Africa- packing list

Posted on 2014-07-14

I have posted many blogs about “What to Pack”.

Here was my “I’m leaving the states- here’s what I packed” blog.

Here is a “what i actually found useful vs not” review.

And here is my packing list for Africa:

Clothing:

6 pairs of underware (4 are quick-dry, 2 are “dressy”… ahem.)
2 pairs of quick-dry convertible pants.
3 quick-dry button-down shirts.
2 quick-dry sleeveless shirts
Fisherman pants (for sleeping/comfort)
Leggings (grumble…. grumble….muslim countries…..grumble…..)
shaw (for head-covering, shoulder covering, mosquito repellant, etc)
2 pairs of socks (quick-dry, bamboo. Thanks Grammy!)
Down Jacket -folds into it’s pocket to serve as pillow. (Going to Climb Kilimanjaro)
1 dress (I’m a girl!)
Cachos (I’m in love!)
Vibrams (they are still the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever owned- and yes, I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro in them.)
Chuck Taylors (we’ll see if I actually use them or use them as bartering.)

Toiletries:

Soap/Roll-on DO.
Lush conditioner bar
Toothbrush/paste/Floss
Contact solution/6-month supply of contacts
Baby Oil (to keep sand-flies off you!)
Vitamin B (to keep mosquitos from liking you)
hair things (clips, bands, etc)
Sleeping pills (generic), benedryl, motion-sickness stuff, nyquil, dayquil, Advil and RU21 (for hangover prevention).
Tampons (for water cleaning and about 10 other uses!)

First Aid Kit:

(Since taking my first-responder class, I now have a first-aid kit. Glad I do! It has come in handy more times than I’d care to count. I didn’t have one before (save for bandaids and crap…) so now it’s more extensive:

Rubber Gloves
Maxi Pads (for blood-soakage)
Syringe (for water-spray… or heroin. Whatever.)
Athletic tape/wrap
Mirror
Bandaids (all shapes/sizes)
Plastic bags (all shapes/sizes)
Neosporin (creme), iodine
tweezers, sewing kit, old hard-plastic credit-card (for bee-sting removal)
2 cloth handkerchiefs. (surprisingly, I used these ALL THE EFFIN’ TIME!)

Electronics:

Macbook Air
Kindle
External USB battery. (full charge will fully-charge my iphone/kindle 3x).
Iphone (Camera… Yep. I know. I travel to all these places without a fancy camera.)
External Harddrive (I tried to go with just USBs.. but I can’t anymore. Especially with the freelancing work I’m doing.)
Headlamp
Steripen (Part 2….. My last one broke… In Peru… If this one breaks, I’m swearing them off for life.)

Extras:

Passport,
temp US-ID,
Australian Bank Card (came in handy in countries that the US Banks don’t like doing business with…. Like Vietnam, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, etc).
AAA travel card (how I get cash from any ATM).
Waterbottle (Nalgene, 1 liter)
Pens/paper journal