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Overview

Trip Duration – 2 weeks

Activities – preaching, working in camp, working with local churches, one day safari

Challenges – Africa sun, cultural constraints (dresses only, shoulders covered, knees covered), camping in the bush, minimal facilities for washing

Mitigating the challenge – Minimize bottoms by taking only 2 rugged skirts.  Use T-shirt dress for sleeping.  Use boots for walking in the bush.  Wear 3/4 sleeve shirts for sun protection.  Wear a hat for sun protection.  Wear leggings and silk underwear with fleece jacket if it gets cold.

The Colors

Neutral main colors

    • Grey
    • Tan

Accent colors

    • Navy
    • French Blue
    • Green

Metallic Accent

    • Burnished Gold

The Capsule Wardrobe List

Shirts

    • Green Ex-officio long sleeve button shirt with roll up sleeves (can be worn open as a jacket)
    • Grey 3/4 sleeve T shirt (can be worn as a pull over sweater over another shirt)
    • Brown 3/4 sleeve T shirt (can be worn as a pull over sweater over another shirt)
    • Navy tank top
    • Navy print tunic
    • Blue button front tunic (can be worn open as a jacket)

Sweaters

    • Blue R1 fleece jacket
    • Black shawl sweater

Bottoms

Dress

    • 3/4 sleeve Jersey dress
    • Very light cotton Kaftan bought at Maasai market
    • T-shirt dress for sleeping

Accessories

    • Grey Blue Pashmina
    • Black/Grey/Tan/Brown scarf

Necessities

    • 4 pairs underwear
    • 2 bras
    • 2 pairs light weight black wool socks
    • 2 pairs black footies
    • scoop neck 3/4 sleeve silk undershirt
    • black leggings
    • nylons

Shoes

Other

    • Black windbreaker / rain jacket
    • Sun Hat

Worn on the Plane

I will be wearing clothing from the list above.  The general rule of travel is to wear your heaviest and bulkiest clothes on the plane.  I also want something pajama-like for a very long flight.  A jersey dress and leggings are very comfortable and culturally appropriate.  My choices are:

    • Jersey dress
    • Black shawl sweater
    • Leggings
    • Pashmina
    • Undies & socks
    • Boots
    • Fleece
    • Rain Jacket

Outfit combinations

I may remove one of the shirts as 5 shirts is probably one shirt too many.  Most days I will wear one of the two skirts and a top. I will preach in the dress and flats and also use it for church.  The T-shirt dress is another dress alternative if I need it.  For safari I will wear a skirt and top with a fleece jacket and a windbreaker.  The jacket/windbreaker will give me the warmth I need until the sun gets high in the sky.  I will only wear socks with my boots, and on occasion wear footies with my Mary Jane walking shoes.

Laundry

The Kaftan will give me an alternative piece of clothing to wear while I launder the days outfits.  I will be washing the socks and undies most nights.  The skirts dry very quickly.  In the past I only had one usable skirt which I washed at night and would wear again the next day.

Outbrief

Once I was out of the airport, I never wore my jersey dress!  The same is true for the black shawl sweater.  They were just too fragile for the bush, and we spent little time in the city.  The dress was nice to sleep in, as Turkish Airlines managed to strand me for the day in Istanbul airport.  I had brought a silk sleep sack in my carry on, so I was set to spend the night on the airport benches.

I could have benefited from an extra skirt just for variety, but it wasn’t necessary.  I also found that this time my 3/4 sleeve T-shirts were too hot.   I headed for my tunics when I wanted to stay cool but be protected by the sun.  It was very chilly at night.  The leggings, combined with the T-shirt dress and the R1 fleece jacket worked very well – I was not cold.   The Kaftan, as always, was wonderful to get into at the end of the day.  What an amazing garment!

I wore my boots more than I expected, as I was walking around the bush more than staying at camp.  This actually meant that I needed an extra pair of socks. Fortunately, Turkish Airlines provides slipper socks in the comfort packs that they hand out to the passengers.  I used these as a 3rd pair of socks and was fine.  I never wore the footies – they kept slipping off of my feet and were useless.  I just went sock-less inside of my mesh Mary Jane shoes.

For next time:

  • Bring another skirt
  • Bring another tunic
  • Leave the Cotton T-shirts at home
  • Leave the Jersey dress at home
  • Leave the dress flats at home
  • Forget the footies