Packing for Africa

Temperatures

I have been monitoring the weather in both Johannesburg and Namibia for the last two months. 

                                                                                   screenshot from weather.com

First, the Southern Hemisphere is the opposite climate of the Northern hemisphere. When it’s summer here it‘s winter there. But one also must factor in the relationship to the equator.  Portland, Maine is 43’latitude and Johannesburg is 26’latitude, thus Southern Africa is closer to the equator.

                            copyright Univ of CA http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segwayed/lessons/search_ice_snow/ski.2b1Map.html

 Winter in Southern Africa means the dry season. While in Zimbabwe, it only “misted” one day in six weeks.  So, I am expecting warm, sunny days with daytime highs of 75 degrees in South Africa and 85 degrees in Namibia. It sounds lovely. It’s the nights I am concerned about, as we will be tenting for over half of our trip and the nighttime temperatures are in the 30-40s. I nearly froze to death in 1996 in a tent at Great Zimbabwe and again on an early morning game drive in Hwange National Park in the back of an open safari vehicle. The nights will be cold!

Cultural Expectations

Africans dress well. In the cities and small towns, women wear dresses and men are in suits or slacks and dress shirts. The best way to stand out as a tourist is wear your safari attire in town.

On Safari

The winter is the best time for game viewing because the dry season means little rain. This brings the animals to the water holes also known as a pan. There is a reason people dress in khaki on safari, you want to blend in so you don’t startle the animals. Obviously red and orange are eye catching, but even white can upset the animals. Since our visit will be during the dry season, most of Southern African foliage is light brown and so we want to be light brown also, to blend in.

Our Plan

We are packing mostly long pants and long sleeve shirts with only a few pairs of shorts for Namibia, and we are planning to dress in layers to accommodate the steep changes in temperature each day. The duffel bag will be filled with socks, sweatpants and a sweat shirt for cold nights in the tent. I'm thinking of bring some long skirts for sightseeing in Johannesburg.