An Indian tiger safari trip, although mostly confined to a 4*4 Gypsy which takes us through the jungle, can have its extremes of temperature and weather while also testing our physical and mental capacities. You’ve got your trip planned and now it’s time to pack your bag for your long-awaited safari trip. Be it a short weekend trip or a month-long adventure, things that go in the bag as well as the way/order they go in, are crucial to improving your on-tour experience.

As a general rule, the better you feel while you’re safaring and on tour, the more fun you’ll have, and that’s the whole point, right?

The good news is there’s a simple way to remember some of the basics of packing your bag in a comfortable, useful way.

Fundamentals of packing a bag for a safari trip (for all season):

Accessibility
When you pack things in a bag, think of when you would need them, how often and most importantly, how urgently! For instance, a band-aid for a cut or a bruise has to be accessed in not more than 2 seconds while a guide-book on Indian Birds can take a longer time to get to. You get it, right?
The way you pack your bags is crucial, and we shall help you simplify the same in the easiest way possible!

Summer Travel Essentials

Morning blues to be balanced!
Ensuring your bag is well balanced is key to a comfortable (and more enjoyable) morning on safari. How?! We usually leave the safari lodge/resort way before dawn for the morning safari, meaning you are waking up at ungodly hours! Being dazed, confused and groggy are mainstream phenomenon but at the same time ensuring you take everything on the morning safari is crucial! Make a complete check-list of the list of items you’d need on the morning safari the previous night, and keep them aside in your bag. Trust me, this would save a lot of headaches and time in the morning!

Winter Travel Essentials

Compression
One key to a well-packed bag is utilizing all of the available space. Think about the items in your pack as brick and mortar. Hard items are bricks. That extra sweater and rain jacket are moldable mortar. Don’t let the gaps between bricks go unused. Stuff clothes around larger items to compress them to their smallest form and save space.

Mid-season Travel Essentials

Dry
Having your gear get wet is definitely uncomfortable and is potentially a safety issue if you can’t get them dry and warm. The best way to mitigate this? Contractor trash bags. They’re the oversized, burly trash bags used to bag yard waste and the like. Found in regular grocery stores, they are perfect, super cheap liners for bags!
Line your empty pack with one and pack everything inside. When you’re done packing, take up the extra trash bag material in both hands, give it a few twists and tuck in the twist so it doesn’t come loose. Voilà!

While the fundamentals of packing remain the same for all seasons in India, what you pack (in terms of clothing) differs greatly due to massive climatic changes. The winters are freezing, especially with the wind-chill since the safari jeeps are open while the summers are very hot, dry and dusty!

We have given a very detailed list of how to pack for an Indian safari - Packing Essentials