Best luggage for Overland 22 day Africa

[geniere]

Hi,
I am traveling on an Overland tour of Africa for 22 days -very excited! - Nairobi to Livingstone and was wondering what the best type of luggage to take is? The brochure recommends a soft suitcase but I was thinking that a pack might be more appropriate? Thanks in advance.

[jimshu]

Yeah back packs are OK.Really looks the part of an overland traveller.
But a rolling soft suitcase/cargo type bag just as good.Particularly the new styles which have backstraps for the very ocasional times you may need to throw it on your back.
The soft suitcase/cargo bag stow better in the trucks.
But either will be OK.

[geniere]

Thanks!!

[ExplorerWannaBe]

I recommend a soft-sided suitcase or rolling trunk/duffel bag with at least 70 l capacity. 80 l would be better. Pack fragile items in plastic bins that will go in and out of the bag easily. Supplement that with a good day pack (25-35 l) or duffel bag so you don't have to take everything with you to the tent. You will spend a couple nights in the Serengeti with equipment packed into much smaller vehicles so it's nice if you can separate out a few days worth of gear.

My observation was that real backpacks were horribly inefficient for loading into the luggage compartment and aren't necessary for the trip.

My own luggage consisted of a convertible suitcase/backpack (50l plus zip-on 25l daypack) and a rolling duffel bag (about 30 l). It was tight but I managed to take a lot of camera equipment, my tablet PC, spare batteries, solar panel, dive mask, underwater camera, first aid kit, sleeping bag liners, headlamp, spare flashlight, multitool, 2-300 ft of 1/8-in polyline, and other supplies in addition to the required sleeping bag and enough clothes to go 2-3 days between laundry.

Leave yourself some room in your bag for souvenirs ...

[geniere]

Thanks, that is great advice.

[jimshu]

Explorerwannabee, did you or others have any problems with plastic bags which are banned in some of those countries?

[ExplorerWannaBe]

Hmm.... thought I responded a few days ago but no, I didn't have any problems with plastic bags. You get them from the supermarkets and some gift shops. I didn't do a lot of shopping so I didn't get a lot but it was more than sufficient to separate dirty clothes between laundry sessions, carry a few odds and ends, etc..

I had read about bans but I didn't see any enforcement of this.

I like to pack a few press-to-seal bags in pint (half-liter) and gallon (3.5 liter) sizes but I think the bans you are referring to are against shopping bags rather than food storage bags and it wouldn't surprise me if they enforced it by preventing merchants from buying/using plastic shopping bags in select areas.