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sunscreen and insect repellant

lesleytarpinian

Hi. We will be on the Zambia, Botswana and South Africa trip in August. For those who have taken this trip, what quantity of sunscreen and insect repellent did you take/need for this trip? Also, was spraying your clothing with premethrin before the trip sufficient, or did you find reapplications were needed during your travels. Thanks for your help!

Comments

British

Permethrin for clothing lasts through quite a few washes. If you wear long sleeves and pants you hardly need any insect repellent or sunscreen which is what I advise you do

AlanS

I treated my safari clothes with Permethrin and applied a DEET-based product to exposed skin, but I’m a skitto magnet

smarks50

Lesleytarpinian: i am taking this trip on August 23. Is that your departure date?

British

Hi Smarks! Don’t forget to take the opportunity to sleep out on the salt flats, it’s awesome!

British

BKMD

I posted this yesterday, but it never made it. Not even a Draft saved. Odd... Anyway, one more try:

I vistaed India last year. I used a Picaridin-based insect repellent rather than DEET. Picaridin is equally effective and does not have a smell or stickiness of DEET. I did not get a single bite during the trip. Suggest you read about it online.

British

BKMD. It went on the Switzerland thread 😂😂😂

Smiling Sam

Sometimes BKMD forgets his way home from his daily bike ride as well. 😂

Those senior moments are coming more and more frequently for all of us I think (I can't quite remember, but I think so. 😄)

BKMD

British - Thanks for pointing that out. I'll delete it. I didn't get malaria in Switzerland either

Smiling Sam may be right. I usually check the forum when I get back from my morning bike ride, while cooling off and sipping my Nuun ocktail. It's been pretty hot here lately, so maybe some delirium has set in.

smarks50

British: Thanks for the reminder! I assume there are no lions wandering around the cots in the middle of the night. Also, did you do the ATV excursion on the Botswana savanna (even returning on ATV in the dark)? Did you drive yourself or do the rangers drive for you?

British

Hi Smarks. If you mean the ATV to the salltpans, I decided to ride with Mr B behind him otherwise he would have been worrying about my driving We then stayed on the pans in the beds and I think driven back in the morning.
There is nothing on the pans, no insects or animals. The surface is crusty with salt. I highly recommend sleeping on the pans if it is offered. It is one of the top things I have experienced on a Tauck tour, the silence, the stars above and the space station passing by. I’ll try to find my photos.

British

AlanS

We had exactly the same experience as British. The only thing that bothered me was the early morning dew. I didn’t want to bury my head in the sleeping bag but somehow rigged up a small canopy over it.

smarks50

Looks like a lot of fun - the “sleepover” isn’t mentioned in the itinerary but if offered I would love to do this. Instead they mention having to return to the lodge in the dark (with a van offered as an alternative) but maybe they decide at the last minute whether to offer this (weather considerations, etc.).

British

This was not published on our tour either. And yes, it depends on whether it is dry, which it should be by that time of year I think. When you say lodge, do you mean camp or lodge? I am talking about when we stayed at Camp Kalahari which is a basic tented camp. The tents are arranged along a sandy path, quite separated and high on stilts. It was a similar time of year and extremely hot. I can remember getting to the tent and washing a couple of pieces of under that dried in minutes. That camp and the desert, meerkats etc is one of our most favorite times up there with visiting the gorillas.

SandyFeet

Loved sleeping under the stars in the Kalahari… better than the Sahara and the Serengheti; I felt very safe and protected. There was a campfire burning all night and the night watchmen were vigilant. The 11 other silly people on my tour returned to camp after dinner for reasons that escape me. It was just a French couple from Jack’s Camp, the TD, Camp Kalahsri staff and moi. The sunset and sunrise were spectacular.

British

Wow, your sunrise photo is awesome. Only one elderly couple didn’t stay when we went. Truely one of the best experiences. The silence, the skies, the feeling of how insignificant you are on this planet. I do want to take the tour again someday.
Your last photo shows very clearly what the ground is like and why there would be no point in animals or insects being there. The only other place I have been with similar ground is Death Valley. Very crunchy under foot.

BKMD

SandyFeet - I was wondering about the "facilities." Thanks for clarifying that.

Why the ski goggles and face covering? Was it windy?

OurTravels34

On our trip last August, sleeping on the Pans was not an option because of the very high winds. I thought our tent at the camp was going to blow over.

British

The facilities for us was a toilet tent a long walk away, or according to the TD, the ground at the end of your bed….its pitch black and as you can see the beds are about 100 feet apart.

kfnknfzk

I love the photos, SandyFeet. And I also love British’s comment about how insignificant we really are in the grand scheme of things. For many of us, traveling is very humbling and forces us to “see” more than ourselves.

SandyFeet

British, I agree with you 100%. The middle photo is the sunset. I did yoga on the salt
pans as the sun was setting. It was divine.

BKMD, there was a portable toilet, but I am a member of the Squattopee tribe so I just used mother nature next to my bed in the middle of the night. We were all dressed like that for the potentially dusty ATV ride to the dinner/campsite. I don’t remember an inordinate amount of dust. You are going to love this trip which my TD on the South Africa Elegant Adventure told me was his favorite so I had to discover why for myself. 😎

kfn, “Travel leaves us speechless and then turns us into storytellers” doesn’t it?❤️

British

Here’s my latest sunset/sunrise. Not a very clear photo 1-25am Norway

British

I feel so privileged to be able to travel. Dreamed of it from being a little girl. Back then I never thought I would get the chance to leave the British Islands to see the world and all the people who make our planet unique.

sudhamali

The staff at Camp Kalahari make this experience very special; we had dinner outside in the salt pans ; then we slept on the beds that were just made so special; they even had hot water bottles for warmth because the night was cold.We had full moon that night .I rode piggyback on the ATV as well.

Catniss

I wrote this same note to British directly but if anyone else has some comments or suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Happy New Year! Taking our family of six (four adults and two children 12 & 10) to both Camp Kalahari and Dukes East in July this year. I am an older lady (76) and get cold easily. The others will all be just fine...in fact the grandchildren and their mother live in Latvia, so they won't mind the cold. Will I need to bring anything other than two sets of base layers, fleece, and warm jacket? Does Camp Kalahari provide extra blankets for the star-camp-out? Really looking forward to this amazing experience. Sincerely, Lynne

SandyFeet

Catniss, we are the same age. I did this trip in September several years ago and was snug as a bug in a rug sleeping under the stars in the Kalahari. Hot water bottle as previously mentioned as as many blankets as you want. It is an amazing experience to sleep in those salt pans after an elegant dinner in the middle of the desert.

Catniss

Dear SandyFeet, Both you and British have happily convinced me not to worry at all about being cold! Everyone else in my family is crossing their fingers, toes, and eyes that it will not be too windy or wet for us to definitely sleep-out-under-the-stars !!!! Thank you so much for replying to my note. 😁 Lynne

AlanS

Catniss
12:29PM
Dear SandyFeet, Both you and British have happily convinced me not to worry at all about being cold! Everyone else in my family is crossing their fingers, toes, and eyes that it will not be too windy or wet for us to definitely sleep-out-under-the-stars !!!! Thank you so much for replying to my note. 😁 Lynne

Catniss, It sounds like you are taking a non-Tauck tour, so it is hard to tell what your itinerary includes and what your needs will be. We went at the end of May. Regular safari attire was sufficient during the day.

While it is true that Camp Kalahari provides hot water bottles with warm bedding and extra blankets, due to the clear air and cloudless sky, it can get quite nippy at night, in the early in the morning, and sunset. If you visit the Meerkats, it will be done just before sunrise when they first emerge from their burrows and before they dash off to hunt. It was really cold and windy!!! The fleece lined, hooded, cloaks we were given weren't sufficient!!

If you spend a night on the pan, the bedding (heavy-duty sleeping bag) and hot water bottle will keep you warm when in bed, but it will be cold if you make the trek to the latrine- most people slept in their clothes. The worst for me when sleeping out on the Pan was the cold and wet dew in the early morning hours- I didn't want to bury my head and completely cover my face and mouth with the sleeping bag and it was difficult to fashion any sort of hood. If I did it again I would take some sticks to make a little head cover.