I've been told to bring a jacket and fleece to Kenya and Tanzania for travel in July and August. Also to limit colors to tan, brown, and army green. Is this really necessary? Can I wear a light blue snowboard jacket and hat? The thought of having to buy a new jacket seems ridiculous.

Unless you're out on a game walk, you'll be in a vehicle - what you have will be fine.

We were in the crater in June last year, and May this year - the fleece was just fine (and mine is burgandy...). I didn't wear my light blue jacket once this year - oh wait, yes I did, it rained in Nairobi and my jacket is a wind/rain jacket.

Thanks Sandi and Lynda (once again). I am most concerned with the early morning balloon ride and my wimpy southern climate self. Maybe 2 fleece together would do the trick...

You can always take the second fleece off and even tie it around your waist. If you don't bring it, you cannot put the second fleece on.

If another fleece or jacket (whatever color) fits in your luggage, you won't be worried the whole trip about being cold on the balloon. Which is worse? Worrying about being cold or actually freezing your buns off?

I hate being cold too so I understand your concern.

Blue is a good colour if you need to attract Tsetse flies, most people do not relish this. Subdued coluring is best, hence brown or green being the standard colours for safari wear. Africa can be extremely cold especially on early morning starts a fleece together with a windproof/waterproof garment would be ideal, although chances of rain at that time of year are fairly remote!
Unless you are in a closed vehicle (probable in Kenya) a vehicle will not keep you warm!

The morning balloon with be quite nippy, so also have a hat, scarf and gloves.

On game drives, unless using camp/lodge vehicles, many which maybe open, the wind when moving fast across the plains will be cold. If/when in closed vehicles, you just roll up the window and should be okay.

As to the blue color and tsetse flies... while these nasty critter bites are supposed to be attracted to blue, they seemed to have missed me this last trip... and me in blue pants, my guide in safari tan had them dive bombing at him.

I just came back from Kenya and Tanzania - did a balloon ride on 30 June over the Masi Mara ---- I took a sweater and a rain jacket and immediately came out of the jacket and was very warm (too warm) with the sweater --- why ? Every time a blast of hot air went into the balloon (which was often) all the heat came back on us! I certainly didn't need any gloves or anything over my ears. When you land - you have to "stow" all items and the more you have - the more trouble it is! The one balloon our "new friends" went on, landed on its side and they had to crawl out while in that position! Unless July is a whole lot cooler - you won't need more than a light sweater on the balloon, in my opinion. I did, however, feel really good in my jacket at the lodge above Ngorongoro Crater - it was chilly - probably in the 40's but it quickly warmed up by 9:00 or so. There were some drafty times in the jeeps (I thought it was great but a couple of women were chilled!). I saw blue and other color jackets and I don't really think they had any more problems than I did without the blue - maybe we were just lucky! There were only a couple of places that we encounted flies and as soon as we moved on - that was no longer a problem.

It will be quite cold in the pre-dawn hours waiting to ride the balloon; take warm clothing. The light blue jacket should be fine, as tsetses are attracted to DARK blue and black, which are the colors used on the tsetse traps.

We also saw tsetse fly traps that were a light bright blue. The flies were really a bad problem for us this year at the end of June in Tanzania. They can get inside your vehicle and make your life a living hell, no kidding. The bite hurts and can make bruise marks even. If I were going again, I'd do whatever I could not to attract them and I'd bring a fly swatter (the hair tail swatters they give you just push them around).

If you are in an area known to have tsetse flies, I would avoid the light blue jacket.

I too have seen light blue used in combination with dark blue and black on tsetse fly traps. And I have also seen a guy in my vehicle (directly in front of me) attract tsetse flies with his light blue shirt. But, of course, I was the one who got bit! So you may end up being a hazard to others as well.

What about backpacks that are blue/black? I just thought about it now...am going to Botswana, Zambia, and Namibia next week. Suggestions?

thanks a lot.

I've carried my black backpack to Zam, Zim, and Botswana this time of year. No problems with tse tse flies.

Thanks. Will black really attract tse tse? I knew about blue for tse tse, but not black and most of my fleece is black. Suggestions?

Thanks,

Heather

Yes, black will attract the tsetse flies. Perhaps you could take a khaki colored windbreaker to wear over your fleece.