What to wear on safari – a safari kit list for 2023

Last updated August 23rd, 2023.

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To see lions like this one you'll want to know what to wear on safari - a safari kit list in other words

Everyone’s different. And that’s what makes what to wear on safari – a safari kit list difficult to determine.

Safari-goers need and want different things when they travel to Africa. So this is not intended as a rigid list of specific items to be bought from a store before departure.

Instead, it’s meant to be a general guiding principle to what works best given the continent’s climate. I use the knowledge (and mistakes) I’ve gained travelling there for month after month to hone down what works and what doesn’t.

If you do want a precise kit list to guide you, read my separate article on what to take on safari.

Given the rigours of the road, it can be tempting to pack a multitude of items. My main recommendation – pack light.

My golden rule for safari kit is that there needs to be a 90% chance I will use an item, or it stays at home. This excludes medicines, which I hope never to have to use, but definitely take in any case!

Clothing

When it comes to clothing, you’ll want to wear light natural fabrics. These help keep you cool and allow your skin to breathe.

Baggier clothes help trap cooler air by your skin, while skinny jeans are pretty much a no-no all round. Not only do their tightness cause excess sweating, but denim’s thickness will make you very hot.

You’ll also want to wear natural colours. This is simply to help you blend in as much as possible with the surrounding landscape. Creams, greens and browns are all good, if not overly garish. Red fabrics aren’t.

Wearing a red top will alert the animals you’ve come to view to your presence. It’s also best to avoid blue, as this attracts the tsetse fly. Common in most parts of tropical Africa, they can transmit sleeping sickness. It can kill, and there is no preventative other than staying clear of bites.

When it comes to sleeves, you’ll want to weigh up the extra heat of long-sleeves with the protection they afford. They protect against both the sun during the day, and biting insects (particularly mosquitos) after dark. Trousers, long skirts and dresses do a similaar job below the waist.

You should also wear a hat to keep the strong equatorial sun off your face and neck. A straw hat is best for preventing unnecessary sweating. Sunglasses are another must if you’re to avoid squinting the entire time you’re in the bush!

Medicines

When I first went to Africa, I had a medicine bag the size of a shoe box. The next time I went it had shrunk to the size of a lunch box. Now I travel with not much more that a medical kit the size of a cigarette packet.

That said, I’m lucky enough to not need any medication on a day to day basis. If you do, you will need to ensure you have a large enough supply for your entire stay. Taking extra, in case you drop a tablet or there’s a delay on the journey home, if worth consideration.

The same goes for other medications such as asthma inhalers.

If any medicines you use require a prescription in the country you’re heading to, you should bring a copy of this or a doctor’s note. It’s rare you’ll be challenged as a tourist, but it’s worth being prepared.

If you’re travelling pretty much anywhere but north Africa or South Africa, you’ll need some sort of preventative (prophylactic) treatment against malaria. It is a very real disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people in Africa every year.

Check with your nurse or doctor before travelling, and do what they advise. NHS Scotland’s Fit for Travel website is a great, trustworthy, guide to what you might need. It’s available to everyone, and not just Scots. But it does not replace talking to a medical expert. There’s no malaria vaccination as yet, so preventatives will mean drugs of one form or another.

You might want to bring anti-histamine cream to prevent the itch of mosquito bites. Your kit should also include general pain relief such as paracetamol or ibuprofen for headaches or general aches and pains. I’d recommend a good supply to anti-diarrhoea medication, too, although my personal use of them have been thankfully minimal.

It’s worth noting that generally speaking, medicines are actually easier to access that in the UK and Europe. Many UK prescription-only medicines are available over the counter from pharmacies.

Despite what you might believe, pharmacies are common and well stocked (though not in national parks themselves – head to a big city). Though some guides recommend you do, I’ve therefore never taken antibiotics with me. They are only effective on bacterial infections in any case.

Camera gear

I’m no camera expert, and this section is not intended to guide you as to the specifications of photographic equipment. Instead I’ll suggest what items you might find useful while on safari in Africa.

Even in high-end safari lodges, electricity supplies can fail. At least one extra battery for your camera is therefore worth the extra initial expense.

You’ll undoubtedly be taking a lot of photos. So as many SD memory cards as you can carry is also a good idea. I prefer cards with a smaller capacity that I swap over regularly rather than one large (e.g. 64GB) card which I might lose – all my photos alongside it.

For the same reason, it’s worth investing in a backup system to copy your photos. If you’re not planning to travel with a laptop (as I generally do these days for work reasons), there are storage devices that you can just plug the SD card into. Don’t rely on the cloud to back up images as internet connections in national parks can be patchy at best.

Finally, you might consider bringing a beanbag to support your camera on the edge of a safari vehicle or hide ledge. Filled with polystyrene balls they weigh next to nothing, and are much easier to manoeuvre than a tripod.

Extra essentials

I always travel with my own insecticide-impregnated mosquito net. You’d be surprised how often I’ve turned up in the room of a high-end stay and found either no net or one with massive holes all over it!

Finally, though it isn’t technically something you wear, you should ensure you have good travel insurance. This should include comprehensive medical cover of at least £1 million, and include medical evacuation and repatriation. This will cover the cost of needing to take you out of the national park to a hospital, or even to your home country. Without such cover, you’re pretty much on your own. In which case, good luck!