Gear list/advice for Africa

Tango1

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
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Location
Orlando, FL
I realize it's not the standard hunt discussed on Rokslide, but I'm wondering about an African PG hunt gear list/advice from the Rokslide folks. A standard plains game hunt came up in early May, Limpopo Province South Africa. The great part is that I'll be hunting on foot vs what seems to be the standard Land Cruiser tour-type hunt. The PH likes to hunt hard on foot and understands that's what I want/expect. I've had some guys tell me the terrain is tough on modern synthetic fabrics so basic heavy-duty cotton canvas gear stands up better. Not sure what to believe at this point as most guys I know who've been there don't approach big game hunting with a "Rokslide mindset." Any advice is appreciated. I've got the rifle and optics ready to go, but clothing and misc kit are undecided. Thanks
 
It is kind of like Tejas, everything has thorns or stickers on it. You PH will most likely spend most all of his time in shorts with low gaiters. Shouldn't need anything "heavy duty" like Carhartt type clothing. I wore Cabela's Microtex for 10 days with no issue.
 
x2. Never been to limpopo, but farther south in Free State in thornveld habitat I was glad I had light synthetics one hot January.
Sounds fun!
 
When I went I took 3 sets of pants and 4 shirts. Light, medium and heavy. Anything you use here works just fine over there. They do the laundry for you every day.
Bring some Jungle Juice from REI, the first time I was there I had a tick bury in to my shoulder and ended getting tick bite fever the day after I landed state side. It was horrible and when I went back 2 years later told my PH about it and he said I should have went to the doctor. For some reason I was so sick I didn't even think about it, just stayed home and weathered it. Not sure about your area but Zimbabwe had a lot of ticks including paper ticks, check your pant legs.
If you have room take a couple of bags of candy, it is a lot of fun to hand out to the help. Everyone there is very helpful and very gracious for those small tokens.
 
Thanks guys, that's great advice. I was shooting steel out to 200 today off the sticks. Glad I started practicing with the sticks early. It's an acquired skill for me.
 
Easy to overpack re clothes, since laundry is done every night. Go with lightest weight cotton you can take; the camp staff will be ironing every clothing item - so if you decide to take synthetic you'll need to work with your PH to keep things from being melted. I hunted in shorts everyday (Zim), but most folks don't (my legs were pretty shredded, but I didn't mind). If you're going in July, take gloves, jacket, beanie - it will be cold first thing in the morning and you will be sweating like a dog in a few hours. I liked the Skin-So-Soft sunscreen/bug dope combo.
 
You don't need too many clothes. They do laundry daily. I would take 3 sets. I was in Kwazulu Natal last June. My favorite pants were Duluth firehose flex pants. They were not too hot and stood up to the thorns well. I wore cotton canvas long-sleeve shirts. It can be cool in the AM, but hot in the afternoon. I would spray everything you will be hunting in with Permethrin. Some of the areas can be covered up in ticks. I did not do this and regretted it. The day before leaving I noticed a 2cm black discolored wound by my ankle where I had a tick bite. By the end of the flight back to the states I was having fevers and chills and enlarged groin lymph nodes on that side. Classic signs of African tick bite fever. I picked up a Rx for Doxycycline as soon as I got home and was better in a few days.
 
Ttypical of any hunt, have boots broken in. Ankle support vs. stiff sole. Highly recommend Courtney boots made in Zimbabwe. Fleece with wind break over puffy. Tore up puffy quickly on my first trip. Cotton over synthetic, the daily ironing is to kill mites. The irons are not temperature regulated, warmed by coals via fire, I had synthetic pockets melted in cotton shorts. You do not need more than 3 sets of clothing, really two sets of hunting clothing are great. Wool socks. Ankle gaiters to prevent grass seeds and gravel. Really my favorite shirts are Columbia PFG (100% cotton) for hunting. Wear dark colors, greens brown. Hunted 8 days via backpack carry on in April, with 2 dress shirts and jeans for dinner. Hunted via backpack carried on in April, carrying on helps reduce concern of baggage loss and theft of optics etc.
 
I've been lucky enough to go twice, first time eastern cape and second trip to Limpopo. Hunted with Cruiser Safari's it was a great place. Want to go back. Highly recommend olive drab cotton clothes. I took some open country camo and the PH actually made a point of putting me in the shade a couple times he did not like how much my camo shined and it was cotton but tans did stand out. Which cracks me up because the first safari in the Cape the PH wore blue jeans and tan shirts most days! We went early June it was warm-hot during the day but riding in the cruiser to and from in the dark it was cold. Frost in the mornings cold. I agree 3 changes of clothes maybe more socks they lost some of mine. I wish i would have taken 2 coats, dusty places mess with my allergies. Practicing off of sticks is a huge help.
 
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