Are the boys headed to Afrika locked and loaded?

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Whatever you have to do to make the shot

keeps the thorns from eating up your ankles.

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You lock in a magazine and load a round in the chamber. For the Army the range command was: Lock and load one 30 (or 20 in earlier days) round magazine. Too many people use it and don't know what it means.

than I have been to. Most of those small items are not needed in South Africa. No shots, no shot record, no insect repellant, no TP, no knives, no sewing kit, no spare buttons, no local cash, no travelers checks, no survival stuff, and probably one or two others. In 14 safaris to South Africa I have never had occasion to need any of that. Greg must have gone to a much wilder and primitive Africa than I have ever been. And new folks that have never been won't know how to envision every step of the way. But thanks for the thoughts Greg.
If I were coaching new folks going to Africa the first time I would tell them to bring a good vest with umpteen pockets,the pockets will hold most of the things I list below.





spare glasses or contacts. Chap stick, a good hat to keep the sun off their neck in the high seat on the Land Crusier,

nail clippers to pull small thorns out of your hand (even the rocks in Africa have thorns)

a good pair (or two)of good sunglasses. A good pair of binocs (the expensive ones are just a waste of money, just get a pair that are clear to your eyes. I have used Redfield binocs on almost all my hunts), a good pair of well worn in boots, preferably the 8 or 10" tall boots to keep the ground thorns off your ankles,

sunscreen, nylon ammo holders that holds 10 extra rounds. I like the nylon ones that fold over on themselves and velcros to the top. The one on the right is what I carry. The camo one up in the upper left is the same thing folded up. Stay away from the leather ammo holders. If you need another round quick the leather ones holds the round too tight.

As far as clothes are concerned, don't carry much at all. The camp girls will wash and dry your clothes daily so really you just need 2 sets of clothes plus something comfy to wear on the plane. The mornings are cool so bring a light jacket for the mornings and a light roll up rain jacket in case of rain. Wear light colored clothes, like khaki, light green, dartk green and such. Camo is not necessary but if you like wearing it, that is fine. The one thing to stay away from is the light blue jeans. The light blue color can be seen by animals (so the experts say), so I would stay away from that.

Put extra underwear, t_shirts, socks etc in your carry on. As much as you can cram in there. The reason is sometimes your luggage gets "misplaced". Not lost, but misplaced. Everything is bar coded these days so it is hard to lose something but it can get on the wrong plane. So this way you will have extra clothes in case your luggage gets there a day or two late.

On your gun case, if you have 2 or 4 ports for locks, get a TSA lock for each port. They require that. If you don't they will furnish you with a $4 lock, for $25 (for each hole).

Knives are not required. That is what the trackers and skinners are for.

Have an extra scope for your main gun. Sight your current scope in, mark where the rings go with a Sharpie, then take it off and put a second scope on. Sight that scope in and do the same thing. Mark where the rings go on the body of the scope, then take it off and put your original scope on and wrap up the second scope and put it in your gun case with your guns. This way the second scope is sighted in and should be fine if you have to switch scope due to a blown scope. And that does happen.

Shooting gloves. These are not necessary but do come in handy on cold mornings or if it is raining and your gun is slippery. I always carry some of the yellow leather gloves with the fingers cut off.

There are 921 other things to tell you about but let's do it next time.