Ever wondered what your guide carries in their backpack? No? Didn’t think so. But this afternoon I had a bit of down time and decided to clean all of my junk out of my game viewer and take stock of what I’ve been storing in there for the last few weeks and do some neat and tidy repacking…
And here’s what I keep in my backpack and take on each and every game drive. I’m not counting the blankets and ponchos that belong to the lodge, I’m just talking about all of my personal stuff here. And it turns out there’s a lot of it.
amazingly, everything really did come out of the backpack. except the spotlight. but everything else is genuine backpack contents.
Portable air compressor: The master plan is never to get stuck with a flat tire ever again. Best thing is that it actually fits so snugly in the bottom of my backpack…
Glass water bottles: love hydration, hate plastic bottles…
Emergency torch: for like, emergencies…
A scorpion torch: Um… For scorpion-related emergencies?
Spare binoculars: these are ones the guests can use, because they sure as moose can’t use mine…
My binoculars: MINE.
Leatherman: I’ve carried one for years and really only ever used it on game drives to open wine bottles, but it’s purple…
Sunglasses: a must. Mine are made from wood and I love them…
A buff: in case the wind picks up and my hair starts flapping around everywhere. Notable absence on this list, a hairbrush…
Book ‘When Hippo Was Hairy’: this has so many cute stories that I like to read to my guests at drink stops…
Roberts Bird Guide: a little tattered, but a lot loved…
Leather notebook: full of random ramblings, the lyrics to the gnu song, as well as questions guests ask me. Maybe even the odd poem or two. And my poems are very odd…
Pens: pink and purple, because I’m still a girl…
Lip Ice: necessary and SPFish.
Hand Sanitizer: I give this to guests more often than I use it. Yesterday I drove for two hours with my hands caked in buffalo poo.
Cetaphil SPF moisturizer: I use this as facial sunscreen. I’ve tried lots of other products and I’m not happy with anything else. Protecting your face out here is so important…
Nivea Sunscreen: for the rest of me. My hands tend to get burnt when driving…
Personal first aid kit: my vehicle has its own, but it’s always nice to carry a personal one too…
Spotlight: I bought my own battery powered spotlight that comes on every drive with me and never breaks. So far…
Waterproof jacket: To keep some credibility I pop this on when it starts to rain, even though secretly I love and adore the standard issue lodge ponchos that everyone else laughs at.
iPad: This has replaced so many of my books now. Whatever I don’t have an app for, I have a kindle book for. It’s like carrying 60 guide books without taking up all the space in the vehicle I need for my hand sanitizer and scorpion torch…
So there you have it, the things I take on all of my game drives. I’ll be posting something soon about what you should take on safari. I might even share the dodgy YouTube video I made on the subject a while back. Maybe.
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