Safari Gear

One of the many things that I've learned about myself while preparing for this trip is that I love safari gear (most outerwear, in fact). Can't hide it.* I have noted the irony in that sentence because, as a child, I essentially hated the outdoors. Fact: I was the kid that didn't run around outside without a piece of fabric between my toes and the grass (socks, sandals, shoes, slippers...etc). Mostly socks though. Weird, I know. Anyway, in the last few years I guess I've realized that my lack of experience with the outdoors as an adolescent has led to a deep fascination with camping/hiking/safariing/general outdoorsyness as an adult. Hence the love of safari gear. And fleece jackets. I'm not sure I'm ready to join my Widjiwagan-y friends and hit the arctic circle for 39 days, but I can bite off a supervised, safari trip in a large vehicle with automatic locks -- no problem. 


* I hate that it's called safari gear, by the way. Reminds me of "carpenter jeans" or something that has become a cliched shell of it's former useful self. Safari is now a style and not an activity for which the product is used. I guess that's commonplace, but it seems particularly transparent with "safari shirts" or "safari hats". What does a shirt with two pockets and some extra buttons have to offer that a t-shirt doesn't? I can't put my binoculars in the pockets, too narrow. I can't keep a souvenir gazelle bone in the pocket, too shallow. You get the point.


So I have to exercise some budgetary restraint for two reasons: a) I have very little money to spend on "safariwear" that I'll use for 5 weeks of my life; b) I don't want to make myself look like an even bigger tourist. Yes, I realize that reason B will be essentially impossible to avoid...but I've gotta draw the line somewhere and that line has been drawn at floppy hats. I will NOT be buying a floppy hat. A part of me is slightly disappointed by this.


Not sure there's a point to this entry, but I'll probably be learning a lot during this trip so I wanted to get the first introspective anecdote out of the way. I think it was a good one. 

Off to a fast start!