For those that have been hunting in Africa, what's were the most important items you took?

Packing lists on the internet seem to be all over the place. Some guys say all cotton and leave your good gear at home, but lots of carrying opinions on fabrics and patterns or solid colors. Shorts vs Pants

Optics/Binos? What power? How did you carry when hunting

"Safari" hat needed? Buff?

Footwear? Low gaiters needed or not? Sock recommendations?

Safari will take place first two weeks of April in South Africa along the Botswana Border.

Let's start with clothes. Some areas forbid "camo" prints. I always go with a solid color. Soft green or tan. I like to wear shorts, but depends on the terrain/foliage. Typically I wear long pants in the mornings and during the day stalking. I switch to shorts if I can get away for an afternoon of dove hunting by a tank. Don't need to take a lot of clothes. Most camps will do laundry every day.

I don't wear gaiters and never have. I do wear thick wool socks most days along with Courtney boots that are laced up tight. Never had a problem.

Depending on the area, will there be flys, mosquitos, ticks, etc.. For most trips I soak my clothes with Permethrin. Has always worked well for me.

I have a med kit with antibiotics, Imodium, steroids, Pepcid, malaria pills, melatonin, advil/aleeve, tweezers, compression bandages and splints, small suture kit, flashlight, etc..

I have Leica 10x42s that I carry. Very good glass with built in range finder.

My advice is to practice off of sticks a lot. Dry fire as much as you can.

Have fun!

Regular crew socks.
Uninsulated lace up top of ankle boots. You will walk a lot unless shooting from the vehicle.
I wear 511 tac pants, a performance undershirt and a nice button down. You will take lots of pictures and want to look sharp. Plan ol ball cap. Solids or plaids. Not camo.
Bring chap stick. A lot. Apply often.
Wear a good warm coat on the plane. Too bulky to pack. You will need it first and last light. Not so much mid day.
I brought 7x42 binos on a bino buddy style harness.
Bring some hard candy for the local kiddos. They are fun. Compact flash light for around camp.

Don't pack around a bunch of gear.....talk to your PH for other necessities.

Practice crawling several hundred yards then pop up and shoot off the sticks standing. In several trips all of my shots have been standing and shooting off the sticks. Practice this way. A ton.

I don't know if they make them anymore, but when I went Orvis had field pants that were treated with insect repellant. They were great. The number of ticks and other bugs in the brush was surprising.

Pepper ticks were especially bad.

Don't overthink it. Dress for the weather and plan on wearing shorts and some ankle gaiters if u want to fit in. Other than that…it's like dressing for dove hunting. And if you wear camo for dove hunting…don't dress like that.

Take some extra ammo to leave for your PH. Ammo is really hard to get over there and it's expensive.

Our PH's loved our LED Surefire lights so I gave mine to the PH also.

My biggest regret is not keeping a daily journal. I wish I would've splurged on a nice leather bound notebook and wrote daily reports.

Great Idea!

Take a carton of American brand cigarettes as almost all staff smoke and love our brands. Throw in a few butane bic lighters and your team will love you.

JapanTiger's checkbook?

I got a couple of pairs of these when I was in Zambia, one pair in buffalo and the other in elephant. They'll outlive me.

https://www.courteneyboot.com/

I wore Mountain Khaki Original Mountain Pants pretty much everywhere I went. Even though it was farm work, not safari, the outdoor usage was similar.

dahouse said:

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…My biggest regret is not keeping a daily journal. I wish I would've splurged on a nice leather bound notebook and wrote daily reports.

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Col. Littleton leather bound journals would be a perfect fit….

https://www.colonellittleton.com/shop/leather-portfolio-case-no20/

It's a safari, not a fashion show. What do you wear in Texas in October? There you go……. It most certainly can get cold that time of year, but not bitter cold. Pack your normal hunting boots/shoes/pants (camo was fine where I've been) and plan for a range in weather. In all likelihood, you can look up the "normal" weather for your destination. I took a backpack for my binocs (and extra underwear, socks, toiletries on the plane) and a few other things. Don't put them in your checked bag if you want to see them again. Take 2 suitcases, if possible, in case you want to bring back any souvenirs.

We had a diamond guy come out with a briefcase full of stones.

I ended up with 2. I had one set in my Aggie ring. I call it my blood diamond.

If you're in South Africa, the tanzanite from there is really good. I traded the other diamond to my FIL for a beautiful set of tanzanite jewelry for my wife.

We were bordering western boundary of Kruger Park. Temps ranges from 40s to 80s while we were there. I did a lot of hunting in shorts.

Don't be a rich snob. They aren't impressed, nor do they care….

Take a stack of $2 bills and a carton of unfiltered Camels.
The $2 bills are great for tipping and an extreme rarity in Africa. I've done this on my travels for years.
I included a $2 bill in my tip at a bar in Koster, SA…they followed us out to our vehicle as we left and asked me to autograph the bill. It's now hanging on the wall at their bar.
I also gave a $2 bill to a young family with a newborn child and they were going to frame it and place it on the wall over the crib.

They drink a lot of instant coffee (Nescafe). If you want regular ground coffee you might be SOL unless you check with them in advance.

Leave your ammo when you depart.

Put your rifle in a really good case and don't trust the latches. If you fly out of Atlanta expect your rifle to show up later than your luggage. Plenty of airline employees take joy in trying to damage hunting gear and making the rifle case miss a flight…. Nature of the beast

Don't do your taxidermy in Africa if you're more concerned about quality than cost, it's sub par.

Visit any local national game park if you get a chance.


When you're on foot in a stalk and you see a critter hole at your feet…sometimes there's a cobra inside. If your PH ever makes a weird decision and instructs you to "go around" a spot…it's because he saw a cobra. He'll never tell you lol


Splurge and bring home a pair of Courteney boots


Also… Don't be a rich snob. They aren't impressed, nor do they care….

GinMan said:

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Take a stack of $2 bills and a carton of unfiltered Camels.
The $2 bills are great for tipping and an extreme rarity in Africa.
I included a $2 bill in my tip at a bar in Koster, SA…they followed us out to our vehicle as we left and asked me to autograph the bill. It's now hanging on the wall at their bar.
I also have a $2 bill to a young family with a newborn child and they were going to frame it and place it on the wall over the crib.

They drink a lot of instant coffee (Nescaf). If you want regular ground coffee you might be SOL unless you check with them in advance.

Leave your ammo when you depart.

Put your rifle in a really good case and don't trust the latches. If you fly out of Atlanta expect your rifle to show up later than your luggage. Plenty of airline employees take joy in trying to damage hunting gear and making the rifle case miss a flight…. Nature of the beast

Don't do your taxidermy in Africa if you're more concerned about quality than cost, it's sub par.

Visit any local national game park if you get a chance.


When you're on foot in a stalk and you see a critter hole at your feet…sometimes there's a cobra inside. If your PH ever makes a weird decision and instructs you to "go around" a spot…it's because he saw a cobra. He'll never tell you lol

Don't be a rich snob. They aren't impressed or do they care….

Splurge and bring home a pair of Courteney boots

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Puff adders like holes as well.

The biggest thing you can do is just sit and be with the locals. Talk with them, laugh with them, get to know them, do your best to enjoy their culture. In Zambia the typical intro is to ask how they are doing and then how's their family doing. They'll remember you as a muzungu that didn't try to impress but did try to be friends. And you may come away with something more valuable than any animals you killed.

One more thought, take enough cash to tip the trackers, skinners, lodge staff etc.

dahouse said:

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One more thought, take enough cash to tip the trackers, skinners, lodge staff etc.

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Im not sure how US dollars are received in South Africa. Not received well is Zambia because nobody accepts them and the recipient would have the hassle of exchanging them for kwacha.

dahouse said:

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…My biggest regret is not keeping a daily journal. I wish I would've splurged on a nice leather bound notebook and wrote daily reports.

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I bought this from Tactile Craftworks several years ago to chronical my family's trips across the country to national parks. It's beautiful and has held up really well. They've got a ton of different designs and it's a small Mom & Pop type business.

It fits a classic 5"x8" Moleskin...so maybe you could just take the Moleskin and then put it in the cover when you get back

https://tactilecraftworks.com/

One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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dahouse said:

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One more thought, take enough cash to tip the trackers, skinners, lodge staff etc.

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Im not sure how US dollars are received in South Africa. Not received well is Zambia because nobody accepts them and the recipient would have the hassle of exchanging them for kwacha.

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I went to SA this summer. Our outfitter told us to tip the PH in Dollars and the camp staff, tracker, farm hands etc in Rand. I asked my PH what he preferred and he said same thing.

I took a brand new pair of Vortex 12x50 in a chest rig for the trip. On last day I gifted them to my PH to let the trackers use. The PH had a nice set of rangefinding binos but the trackers all seemed to have a pair of 1971 bushnell with one foggy eyepiece and a shoe string to hold them on their neck.

I also took some knife sharpeners and pocket knives to hand out to the trackers & skinners The sharpeners were a big hit

I gave the trackers bino buddies to replace their shoe string bino harness.

One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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dahouse said:

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One more thought, take enough cash to tip the trackers, skinners, lodge staff etc.

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Im not sure how US dollars are received in South Africa. Not received well is Zambia because nobody accepts them and the recipient would have the hassle of exchanging them for kwacha.

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This. It's a pain in the ass for them to exchange currency. Get Rand when you get there (or before you leave) and the trackers like gifts - nice bottle openers, multi tools, warm hats, etc…..

B-1 83 said:

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One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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dahouse said:

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One more thought, take enough cash to tip the trackers, skinners, lodge staff etc.

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Im not sure how US dollars are received in South Africa. Not received well is Zambia because nobody accepts them and the recipient would have the hassle of exchanging them for kwacha.

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This. It's a pain in the ass for them to exchange currency. Get Rand when you get there (or before you leave) and the trackers like gifts - nice bottle openers, multi tools, warm hats, etc…..

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The warm hats is a good idea. In Lundazi, in the wintertime it might be in the 60s - great weather if you grew up in Pearsall. The Zambians would be wearing head socks (knit caps), mittens and puffy coats. It gets colder in South Africa than it does in Zambia.

I had some camo pants that had shrunk in my closet (German Flecktar(sp?)), and took them with me. Had the same tracker the second trip as the first and gave them to him. He's my size, a little slimmer, and you'd have thought I gave him a gold ingot. He wore them the very next day and was "big medicine" to the other trackers.

Ha. Interesting. You don't wear camo when you visit Congo!

One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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Ha. Interesting. You don't wear camo when you visit Congo!

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It just dawned on me why that might be a bad idea…..

Great stuff guys. Thanks all for the information!

B-1 83 said:

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One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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Ha. Interesting. You don't wear camo when you visit Congo!

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It just dawned on me why that might be a bad idea…..

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One time when I was in Congo, we were sitting in an MAF plane waiting to take off for one of the mission stations. About 50 yards away sat a camouflaged European looking helicopter. While we waited about 10 Eastern European looking dudes came out and started getting it ready to go somewhere. They didn't look like UN Peacekeepers. I tried not to make eye contact.

Hire Debbie Gracy to get your gun and luggage at Joburg. Gracy travel SA TX

Take bags of your own blood in case something goes wrong, and you need a transfusion.

Right mane, you'll want to wear this to keep the skinnies beyond the Zambezi!

ValleyRatAg said:

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Take bags of your own blood in case something goes wrong, and you need a transfusion.

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BYOB means something else in Africa.