BOTSWANA SAFARI - WHAT TO BRING

Of course what you bring on a trip to Botswana will depend on your own personal preferences, length of your trip, where you travel and the time of year. We can give you some tips, based mostly on personal experiences, and you can then improvise accordingly.

Clothing

If you are planning to come during our winter months (May-September), you can expect dry and cool weather. But remember, cool to us is anything below 20 degrees Celsius.

If you are going to be in and around the delta or water areas, you generally will not get temperatures below 5-8 degrees Celsius at night and would expect temperatures to be around 26-28 degrees during the day. But if you are out on a boat in the early morning and have a bit of a breeze – it can get very cold – you will not have central heating anywhere, normally just a campfire that everyone will be crowded around. So bring at least a warm jacket, a sweater and some long pants. Winter in the Kalahari is a different kettle of springbok - the days are mild and cloudless, bright blue expansive skies with temperatures in the mid 20's to low 30's.

But as soon as the sun slips past the horizon - zap - it's cold with the mercury on occasions dipping down to minus (that's right) 12 degrees. That means the water in the bucket is frozen in the morning. So we end up dressing like an onion - lots of layers. In the morning you have on your jacket, sweater, long sleeve shirt and t-shirt, by 9 o'clock the jacket comes off, by 10 the sweater comes off and so on. In the afternoon you just reverse the dressing process - but you'll enjoy it.

If you are coming during our summer months (October-April), you can expect the occasional rainy day (we may get 20 actual rainy days during the period) and some warm temperatures – particularly around December and January. October is killer month because the temperatures are continually climbing, the rain clouds building up, but the rain is just reluctant to fall. Everyone finally breathes a sigh of relieve after the first rains. Even though the temperatures can get about 45 degrees (in the Kalahari up to above 50 degrees), a rain storm can cool things down considerably, and if you get a bit wet, you can feel like your in the middle of winter. In addition, the wetter conditions mean more insects and specifically more mosquitoes. So bring light clothes (t-shirts, shorts, etc.) but make sure you also bring one set of warm clothes, some light long sleeved shirts and pants (particularly for the evenings, as that is when the mosquitoes hammer you) and possibly a water proof poncho.

If you are going to do a mokoro trip, make sure you bring sandals or shoes that you don't mind walking in if they get wet or muddy, because you will have to walk through lots of shallow water. Also bring a water proof bag or container that you can put your camera in - it can occasionally get a bit wet in the mokoros.

If you are going to do a Kalahari trip, make sure you have light walking shoes (like tennis shoes) as you will be walking in areas with lots of thorns, which normally get into sandals. In summer the sand temperatures can get up to 70 degrees - so unless you have feet like a giraffe you better have comfortable shoes.

Equipment

Again this depends very much on personal preferences and areas that you will be travelling, but we would recommend that you bring the following:

A daypack for walking trips and for the mokoro trips.
A good set of compact binoculars for game and bird watching.
A Swiss army knife or a Leatherman type of tool – they will always come in handy.
A good pair of sun glasses, as we have over 330 days of sunshine – and normally you'll have glare from the    sand, water or pans.
A good sun block cream – the sun is intense even during the cool months.
A floppy hat to protect the head and face – particularly if you are going to do a mokoro trip
A canteen or water bottle that is attachable to your belt or daypack. The temperatures can get high, there is    very little humidity and most people not acclimated to the climate dehydrate very fast. You should always take    this with you on walking or mokoro trips.
If you are going to do wildlife photography, make sure you bring a lens that will get you up to 400 or    equivalent.
Try to get pouches for your knife, glasses and binoculars that you can attach to your belt. This will mean you    can access them easily, you won't loose them so easily by misplacing them and most importantly you will have    your hands free to do other things while your are walking in the bush or are on the mokoro.

Medical

The dry and warm climate make Botswana and northern Namibia fairly healthy areas. There are no real major diseases, other than malaria, that the traveller has to worry about.

Malaria is prevalent during the summer (the wet season) but is not a problem during the dry season. If you are going to take a prophylaxis, research the drug's you are going to use carefully. In some instances the reaction to the prophylaxis can be quite severe. Those of us that live in malaria areas, for long periods of time, do not use prophylaxis – rather just treat it if you contract the disease, but you must be able to identify it quickly.

Otherwise a general kit to deal with different small injuries or minor infections would be useful. Possibly you should have the following:

Mosquito and bug repellent
Bandages to deal with cuts, scrapes or blisters
Some antibacterial cream to deal with minor infections
Some sunburn cream or cream for minor burns
Some eye lotion for sun strain, dryness and sand
Some type of lip cream for dry cracked lips
Something for headaches
Phalagal or something for stomach bugs
Imodium for runny stomachs
Skin moisturizing lotion for dry skin