When putting together your clothes for the trip, take into account the season that you’re taking your safari, the location that you’re travelling to, and the amount of time to spend in a destination.
Choose Neutral Colours
When it comes to dressing for your African safari, choosing the right colours is important. If you plan to do a lot of travelling in a vehicle, then the colour of your clothes might not matter that much. However, if you plan to get close to wildlife, it’s important to wear clothes that will help you to blend with the environment.
This means avoiding bright colours as well as black and white and opting for shades of khaki, olive, and stone. Animals will be spooked if they see a bright white figure heading in their direction, so avoid bright white and bold shades. You should also try to avoid dark tones as they tend to heat up faster in the sun.
Bring Comfortable Clothes
Be sure to pack clothes that you are comfortable wearing. You don’t need to pack anything too dressy and should try to keep your apparel limited to comfortable clothes that you won’t mind wearing for long periods of time.
Linen trousers are ideal, and comfortable to wear in the evenings.
Fast-Drying Materials Are Your Friend
At camps there aren’t always dryers available, so bring along clothes that are made from fast-drying materials. Denim takes a long time to dry, so bringing denim could mean wearing damp jeans for a while if they get wet.
Lightweight cotton shirts, wool socks, and clothes made from manmade materials such as polyamide are much more ideal materials since they are lightweight. They also dry quicker which is helpful if you plan to wash along the way, or if you happen to get wet.
Foot-Friendly Footwear
Big old-fashioned safari boots are not necessary! Remember to think comfort when choosing your footwear. You want to bring something that’s practical and comfortable. You should probably stick with a pair of tried and true walking shoes or comfortable sandals that are good for walking.
You should never bring a new pair of shoes that you haven’t worn before since new shoes generally need to be broken in and you can end up with blisters from them.
Shorts and shirts are quite comfortable on a safari especially during the day, but sometimes during the game drives and short walks in the bushes you might wish you had covered up a little more. So light weight pants in light colours like cream, khaki or grey are good for the game drives and walks. At night you will want to cover up to avoid mosquito bites especially in areas with malaria so save your shorts for the day time.
Pack Practical
Safaris involve walking and driving down dirt roads and tracks, and you’ll want to bring things that you don’t mind getting a bit dusty.
You’ll also want to leave the silk shirts behind. Laundry services are often available at camps, but you don’t want to bring anything that’s easily creased or easily damaged.
Pack for the Weather
Early mornings and evenings can be chilly, even in Africa. Once the sun goes down it can be quite cold, no matter what time of year it is. It’s important to be prepared for a range of varying temperatures and weather conditions.
Bring a lightweight jacket or a fleece pullover for sitting around the campfire at night, as well as t-shirts and lightweight trousers for the day. If you’re travelling in the spring you may want to bring a portable rain jacket for sudden showers.
Don’t Over pack
Believe it or not, you don’t need to bring every beige shirt you own. Many camps have laundry services, often with a 24-hour turn-around, so packing everything you own isn’t necessary. Bring along plenty of basics: socks, undergarments among others.
Also keep in mind baggage allowances, when travelling to many places in Africa you’re often restricted by a 12 to 15-kilogram luggage allowance, so take care to avoid bringing too much.
Bring Helpful Accessories
Keep things simple and forgo the expensive jewellery or high-heeled shoes. Likewise, you may not want to bring UV proof shirt that doesn’t offer much in the way of comfort or layering. High-tech is great, but it’s not absolutely necessary and if you travel with us then essential technology .
Because you need to keep the luggage light, it is inevitable that you will recycle clothes on your trip. But the light luggage will make it easy for you to move from one lodge to another. There may be laundry services offered at the lodges so you can have your clothes washed and ironed.
The rugged African terrain requires sturdy comfortable hiking boots that are long lasting and will not leave your feet bruised. It is very easy for something as trivial as a pair of shoes to ruin your African safari experience. So we strongly suggest that you invest in safari footwear for your trip. Try and get a pair of shoes or boots is high quality, preferably waterproof and that protect the ankles. Please choose rightly so as to enjoy your African trip.
