african adventure

[drewdunnrespect]

Lady’s and gents please imagine that you’re of to Africa for as long as it takes to explore and document and map the continent by foot.
In regards to that above statement you are going to require a base camp and a camp that can be carried on your back when you explore for a few days or weeks at a time because base camp is going to be were all your supplies will be kept bearing in mind you will have no contact with out side suppliers once there, due to the remote nature of the place also the African people can not know what you are doing due to working for British ordnance and survey and British intelligence.

Question

What would you take?

Ps all gear must fit in 120 litre standard issue Bergen and grab bag of your choice and a 120 litre dry sack


My list includes

2 3 by 2 meter tarps
1 4 by 3,5 meter tarp
1 sleeping hammock
1 netted hammock
1 Snugpak minus -60 6 season sleeping bag (for use in mountain regains)
1 Snugpak jungle quilt
1 DD underblanket
1 mozzie net
1 chair
10 candle lanterns
100 candles for lantern until I make my own
1 Kelly kettle
1 set of cooking pots and pot holder
1 Swedish triangria
1 roll mat
1 stratosphere Snugpak Bivi
1 bush hat
1 wash kit
1 first aid kit
1 plant id book
1 Gransfors and Burk’s small forest axe
1 Laplander folding saw and spare blade
1 Mora knife
1 crook knife
1 roll mat
1 fire lighting kit
1 note book
20 different HB drawing and writing pencil
1 artists 120 colouring pencil set box
10 A1 sketch pads for drawing and documenting
1 animal id book
1 tree id book
1 compass
1 sextant
1 US military hunting bow

This is my list so far and will be edited as I have the time

 

[Shewie]

I`d take one of these drew

and a pouch of knockout whiskey

 

[John Fenna]

I`d take one of these drew

and a pouch of knockout whiskey

No mate - you have 2 120l bags - take two of them!

 

[drewdunnrespect]

i was be serius guys but what the hell love it any ways lololololololololol

 

[C_Claycomb]

Interesting, but I have to ask "Why?"

Why are you asking at this time, what has prompted this? It is kind of an off the wall question.

Why, since you are appently looking at this as a modern venture, based on your kit, would either the British Ordnance or British Intelegence be interested in mapping all of Africa by foot?

Why do you think that it would be possible to operate over most of the continent without bumping into the locals? Even in the old days when Africa really hadn't been mapped and there was real wilderness, it was hardly possible for a white man to wander about without the favour of the local chiefs.

Why, if your question encompasses all of Africa, do you hint that all your gear could be fitted into one bag? Why would you want to do it that way? Why would you want to work in deserts with the same gear you worked with in the jungle? Why would the clothes that suited the simian mountains or Aberdares be anything you would want to cart around in the Namib?

Finally, a how...

How long do you reckon you would have to live for to do this task?

Sorry to act like I am raining on your adventure, but without more information it seems like make believe rather than serious research.

 

[Sniper]

I would leave out the bow, swiss army trangia, quilt, underblanket, bivi, kelly kettle, and one of the two roll mats (however I suspect there was only supposed to be one).
I would instead include 1 x 12 bore shotgun with 100 No 4 ammo, plus a Parker Hale 7.62 Stalker rifle with 4 x 20 scope with 300 rounds of ammo. I would also include a hi-tec hi-spec. image intensifier and a tripod plus a good quality camera. A temptation would also be to leave out the hammock and take an oz style swag and camp bed instead. Of course you would also be well advised to take some sort of water purification equipment. If you mean to be serious though you would most likely do this with either a vehicle of some description ie landy or a whole squad of bearers cos there would have to be a whole bunch of kit for mapping purposes. There would also have to be some basic food provision even allowing that you could get meat and so forth on a daily basis, salt for example, sugar, tea and a load of other stuff considering the length of time you would be out.

 

[Tengu]

Lots of trade goods.
Some letters of introduction to local Chiefs on fancy headed paper
a solar toupee

 

[Bodge]

are you not telling us something drew????
secret service?

only it's not secret now.

 

[forrestdweller]

Lady’s and gents please imagine that you’re of to Africa for as long as it takes to explore and document and map the continent by foot.
In regards to that above statement you are going to require a base camp and a camp that can be carried on your back when you explore for a few days or weeks at a time because base camp is going to be were all your supplies will be kept bearing in mind you will have no contact with out side suppliers once there, due to the remote nature of the place also the African people can not know what you are doing due to working for British ordnance and survey and British intelligence.

Question

What would you take?

Ps all gear must fit in 120 litre standard issue Bergen and grab bag of your choice and a 120 litre dry sack


My list includes

2 3 by 2 meter tarps
1 4 by 3,5 meter tarp
1 sleeping hammock
1 netted hammock
1 Snugpak minus -60 6 season sleeping bag (for use in mountain regains)
1 Snugpak jungle quilt
1 DD underblanket
1 mozzie net
1 chair
10 candle lanterns
100 candles for lantern until I make my own
1 Kelly kettle
1 set of cooking pots and pot holder
1 Swedish triangria
1 roll mat
1 stratosphere Snugpak Bivi
1 bush hat
1 wash kit
1 first aid kit
1 plant id book
1 Gransfors and Burk’s small forest axe
1 Laplander folding saw and spare blade
1 Mora knife
1 crook knife
1 roll mat
1 fire lighting kit
1 note book
20 different HB drawing and writing pencil
1 artists 120 colouring pencil set box
10 A1 sketch pads for drawing and documenting
1 animal id book
1 tree id book
1 compass
1 sextant
1 US military hunting bow

This is my list so far and will be edited as I have the time

stupid questions: ONE basecamp to explore a whole continent? what part exactly-rainforest, savannah, desert?
what does a us military hunting bow look like and why this particiular model?

 

[Tengu]

Hes writing a story, arent you?

 

[leon-1]

Without covering any of the kit that you require for mapping, your list needs quite a change.

Ditch the Snugpak minus -60 6 season sleeping bag (for use in mountain regains), you won't need it, you would be better off with a more modular system.

Snugpak jungle quilt, that can go the same way.
DD underblanket, this can go as well as they are more designed for temperate regions. The worst comes to the worst you can use skins sourced locally.

Candle lanterns don't throw out a lot of light, get either a petrol or Kerosene/paraffin lantern, they have reasonable fuel economy and the fuel should be available.

You don't need the Kelly kettle, just pots and pans. No requirement for a pot holder as it could easily be improvised.

Swedish Army Mess Set, although you should be able to get Kerosene, meths could be a totally different matter, so that could be binned as well.

Ditch the SFA and get a good parang / panga, it will be a lot more use.

Get rid of the crooked knife, either you won't have time to use it or learn how to burn things out.

Bows are good, but how much experience have you got with a bow?
It maybe easier to take a rifle or if you must go with the bow type hunting tool look at something like the Barnett Commando Crossbow.

You have roll mat down twice, ditch one of them.

Sketch pads are too large, try something smaller either A3 or possibly A2.

You'll need more than one notebook.

Kids in Africa like pencils, take a load to give away. In the end, you can break a pen and it's broken, if you break a pencil you have two pencils.

Take a small mountain tent, you talk of the sleeping bag, but in the end the mountain tent creates a micro climate that you can operate within which includes making a brew and sorting your admin out.

Add to this a small multi fuel stove.

Binoculars will be needed as will a camera and enough memory to keep it running.

GPS for plotting locations in longitude and lattitude.

A torch of some kind.

Batteries for camera, torch and GPS as well as spare (ensure camera, torch and GPS use the same batteries). Use rechargeable batteries and take a solar charger with you.

You will require a water filter, go with either a Katadyn or an MSR. Sterilising tablets are also advisable, if you are gonna be using them for any period of time don't used iodine based tablets use chlorine based. Boil your water when you can, but when on the move chlorinate and leave a good contact period (in mountainous regions where the water can be very cold at least 30 minutes) and never place your water bottle directly into the water to fill it, only fill it through the filter.

The animal ID book won't be a problem as books on tracking will cover it (for southern Africa look for books by Louis Liebenberg amongst others) the other two books are going to be a lot more specialized I would have thought.

Some form of Camelbak or waterbag (MSR Dromedary) will also be required.

You missed off a SAK.

There are various other bit's, but this is off the top of my head so far.

 

[Shewie]

Sketch pads are too large, try something smaller either A3 or possibly A2.

I think you mean A4 or A5 Leon

 

[drewdunnrespect]

i am righting a novel about a eighteen hundreds period explorer come land surveyer.
The diffrence is tho is that my character has no magic but it is based in modern times so we can use modern gear. The world in the book still really unexplored because the africa i will use is going to be fiction but it will have all the different regoins and wheather systems of modern africa. Also there are no planes/cars due to boats being so far technically advanced in this world of mine and well i wanted to make the gear and bushcraft side of it as reallistic as possible cheers and sorry for not making this clear in the first place its just i didnt think i needed to.

 

[durulz]

I'd take a pack of Top Trumps for those quiet nights at camp.
Jet Fighters, most likely.

 

[C_Claycomb]

That does make it a little easier to understand. Not sure how you will manage to combine the minutiae of bushcraft with a sweeping epic adventure. It just seems like you would run the risk of getting severely bogged down if you were to go into too much detail about the kit being carried. Its not a genre that I am familiar with, but the Craighead-George books that combined a little adventure with a lot of bushcraft made little of the kit. In all cases the kit is listed, but only amounted to a handful of items. Beyond that, it seems a better device to not mention things by name at all. Setting a realistic scene and making things believable doesn't necessarily mean you have to go into great detail about all the details.

Best of luck.

Who do you have lined up for proof reading? I think you need to plan on being very, very nice to them