I'm still distilling my notes into a trip report but I wrote up a small lessons learned in the interim.

Exercise regimen - I was probably in better shape than the PH and could handle everything he threw at me. We did a lot more climbing than I'm used to so I'll be incorporating into my training for next time.

Overnighting in Joburb before continuing - The travel left me a wreck that first night. Popping an Ambien in Joburg and getting to sleep early left me functional the next day.

Underarmour - the temperature on the Eastern Cape ranged from 40F to 80F. The heat gear shirts kept me a little warmer in the cold and cooler in the heat. These let me wear long sleeves to protect against ticks even in the heat. They took thirty seconds to hand wash every night so I didn't have to bring many.

Ripstop clothing - My cabelas non-ripstop pants got torn forcing my way through the acacia thorns. My ripstop ones did not.

Elastic draw strings on my jacket - I didn't think twice about the waist draw string inside the jacket. It hung down a little bit and somehow got caught on an acacia thorn. I noticed when the thorn broke and the draw string flung back and me and hit hard enough to make my finger numb. Luckily it wasn't my trigger finger.

Gloves - I thought about wearing them for the cold nights but never did. They weren't necessary when bushwhacking through the acacia thorns. I would only bring them back for cold weather.

Boots vs tennis shoes - I brought both Russell boots and trail running shoes. The boots only got worn once and I should have left them at home.

Camp shoes - I wish I had brought some extra shoes or flip flops to wear around camp after my tennis shoes got blood stains.

Military style luggage - The soft-sided luggage fit where the hard sided luggage wouldn't. It also makes getting through customs easier on the way home when they assume that you're military

Camelback - I can't count how many times we left the truck for a thirty minute hike and got back several hours later. This was a necessity. The internal bag compresses as you drink so the water doesn't slosh around and make noise.

Emergency kit - I kept a fire starter, compass, whistle, emergency blanket, etc in my pocket in case I got stuck in the bush. The day I almost left it in the truck was the day we split up on a mountain to help find someone else's wounded kudu. If I got lost I would have had to overnight on that mountain. My kit never left my cargo pocket after that.

Knives - I never used the multitool. The only time I had to use a knife was to trim a branch from a blind when we didn't want to use the saw and make noise. A knife wasn't necessary but I'd never go into the bush without one. The did fixed blade knife came in handy to split wood for the braii.

Knife strop - Wasn't used. I didn't use a knife enough to need sharpening. I should have only brought my small course strop and not the second fine strop too.

Binoculars - I bought a pair of Leupold HD 8x42 binocs for the trip. They worked really well and took a good beating. In hindsight 10x binocs would have been better. I didn't quite need the extra field of view of the 8x and I couldn't make out as much trophy detail as my PH with his 10x.

Binocular harness - A regular binocular strap makes my neck hurt. The harness works! I could wear it under my camelbak with the binocs over the sternum strap.

Large zoom camera - Totally unnecessary for the hunt. It was very nice for the photo safaris after the hunt.

Compact camera - I used this exclusively during the hunt. The limited zoom made it fairly useless for the post-hunt photo safaris.

Travel Clock - The Afton House may have been the only place I stayed with a clock in the room. I don't trust wake-up calls.

GPS - Never used it.

Travel Journal - I stopped writing in it after two days since I never had any spare time. I had a small pocket notebook that came in much more useful to jot down quick notes that I'm slowly transferring to a journal.

Carabiner and rope - Kept my rucksack in the back of the truck when it was bouncing around a rock field.

Hoorah towels - The tracker did most of the bloody work. The PH and tracker kept water in the truck to wash off the blood. Not worth the weight.

Permethrin - a mosquito/tick insecticide that you can apply to your clothes that lasts for up to six weeks through six washes. The Eastern Cape was so covered with ticks that I could see them in the high grass. I never got one tick. This stuff is awesome!

Vetbond - Was very useful to close up cuts in the field. One cut was almost bad enough to need stitches and it was reassuring to know that I could close it up without having to find a doctor.

Ambien - This stuff let me sleep on the plane and got me into the right time zone during my overnight in Joburg. I'm using this stuff every time I fly overseas now!

Claritin - I don't have allergies at home but I was allergic to something in Africa. Claritin stopped the sore throat and sneezing fits.

Acidophilus enzyme - A pill that adds helpful bacteria to your stomach and intestines. My stomach usually doesn't like food on travel. Starting an acidophilus regimen before the trip helped a lot.

Chap stick - I don't sun burn easily but somehow my lips got burned. I wish I had put some on earlier so my lips didn't hurt the whole trip.

Body glide - I'm a bicyclist and my unmentionables get chafed after several hours of hiking. No chaffing after using this stuff.

Solid shampoo and shaving creme - I carried Mama Bear's shaving cream sticks and solid shampoo onto the plane without worrying about the US's stupid rule about liquids on a flight.

Woolite - I hand washed some synthetic clothes that I didn't want the camp staff running through a drier. It's amazing how much of my fiancee's clothes had to be air dried.

Jolly Ranchers / toffees - Worked to silence the PH's cough on a stack. Helped bond with the tracker and worked as a small tip for some of the help that the PH said shouldn't receive a cash tip. I found out the hard way that you can't hand a bag of candy to an African. Culturally they think that you're giving them the whole bag and don't understand that they're supposed to pick out one or two candies. Hand them one or two candies.

Gatorade - Some of the camps' water tasted awful. I didn't want to use gatorade in my camelbak since I didn't have time to clean it every night. I wish I had brought some drink mix without sugar that would clean up easier.

Good list there.

I used lightweight boots for hunting and tennis shoes around camp, both worked well.

Yep, a hunting knife was superflorous, a folding three inch pocket knife was all I brought and only because I'm used to having it with me.

I left the spotting to the PH and trackers but next time I'll bring a pair of binoculars and harness, I missed too much.

I'm going to take a larger camera next time that fits easily into my rucksack. Some of the shots on distant animals and scenery of interest just didn't come out well. But I'll always carry a small camera in my pocket.

I didn't even take a watch, I didn't want to know what time it was.

I carried a stenographers notebook in my rucksack and wrote in it every time that we stopped and every evening. I actually had 58 pages of notes when I got done.

I carried hand sanitizer and a general purpose antibiotic cream and used it all regularily. I had zero issues, I think because of this.

Every hunt I tell myself to bring chapstick and every hunt I forget it. Luckily we rode through Windhoek halfway though my trip and I bought some there.

I wish that I had brought some Claritin or Benadryl, like you I'm not allergic to anything here but something over there got to me on a couple of days.

My PH had bottled water available because I specified it before the hunt and that's all I needed (along with a few beers). I carried a couple of bottles in my rucksak at all times.

Great info - I will definitely use it in my preperation for my trip - thanks for posting!

Where did you get the Permethrin and the Vetbound? Leaving for Tanzania Sunday and would like to get some of each?

Good report: I second the question about Permethrin???? Good bug dope can be a life saver.....Where did you get it???? Thanks

Solid shampoo and shaving creme - I carried Mama Bear's shaving cream sticks and solid shampoo onto the plane without worrying about the US's stupid rule about liquids on a flight.

Great idea!!!

Perry

I got Permmanone spray to treat my clothes and a big discount store -- Wal-Mart or Target or something.

I put travel size shampoo in my checked bag as I do not shampoo my hair on the plane.

There is so much difference in destinations and personal preference that any lengthy list like this will have items that do not apply to every hunter or hunt.

GREAT list. Much thanks from a chronic over-packer who will do Africa in 2010!