Hardware and Software...

How do you pack for a trip to Africa? As light as possible, it turns out. We were to be gone three weeks, but David told us that we needed to keep our bags small and totalling no more than 15 kilograms (33 pounds) apiece since we would be traveling in small airplanes at times. That had to include binoculars, camera gear, clothes, toiletries, and the weight of the bags themselves. Catherine and I travel pretty light anyway, so 15 kilos seemed reasonable. In the end, we were under by a few pounds, which allowed us to take some small gifts to the orphanage, and return with some gifts for friends.

You won't find excruciating detail here about the many items we took with us. You will find, however, the packing list I used on the Resources page of this blog. The remainder of this entry deals rather with some of the unique aspects of packing for wandering around in the bush.

CLOTHING There are a few important rules when choosing clothes for the bush.
1) Avoid dark colors - they attract insects and, in particular, Tsetse flies. Trust me, you don't want to attract Tsetse flies.
2) You want to blend in, so tans and light greens are the order of the day.
3) You also need to protect yourself from insects and the sun, which can be vicious, and that means sunglasses, hats, and long pants and long sleeve shirts.
4) You will be spending a lot of time in the car, so comfortable shoes and socks are important. Tan sneakers work well.
5) The nights can get cold, so take a jacket or sweater and plan for layering.
6) Don't forget the raingear - it does rain in Africa, and it can rain very hard (more about that later).
7) If you are susceptible to heat and humidity, bring an absorbent towel (like the microfiber camp towels available at REI) that you can soak and wrap around your neck.

TOILETRIES Bring the same things you would on any other trip, but don't forget to add in plenty of 30% DEET insect repellant, plenty of hand sanitizer (like Purell), and plenty of high SPF sunscreen. Make sure to throw in some Immodium, Pepto Bismol, antibiotic cream, and bandaids also.

OPTICS You are going to want a good camera and telephoto lens, and you are going to want to get lots of practice before you leave. Don't forget to practice at dawn and dusk, as well - a lot of interesting things happen at the start and end of the day. Everyone has an opinion about what the right rig is, but we took a Canon T3i with a Tamron 18-250 telephoto lens. Make sure you have an extra battery and charger, as well as the appropriate plug adapters, and don't skimp on memory cards for the camera - you are going to take a LOT of pictures. As for binoculars, take the best you can afford. Renting is a good option here. We borrowed a small pair of "secondary" binos from a friend, and rented a pair of Leica 8x50 UltraVid binos from Glazer's Camera in Seattle. These lenses were expensive to rent, but well worth the cost. DO NOT SKIMP HERE - THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A GOOD SET OF BINOCULARS ON SAFARI!!!

That's about it. The packing list is more complete, and is an accurate representation of what I took with me. It was developed by combining and filtering several lists I found on the Internet. I'm pretty happy with it as I used, essentially, everything I packed. There are a couple of things I could have left at home, but I also didn't find myself wishing I had brought something else along.