Packing list for Botswana

Our bush planes in Botswana, the ones that take us to the Okavango Delta safari camps we'll be visiting, limit luggage to 44 pounds, soft-sided duffels only.  No wheels, not hard frames, no larger than 10" X 12" X 24".

That's because the luggage compartments of these planes are only 23" high, so pilots must stuff soft-sided duffels into tiny spaces.  If you don't comply, they'll refuse to take you or sell you an additional seat to hold your bags or book you an expensive charter flight to haul you and your excess bags wherever you want to go.  Too expensive for our taste, so here's what we ended up with--2 duffels (Don's larger than mine!) and 2 backpacks.  Unfortunately, that also means we are using one of those old and awful wheeled luggage carriers, but better (barely) than carrying our stuff through airports.

Here's what I packed, in case you need to travel lightly to this part of Africa:

2 pairs hiking pants with zip off legs
2 pairs dressier hiking pants (probably one more than I need)
3 long-sleeved safari shirts for fending off the sun and looking a little more presentable at night
4 T-shirts, one long-sleeved
bathing suit
6 pairs of underwear and socks
toiletries, including critical meds like malarone for malaria and lomotil for diarrhea (hope to avoid that one)
Go Lite down sweater
light rain jacket
1 pair sandals
umbrella
lots of mosquito repellant
anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitizer
binoculars
camera and extra battery and disk
iPad
phone
all the requisite cords and adaptors for fuel these devices
Kindle plus magazines I haven't had time to read
itinerary and other documents for travel
what I'm wearing on the long trip--basically 2 days of travel (T-shirt, knit pants for plane comfort, fleece sweater)
5 bars dark chocolate
small down travel pillow

This is all stashed in my 18" duffel and day pack.  We always travel with only carry-on luggage, but this is a reduction from there, which I think will be just fine.  We can get laundry done everywhere (except "ladies' underwear" which offends local sensibilities in Botswana).

D