I haven’t mentioned it much, but by the time this is published, we are going to be in Kenya!
I am SO excited to share my inordinate ridiculous obsession with warthogs with my husband for the first time. Maybe now he’ll see why we have wooden warthogs and stuffed warthogs and pictures of warthogs and warthog dog toys…
I think he’s probably more excited to see elephants, giraffes, and crossing our fingers–cats. Seeing lions is always fun, but cheetahs and leopards are particularly special as they become fewer and fewer.
And what about some bat eared foxes, just to round out the mix?
Oops. This post was supposed to be about packing. Major fail.
There are a few things that I always take on safari that I find to be super useful. Over the last few trips, I’ve received many comments from other travelers wishing they had something similar.
1. Croakies. I really don’t like taking pictures with my sunglasses on, and I learned (on the day of my wedding) that sticking them in my hair results in tangles and lots of panic. Bad idea. With croakies I can just take them off and around my neck they hang, ready to be placed back on my face rather than lost, sat on, dropped outside of the land rover, etc.
2. Energy/granola bars. Many times you get up before sunrise and don’t get much in the way of breakfast until you finish the early game drive. No problem–I just grab a granola bar. Taking Malarone, I often find myself a bit queasy without food in my stomach (not much, though) in the morning, and a granola bar is an easy way to get some nutrition and some calories. Kind and Luna bars are my bars du jour.
3. Super comfy shoes for night. There is nothing worse than having to trudge to the lodge for dinner in tennis shoes (or worse, hiking footwear…) after a day in the sun and dirt, and you may not always feel comfortable in flip flops (though the mosquitoes might prefer that). So I always bring shoes like actual slippers (that look like loafers), Tom’s, or Sperry’s to ensure that I have something that is easy to slide on, super comfy, goes with anything, and is perfect for dinner or drinks around the campfire.
4. Hanger clips. Often safari lodgings will either have laundry service or a line for laundry, but if you’ve ever tried to drape underwear over the line, you know it often falls. (And which you should not send to be laundered…culturally its inappropriate). In come the hanger clips! One little clip, and you have stable laundry that you can hang over a door, a towel bar, and pretty much wherever.
5. Bug wipes. I always carry-on, and while I do carry a small container of bug spray, bug wipes are a great way to augment my supply. I particularly like Ben’s, as they don’t smell quite as bad as some of the others. I really prefer bug wipes around my head/neck/ears where I always seem to have horrible aim with spray containers (my eyes and mouth are like magnets).
6. A Ipad SD connector. When I went to Cambodia, my friend had purchased one of these for her new ipad and I used in constantly. By far the most useful thing to travel with so I can keep up with photos as I go. I don’t know about you, but I become totally overwhelmed (read: unenthusiastic) about sorting 500-600 photos after a trip. It’s a drag. But if I do them every day or every other, and get them into folders, it becomes a lot more manageable. Plus, I really like flipping through a set after a long day. It’s also a good airplane project.
There you have it! What else is super helpful to have on a safari?
