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sunscreen and insect repellant
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!
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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
I treated my safari clothes with Permethrin and applied a DEET-based product to exposed skin, but I’m a skitto magnet
Lesleytarpinian: i am taking this trip on August 23. Is that your departure date?
Hi Smarks! Don’t forget to take the opportunity to sleep out on the salt flats, it’s awesome!
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.
BKMD. It went on the Switzerland thread 😂😂😂
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. 😄)
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.).
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.
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.
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.
SandyFeet - I was wondering about the "facilities." Thanks for clarifying that.
Why the ski goggles and face covering? Was it windy?
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.
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.
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.
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?❤️
Here’s my latest sunset/sunrise. Not a very clear photo 1-25am Norway
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.
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.
