clothes advice for classic safari

robinski

If anyone has just been on the classic safari, did you change clothes at night for dinner? Trying to pack as little as possible and the info states we may get dusty on safari....

British

Yes you do get dusty, but this is a casual tour and quite often you get back from your late afternoon safari and go straight to dinner. You are usually greeted back at the lodge with a cool washcloth to wipe the dust off your face and hands, but you can certainly go back to your room to freshen up more. This tour goes to the William Holden which our tour did not do a few years ago, but hopefully someone else will let you know if this place is dressier. Some lodges, once nightfall comes, you have to be escorted to and from your room or tent or cottage, so that's another reason people can't be bothered to go back and change. To compromise, I would take a couple of things to change into, but not too much. You could change into the next day's cloths you intend to wear so you are clean for dinner and then put them on again in the morning when you have to get up at that ungodly hour to do the next game drive or the middle of the night call for the balloon ride--- all totally worth it of course!

ndvb

I'm just going to be dusty at dinner (hmmm, sounds like a country song). A cool towel and a hand wash will just have to do it.

Early game drives sound fine to me. Losing a little sleep is ok....I can sleep when I die (hmmm, another country song). Where is Willie Nelson when you need him....probably off smoking dope in his tour bus or on the golf course.

Somehow dressing up on a safari sounds rather continental.

robinski

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. This helps confirm what I was thinking...

joycesw

We did take a couple of non-safari clothes to change into in the evening. These were by no means "dressy," but dust-free. I did take a pair of the ubiquitous black slacks and used them (certainly not "dressy"). There are only a few evening game drives, and it was not practical to change after returning from them. But, usually it was nice to shower and put on fresh clothes especially if you were out in the trucks for the entire day.
The Four Seasons is very nice, and, although, everyone there is on a safari, most people did change for dinner. Mt. Kenya Safari Club is in a more populated area and it seemed that many of the guests were not on a safari. We were there on a holiday weekend, so there were many families and people did dress up more. You really have only one morning on a game drive there, unless you opt to travel to another preserve. One dinner there is a lovely BBQ down by a river, and it is very dark and, frankly, no one knows what anyone is wearing as we were all in layers because it was pretty cool. As a side note, Mt. Kenya was my only criticism of the itinerary. I felt that we were there one day too many or we needed another game drive to fill one of the afternoons. Even though we played golf and enjoyed the property, we got kind of antsy to get back out on a game drive.

jdurkin

Hi Joyce,

I can't believe you didn't take a flight in a light plane around and possibly over Mount Kenya! It is one of my most spectacular travel memories. Maybe they don't do that any more. Bill Holden's Mount Kenya Safari Club and Treetops … the way safaris used to be. Ahhh…….And part of the reason people still travel to Africa with the likes of Tauck. Animals and romance … in more ways than one.;)

Cheers,

Jan

blackmagic79

I have been on this trip and most nights we went to dinner in the safari clothes we had worn during the day and then there were some ladies who always changed to slacks and a nicer top for dinner. It's really up to you but you could really do this trip with only safari clothes, however, you might just want to pack the ever handy black slacks and a couple to dressier tops just in case you do want to change. This is such a fabulous trip - you will have an amazing time!

Lexipupny

I thought I had read that you should not wear black because of tse-tse flies? Is that only for the daytime?

British

Tsetse flies---yes I think so, it gets dark pretty early so remember most colors look black to us in the dark except maybe white and assuming it's the same for flies-mind you it's maybe fifty years since I studied fly anatomy! In the dark it's more important to cover up as much skin as possible because of the mosquitoes, which are smaller and therefore less easy to see in Africa than the type of most common mosquito in the US. They will bite you before you see them. The stronger Deet can make you feel quite queezy so it's best to have as little amount of skin exposed as possible so you don't need to put too much on. Hope this helps with your clothing choices

joycesw

I believe it also depends on time of year. We were there in October, and didn't really have a problem with the tsetse flies. One of our drivers caught one, showed us, and that was it. Never saw another. We have friends who were there in June and they were biting through their heavy pants. I also got the sense (I could be totally wrong here) the only place we really might have a problem was in the Serengeti. I did not wear dark colors there. However, I would browse through previous posts to see what other travelers have to say.

TauckTim

Hi Lexipuppy,

Yes, it's not advisable to wear dark, black, or navy blue clothing while on safari, as those colors have indeed been known to attract tsetse flies, but like joycesw said, it is affected by the time of year. Just make sure you remember to bring your insect repellent with DEET!

-Tim

Sealord

blackmagic79 wrote:

I have been on this trip and most nights we went to dinner in the safari clothes we had worn during the day and then there were some ladies who always changed to slacks and a nicer top for dinner. It's really up to you but you could really do this trip with only safari clothes, however, you might just want to pack the ever handy black slacks and a couple to dressier tops just in case you do want to change. This is such a fabulous trip - you will have an amazing time!

Do women wear dresses to dinner anywhere on this trip, like at the Four Seasons, in our group or other guests? A member of our party hates to be under-dressed. (;-)