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Safari Clothing
We are going on the South Africa Elegant Tour in September. I read for safari’s we should wear neutral colors, brown, khaki, tan, etc. After we purchased a couple items that were black, we read where it draws tsetse flies. Anybody take this trip and know if this is true? Maybe I need to start over with my clothing!
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I don’t know about Kruger, but we had lots of tsetse flies in the Serengeti. We spent a lot of time with a woman and her grand ‘nephew’ I think, who had lost luggage so for a time all he had was a black sweatshirt. He happened also to be a new entomology student. After a time I told him his ‘callsign’ would be “Flycatcher”, but that was too long to put on his helmet, and had too many syllables … so his new ‘callsign’ was “Fly”. He actually liked his new name. The tsetse fly ‘traps’ in the Serengeti use black and blue flags. That may tell us something.
Actually, it was a bit ‘convenient’ having someone in the truck wearing black, cuz the flies went after him and left the rest of us alone.
We were on the SA Elegant Adventure last November. We did not encounter any tsetse flies when we were there.
As far as I remember, tsetse flies are not a problem in South Africa. We wore earth tones, but when you look at photos that people post here, many do not follow that suggestion. Just don’t wear white. It’s too dusty for that
Read here.
Popular tourist destinations like Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe all report fewer than 100 new cases each year. Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda haven't reported any new cases in over a decade, while South Africa is considered sleeping sickness-free.…….Sleeping sickness is what you might contract from tsetse fly bites
SherriB, no tse tse flies when I took the Elegant Adventure…but that was my last trip before the world shut down - March 3 -20 in 2020
Thank you all for your comments. I can start packing now😊
Hi Sherri...i too heard that about black and i am trying to make sure i have something non black to cover up the black in case it draws insects. What tour are you on ...that is what is your start date? Ours is Sept 14...it is a small group
Lisa, we are on the Sept. 16th trip. We always go in a day early on our trips. Now I look and see maybe shorts are in order. Looks like it may be quite warm. We just got back from England and had all the wrong,clothes😊😊. Sometimes the Weather Channel doesn’t help much. Have a great trip!
SherriB - Since you're on the September 16th trip, I'm sure you have received your final documents from Tauck.
Could you tell me what time the flight on the last day leaves from Victoria Falls / arrives in Johannesburg?
Thanks
SherriB hi.
tsetse flies are mostly around Kenya & Tanzania. Serengeti is popular for them.
Sam, it just says midmorning flight, no specific time, arriving at airport in plenty of time to check in for home. Not too much info given. Are you on this trip also?
We are going on October 2. More shorts than pants? Is navy also a no no?
It’s up to you what you wear. It can be very cold in the early mornings on safaris, hat gloves and coat cold. The vehicles will have blankets. There are no tsetse flies in South Africa, so no need to worry s out the dark colors that attract them
Just returned from K&T. Only one person wore shorts. You get really dusty and dirty. They had to request that he wear long pants on a couple of outings in case animals and grasses brushed up against him.