Stuff to take to Africa??

[MAD DOG]

My partial list as compiled so far. Any additions or advice welcomed.
Bear in mind I want to travel very light.
Guns/ammo are already there, so not on list.
(list updated 6/21)
Minimal clothing, boots, socks etc.
two hats
two bandanas
two pair sunglasses
GPS + batteries
Nikon Laser Range Finder + batteries
compass (southern hemisphere)
notebook/pens
camera and film
two Krill lights
Surefire 6Z + batteries + extra lamp modules
binoculars (10 x 40 roof prism compacts)
Knives (Mad Dogs, of course... Panther, Bayou Hunter, pack Rat, Mirage X Micro)
sharpeners
Camelback
MSR Mini-Works water filter
sunblock
slingshot
paracord
Blackhawk three day assault pack
fannypack w/ two .5 liter water bottles
trauma kit
salt tablets
cigars
matches/lighter/firestarters
passport/int. driver's license
malaria prophylaxis

Misc:
Reading material and CD player for on the plane
(27 hours there, 34 coming back. ZZZZZZZ)
It bums me that two and a half days of my vacation will be spent in a freaking airplane.

I removed radios from the list, as he already has a set identical to the ones I was going to bring, but his are set on frequencies that are locally legal.



[This message has been edited by MAD DOG (edited June 21, 2000).]

[SnakeLover]

Don't know what the water situation will be in Namibia, but I would take a canteen and some drink packets (Crystal Light) and purification tablets just in case. Also, the trackers seem to love gum and candy, like Jolly Ranchers, and cigarettes. I bought a couple cartons and gave them a smoke when we'd stop to eat/glass and they loved it.

A range finder comes in handy, especially for open terrain like the desert. Make sure that you and the PH are talking same language. Mine always talked distance in meters.

Good luck, bwana.

[MAD DOG]

I have a Nikon laser range finder.
Add that to the list for sure.
No PH on this trip, just some of the local Afrikaaners and maybe one Bushman. All of us are strictly dedicated amateurs.

There is evidently no water in Namibia.
None.
We will be bringing a tank of it, and my Camelback is my walkabout canteen.

[The Dude Man]

Deck of cards; lightweight, compact, versital, reuseable.
Gifts for children.
Rubbers.
The Dude man.

[Rich Lucibella]

Hard candy for the natives and children. It's cheap and lightweight.

Bring an extra pair of boots- the sole literally came off my Vasque Sundowners on a steep climb.

Too late for Hep vaccinations, but I hope you got those and others. CDC can give you the list. Antimalarial pills are suggested.

100 mph tape; ShoeGoo; 30% DEET (lemme know if you need some- it's hard to find); 550 paracord; an 8x10 color glossy of me!
Rich

[Al Thompson]

8 x 10 glossy - Yep, a couple of targets to confirm zero are always a good idea.

Might want to check with your buddy and see if he needs anything specific.

Giz

[Art Eatman]

Definitely take a deck of cards. With them, you can never get truly lost. If you get a bit confused, just sit down and lay out Solitaire. Sure enough, some SOB will come along with, "Put the red ten on the black jack."

, Art

[Herodotus]

Always take a decent jacket. Never assume that becdasue it tropical, it doesn't get unpleasntly cool.
Hope you have the toiletries somewhere: little bit of toilet paper, soap, cheap plastic razor, tooth brush. Don't forget a towel, nobody likes to share those.
Don't know what the water situation is there, but when I travel in the deep south (past the Rio Grande) I make sure there is a water purification unit in the party.
Make sure there is some anti-hystamine somewhere in the party, in case someone gets a sting from some god awful foriegn wasp.
A candle can come in handy if you don't want to waste batteries.
If it was me, I'd take two cameras, and make sure that one of them was all mechanical. This might not mean as much to you. And take at least twice as much film of your choice as you think you need. Film can be hard (or impossible) to find in third world countries, especially in the rural areas..
I carry the passport, some traveler's checks, a credit card and some bills in one of those little pouches that go around your waste and under your pants and only take it off when I sleep. You can get out of about any situation with that and they have to be willing to kill you to get it. Obviously that hasn't happened to me yet.
Cheap sneakers are nice after a day in the field. Boots get heavy.

[MAD DOG]

I won't be needing about half of the stuff suggested.
I do not play cards, I am celibate while away from the wife, and I hate children that are not my own.

On the other hand, I will be taking a fully mechanical 1963 vintage Nikon F, and a Nikonos.
The toiletries are taken care of, including various pharmacopea like the shaver, antihistamines and stuff in my medic trauma kit.
I doubt I will shave unless I am wounded in the face or some place hairy.
The shoe goo and duct tape are on the list now.

The glossies of Rich as target zero media are a foregone conclusion. I still have some of him kissing Janet Reno.

[MAD DOG]

Got a scrip today for some antimalarial and antidiarrhea (sp?) stuff.
Also fleshed out my medic kit with a bunch of other goodies.
I have been vaccinated for everything except Hep A. Forgot that one, and now it is too late for it to do any good.
Shouldn't be a problem as my exposure to leaking natives and other sources of bloodborn pathogens will be minimal or nonexistant.

[Coinneach]

Dude Man: rubbers?

I thought MD was going to shoot the animals, not, uh, well... never mind.

[Rich Lucibella]

ps:
Megavitamin doses should start days before you climb into that 16 hour aluminum rebreather apparatus.

On our Africa trip, every hunter came down sick with the exception of the Coopers and myself. I didn't ask them if they had followed the mega-C plan as I had, but I suspect as much. If your urine ain't capable of burning through 2" armor plate, you're not taking enough.
Rich

[MAD DOG]

That much vitamin C gives me a rash.
I take a buttload of vitamins as it is, so i should be Ok.
Also, I am used to the altitude and climate conditions. Aubrey told me that the African areas we will be in are all but identical to the Az. Mountains where I live. Coincidentally, the Coopers live here too.

This is sort of ironic, in that I am flying halfway across the earth to hunt in conditions identical to my own.
Too bad we don't have Kudu in Arizona.
I think I am going to look into doing a game ranch out here. That might just be fun.

[256M-S]

MAD DOG:

Sounds like you've thought out what to carry pretty well. As might be expected, you're already carrying more gear than I would in some respects and less of some other things. Would be helpful to know a bit more about how you expect to hunt. If you're going to be spotting from a vehicle and then only making a final stalk, I'd certainly give some consideration to two items specifically for that.

1. A small canteen (I use an insulated Gott that fits a GI type canteen cover [black not OD] rigged with a shoulder strap and carries in the small of my back). That's less confining and restricting than a Camelback as far as mounting the rifle in my opinion. Had a porter to carry an old English game bag with spare water and essentials or an old Gregory Day and a Half pack, but the small canteen stayed with me and was replenished if needed so that I always had a full canteen should an emergency develop. A bit of cool water in those Gotts was really a luxury BTW after a lifetime of bloodwarm water from canteens.

IF you take the canteen rig, and find the Camelback cumbersome under these conditions, you can always leave one or the other in the vehicle/base camp.

2. The smallest possible kit bag for the vehicle with spare ammo, fld cleaning kit, odd personal items, perhaps a sweater or light jacket if needed in early ack emma or evening.

You'll probably be hunting the so-called plains game only, but I've always used a cartridge belt (either the old Holland belt with 3 extra pouches to carry solids & sps on each side plus a pouch in the rear carrying ammo for my stopping rifle together with a good small sheath knife and a small essentials pouch for savana or a nylon rig for rain forest set up similarly). I prefer this to the fanny pack but each to his own--I really only use fanny paks for CC on PT or overseas.

You really ought to give some serious thought to gifts for your locals if they're worth anything. Cigarettes, lighters, flashlights, and even some inexpensive binos (I got a deal on a home leave on a dozen sets of Tascos that I doled out over time to various trackers that stood out and that was real status).

A fair supply of all cotton bandannas or sweat rags.

Add your International Shot Record to your documents. Consider signing up with an outfit like SOS (many US embassies use them) for Medevac insurance.

I swear by the KATADYNE filters and wouldn't be without one in my kit travelling anywhere in Africa, LATAM/CENTAM, or SEA.

If you're not going to be met (and even if you are since strange things happen to schedules in the 3rd World), make sure you can hump all of your gear out of the airport if necessary.

Like your vintage Nikon--Until fairly recently I used one of a pair of 68 Vintage FTN's that gave yeoman service. Have largely replaced them with one of several point and shoots and an Olympus IS-3 fully automated marvel.

If you're really going to be hunting in the desert as in Gemsbok, I'd consider a quality full size set of binos over the minis.

Hope this is at all helpful. Good hunting. Wish I were going along.

[gunmart]

you might want to take along a small mirror or one of those space blankets for signalling if you get lost.i recommend taking a fanny pack with ALL of your survival gear and keep it on all the time.a day pack is nice for all the goodies that you will need to hunt with but on some of the hunts i have been on(steep mouintains)i have found the tendencie to leave the heavy pack behind more often that not>

[MAD DOG]

I forgot to mention my fanny pack. It always has two bottles of water, a space blanket, fire starters, and other needs.
It stays with me 24-7.

My Binos are high quality roof prism jobs that perform like big 7x50 jobs, but weigh half as much.

I am picking up a small water filter today, the MSR Mini-Works.

I already have a small shatter proof mirror in the kit.




[This message has been edited by MAD DOG (edited June 21, 2000).]

[RobCon]

Maddog, i've used a nasal saline mist called Ocean with good results. The air on the plane is very dry and your membranes will be much better filters if you keep them moist.
We use Soothacaine by Banana Boat for sunburn. It has benzocaine and aloe and after three trips to Africa we wouldn't be without it.

[256M-S]

I like the mini binos and own both Swarovski and Zeiss mini binos but for heavy duty bino use, a larger set (like Zeiss 10X40) is really superior. It's really something worth thinking about--even sorting out buffalo in the shadow/brush at fairly close range, the definition of the larger glasses are handy.

erhaps it's a personal limitation and failure to use the mini's properly, but moving behind a tracker (and on horseback also), I find that I can focus more quickly with the larger binos without holding up the movement.

I know a lot of folks like the fanny pack. I know I'm frosted on them from use of the old butt pak in the military, but I've yet to find one that I found as comfortable as the cartridge belt plus the little 3/4 liter Gott canteen on shoulder strap. Also is a problem to me to wear it in a vehicle and I only used a vehicle to move from camp to my leased hunting zone and back again at the end of the day.

If you're going to be getting in and out of the vehicle as happens in so many of the guided hunt scenarios, you may find that the fanny pak gets left behind or slows down your response to a sighting. You basically need to be ready to bail out and commence the stalk without gathering and belting on kit.

Not trying to convince you of anything or "prove you wrong/me right", just some ideas to war game thru.

In reading the old Africana, it's remarkable how many of the old boys wandered off from camp with no extra ctgs and no water much less other basics--and never learned from it apparently. Still, you'll probably find that you won't need to be set up for the same survival scenario that one might in hunting the American west. My European acquaintances were always amazed at the weight of my personal belt kit since they tended to do the morning stroll with a pocket knife, five or so extra ctgs on them and a water bottle and food with a bearer-- And I tended to carry much less gear than you are planning to carry.

All in all, though, it's better to have it and decide later not to carry it than to leave it stateside and wish you had it with you.

Why aren't you taking your own rifle? I thought Namibia was pretty good about bringing in firearms. Adds a significant dimension, I should think, to do your first African hunt with your own weapon.

[MAD DOG]

I updated the list above at the head of the thread today.

Not bringing my own weapon (vis a vis a rifle) due to the number of borders we will be crossing. Didn't have time to get all of the import/export permits and other crap necessary. I would have loved to be able to bring my .358 Norma Mag Dakota actioned, Pac-Nor super match barreled custom rifle, but it just was not in the cards.
Definitely will be along next time.
I will be carrying my trusty Mad Dog Panther though, and it is just dandy for social occassions.

Bear in mind that I will not be carrying all of the crap I have listed up there ALL of the time. Most of it stays in camp.
I like to travel light, so will carry water, compass (southern hemisphere version), matches/firestarter, cartridges, biltong, knife, and not much else while actually hunting.

I wear the fanny pack reversed, so it rides up front most of the time like a gun bag.
between it and the camelback Maximum gear HAWG, I can carry a fair amount of stuff with little discomfort.
I shoot a lot here in the desert while wearing the Camelback, and it doesn't bother me now that I am used to it.


[This message has been edited by MAD DOG (edited June 21, 2000).]

[256M-S]

Sounds like you've thought it out. Good luck and good hunting.

Convenient to have access to local hunting weapons given the multiple frontiers. I sold and gave away a fair number of pieces when I left one country for another posting where the ruler totally prohibited rifled firearms--unless one was VERY well connected. Fortunately found a gunshop in Switzerland to hold my two really prized rifles and a shotgun that were my primary hunting rifles as opposed to working tools.

Puts a premium sometimes on selecting a weapon that you don't mind leaving behind.

[MAD DOG]

My host sent me his list of stuff that he is carrying and let me tell you, this is going to be one comfy trip.
He has everything from cots to coconuts, and everything in between, including some things that I am not sure about the use of.
Some of it is undoubtedly language related, but others I am not so sure about.
Here are the weird ones:

costume
rusks
drie poot
petzl
braai tools
mieliemeel
gazebo

[Al Thompson]

Some of this is known from my time in SA - maybe Rich or Robcon can help with what I miss.

costume - ?
rusks - a very hard pastry for breakfast
drie poot - ?
petzl - ?
braai tools - IIRC, Bar-B-Que implements
mieliemeel - just like grits - ground corn
gazebo - sun awning I "think"

HTH
Giz

[Ivanhoe]

There is a company named Petzl that makes high-quality headlamps for caving and whatnot. I think they make other stuff, but its their lamps that is their main thing.

[REDMISTMD]

Instead of taking a fanny pack and waterbottles I use a Camalback gearhawg with a100 oz water blatter it insulated and youve got a ton of room for extra stuff. Very handy item for carrying stuff while hunting the drinking tube also lets you drink without having to reach down pull out the bottle and so forth. You can even hook it on the straps and make it totally hands free. Good Luck and happy Hunting

[MAD DOG]

I leave tomorrow!

I found out what some of this stuff is by querrying my host.

The "drie poot" is a fire spider to set pots on over the fire.

The "costume" is a tribal mask and loincloth thing that has become a part of his hunting ceremonial gear for some obscure reason. But then, I always travel with a rubber chicken (no further comment), so I guess that a costume of some sort is not TOO weird.