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The Africa Family Safari Packing Checklist

Everything we actually used across 24 days, 4 countries, and 11 flights. Including the stuff nobody tells you to bring.


I packed for four people, for a safari and a beach, in winter and in heat, and I got it about 80% right. That is the best grade I have ever earned at packing.

This is the one page I wish somebody had handed me before we left.

What is on it:

  • The 5 things everyone forgets. Binoculars are number one and I will die on this hill. Sharing a pair on a game drive is a special kind of misery.
  • The safari kit. Including the two colors you should never wear in the bush, and why your hard suitcase will not make it onto the bush plane.
  • The food and water rules. Three of the four of us went down with a stomach bug we picked up days earlier. This section is the reason I wrote the list.
  • The Victoria Falls tip. There is a dry way to see the Falls and a soaked way. The difference is one numbered viewpoint.
  • What we overpacked. So you can leave it home.

One page. Free. Drop your email and I will send it over.



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Want the whole story first? Read our 24-day Southern Africa family safari: the lodges, the seventeen-lion pride, Victoria Falls, and everything we would do differently.