What to pack, safari in Botswana packing list!
Time to pack! : D this is a very common question! What should you really bring? This post hopes I can help you figure out a bit of what is good to pack down and what can easily stay at home :)
Some probably wonder if you have to wear special garments on safari, this may mean that you need to buy a brand new wardrobe! I would say nja - I've bought some new clothes that I did not have in my wardrobe before but I did not buy special "safari" clothes. Generally speaking, it is good to have clothes in earth colors such as kakhi, green, beige, gray. White becomes easily dirty if it dusts a lot and black and dark blue can attract some unpleasant insects ex. tsetseflugor: / Strong colors are not the best option as it stands out very against nature and thus may feel inappropriate. Military color should also be look up ex. In Zimbawe, it is forbidden with military-colored clothes unless you are in the army. If you go for a season where the weather is warm and nice, you can pack quite easily, and you can often wash a t-shirt in the camps. If you are going to Botswana during the winter months, the evenings and mornings can get quite cool so I will pack warm hoodies, socks, pjamas and long pants.
I learned a bit about what might be smart to take on our last trip to Tanzania.
Tip 1. Thick long pants - we went through some areas where there were some tsetse flies - nasty little fuckers! They bet through my pants because they were pretty thin and tight in some places. Christian managed a lot better when he had pants in coarser fabric that was a bit airy. I certainly got 20th bites during the trip - Christian zero !! It is very rare with African sleep sickness that the Tsetseflugorna spreads, but it felt very unnecessary. Here you can read about African sleep sickness.
Tip 2. Leave the dress at home. Skirt instead of shorts I thought .. not a good idea .. I had a skirt for Tanzania but it was just impractical in the car when climbing in and out, up and down (it could also contribute to being liiiite too tight , haha) but shorts is so much more practical.
The lodges and camps we stayed in did not have any special dress code in the evenings, whole clean works well. I still had a change in the evening when it was nice to get rid of today's dust. Long pants that were a little farther felt fine, they also protect against mosquitoes. We were lucky and hardly heard any mosquito on the whole trip to Tanzania, but it may be a lot of mosquitoes and you should protect yourself so you don't get malaria.
Love my safari clothes, here are some outfits I will wear on the savannah :)
As you know, we don't have a lot of space in our suitcase to Botswana so it's important to be smart now :) we rolled out the dining table and set up a packing station - it may be a little messy a week before departure :) Up with all the clothes and gadgets and then start Make a list of what I really need with me! Either way, it is nice to travel with light luggage even if it would allow bigger bags.
This is my Packing List:
