, we both change into thongs (your flip-flops) as the camps mainly have dirt paths so not so much of a worry with snakes being invisible.

Kaye

DonTopaz

I wouldn't have realized that warm layers would be needed for October evenings and mornings.

Where might I find a monthly hi/low temperature chart for the Sabi Sands area? (The terms "warm" and "chilly" can mean different things to different people, especially if one happens to live in Florida and the other in New England. I also recognize that the wind chill will be strong, as the speed of the safari vehicle has a similar effect as wind.)

Trisha1

Spent 3 nights at Singita Ebony. Had dinner at Singita Boulders one evening.

During day wore layers including a waterproof jacket and hood and a baseball hat under the hood. Took along a broad brimmed hat for later and shirt that had long sleeves to prevent sunburn. Also had gloves for early morning. This was in April. Shoes are very important and I wore leather laceup shoes and heavy socks.

You can always take off layers, but you cannot get warmer. Singita has warm waterbottles, but they are cold halfway through the morning game drive.

There was approximately 30 to 40 minutes each evening after the afternoon game drive to shower and change clothes. Since Singita does all the laundry daily everyone put on clean clothes...most men had clean khakis and casual shirts and a sweater. Women wore nice slacks or a packable skirt, a knit top and a sweater. Some wore casual jewelry. Singita is definitely more upscale than rustic.

Could you get by with no changes..sure...depends on you..After all it is a vacation!