Welcome back to our guide to ‘Expedition Equipment for the Tropics’.
We are now going to carry on looking through the contents of my rucksack that I used to take with me when on expedition or working in the jungles of Central and South America.
The following items of expedition equipment are in no particular order of importance.
- Tough outdoor sandals. Necessary for letting your feet breathe at night if your boots are wet. Also, for bathing in down by the riverside and protecting your feet from sharp rocks or coral if on coastal projects.
- Bungee cords. Good for putting up shelters, mosquito nets, washing lines. I take 4 of them.
- A decent length of paracord string. The uses are endless, from shoelace replacements to shelter construction.
- Duct tape, Gaffa tape, Hostage tape… whatever the name…. it is a superb, repair anything, highly useful addition to your expedition equipment – also include (not in photo) two tubes of super glue. You now will be able to repair rucksacks, boots, basha sheets, in fact anything in you have!
- Insect repellant. I take 50% DEET, but I never put it on my skin, I spray it on clothing and equipment (not plastic – because it melts the stuff).
- Sun cream. Highly important in the tropics because of the intensity of the sun near or on the equator.
- Cigarette lighters, several of them (I don’t smoke) and keep them dry. For fire lighting and candles.
- Batteries, lots of them. For torches, cameras, MP3 players, etc. Take dead ones back out of the bush with you.
- Spare bulbs for one of my torches. I am now leaning more towards the new style LED type of torches due to the longer lasting bulbs and they are more battery friendly.
- Torch number 1
- Torch number 2, a head torch. I have 2 torches because at night under the canopy of the jungle, with no moon, it is blacker than the ace of spades!
- A good handful of zip lock bags to keep items waterproof.
That is it for Part 2. Come back soon to read more advice on expedition equipment.
Tags: what equipment do I need for an expedition, what is the best expedition equipment, what shall I take to the jungle
