Counting the days

These days I live among the piles of clothes and supplies for the three legs of my trip. I have picked up a small medicine cabinet that includes malaria, altitude and other sorts of pills. Also lots of Moleskin just in case. I love my Asolo hiking boots, they have been with me to two big trips before, in the Rockies and Andes and I had very little problems. My feet stay dry and comfortable for the most part. But Kili is much more serious and I am giving it special attention. In terms of clothing, we are avoiding cotton and getting new quick drying materials. My favourite is Patagonia, extremely lightweight, durable and warm, usually also pricy but I managed to get few great deals and buy several different layers. The best one was a back shelf of Sporting Life, where I bought five pieces for under $20 each,  after they got discontinued. Food-wise, I only need to worry about snacks, so I got a bunch of energy bars and gels and lots of trail mix. I avoid wheat when I can, so I'll take a loaf of spelt bread with me.

Few nuances too... I discovered yesterday that I lost one of two memory cards for my Fuji Finepix camera, and that nobody makes XDs any more. I am bringing the card reader and few memory sticks to download my pictures, but I doubt that there will be a computer in sight in a middle of Serengeti. Luckily, Boris' camera technology is brand new and apparently really good so we won't depend on my dinosaur. I also neglected to acknowledge that my Prada sunglasses are probably not the ideal wear to the summit and I am picky with sunglasses... I have small face and don't easily find glasses that fit me... and I am spoiled by my Pradas. I went to a bunch of stores and nothing felt right, will continue searching tomorrow after work.

But overall, packing for Kili took less thought than packing for safari. I googled 'what to wear on safari' and got a lot of nice fashion pictures. After reading few posts though it made sense to wear beige, kaki and brown (not too dark to attract mosquitoes, not too light to look dirty five minutes into the jeep ride), cotton is fine, shorts are fine, tevas and light hiking shoes are fine, however at night it does get cold and hence I will be sharing my new patagonia down sweater and my fleece between safari and Kili. I am also taking the rain jacket to safari, just in case. 

And finally, Zanzibar, the beach and the whatever style is how I see it and so I am packing like I would for Caribbean. Sarong, few bathing suites, airy tops and my jeans, few light dresses. 

Finally, packing it all so it is split into three legs is going to require some art. I know that I will pack most of my Kili stuff into my back pack and use it as a carry on, so that if the luggage goes missing (this happens quite a lot), I have my most important gear with me. I will also wear my hiking boots on the plane, but will pack flip flops in the back pack so I can change after the check-in. 

And I will finish with a bit of fun. I shopped for waterproof, low temperature winter mitts in MEC today and I told the sales guy that I need them because I was going hiking. He paused and said... and you are going to wear these mitts when hiking ... in this weather???? I know I am crazy, but do I look like it too?!