What to pack for Botswana

Luggage and bags: Frequent power cuts in Botswana and not to mention helping you make your way back to accommodation in the dark, find your shoes in the dark etc... I cannot recommend taking one of these bad boys highly enough. We had 3 between the 4 of us - wish we had had 4. They were the most used items, after the camera and were surprisingly bright.

Photo Equipment: don't rely purely on recharging batteries - we suffered frequent power cuts and I was most greatful I had bluk standard batteries in supply too.

Miscellaneous: a book on Southern African animals & birds

Miscellaneous: Binoculars are a very important accessory for a Botswana safari. It is very frustrating missing out on a cheetah hunt or lion kill just because you forgot to bring binoculars!

Ensure the one you choose has a high power of magnification; a large outer diameter and a decent exit pupil size to collect a lot of light early morning and at dusk; and a wide field of view to scan undergrowth, bushes and trees.

The binoculars should be light and comfortable to use when wearing sunglasses. For clarity, use the best quality prisms and optical coatings to cut down on light reflection.

The binoculars should be fairly robust to survive bumps and drops while on safari.

Luggage and bags: Make them the soft type, always best for safari holidays

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Good walking shoes, flip flops to wear in the ablution blocks
In winter a jacket will be required for evenings and early mornings.
Safari clothes should be made up of natural colours, avoid blues, whites and bright colours.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: A great investment I found was some wet whipes, anti bacterial ones I took with me and we used them for everything.
Usual medical supplies and malaria tablets.

Photo Equipment: Plenty of camera cards. Know your camera or you will miss that split second opportunity.
Lens cleaner and be aware of keeping your camera out of the dusty atmosphere as much as possible when not in use.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: Bags to put rubbish and uneaten or unused food in.

Miscellaneous: Comfortable, used clothes are the best for this sort of holiday. You will get very dirty and dusty, so be prepared.

Luggage and bags: Pack concisely. Bags most have durable and flexible sides.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Don't pack to much white for game viewing, this includes this white socks.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Get the small approximately 4 ounces container of cutter with the orange top. It works best for mosquito repellent, however if you forget it most places have repellent for you to use.

Photo Equipment: Take your camera and lots of battery and memory cards. The bag will be in the jeep so minimal carrying is required.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: Bring long sleeves it gets cool at night.

Luggage and bags: If you are doing fly-in trips on the little Sesna planes from lodge to lodge the expectation is that the lodges provide you with everything you need from toiletries to doing your laundry, so you really don’t need to take much – and you can’t because your luggage limit is restricted to something the size of a knat’s hanky anyway. Even if you are allowed to take more, follow the principal that less is definitely more, because everything you take has to go in the back of that Landrover, and adds to the general chaos that can ensue once everything has had a good bounce over the roads and has been tossed around the cab like a mixed salad. This is where lots of little bags come in very handy indeed. Another great packing tip is to put your full itinerary with addresses in an open pocket in your luggage, so if it has gone missing, people know where to send it on to.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Snow & Rock are a great source to help stock up for your expedition. Craghopper trousers are enormously useful with all their pockets. A good web site for stuff is http://www.safariquip.co.uk/ and a list of useful stuff includes:
• A fleece – you will need layers to strip off/ add on
• Woolly hat, gloves
• Hat
• Sunglasses
• Binoculars

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: • Sunblock and Lipblock
• Mozzie repellant
• First aid kit esp plasters and bandages and headache tablets

Photo Equipment: Spare charged camera batteries
A LOT of batteries for: torches, lamp headsets, cameras, GPS (we went through 4 sets for this alone), video camera, etc.
• Car cigarette-lighter charger

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: • Blankets – to cover bear legs on early morning chilly game drives
• Earplugs – lots of them so you’re not scrabbling around trying to find strays
• Leatherman tool
• Small pocket torch
• Long life candles
• Veronica Roodt Maps
• Star maps
• Plastic wallets for maps
• Tin opener
• funnel for water – so you can get water out of larger containers without waste,
• Bottle opener
• Corkscrew
• Knife/ scissors
• Head-torches
• Plastic ‘baggies’ for putting food into
• Plastic bags for putting clothes into
• Plastic bags to seal things up in from animals and dust and sand
• Plastic bags to put medicines into so you wouldn’t have bulky bottles
• Plastic bags to put coffee powder, sugar etc into, so you wouldn’t have bulky packaging
• Did I mention plastic bags
• Antiseptic wet wipes – these were incredibly useful to try and keep the bush at bay
• small plastic water drinking bottles

Miscellaneous: Food packing - Bush Tucker doesn’t have to be a trial; it can be the real highlight of a trip like this, especially if you bring packets of casserole mixes

Luggage and bags: A backpack is by far the best option, unless you are planning to do an organized trip and then either will do - as long as it is light....

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: It can get very very hot, at any time of the year, so light breathable clothes, but also take a jumper just in case, because the nights - particularly in the Kalahari can get quite cold at any time of year.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Your own needles and also anti-malarials and insect repellant.

Photo Equipment: Away from the tourist centres, it is very difficult to get the film or special camera batteries that you need, so it is probably best to buy in the cities or bring it from elsewhere.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: A waterproof jacket will come in handy for keeping you both warm and dry, should you need either.

Miscellaneous: A torch is invaluable, particularly in rural areas.

Luggage and bags: Light weight. No suit cases.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Layers people. Its hot in noon but very cold in the mornings. Remember u r in a desert. A beanie cap is a must.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Wet wipes you know why ;-) You wil be in a jungle and facilities are real basic.

Luggage and bags: As most of the moving around between camps is done by light aircraft you have to be able to put all you stuff into a small soft bag as it has to be sqeezed in wherever possible in the plane - either the hold or on a seat.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Adventure Travel

Photo Equipment: To do the wildlife justice take a good camera with you, preferably with a reasonable zoom lens. Although most of the time a digital camera will be ok - there will be occasions when they are just not quick enough to capture the moment. For instance just when that lion is poised to leap!!
Also a good pair of binoculars are essential.