Being and x Chicago girl and now a California girl, I think my blood has thinned out. It was 50 to 60 degrees here today and I was cold. This lead me to really think about the weather in Cape Town and Botswana in early June. This is the time for me to buy what we need so anyone out there that has experienced the weather at that time of year, please respond with clothing suggestions. I know a jacket and long pants but what else? Do we need gloves, hats, winter atire.? Does it stay cold all day, and what happens around dinner time. Do we need heavy clothes all the time?With limited weight for luggage winter clothes are challenging.

Hi! Cold early morning game drives, for perhaps first two hours and evening as sun is going down. Throw in wind chill and you never know. Also, you are stationary in the vehicle....and yes, gloves, hat etc etc.,

Where in Botswana for June? I will be there early June as well....perhaps we cross paths, never know......

The coldest time of the day is perhaps early morning.....

Hari

The first time we went to Botswana and Namibia (in June) our agent sent us a recommended packing list and we scoffed at the inclusion of gloves, scarf, woolly hat...

"We're from the UK", we thought! "so it won't feel cold to us!"

Well, we ended up buying fleece hat, gloves and scarves out there! Those early mornings are COLD! Especially when you're racing along in a completely open vehicle, before sunrise, wind really hitting you at speed! The Wilderness Safaris lodges we were in did provide really thick ponchos which are waterproof (tarpaulin type material) on the outside and woollen blanket on the inside but we still needed our newly purchased warmers to avoid huddling pathetically against the cold!

By mid morning the sun was strong in the sky and we'd gradually stripped down to T-shirts and summer sun hats for the rest of the day.

For camps offering night drives we found we needed the warmers again once the sun had set and the chill set in again.

On our second trip one of the lodges gave us hot water bottles to take with us on our morning drives which was great - I tucked mine in against my body beneath the poncho!

We weren't cold during the nights as the camps had high quality warm bedding and hot water bottles were inserted into the beds whilst we were having after-dinner drinks so had warmed the beds up before we climbed in.

Bathroom visits during the night were a little chilly though!

We quickly learned to adjust our schedules and shower during the midday break rather than early morning.

We definitely prefer travelling in winter because we prefer dealing with the cold (which we can bundle up against) than the hottest time of the day during the summer!

PS Go for layers:

I would start off with a T-shirt plus a thin silky polo neck top plus an extra thin fleece top (available from outdoor specialists).

With the poncho over that, plus my gloves, scarf and winter hat I was absolutely fine and could strip off during the day.

Layers trap more heat and you can reuse them during the trip - make use of the free laundry at those camps that offer it.

Oh and no-one cares how often you wear the same items (as long as they are cleaned regularly!) so don't feel you will look odd if you don't have a certain number of changes with you!

At Vumbura this June, we were usually out just before sunrise and the temperature was just above freezing.

From memory I had trousers (long underwear would definitely have been a plus, though when you need to switch to shorts later a bother), t-shirt, shirt, fleece, thick coat of the type worn by the guides, gloves, beanie, and a fleece scarf tied across my face. One of our group had a balaclava with eye slits! At Vumbura they gave us hot water bottles and we used the poncho's as blankets. It was freaking cold.

hi kavey!

where have you been? and is there a trip report?

kerikeri

oops forgot the answer the question:

cape town cold season advice only. i found it fleece pullover weather. when the sun was out it warmed up pleasantly.

on the rainy day i had it was cold, but not hats and gloves bitter. certainly not below 12 or so.

you won't be riding the table mountain cable car in that sort of rainy weather, nor will you be boating to robben island, therefore you'll just need riding around in the car clothing or strolling...nothing too extreme. i didn't see my breath, even at 6 am when i departed for the airport on my one cold rainy day in capetown.

game drives are another story, though.

kerikeri

KeriKeri
There's a trip report for the 2001 trip somewhere but the 2004 trip was 9 weeks and I only got as far as completing and posting the trip report for the first 5 weeks (which were spent in South Africa).
In Botswana on the first trip we went to Little Vumbura, Chitabe Trails and Little Mombo. On the second trip we went to Little Mombo, Jack's Camp, Jacana, Tubu Tree and Savuti!

From memory, from my recent August visit........i had a thick bubble jacket ( you know what i'm talking about), gloves, beanie.....thick trekking socks.......some mornings were very windy also. Those are the kind of mornings, you hope you stop and stay at sightings which enables you to not be too much colder......

Hari

So this is the time of year when I need to buy the warm clothes we will need for our June safari. I still need some assistance please.
1. I am not sure what everyone means by 'fleece." Is that the same material as sweatshirts are made form?
2. What is the "type of jackets" the guides wear. Can you be a little more specific?
3. So I understand it is cold for the early morning game drive, and the night game drive, so when isn't it cold? Also is the area where you eat meals indoors, or do your also need to dress wamm for meals. Gloves snf jackets at dinner would be a little difficult.

With all of the heavy clothes, what about the weight restrictions. Seems that this stuff will take up most of the weight, is there still room for clothes?

I just recently got rid of a lot of our old ski clothes and gave away the funny looking face masks with the eye and mouth openings. I think I may buy another one. We chose this time of year because I hate the heat, but cold all the time is really making me nervous.

The guides use handgloves, a bonnet, a normal jacket and a poncho for the early morning drives.

When I am going to Botswana in May/June (I do this now for a good number of years) I only bring with me a jacket. I'll use a poncho (for the morning drive and the evening drive (not always the case)). At dinner time, you can use a blanket provided by the camps if you are really feeling cold. (the same applies f.e. in
Mala Mala main camp when having dinner in the boma)

So you normally eat inside that time of year (although there are no windows of course).

Temperatures are quite nice from 9-10 in the morning till 4-5 in the afternoon. (between 20° - 30° celsius)

I only felt cold once on a gamedrive and that was in the Savuti Channel
in June 2004.

If you'll like to take lots of clothes with you, you can always leave some of them in Johannesburg and pick them up while flying to Capetown afterwards.
You don't need fancy dresses when on safari in Botswana so it's better to leave those behind.

Anyway, have a nice trip and you never know if we bump into each other because I'll be there for 3 weeks in June 2007.

Best regards,

Johan

some mornings are windy too....that makes it a touch cooler.

Hari

Spiegelcjs, my husband and I are going to Botswana in late July for our first safari. I have also been debating about how to keep warm and I ended up buying a really nice jacket at Lands End. It's called a Weatherfield Parka. It is similar to a down jacket but filled with Primaloft instead which makes it very light. Although I purchased it for the safari, I have been wearing it almost daily in temperatures from the low thirties to the mid-fifties. I wear a corduroy shirt or a sweatshirt under it when it is in the thirties and it's really pretty warm. I figure with the jacket, a sweatshirt and a light pullover under that, plus the provided poncho, I should stay pretty warm. I'll also take warm gloves, hat etc.

slsmith

I just ordered the jacket from Lands End and will see you it looks and fits. Thanks for the info.

In the evenings around camp, normally there is a fire-place where you can warm up if you are chilly......