Welcome to my packing list for West Africa!
For me, the key to packing for any trip is to take as little as possible to keep yourself fed, watered, safe, healthy, warm, dry, and entertained. Remember that you will have to carry all that you decide to take with you. In West Africa, there won’t always be staff on hand to help with your bags.
In this article
Take a Backpack!
West Africa is not a luxury destination! It’s unlikely that you’ll be whisked from place to place in a chauffeur-driven limousine. The road surfaces are potholed. You’re likely to be walking over rough ground. Even for short distances, this makes a case with wheels a hindrance rather than a help. Consider taking a backpack, even if, like us, you’re of a certain age and may think that your backpacking days are over! The advantages of a backpack are:
- No wheels to get stuck on rough ground.
- You’re less likely to take too much because you have to be able to hoist it onto your back!
- It keeps your hands free to deal with money, tickets, etc. You don’t have to leave it unattended.
- It’s brilliant when you need to go up and down stairs! There are rarely working lifts in West Africa and it’s not easy to drag a wheeled case up or down steps.
- A backpack generally has lots of handy pockets and compartments so you can find things easily without having to empty the entire contents of your suitcase!
Mark and I both use Berghaus Trailhead backpacks. I have the 60-litre women’s version and Mark has the 65-litre men’s version. We bought them three years ago and have used them on long trips to Ethiopia, India, the Caribbean, Morocco and, now, West Africa. They have been on multiple flights (including getting lost in Istanbul when we were in Addis Ababa!) and on and off public transport. They have been used as improvised seats during long waits at railway stations. They have been thrown on and off overlanding trucks in both East and West Africa. After all this, they still look pretty good! There are no holes or tears. I’m sure they’ve got a good few trips in them yet! I particularly like the Biofit system that they have. You can adjust them, depending on your body size, from small to extra large, meaning that they feel really comfortable, no matter how big or small you are.
If you’re still averse to the idea, buy a backpack with wheels and have the best of both worlds. The one shown here is not one that we have used personally, but it is favoured by a friend of ours.
Day Pack
You will also need a day pack to carry your essentials for each day – water, camera, etc.
I carry the canvas backpack shown here. I love it because it has separate padded compartments for my camera, lenses and laptop. It has a detachable camera bag that lifts out if you don’t need it, and all of the compartments are attached with velcro so you can move them around to suit your needs. Mark uses a Berghaus 20-litre daypack. He tends to carry the water for both of us as I’ve got the camera equipment!
We use combination locks for both our backpacks and our daypacks. Whilst it doesn’t stop someone stealing the whole bag, it does prevent opportune thieves.
Travel Documents
- Passport
- Visas
- Travel insurance and policy number (have a hard copy in your wallet and an e-copy on your phone or tablet).
- Travel vaccination certificates, especially yellow fever. You won’t get into many West African countries without showing your yellow fever card.
- 24-hour emergency contact number
- Flight tickets or e-tickets (if you only have e-tickets, make sure you have downloaded them so that you can access them offline, and that you have put them in a folder where you can access them easily.
- Trip or accommodation voucher if applicable.
- Photocopies of all important documents (hard copies and e-copies).
- Spare passport photos
- Youth/student/seniors card for travel discounts – whichever is applicable!
- Driving licence as an extra form of ID if you lose your passport.
- International driving licence if you plan to hire a car.
- Money (cash and cards).
- A money belt
Clothes
West Africa’s year-round warm climate makes the need for a coat redundant, although a rain jacket will be useful in the wet season. If, like us, you don’t feel the cold, you won’t even need a sweater. It’s a good idea to take walking shoes or boots as there are lots of opportunities to go hiking and trekking. The people of West Africa, even the men, generally wear lots of bright colours, so don’t be afraid to take your Hawaiian shirts, although muted shades of beige, brown and green might be more practical! Don’t take ex-military or military-style clothing. It’s perfectly acceptable to wear shorts and sleeveless tops, even in rural areas. Women should always carry a scarf to cover their heads when visiting places of worship.
With a view to keeping your baggage weight down, think carefully about packing a capsule wardrobe based around one or two coordinating colours so that you can mix and match trousers, skirts and shorts with tops.
Unless it is a very short trip, don’t think about how long you’re going for. Whether you are away for a week or for three months, you should pack just so that you have enough clean clothes for several days and make sure you get your laundry done as you travel. With this in mind, choose clothing that is easy to wash and fast drying. This is what I recommend you take:
- 1 warm jacket, sweater or fleece if you feel the cold (even if you only need it at the airport when you get home!).
- 1 rain jacket if you’re travelling in the wet season.
- 1 long-sleeved shirt or top for evenings when mosquitos are about.
- 1 pair of long trousers for the same reason and, perhaps, for walking through long grass if you do any hikes or game walks.
- 3 pairs of shorts or skirts.
- 3/4 T-shirts/short-sleeved cotton shirts.
- 1 pair of swimming shorts/swimming costume.
- Socks and underwear for a week.
- 1 set of nightwear.
- 1 scarf (women).
- 1 sunhat or cap.
- 1 pair of sunglasses.
- 1 pair of comfortable walking shoes or boots with a good grip.
- 1 pair of sandals as an alternative to walking shoes.
- 1 pair of flip-flops.
Toiletries and Personal Health
As with clothes, when it comes to toiletries and medicines, you can’t possibly carry enough to last you for a long trip. There are shops in West Africa! You may not be able to buy the exact brand you want, but you will be able to get something that does the job. Obviously, the exception here is prescription medication – make sure you get enough from your GP to last your entire trip and take your prescription with you in case of emergency or if you are asked to prove what your tablets are for.
- Shampoo/conditioner/soap/shower gel/shaving foam – we use solid bar toiletries wherever possible to cut down on plastic and, also, because you can take them in your hand luggage without question. Lush has some very good products, as do many small independent producers.
- Deodorant – we use roll-on as it takes up less room
- Shaving equipment
- A mirror – it’s surprising how many bathrooms in West Africa don’t have one!
- Make-up – only if you really can’t live without it!
- Lip balm with sun protection
- Sunscreen and after-sun
- Prescription glasses/contact lenses (I’m not a contact lens wearer, but those on our West Africa tour who were said that they couldn’t wear them because of the dust in the air – they were all glad they’d brought their glasses as well!
- A first aid kit
- Personal medication/prescriptions
- Anti-malarials
- Insect repellent – we took this one with 50% Deet which worked very well
- Antihistamine/insect bite cream
- Antibacterial hand gel
- Baby wipes – there isn’t always running water in West Africa!
- Travel sickness tablets if you need them
- Painkillers
- Anti-diarrhoea pills
- Rehydration tablets – these are so useful when you are in a hot climate. We take lemon-flavoured O.R.S. – they taste pretty good!
- Earplugs and/or an eye mask – West African towns can be pretty noisy late into the night and black-out curtains haven’t been heard of so these things might be useful to help you get a good night’s sleep.
- Travel pillow – personally, those specially-shaped, round-the-neck ones don’t work for me so I just carry an inflatable rectangular pillow.
Practical Stuff
- A universal travel adaptor – the electricity supply is 220V and plugs are of the European two-round-pin variety.
- A head torch and a flashlight with a hanging hook and a magnetic base – power cuts are frequent, so we usually take both of these.
- Swiss army knife
- Water filter bottle – we swear by these! We no longer have to buy plastic bottles of water when we travel.
- Travel towel for those impromptu waterfall swims!
- Sewing kit
- A universal plug for sinks – in West Africa, if you’re lucky enough to have a sink and running water, you certainly won’t have a plug! One of these will be invaluable.
- Travel washing line – we always have one of these with us. You can fix it virtually anywhere and there’s no need for pegs – perfect for when you’ve done some hand-washing.
- Travel wash – we take a tube or two with us when we go on a long trip. If we run out, you can buy small sachets of washing powder at almost every roadside shop in West Africa.
- Reusable shopping bag to reduce the amount of plastic you use.
Sightseeing and Entertainment
- Mobile phone
- Tablet/Kindle/laptop
- Camera equipment
- Memory cards
- Spare batteries/charger
- Binoculars – there’s so much birdlife in West Africa!
- Guide book
- Personal entertainment – music, reading material, playing cards
- Journal and pens
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