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SAFARI PANTS
As I start the packing for my trip and came across an old pair of safari pants, I thought this tip might me helpful for the vertically challenged. If you want to get safari pants but are petite, it can be harder to find them and then they still might not be the right length. It can be a problem because of the zippers. These are sometimes at the ankle as well as the knee, so not easy to shorten. What I have done is take a horizontal pleat by the zipper that takes off the legs at the knee to make them shorts. Then I stitch that pleat to the bottom of the zip stitching, and viola, your pants are a perfect length for you. If you stitch them by hand with a small running stitch rather than a slip stitch that you would put on a hem, they are durable for wearing and washing. The pleat of fabric is on the wrong side and you see nothing from the front, very neat!
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You are talking about the type of trousers that have zip off bits that convert the full length into ¾ length or knee length shorts, right? So if you're turning something into shorts … you must be talking about starting out with ¾ length trousers rather than full length. (Otherwise I can't see how you make 8" or so of fabric that I generally need to shorten by disappear.)
So, inside out, you take a pleat … I get that. You do the running stitch around the top of the zip. How do you stop the top of the pleat from folding back on itself or otherwise getting caught or scrunched up? Another running stitch? Which you cannily ignore entirely and/or put down to the vagaries of safari clothing in general and the usual quirks of serious travel. In other words .. . who cares what you look like on safari apart from the baboons!
I really would like to understand your trick. I know I need this. Rooly & trooly.
Cheers,
Jan
Very ingenious.
I am somewhat vertically challenged myself. My convertible pants didn't have zippers at the bottom so my wife just hemmed the bottoms.
However, since I don't like long or Bermuda shorts that hang below my knee, I wonder if British's technique could somehow be applied to the upper legs? We are not talking "booty shorts" or "Daisy Dukes", just shorts that end at mid-thigh or at the bottom of the thigh pockets.
By the way, my convertible pants worked out great on our recent Ultimate Alps trip where temps varied greatly from hour to hour depending on our altitude.
Zipper in the way of shortening from the hem. Yep, got that. (My waterproof over pants for Macquarie Island were like that. I just rolled them up 3 times and had to empty out the water on the beach/landing dock.)
I think I get the concept … might not just work for me given how much I generally have to shorten by …
I thought I knew what you meant by booty shorts, but I had to look up the Daisy jobs. :-00….. Oh. My. Goodness! They are frostbite hazards! Kinda reminds me of what my Nana called mini shirts of the 60s, Carnaby Street variety. She explained quite seriously that when she was a gel, the shorter shirts of the flapper era were known colloquially as b*m freezers. Mum was horrified when I repeated Nana's story. I know that 20s skirts never got within cooee of the minis I used to wear, but I guess it's all relative. How social manners change.
Back to shortening trousers … Any other helpful hints? Thanks, Alan, for yours.
Cheers,
Jan
The pleat you take take up is still technically on the outside of the pants but hidden. Have tasks I have to do so cannot address more until maybe later. Obviously lost my touch since I had to explain how to sew things when I took my 'O' level Needlework in 1969
Are both long pants and long sleeve shirts (whether the shirt is a lightweight, wicking/quick-dry, safari outer shirt or T-shirt) necessary? I assume the main concerns are for both sun and bugs on game drives? How about back at the camps/lodges?
I have three pair of (convertible) safari pants, but since our TZ/KE trip isn't until next year I've only looked at safari shirts from the usual suspects, but haven't gotten any as yet. There doesn't seem to be much selection- the usual sand, beige, moss, khaki, etc., some colors, and a very limited selection of generally ugly looking plaids.
So, as for safari shirts:
1. All long sleeve or a mix?
2. Favorite brand/fabric? (Travel Smith, Eddie Bauer Travex, Colombia, REI, etc.)
Thanks!
Have a wonderful trip,
Cheers,
Jan
So clothing, we have just finished packing for our Tanzania trip, leaving Wednesday. based on our past K and T tour and South Africa, Zimbabwe tour, we are taking just long pants, some of which are conversion safari style pants, some not. My husband has more proper safari pants than I do and he wears them on lots of other vacation trips. I have other regular safari looking pants, for example Chicos brand that I take. All in beige, khaki, grey, green, or brown range of colors. I have an assortment of long sleeve/ 3/4 sleeve T shirts in same color range. My husband has more safari style shirts, (long sleeve) than me also that again he takes on various vacations because they have lots of pockets and wash and dry easily if required. All the shirts have an option to be short sleeved with a tab you can use to keep them rolled up and neat. I have two safari shirts I can use as a jacket layer or on their own. We both have a safari style vest, mine is reversible. My husband just about wears his for every vacation we take while we are traveling because it has all those great pockets, I just got him a new extra one to take. I got us new boomer hats from Costco and we have another hat each too, baseball style but with a neck flap we used on another tour. We each have two buffs each that we can protect our necks with, use them as a hat or as a face guard for dust. First got into these watching TV show Survivor. We feel we can adapt these things without the need to take short sleeved, or shorts too. We are fair skimmer former Brits, and like to keep our skin covered to reduce the use of sunscreen and bug spray.
So that is all we are taking, nothing to change into in the evening, maybe we will shower and put on a clean set of safari clothes, but that is all.
Our tour ends in Zanzibar. So I have some cover all tops that Hide my shape for a Muslim country and long very casual 'drape' style pants I found these at clothing store called Uniqlo for less than $15.
I will report back on any faux pas I made when I return.
I jump in to offer one suggestion...and it has nothing to do with sewing or alterations. I recommend you take a long sleeve safari shirt. You will not regret doing so for three reasons. First, early morning and evening game drives can get quite chilly regardless of the time of year. Second, Africa's midday sun is incredibly strong especially at the higher altitudes you will frequent. My hands and forearms are used to the Florida sun but nothing can match Africa. Covering up the arms helps. Finally, if you encounter tsetse flies, you will thank your lucky stars if you have a long sleeve shirt in your camera bag.
On our Tauck safari we encountered the Great Migration after we left Ngorongoro and entered the Serengeti. The tsetses were torturing the wildebeest and zebras until they saw us. The little "buggers" can really bite. The shirt helps but it's not a total solution. Don't get me wrong. The tsetse flies can bite me all day long if I get to see the Great Migration again.
Have a great trip British. Alan...you are going to love this trip. Jan...the baboons are very discrete.
Best regards to all...Leo M
I'm not a hat person so not familiar with a "boomer" unless you mean ball cap. What, no Tilley or Tilley knock-off? Four of our group on the Alps trip wore Tilleys.
Edit: Found it! I looked in the other thread where you called it a "Booney"! (pic below from Costco website). Made in China not in Canada like the Tilley, smaller vents than a Tilley, but also, only a fraction of the cost of a Tilley :-)
How about crops (Capris?) for my wife?
Unless this one is truly unbelievable and I am able to convince LOML to take the Zambia, Botswana, SA tour someday, this will likely be our one and only Africa trip so we don't plan to load up on safari clothes.
What a great group. Oh, by the way, I sure wish this thread had progressed to this point a few months ago, before I had my wife hem my conversion pants- I would have loved to have shorter shorts on this last trip. : - )
Hear, hear!
Humf. Not that I remember…..
Cheers,
Jan
Cheers,
Jan
Yes, meant Booney hat, I think the auto fill got me there and I did not notice, $14-99 at Costco. As far as loading up on Safari clothes, that's why my husband has more than me, he really does get great wear of his on our Tauck trips because we have gravitated to the more adventurous ones while we feel we are fit enough to cope with them and my husband still works, maybe once retired we may have less money for the big trips.
I have only a few true safari pieces of clothing. Everything else is clothing I wear all the time, that I think will fit the safari theme. I tend to not wear black very much, so I have plenty of clothing that have the safari colors.
I can't recommend any brand, I shop around for bargains at any of the usual outdoor stores, we just about have every one within a short distance in our area.
Capris, I took them last time but found long pants more useful because of what Leo mentioned, sun and insects. Leo's tips are great.
Shoes, slip on best for taking on and off to stand on the seats to take photos, suede, khaki, brown, something like that, Lands End to Merrill's, whatever your price point. They can be washed when you arrive home, you will need it for the dust. Please remember, in the most part you will be in the safari vehicles, not walking in the wilderness, but it is dusty and dirt paths in places as you can see by some of the lodge photos.
By the way Alan, Rachel was our tour guide on both our different Africa tours, you posted a photo of her in London a while ago, she if so good in Africa, it would be a dream to find she was our guide again.
I also guarantee that if money is not an issue for you, you will return to Africa again. The South Africa Elegant Adventure is a very different tour safari wise, far less animals to see but really close encounters. On those safaris the jeeps literally drive through the bush into trees that just go flat and then bounce right back up after you go past.