What to pack for African safari?

[dnagirl]

Just wondering what you all recommend packing for an African safari? I'm sorry, but I'm totally clueless.

Can you wear open toed shoes? Or stick with tennis shoes?
Long sleeved shirts and long pants only?
Binoculars? or do they have ones you can borrow or are you close enough to the animals to not need them?
How much cash (dollars) would you suggest bringing since most people say that dollars will work in Kenya?

Any suggestions welcome! TIA!

[wander_woman]

Depends on where you're going and what kind of safari you're doing. Some suggestions:

- Tennis shoes or hiking boots (you'll wear these most of the time)
- Flip-flops or Tevas/Chacos for shower and when you want to give your feet a rest
- Something warm to wear at night (if you're sleeping outside, might even need long underwear depending in where you go and time of year)
- Fleece jacket or sweater
- Hat for sun (if it's cold out, might bring a warm hat as well)
- 1-2 pairs pants, 2-3 long-sleeve shirts, 2-3 t-shirts. I don't think I wore shorts b/c of mosquitos, but I did wear t-shirts b/c it was just too hot not to.
- Bandana (it has many uses: keeps hair out of face, keeps out dust, etc.)
- Headlamp
- If you're going camping, bring toilet paper :)
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses with croakies (sp?)
- Insect repellent
- Books/journal/cards for evenings
- You do want binoculars. But your safari company might provide those. Our guide brought great binoculars (much better than ours) and let us use them. He also brought several animal/bird spotting guides. You might want to find out from your safari company if you should bring your own.

By all means, don't buy "safari gear" (the cheesy khakki multi-pocketed vests, etc.). You'll just get made fun of. :) Really, you don't need to buy anything. Just bring old & comfortable clothes you don't mind getting dusty. If you go on a really fancy safari, you might want to bring some nicer clothes to change into for dinner/sundowners.

You can take money out of ATMs in Kenya. I don't know about paying with dollars, we used Kenyan/Tanzanian shilling everywhere. You probably won't need any cash on the actual safari. But that's a question for your safari company.

[tlew12778]

If you are going in the winter, bring a winter coat. It gets VERY cold on safari before the sun comes up and after it goes down. Bring something windproof.

You cannot use TP while on safari. Shake and go. Or keep a baggies with you and take your TP back to the lodge. Throwing the TP/tissue into the wild can kill the animals. They will eat it and can get sick.

Layer your clothing as it can get HOT once the sun comes up.

Bring a journal to take notes about the animals and the pictures you are taking. Bring binoculars as they probably won't have them for you to borrow.

Are you going to a malaria area? If so buy your mosquito protection when you get there. You need like 23% DEET. Also do not forget the malaria pills.

Wear close toed shoes if you are going to go on a walking safari. You will probably get out of your jeep as well for your short-break.

Bring a zoom lens.

Bring extra memory for your cameras. If you use film, bring lots. If you can, bring a way to download your pics from your memory cards. I took 2GB of pics with a 4MP camera on 4 days of safari. We could have taken more but ran out of memory.

We did not need cash on safari. Everything was included and pre-paid. We did leave a tip with our ranger and tracker. I think something like $50 each.

[allison]

I also highly recommend something like hunting glasses, or sunglasses that have yellow lenses. We used them during our night drives, helped us see better and also protected us from bugs! One couple that we had with us (they go to Africa every year) also brought medical paper masks to wear during the night drives. Kept the bugs out of their mouths! I thought it was a great idea, especially since it was hard for us to talk during our night drives.
Don't forget sunscreen! :D
I also second bringing a journal! I ended up buying one when we got there and I love going back and reading it. It always makes me smile!
The cash we brought was for tipping our guide, chef, and other employees that helped make our stay wonderful!

[dnagirl]

Thanks you guys! I didn't realize there were so many mosquitos! We're definitely taking doxycycline for prophylaxis, but will also buy DEET too.

[tenofcups]

I don't know if it's the same all over, but when I was on safari in South Africa they strongly recommended we wear long pants, closed shoes (or sneakers) and long sleeved shirts to help protect against the mosquitos while we were out. Our excursions were very early in the morning (maybe 6 am) for I think 3 or 4 hours and then again around dusk for several hours. But during the day, we took naps, got massages (!), and relexed around the pool and then we were just wearing bathing suits (not sure why it was ok then and there, but not while we were out in the jeeps).

[mpc863]

bumping this up as we leave in 2.5 weeks for a safari in Tanzania.

what kind of bag did you bring? we have a 33 lb limit per person (total) b/c of the small planes we will be on. We don't have any duffles w/o wheels. We need to buy 2 bags but we don't wan to spend a ton since we probably won't use them again.

[adamseve]

Leaving for S. Africa, Botswana, and Zambia in 4 days!

I don't have glasses with yellow lenses, is this really necessary? If so, any thoughts on where to find them and cost?

dnagirl, did you have any reaction to the doxycycline - such as sensitivity to the sun or GERD?

[tlew12778]

We didn't use yellow glasses. It was fine. I actually had to keep my regular glasses on anyway, especially at night.

[allison]

Leaving for S. Africa, Botswana, and Zambia in 4 days!

I don't have glasses with yellow lenses, is this really necessary? If so, any thoughts on where to find them and cost?


Coming in way late, but the glasses aren't necessary, but I would bring them with me if we return for safari. Mostly because DH and I both would get bugs in our eyes during the evening/night drives. I only suggested yellow hunting style glasses because it makes it easier to see during low light hours. I found myself wearing my sunglasses while we were driving and taking them off when we were watching the animals.

[dnagirl]

adamseve: Sorry, you've probably left, but I didn't have any reactions to doxycycline. We actually stopped taking them after we got back; we just got lazy and forgot. DH pretty much stopped taking them as soon as we left Kenya (and he's the doctor :P ) Hope you're having a fabulous time!

I bought way too much stuff for our trip. In Kenya there were way fewer mosquitos than I had thought. They did not bother me at all. We used 99% DEET and didn't get any bites. I also bought a couple disposable ponchos and some hand wipes that people in our tour group thought were helpful. Otherwise, I would have packed for it like any other vacation.

For our safari, we never got out of the van, so footwear was not an issue. I wore Tevas and maybe even flip-flops once. I wore shorts too since I get hot easily.

If anything...bring pens! The ones that click. The people in both Kenya and Egypt couldn't get enough of them. I even used them to barter for water. Bring anything American, they love it.

[dnagirl]

one last thing...

HIGHLY recommend bringing Ciprofloxacin for Traveler's Diarrhea. Even though DH thought it wasn't necessary and I learned that half of Traveler's cases are Cipro-resistant, it works! DH and another man in our tour group both came down with it and they both felt tremendously better within the first 1-2 doses. Also remember that if you think it's Traveler's don't take loperamide (Imodium) because you want to get the bug out of your system.

[1MegMeg]

Reviving the safari thread. :) For those of you that have been on safari, would you mind sharing what company you traveled with and if you would recommend them/use them again?

Thanks!

[mpc863]

we went with Mt. Travel Sobek, on this safari: http://mtsobek.com/cgi-bin/trip.py?tripID=UTS

we had an amazing time. i can't believe that it was almost 6 months ago.

[tlew12778]

We did not do a group tour but we booked through Go2Africa. They are FANTASTIC. Our consultant was Janine. We will be sure to use them again when we go again. If you look at the beginning of this thread, I reviewed all the companies I considered (including their quotes).

[kd 9.21.02]

Hi Ladies. What shoes should we wear for safari in South Africa? I'm told hiking boots are NOT necessary (and too big/heavy for this trip anyway).

Is something like this appropriate...?
http://cdn.llbean.com/products/womens/49642/images/M49642_Robin_s_Egg.jpg

[mpc863]

We went to Tanzania but those shoes would have been great. We spent most of the safari in our land rover as Tanzania prohibits walking in the game parks.

[tlew12778]

Where in South Africa? In Sabi Sands you get out of the jeep for your short break. I probably would not have wanted to wear open shoes bc sometimes you are in the grass and whatnot. But it's not unsafe or anything. If you are planning on going on a walking safari (which I recommend bc you can see the Little 5 this way), I would wear closed shoes.

Also, remember that the seasons are reversed. We were there in early May and I was freezing on safari since you start before the sun is up and you come back after the sun is down.

[allison]

I have shoes similar to those that I bought for our trip to SA. I always wore socks with them since the weather was cool in the mornings and evenings. I had no problem with them when we would get out for the sun downers (we went to several parks in SA and got out of our vehicles on every safari).

[Jer]

For shoes, you only need boots if you're going to be doing any serious walking outside. When we went (Tanzania), we just wore our socks in the land cruiser, but had bush-walking shoes in the car in case of emergency (though it would take quite the emergency to be walking around in the bush).

Definitely bring layers and natural-fiber clothes. In the Serengeti, it gets chilly at night and hot during the day (hotter in the dry season). Bring lots of very high SPF suncreen and a hat. I actually got so sunburned on my hands that I wore a pair of thin fabric gloves that I had been wearing in Jan in NYC. If you burn easily, you might want to consider bringing white cotton gloves. Long pants and long-sleeved shirts are good, too. Standing in the safari vehicle, it's easy to stay cool. Also, in most countries, only children wear shorts.

You basically can't bring too much medicine. You probably won't have any serious problems, but preparation can make something a minor bother that would otherwise be trip-ending. I got an infection in my eye, but fortunately by father (who was with us) had some antibiotic eye drops. Intestinal antibiotics are not optional, unless you're spending a lot of time in country. You will get a tummy bug (the "Tanzania Trots" -- you trot to the bathroom), and in the bush is not the best environment for that. On our trip, everyone in our party of 10 (except me) got some intestinal badness and took Cipro. Rule of thumb, if 2 doses of Immodium don't fix it, take an anti-biotic. I usually hate antibiotics (bad for you, bed for everyone else), but make an exception for safaris. Also bring iodine etc for cleaning wounds and hand sanitizer for before you eat. Basically, your body is going to be being assaulted by unfamiliar things, so it can use all the help you can get it.

I'm a big advocate of not bringing more than you can carry on your back. Jess and I have patagonia MLC bags (backpacks that are the biggest legal carryon size), and we packed those and a small cardboard box of liquids (which we put in our bags when we arrived). It's much better to have one bag that you can carry than to have lots of stuff to keep track of and being dependent on others to help you carry stuff. (Of course, when we came back, we had another bag full of souvenirs. Be sure to pack an additional collapsible bag.)

Despite all the warnings, we had a great time, despite bad weather. You can see our pictures at: http://jeremiahblatz.com/personal/pics/Jess_and_Jer_s_Trip_to_Tanzania_January_February_2 007/.