Packing Tips for Botswana, South Africa, & Zambia

We are starting to pack for our trip coming up in September. Since we have the weight limits for our luggage, does anyone who has been on this trip or other African safaris have any packing suggestions or hints to share? I started laying out clothes today and I thought, oh my gosh, this will never work? Also, any specific things we must definitely not leave at home. I have read Tauck's suggested list, but the advice of someone who has traveled on the Tauck tours to Africa would be most helpful.
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Comments

  • Having been on the other three Tauck safaris, I have lots of suggestions, but you don't like my answers. There is plenty of room for everything and cheap laundry on the way.
  • British, I welcome informative, helpful responses and suggestions from you and anyone else who is willing to share them.
  • HuntNfun, when are you going to Africa?
  • HuntNfun, I was on this tour July 2015 and suspect that your weather will be a little bit warmer. Do you have any specific questions about your packing, or just general? Sometimes I prefer to communicate off of the forum, so you can contact me at oceans52@msn.com, if you like.

    Susan
  • Quints06 and Carlsbadsue - I'd love to hear whatever advice you have... my trip is coming up quickly!
  • Getting everything together ready for the suitcase! Cape Town is the challenge, so much cooler and the only opportunity to get out of all the khaki!
  • BayStater wrote:
    Quints06 and Carlsbadsue - I'd love to hear whatever advice you have... my trip is coming up quickly!
    This is what I am packing, 3 pair long pants, 1 pair shorts, 5 long sleeve blouses, two roll up to make short sleeve, 1 nice pantsuit, that I will be wearing on the trip over, 2 t-shirts, sweatpants, tennis shoes, sandals, flops, silk skirt and blouse, sweater, 2 silk camisoles , jacket and long sleeve warm undershirt. 1 scarf, Tilley hat. I will tweak it a little before we leave, but as of now it all weighs about 35 lbs.
  • edited September 2016
    Wow Quintos, I am impressed that you can pack so lghtly, I am not good at that but to compensate, everything I take is very light weight and I roll everything. So it takes up very little room. I will make up my mind this weekend exactly what to pack for the Capetown part. All my stuff for the safari part of the tour is ready and rolled, but I am taking 8 pairs of suitable safari pants, with 8 long sleeve t-shirts plus two long sleeve safari blouses I can use for layering. This is all stuff I have had for years, all but two pairs of pants I wear anytime. I am sure I will get some laundry done, but I don't generally like sending my clothing, even though I know it is free in most of these places, that's just me. It also takes a lot of planning to figure out which days I can send laundry because we move about so often. Overkill, probably, and if I lose my suitcase, that's a lot of clothing to loose. I won't be wearing anything other than this type of clothing once we do the safari part of the trip, if I have time to change before dinner, it will be into fresh safari clothes. I am hoping to fit two complete changes of clothes into my small carry on backpack instead of one since we experienced delayed luggage in Tanzania and then we did have to send out laundry until it arrived. We thought we would never see it again at the time.
  • British, I put my blouses into hefty 2.5 gallon slider bags. You can squeeze all the air out as you zip and they are almost flat. I pack almost all of my clothing this way. It helps to keep things organized and you don't have to completely unload your suitcase to find a certain blouse, scarf, underwear, etc. we have travelled a lot and this works for me. I hate luggage and a suitcase with no room. I am a big shopper and always manage to have a full suitcase on the way home.
  • Hi Quints, yes, those bags are great, I sometimes use them and will probably put my Cape Town clothes in those to leave behind in the big suitcase. Tip, take extra bags to put your shoes you wear in camps in, they will get very dirty.
    Mr B. Has strict rules about shopping, not the spending money, but the time taken away from site seeing. Fortunately I make decisions about what to buy very quickly. Our best opportunity to buy is going to be in CapeTown, there is a craft center, but I believe we are being taken to a market this time. I also found the gift shop at Kirstenbosch Gardens very good last time. I am not sure how much more African jewelery I need! Well that will be Mr. B's comment. Last time I bought two ostrich eggs, one painted, one plain. I bought art too. I think I will get another egg, it will be fun to show my little grandchildren and be a reserve in case my grandson does again what he did recently, pick up an ostrich egg ---Er sweetheart, give that to grandma and I'll tell you all about ostriches, just give it to grandma gently! phew! Of course, Cape Town was at the start of the tour for Elegant SA, so I was landed with two ostrich eggs in my hand carry for the entire trip, and when we got to Zimbabwee security, they were not happy I had ostrich eggs, but with a smile they let me keep them! Mr B, well put it this way, he always says, you buy it, you deal with the consequences of carrying it, because isn't it always the case, the first day of the trip, you see something and have to have it, then you are so glad because you see nothing as nice for the rest of the tour, but you have to carry it around for two weeks. Ah, those River cruises will be a doddle!
  • Went on 9/15/2016 trip... and it was much hotter than we all expected! 100F+ daily - they went from winter to summer overnight!

    Agree with other advice given (maybe here, but certainly elsewhere)... long sleeves and long pants... in very lightweight materials (like fishing or safari type clothing)... helps with sun, bugs, staying clean and scrapes from brush.

    I had three "safari" outfits and thought that worked great... when I got to the next camp I gave two to the laundry and had one to wear... doing the dame thing every two days at a new camp.

    With the heat and near zero humidity, when I did launder things - big and small - they dried very quickly!

    Most of our gang (of 18) stayed in the day's safari outfit for dinner. With the exception of the Royal Livingstone at the start and The One and Only at the end, it was super casual. Dinner on safari was open air every night - one way or another.

    Most, but not all, wore typical "safari" clothes... that seems like the way to go... but to each his own.
  • Thanks everyone for the information, thoroughly enjoyed reading all the posts. We are leaving on our journey October 13. We are packing today and spraying our clothes. Hopefully with all ya'lls help, we have successfully packed. One question I do have is: what did you wear on the airplane from home to Africa? safari clothing? Again, thanks so much for the insight!!
  • On no, did not want to look like a mucky ragamuffin that I looked like the whole week of safari, you know, no make up, unwashed hair, clothes that looked like I slept all night in them!!!
  • edited October 2016
    Thanks British, I was planning on looking decent hahaha but then i read we are getting on a boat to the Livingstone and wasn't sure if i should have nice clothes on. But after the long plane ride, i may look like a ragamuffin anyway lol Thanks again for all your helpful info!!!
  • You know valover. I misread your question and was talking about the return to the US. Going there, because of my experience with delayed luggage on our last trip to Africa, I made sure I wore things on the plane that could double as safari gear in case that happened again, so I wore Khaki quick drying capris and a long sleeve T shirt. I always try to wear either capris or slim legged pants because the thought of the pants touching the floor in the plane bathroom makes me freak out. On the way home, the bathroom floor in the second plane was completely sticky with urine, it smelled terrible and it was so bad it was leaking out into the area outside the bathroom, another reason I never go to the bathroom Without shoes. Hope your experience is better.
  • Well that's pretty disgusting!! I have never given thought to my pants touching the ground, gross!!! Capris it is!! You have been an exceptional help, and I really appreciate it.
  • As soon as I have time to download and work on my photos for my photobook, I am planning on trying to follow the instructions that Alan S has posted of how to download photos onto the forum, because I have a couple to show you and Alan to whet your appetites. I will put it in under the heading of Kalahari Magic. Those who have already taken the tour can probably guess the photos I have in mind. We loved this tour. But I still love Tanzania the best, that is the Africa I always dreamed it would be.
  • edited October 2016
    British wrote:
    As soon as I have time to download and work on my photos for my photobook, I am planning on trying to follow the instructions that Alan S has posted of how to download photos onto the forum, because I have a couple to show you and Alan to whet your appetites. I will put it in under the heading of Kalahari Magic. Those who have already taken the tour can probably guess the photos I have in mind. We loved this tour. But I still love Tanzania the best, that is the Africa I always dreamed it would be.

    Don't forget, the photos you plan to post here can not be wider than 640 pixels. First, I make copies then reduce the size of ones I want to upload and post because I don't want to mess with my originals since I use them for slide shows, canvas prints, or coffee table books.

    I can't wait to see your photos!
  • edited October 2016
    Awesome!! I can't wait to see your photos, I hope to share some with you as well. Our tour starts this Saturday, we are leaving Thursday, not looking forward to the long plane ride, but it will be worth it!!! As far as the tour, guess we'll just have to add Tanzania to the bucket list as well :) 2017 we are heading to Morocco, have you been there?
  • You are going to hav a fantastic time! The only thing that may be different for you is that when we were at Eagle island camp, the staff felt that by now there would not be enough waters around to take the canoe rides, but that was my least favorite thing because of the naughty hippo who threatened to attack us, so the ride was cut short for us and a couple of others who were too near in that narrow area to safely pass by him. Advise using your kioky scarf as suggested by the guides, soak in water, squeeze out a little and wrap around your head and neck in the Kalahari area to keep cool. Oh and don't go near the back legs of the zebra in Livingstone, several of our group had to be warned to keep back by security. Please report back if you manage to do the Seal island trip, ours was cancelled.
  • No not been to Morocco, not on my bucket list, even though I've seen amazing footage of the mountainous areas.. I never think of North Africa in the same way, so Egypt is also not on my list. My father of course spent a lot of time in North Africa during the Second World War and talked about it when asked. That's where he contracted Malaria and was very ill---another tip, all the hotels on this tour provided cans of bug spray that our guide said he found very effective.
    I am hoping that Tauck starts to do tours to Namibia again in the future, otherwise we would definitely take this tour again at another time of year and also go back to Tanzania, I do wish I could figure out doing some charity work there.
  • Thanks again, always such a help. Next on my agenda today, is to pack it all up so we can head to DC area tomorrow. The Morocco trip is a year away, and you're the second one who's said "hummmmm" so we may rethink that trip. Anyway, I will hopefully get back to you during the trip. As far as charity work, it is so needed, we spent some time in Rwanda with Opportunity International. I'm sure you can google that and see what its all about :) I believe their presence is heavy in Africa :) Take care and hope to get back to you soon!!!!
  • edited October 2016
    How interesting to hear about youu spending time in Rwanda with Opportunity International. What were you able to see and do there? I just looked at the website and realized it is about micro loans. I looked at Tanzania, Rwanda and then India. I noticed they offer a tour of India to see the work, goodness gracious, it costs more per day than the very luxurious Tauck tours that are offered in India, we took the Spotlight tour a while ago.
    Our interests lie in healthcare, which is why we support the Fame clinic in Arusha Tanzania. We have met the founders in the US twice when on their fundraiser tours and are so impressed by what they have been able to achieve. When we went on the Tauck tour of Tanzania, our tour guide took the group to visit the clinic as it is just down the road from the school that Tauck supports. They are both making a tremendous difference to the local population. Indeed, on our Zambia, Botswana and SA tour, we discovered that our tour director's baby was born there, so I joked that I probably helped pay for the birth. Our special interest is Women's health. We met both a trainee midwife and a Neurologist in the US who volunteer there. The facility continues to expand, when we were there, they were just about to open the maternity wing and they have since saved the lives of a growing number of Moms and babies who would have died without the expertise offered from the clinic from both volunteers and the Tanzanian Drs and Nurses that they mentor and train. I know that a large proportion of the money we are able to donate to them goes to where it was intended. Yes, I am plugging Fame again! If we could physically help there, it would be such a dream, but we are so humbled by the high quality of care they are able to give. My skills seem so out of date.
  • I am back in that states and I can not begin to tell you how awesome our trip was, probably one of the best we have ever taken. We were able to do the canoe rides, the water was very low, so getting to the canoes was very interesting to say the least. And like you, that was probably the least favorite thing we did, the guide did get us a little too close for comfort to a feeding elephant and he (the elephant) put us in our place rather quickly haha. We were able to go to seal island and arrived in time to see a baby seal who was just minutes old, and some handsome penguins, pretty awesome!!

    In Rwanda, we spent time visiting the people our loans are helping, visited their shops, farms etc. and hear first hand how OI has completely changed their lives, awesome organization, which we love to support. I have another one for you to google, this one my husband has personally been involved with and it is AWSOME!!! Mission of Hope Bolivia, it's a non profit hospital, founded by a very dear friend of ours. It allows people of Bolivia to receive medical care free of charge, it is funded solely by private donations. We have several teams from our local hospital go and serve from time to time. I have been and its amazing to see the grateful people who have come from miles away to be treated. Google It!!!! this one may be more appealing to you :)
  • We wondered about how much time one's full-sized, hard-sided pieces of luggage were available to travelers versus how many days/ locations were limited to what could be packed into a duffel bag. We recently returned from the Kenya and Tanzania tour where there were two segments where we were limited to duffel bags only. I think that we might be able to plan what to pack easier if we knew sooner about the "duffel bag-only" segments of the tour.
    In reading the itinerary, we see a "civilized" hotel in Livingstone (Zambia) and in Capetown (South Africa) with tented camps in between. Will our full-sized luggage travel with us to Moremi, Eagle Island and the Kalahari?
  • edited January 2017
    No! It's no problem.
  • KathrynH wrote:
    We wondered about how much time one's full-sized, hard-sided pieces of luggage were available to travelers versus how many days/ locations were limited to what could be packed into a duffel bag. We recently returned from the Kenya and Tanzania tour where there were two segments where we were limited to duffel bags only. I think that we might be able to plan what to pack easier if we knew sooner about the "duffel bag-only" segments of the tour.
    In reading the itinerary, we see a "civilized" hotel in Livingstone (Zambia) and in Capetown (South Africa) with tented camps in between. Will our full-sized luggage travel with us to Moremi, Eagle Island and the Kalahari?

    Like you learned during K&T, living out of duffels for a few days is not a problem. Actually, my wife and I shared just one duffel during K&T, so using both for B,SA,Z would be even easier!

    Also, soft-sided packing cubes can be used effectively with the duffels, too. They go a long way helping to keep everything organized.
  • Quoting AlanS:
    Also, soft-sided packing cubes can be used effectively with the duffels, too. They go a long way helping to keep everything organized.

    That's a novel suggestion! Thank you.

    We also wondered how dressy the game drive taken on the train in Zambia might be. If it is also the Tauck Welcome Dinner, were the gentlemen in jackets and the ladies in their finery?
  • The train drive was disappointing as far as seeing game, we saw little, a lot of the journey was in the dark . But liked the train ride in general, it was a good way of gettting to know the group too. No one was dressed up at all, almost the reverse, which surprised me. But then everyone was a seasoned traveler on our tour and there was no jacket pretentiousness. Forget any photos of people in evening dress you might see on the website of the company that own the train.
  • We are going on this trip September 7 2019...so i have lots of time to prepare. My husband and i are 62 and 65.

    Can you share with me where to purchase proper clothing? I have looked at several sights... but am having a hard time finding what i am looking for.

    I can pack for the days at the beginning and end and send those things in the suitcase on to Cape Town...and i understand that we need safari clothing for the remainder of the times. I am not a shorts person...I mostly wear dresses...so this will already be a stretch for me. But if i could find cargo type pants with an elastic waist i would be extremely happy...and i am a flip flop wearer so enclosing my feet at all times...does not sound too pleasing...lol I am looking at sketchers slip on shoes in taupe color? Does this sound like a good choice?

    anyway...any help is greatly appreciated
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