Laundry at Porini Camps in Kenya
 

We are booking with Porini at their Rhino camp and their Lion Camp for seven days in August. We understand laundry service will not be available. (They are small permanent tented camps and I know they work hard to limit their environmental impact.)

I am checking with the relevant internal airlines as to luggage restrictions. Generally we pack very light, no matter how far or how long only carry on luggage.

After safari however we are going to the beach for a week (Malindi and Lamu).

I have a few strategies I have used before to limit luggage on wide ranging trips.

1. bring older clothes that I donate or throw out when moving on

2. ship some items ahead by post

3. leavie items in hotel or left luggage places in airports or train stations to pick up later

4. hand laundry in sink (there are photos that include real sinks in the bathrooms at the camp)

Except for hand laundry not sure whether any of these strategies are really possible on our itinerary. We had planned to pack just 2 safari pants and maybe 4 safari tops. We are not too fussy but like at least clean underwear and shirt daily. How dirty can we expect to be in open 4x4 vehicles?

We arrive and depart Kenya in Nairobi but don't come back there between Mara and Malindi and Lamu so can't leave anything at Nairobi hotel or airport left luggage.

Not sure how reliable a post package would be. I would send airmail U.S. to Nairobi (Stanley) or Malindi (Dreams of Africa resort). I could send it enough ahead to confirm before we leave U.S. that it had arrived.

Many thanks for your advice. (or any other strategies).

You should ask your TA to clarify (or contact the company directly) whether they do laundry as this is almost mandatory on safari because of luggage restrictions.
All camps I have been to - and that is quite a number - all over East and Southern Africa do on site laundry mostly free of charge - except underwear. Even semi-permanent camps offer that service.

I could bet Porini does the laundry service as well.

SV

I was a little surprised as that was my general expectation also. But, I am working directly with the Porini company for all of my itinerary and the camps are their own camps. I already specifically asked about laundry and was told only in Nairobi, Malindi and Lamu portions of the trip. I know from articles I have read about them that they are especially conscious of their environmental footprint and for example use only solar power and not fossil fuel generators. It's one of the attractions to that company for us and so understood if it means compromises in other areas. Just trying to make a plan around it.

Hi laurie

oops - that's really surprising.......especially because every guest doing the own laundry doesn't have less impact than doing it for all guests in one basket/daily.

Porini's environmental concerns might be wonderful and reason to praise - but combined laundry is the least impact onto the environment ;-)

Okay - let me think what I would do

Well, 7 days without laundry service, limited luggage and taking into consideration that you NEED a fresh T-shirt/shirt every day.

August is "winter" means cold mornings/cool evening and warm days. So sweating should not be ones major concern.

I would stick to T-shirts which you can wash yourself and iron them with "warm" hands :-)
Or you take these "intelligent" iron free shirts. Of them I would take 2 long (roll up) sleeves.

As you wear a sweater or fleece as well (the one you might wear on the long-haul), at least during the morning game drives, any wrinkles will be gone by the time you peel the sweater off.

Finally: No one pays attention to whether something is ironed to perfection on safari.

I would pack 3 T-shirts plus the fleece/sweater and stick with that till I reach the beach where you can put anything into the laundry basket.
One zip-off pant plus a short should be sufficient.

Happy planning!

SV

Does that also mean that the staff clothing/uniforms don't get laundered? Ugh.... disgusting! Or do they ship those into NBO and let NBO spoil the environment? Porini isn't the only "environmental" camp and I've never heard of any that don't do laundry (except women's smalls). It's not like they're using a washing machine drawing electricity. It's a tub of water that they heated over a fire! Wet stuff is then line dried! Something doesn't sound right!

You're allowed 15Kg=33/lbs for your main duffle for light-aircraft, plus your carryon and camera equipment. For two weeks, even combining safari/beach, and if as you don't need more than as mentioned above... (besides how much room does a swim suite take up) you've got plenty of room for everything and no reason to ship ahead, store or whatever.

Have said it before and will say it again, if I can manage 3/weeks with more than sufficient changes of clothing including on a few occasions beach attire also, anyone can! I don't go on holiday to do laundry so pack sufficient "wears." And, as I'm no longer a child I don't dirty my cloths; okay some dust, but dirty??? Not even smelly! I actually wear some items more than once and have been known to bring home something that was never worn.

You can do it with 1/duffle for each of you.

Thanks everyone. We are used to packing light, wearing things twice or more, doing a bit of hand laundry so no troubles there. We just weren't sure what to expect for heat or dirt on safari as we have never been.

laurie
as Sandy stated it's seldom that your shirt gets really dirty. If it's dusty, and it ofen is, the collar get redish but the shirt you wore for dinner is perfectly fine for day activities the next day.
And yes Sandi - my stuff never gets smelly as well. It's only the collar due to the sweat/dust.

Don't worry too much Laurie, nobody will check - like on the beach or in the city sometimes, or notice whether you change your dress constantly. In the bush nobody cares.......thanks god :-)

SV

Jambo,
Porini camps are some of my favorite camps in Kenya and I have stayed at them all, but I couldn't remember this issue. I usually prefer to wash my own as I only bring ExOfficio quick drying clothing on safari. So I inquired directly and got this reply.

Begin approved quote: Thanks for bringing this to our attention and I’d be happy to reply and perhaps you could then reply on our behalf on the forum?

We don’t promote doing laundry at Amboseli Porini, Mara Porini & Porini Lion Camp as we are in areas that water is a precious resource, especially in Amboseli Porini and Mara Porini (which is in dryer part of the Mara) and something that the community there have in very short supply. We work closely with the communities and when they hardly have enough water for basic needs like cooking, drinking water for livestock we don’t want to be using large amounts doing laundry. Furthermore, being an eco-friendly camp that aims to minimize our eco-footprint, we strive to minimize the size of our ‘back end’ of the camp and to reduce the grey water pollution. However, we do have detergent available in all the camps for clients that want to do a little bit of laundry themselves. At Porini Rhino camp as we’re in the Ol Pejeta conservancy where water is more readily available, we are in the process of setting up a system so that we can do limited laundry for clients. Typically if clients are on a circuit this comes about in the middle and so should work.

Please let me know if you need more info and hope you can reply on the forum?

Kind regards
Mohanjeet

My Fodors friends are the best! Hope I have given as much as I have gotten here on the board over the years. Maurice at the Porini company who is arranging everything for us has been super. When he replied "laundry is available at Nairobi, Malindi and Lamu" (our other stops) I took it to be exactly for the reasons that Mohanjeet explains above and I didn't inquire further. I chose Porini exactly because of their philosophy and others' great experience here with them on the board and lack of laundry service seems a minor inconvenience and certainly an appropriate one. Now I just have to convince my husband too! My plan now is about 3 pants and 3 shirts, wear a clean set at dinner each night and the same set again the next day. Thanks again everyone! I promise a trip report after (last week August, first week September).

And for safarimama if you have any other suggestions about getting the most enjoyment out of our visits at the Porini camps, we are doing three nights at Rhino and four nights at Lion. You can put here or email me at the letter L no space Petersen the number 3 at sbcglobal dot net. I really am not laundry obsessed.

I would say the same about Porini camps as any other camp:
Relax, take each moment as it comes, enjoy what you see, stop often and just listen to Afreeeka! Let it come to you ... let it happen. Enjoy the birds!

Try everything that is offered to you: game drives, walks, village visits, cultural talks. The activities will vary a little from camp to camp. Your guide will sit down with you and explain what you can do and what would flow well for you depending on your interests. Scheduling will depend somewhat on whether you have a private car or not.

Enjoy the small things; every living thing is part of the chain.

Just remember: Whatever you do, don't RUN!!!! You may step on a dung beetle!!!!

Safari Njema,
Kristina