Having refined the art of packing the right clothes for the right destination, spent years honing my skills to travel as light as possible, and circumnavigating (ridiculous) fluid restrictions as reasonably possible, I’ve come to understand that the most An important part of African travel is having a suitable bag.

It doesn’t help if you’re a wizard at the art of folding clothes into wrinkle-free, super-flat, and even more super-organized piles if the bag you’re stuffing everything in is a complete dinosaur and should have been taken out for pasture with the Cretaceous period.

And all the deft arrangement of carefully weighed clothing and cosmetics comes down to nothing if your bag tips the scales over King Kong with the Empire State Building on the left hand and a distressed blonde on the right!

Then. Luggage is key to a successful and stress-free trip. Correct? Well, it certainly has its part to play.

The perennial conundrum I am faced with is whether I should head to the exclusive luggage store and shell out a lot of money on a super efficient designer brand, as lightweight as possible, that sings and dances, or select the cheapest and junk piece of luggage. that I can claim at the local supermarket. The reason I ask this question is that when you travel as much as I do, you soon realize that airline baggage handlers don’t distinguish between designer labels and don’t care about price tags – your bags get full. completely, whether you pay a small fortune for them. Or put them in the bargain bin at a lower cost.

So the question you really need to ask yourself is “will my bag stand up to the rigors of modern air travel?” There are two responses to that, in my opinion: “rarely” and “only on a good day.”

Let’s first suppose that your suitcase arrives at the same destination as you, on the same flight as you. These days, it seems like many of the major airlines are having trouble getting luggage to the right place at the right time. So, always be grateful when you see your bag on the carousel, assuming of course there is a carousel at the destination airport. And a word to the wise, a lot of international safari destination airports don’t have carousels, but gleeful men who literally throw their bags through tiny holes in the walls onto the floor or roughly carved countertops.

Your suitcase, when you say goodbye to it while checking in at your airport of departure, which is usually first world, will be treated like a bag of potatoes by most of the people who handle it from that moment, whether they are first-class , second, third world or aliens!

Be careful: fragile stickers don’t work. I have lost count of the number of times my “fragile” bag has turned upside down and smashed to pieces on a carousel or at the bottom of a huge pile of luggage that is teetering dangerously on the back of a tractor and trailer. Nothing works except sheer luck and the possibility that the person who handles your bag has a vague idea that its contents are really valuable.

Then. Spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on Louis Vuitton’s best or latest Antler miracle is not a good idea. I tried the cheap and cheerful approach, but found myself virtually buying stocks at the local luggage store “el cheap”, so I decided to go for a good duffle bag, Travelite’s range of duffel bags “iSpot”.

The first thing to keep in mind on most safaris that involve small planes as connecting flights is that a) they generally have a weight limit of around 15kg and b) require squishy, ​​squishy bags that can be squeezed in small spaces, not huge stainless steel megalodons filled with everything but the kitchen sink.

My iSpots are smooth, relatively lightweight, and have a built-in rolling handle, which means I don’t always have to search for a cart. Their zippers are hidden and they all have locking mechanisms (many lightweight bags only have locking springs on the main zippers and not on the side pockets, which annoys me a lot!).

They’re sturdy, sturdy, and roomy enough for two-week trips or small enough for a couple of days here and there.

Fully packed, I rarely exceed 15kg in my main bag and carry a backpack with me for cameras, binos, netbook, and essentials during the flight. However, despite this, my main iSpot duffel bag, which cost me over R1500 (around 150 euros or $ 200), has been replaced three times in the last two years by three different airlines, thanks to damage. caused by baggage handlers. .

So once you have a bag that’s light, squishy, ​​sturdy, sturdy enough, and roomy enough, it’s really only a matter of time before an airline or their handlers damage it.

Apart from that, the volume of your bag should be taken into account. My large duffel bag has a capacity of 71 liters, which is about average. There are some excellent duffel bags, especially those designed for diving or adventure activities, that offer more space, but remember that a well-packaged soft bag is better than one packaged loosely because it prevents your belongings from rolling over and damaging them. cosmetics or toiletry bag does not pop off and spill its contents all over the clothing.

A wet bag is a great idea for cosmetics and I always take the extra precaution of placing it in an ordinary grocery bag and tying the handles tightly to avoid unwanted spills.

I decant things like shampoo and moisturizer into small containers, or buy them in small bottles to start with (the Body Shop, for example, has some small bottles of products that are great for travel).

At the end of the day, your choice of bag is peculiar to you and your needs, what you want to put in it and where you are going. Whether you spend a lot of money on it or not, just make sure it’s secure with decent locks or failing that, cable ties. Never, ever put anything of value on it (jewelry, cameras, computers, cell phones, etc.) and if it is damaged by an airline baggage handlers, be sure to defend your rights and repair or replace it.

Good trip!;)