Kit muster.
(Just admin’ unless you are planning to travel in which case you might pick up some good tips)
By the time I got to a point where my pack was ergonomically packed, not too heavy for me to lift and contained everything I classed as essential, I had a lot of new kit that was no longer classed as essential and was no longer coming with me!
The final kit list was:
Naturehike cloud peak tent
Osprey farpoint 70 litre back pack with 3 litre bladder
Cocoon style, lightweight sleeping bag
Inflatable sleeping mat and USB pump
Garmin geo locator and messenger
Chromebook
Mini gas stove
Cooking utensils (basic)
Trauma kit including fracture kit and burn kit
Grayl Water bottle and sterilisation cartridges x 2
BOOTS Lightweight / rapid drying. My son bought me a pair of 511+ they are superb!
Lightweight trainers / tekkies, I went with Sketchers slip ons
Reef shoes (good if you are worried about shared shower facilities)
Steri Pen
Monocular and tripod
2 x mobile / cell phones, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 7, both good camera phones
Solar powered battery charger / power bank with LED lights.
Personal hygiene / washing kit / clothes etc
Anti malaria tablets
Desert goggles
Shemagh (head scarf)
Liverpool cap / Springbok cap
5 x Liverpool FC shirts to give away
10 x Kids sunglasses to give away
Good quality, lightweight, windproof water proof jacket
Full poncho
Meditations by Marcus Auraelius. Take a good book.
Various charging cables.
Toilet roll.
Plastic refuse bags
Lightweight latrine shovel
Heavy duty high powered torch. Can double as a truncheon.
2 x USB head torches,get the ones that have the flashing red / distress option
Day pack for excursions and to give me extra space.
Compass / flint / whistle
All in all, vaccinations, meds, kit and insurances set me back over £10’000.
Good job you can take your pension at 55 in the UK!
On top of my kit, I also had to make sure I complied with the health related entry requirements of the countries I would be visiting. Each country had a list of vaccination requirements and I had to make sure that I started my anti malaria meds at least three weeks before I was due to visit a malaria affected area.
My local NHS GP was able to give me my booster shots for a limited number of vaccines given as standard in the UK but was unable to protect me against all of the diseases I had the potential of encountering.
High on my list were malaria, rabies, yellow fever and hepatitis. My research had led me to understand that many countries would refuse me entry if I could not prove that I was not a health risk either as a carrier or victim of these diseases.
I headed off to a couple of high street pharmacies for what I thought would be the simple process of ordering and receiving the vaccinations that I had listed. Oh no no!
In common with the modern trend of over engineering and over complicating things, the UK’s main pharmacists have each developed an online system whereby anyone travelling from the UK is required to log onto their website, supply an inordinate amount of unrated, personal date, enter your full itinerary and then go to visit a physical branch where the staff discuss your list.
I knew it was going to be a tricky process when the first chemist I visited, Boots, spent most of the appointment trying to convince me that I needed anti-malaria meds for Egypt. Yes Egypt! Famous for its desert, scarcity of water and total absence of malaria cases.
I thanked the assistant for her time and said I would have a think about it and get back to her.
The second chemist I tried, Superdrug, also used an online system that indicated that I would be at risk of contracting malaria in Egypt but luckily, the member of staff who assisted me there, shared my amusement at this and we decided that I would buy my malaria meds in bulk from them and take them as and when I thought necessary.
They hadn't discovered yet that the UK had a shortage of anti malaria meds. I cleaned them out and was still about 100 tablets short.
There was also a shortage of the rabies vaccine. I found a private company who could offer me part 1 of the vaccine but not parts 2 and 3. I planned to source the remaining doses in Egypt. Turns out the shortage was and still is global.
Luckily the only things that have bitten me so far, that I know of, are mosquitos, bed bugs and a giant beetle like creature that looked as if it had escaped from an H.R. Giger exhibition. Think Sigourney Weaver and Alien!
Pretty good going considering I’ve been up close and personal with Lions, Leopards, Snakes, Crocodiles, Camels, Sharks and the notoriously bad tempered Heynas and wild dogs so far this year.
My travel insurance was expensive. I had rescue and recovery cover via my satellite location device but even so, full medical insurance for the 8 countries that I could get insured in, cost me over £1500! Admittedly not as much as the £1600 I’d paid for my vaccines and malaria tabs’ but a fair chuck of cash none the less.
With water being my number one survival consideration I chose a combination of purification methods.
Along with a supply of water sterilisation tablets I had a Grayl flask with replaceable filter and the ingenious SteriPen which uses the Sun’s UV light to purify water.
I’ll be honest. It’s a leap of faith taking a flask of Nile water and watching it transform into clean drinking water!
They must have worked because I’m still he……….
