k

Thanks to all of you who have helped us with our questions. Since canceling our China Tibet trip 4 weeks ago, we're booked on 2Afrika's 15 day grand combo trip, I've got Flying Doctor's flight insurance thanks to all of you and now, what to wear. I don't think there is one thing in my closet I can take, and I don't want to have to buy a lot. What do I take in the way of clothes, and is color that important. I have read that colors and especially blue are not good. I bought 2 pr of light weight knaki Columbia zip off pants and have 2 old khaki work shirts and plenty of cotton tees.A friend is loaning me her travel vest, do I need hiking boots or will my cross trainers be ok? I'm adventurous, but geez I can't wear any of this stuff to teach kindergarten or wear it to a Jr League mtg. My husband has been dressing for this trip his whole life..He'll look like IndyJones....Help...where do I shop & what do I need...yeah, I know, not Talbotts!

nkh

Hi k

Since I havent been myself I admit that I am little use to you from personal experience (we leave June 9 also with 2afrika). Do you have Cotton Ginny where you are? They have good colours of cotton blouses and pants. Tilley does great hats but their travel clothing is expensive (and I dont like it much).

Things I have been told to take - a HAT (I have a Tilley hat), thick sweater/fleece (Ngorongoro can be cold), rain jacket just in case. Dress in layers, stick to neutrals like olive/khaki/beige (everything gets covered with dust - try to blend in ). Apparently white is bad (dust and may attract mosquitos?). Cotton or linen is good/synthetics are bad. I have Misty Mountain travel pants so we are going along the same lines. Also I have approach shoes (cross between hiking boots and cross-trainers).

My question for you - HOW did you get the flying doctors membership?! Their e-mail doesnt work for me and online form is broken. I havent tried calling yet due to time difference. What did you do? How long did it take?

Thanks and have a great trip!

Trvlingal

Hi guys,

Was in Kenya and Tanzania in 1999 with a group of friends. The zipoff pants were PERFECT. Everyone seemed to have them except me. I just had cotton twill tan pants. You will only need about 3 pair and can have them washed at the lodges inexpensively. We all wore t-shirts that could be washed with an overshirt and a sweatshirt. Did a game drive one night and nearly FROZE. So again, layering is the key. And there will be TONS of dust. Your face, hands and all exposed parts will be covered with it, even though you won't know till you look at your washcloth. BUT it is WORTH IT. Also as far as shoes, we work Easy Spirit walking shoes, or Reeboks, although some wore hiking boots, but not really necessary and they were heavy and HOT. Best trip any of us ever took. If you want more info you can email me at [email protected]. Love Africa. Love to travel.

rsnyder

Was in Tanzania last June with 2Afrika. Go light on the clothes as you can get them washed at lodges for a very reasonable price. And, we really didn't get that dirty. Strong agree with previous poster about jacket or heavy sweat shirt especially for the Crater visit. Can be rather chilly especially for the early morning drive into the crater. Since safari is basically a vehicle based one there no particular reason for speciality footware. I am glad I took along a large vest for hauling around all my photo stuff, binocs, etc and my wife made good use of hers for note pad, towelettes, binocs, etc. Sorry for jumping around-- we took basically earth tone clothing. Again, no reason to really have to shop around for speciality stuff. Have a great time and please post about your adventure. Dick

SusanLynne

In addition to the clothes, please make sure you bring a small bag of laundry detergent since many of the camps/lodges do not wash women's undergarments or what they call "smalls." May seem like a minor point now, but I wish I had been forewarned so that I could have brought some for our trip! You may also want to bring antibacterial handwipes or Purrell hand cleaner.

Trvlingal

In regards to laundry soap: Agreed and I have an elastic clothes line that I hung undies and socks from along with blow up hangers which I used for t-shirts I washed. Weighs nothing and works great.

Things to take along: Also take a small notebook as noted above for logging in animals you saw. This helps when putting your pictures together once home. You'll be surprised how you forget what animal is what once home. Binoculars were a must, toilet paper and wash and dries. You'd be surprised how often you needed them. Take ends of rolls. Don't forget sunscreen and hats to protect you from the sun. You will be out in it for several hours. Also take bug spray or lotion with deet.

OffToAfrica

See the post "Soniya's safari packing list" which I just bumped back to the top. It's a great list.

On the clothing color issue I read that black and navy blue attract tsetse flies but haven't seen anything about bright colors- can only assume they might attract carnivores?! : ) (I'd insert one of those smileys here but I haven't figured out how to do that.)
And is the advice against wearing white simply because it gets dirty so easily? I was planning to take my mostly white cross-trainers - I don't care if they get ruined. Is there any other reason to go buy a khaki or olive pair?

Heimdall

Unless you are on a walking safari you will go on game drives in a Land Rover or Toyota with a pop-up top. Therefore there is no need to dress up like the great white hunter in one of those 50s movies. Bright colors are unlikely to frighten an animal when you are sitting inside a vehicle, but blue attracts tsetse flies, so that color should be avoided. Just bring along some comfortable clothes, preferably made of natural materials. As mentioned above, a jacket and sweater are handy for those early morning game drives.

If you are staying in lodges, smart casual clothing is de rigueur for dinner and drinks in the evening. At any rate you will want long sleeves and trousers to protect against mosquitos after dusk.

As for what to bring, a good field book (I use the Collins African Wildlife guide) is useful. Another hint is to learn a few words in Swahili - not just the courtesy phrases, but the words for some of the animals. Then when you hear your driver chatting on the radio with other guides, you will have an idea what to expect.

LizFrazier

It will be cool there. Its their winter. Some cloudy days still here and there. As for blue attracting tse-tse flies, I have never taken blue and I can assure you if they are around you will be bitten if you are warm blooded. Before dinner, we clean up and then put on the next days safari clothes which are clean and go to dinner like that. No smart casual here. It seems 89% of the folks do likewise. Some ladies take a pretty scarf to tie around their neck and slip on a travel skirt. I just stick with safari gear. We take all khaki pants and colored tees, some long sleeve, some short sleeve, and a light jacket. You will probably need a warm jacket for early mornings, i.e., hot air balloon rides before dawn. I see tourists in red, purple and every other color there. You won't stick out in colors at all. After dusk though, long sleeves are safer from mosquitos.

Tiiimeisonmyside

Wonderful posts, and just terrific advice. I'm printing a copy for my own adventure. I must disagree slightly, ever so slightly about colors. Everytime we've been out in the Rover, the ranger working his guidey fingers to the bones trying to come up with a predator for that purrfect shot, and we're having zip for luck, I look around and there's the answer, somebody's got on red socks or worst of all, pasley. Drives the cats wild. I see the same thing with my own. But, as I say, all the rest of the ideas are purrfect.

OffToAfrica

Thanks for everyone's good advice, and I have another question. I'm a casual kind of traveler but we have one or two nights at Mt. Kenya Safari Club on our sched. It has kind of an old-fashioned British mens club reputation. Is clean safariwear acceptable for dinner at the restaurant there, does anyone know? If I had my choice we'd skip it but dear old mom is going out with one last hurrah, saying she's getting too old to travel AND she's paying, so I'm not arguing.

OffToAfrica

Sorry, forgot to add that I just did a bit of online shopping for my safari trip today and found some splendid deals. REI.com and Cabelas.com have great equipment and clothing AND they have bargains/sales sections. I found women's convertible zip-off-leg pants normally priced around $55-65 for $25-35 at REI. Plus they have the DEET and Permethrin and binoculars. And I found my safari vest with many pockets for camera stuff at Cabelas, couldn't find a good women's version but settled for a men's medium for $50. Not normally a real big shopper but very pleased with my online bargains!

LizFrazier

That is different. They do have a dress code and used to require jacket and tie for gents, dresses for ladies. I went once and never again. That was in 1987, so they could have relaxed somewhat. Whoever books you into the place should tell you about current dress codes. Or someone here might know. Liz

cowgrrls

Was in Kenya 8 years ago and loved it. Mount Kenya Sarafari club was a bit stuffy but also fun. I loved their zoo, horseback riding and then a fine massage.

I will be leaving July 5th for three weeks in Tanzania. I am taking a small group of students and we will be spending a week taking a donated computer lab to a school in Arusha and teaching them about email and the internet. The following week we will climb Kilimajaro and our third week will be on sarfari. Reading packing suggestions has been GREAT. I am also looking for any other suggestions for our climb and also for ideal things to give to students there. I am 51 and have been trying to get in shape to be able to handle the stresses of climbing Kili...any suggestions are so welcomed. Also seeking information about hwo to register with Flying Docotrs and any other suggestions for insurance coverage.
Thanks,

Heimdall

To LizFrazier: agreed if you are warm blooded you will be bitten, but no need to make yourself attractive to them. If you have ever seen the tsetse fly traps that are used in the area, the flies are enticed into the trap with a bright blue sheet of plastic - enough said.

To Tiiimeisonmyside: Are you being facetious? I can just about imagine a lion being put off by red socks in the open-sided vehicles they use in southern Africa, but he would have to be standing on his hind legs peering through the window to see them in the type of vehicle they use in Kenya and Tanzania.

Tiiimeisonmyside

Facetious? Hardly. In Kenya, the normal practice is to sit on the vehicle's roof and dangle feet over the side. Cats have an easy time spotting who's got red socks today.

OffToAfrica

Time,
Are you two different people using the same screen name? I noticed in Rocco's report in the general Africa forum you wrote that you had never been there and are armchair travelers! While your post here says you have been to Africa. Just curious.

OffToAfrica

Cowgrrls, your trip sounds like a wonderful adventure. I have been on a couple of goodwill trips to various countries and our August trip to Kenya will have at least one goodwill visit to a school or orphanage. Trinkets we have taken include postcards from US landmarks, pencils, candy, gum and colorful Mardi Gras beads (I live in New Orleans and everyone here has boxes of them in the attic.) Also little lapel pins but they are not good for small children.

I hope you will post a report on your trip when you return!

Heimdall

To Tiiime: I'll have to admit I have never seen that practice in Kenya or Tanzania. Red socks would put me off too, so I can understand why lions might object. Perhaps the answer is for guides to require their clients to keep their legs inside the vehicle. In Ngorongoro we had cubs crawl under the Toyota to get in the shade, and mom only a few feet away, so I don't think I would like to dangle anything outside.

LizFrazier

Heimdall-You are right. Its against the park rules in Kenya and Tanzania to be outside of the vehicle. The only folks I saw hanging out of something was the trekkers on the flat bed trucks and those monstrous busses. They were practically bursting at the seams and folks were all over the place it seemed. Quite young people obviously.
Botswana is different. You sit in the open and on top of the cab of the vehicle if you prefer as you drive around. However that was when I was with Earthwatch. I never saw that while on a safari. But then that is just my experiences.