thanks steve for the link. I won a grade 2 LOWA desert elite. I will review them once they arrive tomorrow. now i am aiming for jungle boots in ebay if i get them cheaper than £15 or I will go with those in your link.
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desert/jungle boots
- Thread starter iampmat
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Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
thanks steve for the link. I won a grade 2 LOWA desert elite. I will review them once they arrive tomorrow. now i am aiming for jungle boots in ebay if i get them cheaper than £15 or I will go with those in your link.
No problem. I've just ordered some boots and waterproofs from them. Worth looking at their Facebook and ebay stores as prices can vary. Been happy with gear I've ordered from them in the past.
whereas anyone wants to share his opinion on the lowa desert elite? I will start a new thread when I will have a sensible review
Sorry but waterproof boots and jungles do not go together. Unlike the UK where you would have a pair of waterproof boots which would keep you fairly dry in the rain in the jungle you will simply end up with a pair of "wet boots" that never have a chance to dry (due to humidity). Personally I would go for a non leather synthetic option for jungle wear WITH venting holes as you always end up wading at some point in the jungle. Keep a pair of sandals etc in a dry bag for use on a nighttime when in your "dry" kit.
I have used the Meindl Desert fox extensively in the desert and the best jungle boot period is the Altberg jungle classic http://www.bodyarmourtactical.co.uk...search&utm_source=google-product-search-us-en
The US jungle boot next but only if you have very narrow feet (most americans do for some reason)
The US jungle boot next but only if you have very narrow feet (most americans do for some reason)
Hi
I have spent some time in central American and SE Asian jungles, and dry deserty places and African bush - bits of India are similar to these places. And I love talking about boots!
Top tips for these places..
Steer clear of US Jungle boots UNLESS you can be sure they are MILSPEC. You have to look hard and know your stuff. I had some Altama NON MILSPEC boots which crapped themselves in Borneo, and I didn't go up Mt Kinabalu as a result. That was after 4 weeks of constant wet season yuk.
MILSPEC Altamas are great - cheap enugh if got direct from the USA. Plenty of size choices - a size Altama US 8.5 Wide is actually about the same as a UK 8.5 wide
Don't bother with second hand. IMHO. All feet are different and I have never had any joy with them. Might be just me.
Those cheap desert boots available in high street shoe shops are actually very hard wearing and comfy. Not thick soled for heavy duty stuff, but for day to day stuff, surprisingly good. I wore a pair of those ghillie lace style ones all around the middle east, usually without socks. They are less than £30. They may well do you - you say you travel to India frequently, it sounds like the emphasis is travel/low key rather than some hard core climbing/mountaineering so I would give them serious thought. Lots of people who go travelling end up taking foot wear that's way too heavy - you have to be realistic about what you are really going to do.
Footwear for monsoon season will get wet wet wet... rural India in that weather - seriously consider wellies. All the rage in central America. They are cheap n cheerful, dry out well enough, and wont soak up nasty poo water.
Just my 10 cents..
I have spent some time in central American and SE Asian jungles, and dry deserty places and African bush - bits of India are similar to these places. And I love talking about boots!
Top tips for these places..
Steer clear of US Jungle boots UNLESS you can be sure they are MILSPEC. You have to look hard and know your stuff. I had some Altama NON MILSPEC boots which crapped themselves in Borneo, and I didn't go up Mt Kinabalu as a result. That was after 4 weeks of constant wet season yuk.
MILSPEC Altamas are great - cheap enugh if got direct from the USA. Plenty of size choices - a size Altama US 8.5 Wide is actually about the same as a UK 8.5 wide
Don't bother with second hand. IMHO. All feet are different and I have never had any joy with them. Might be just me.
Those cheap desert boots available in high street shoe shops are actually very hard wearing and comfy. Not thick soled for heavy duty stuff, but for day to day stuff, surprisingly good. I wore a pair of those ghillie lace style ones all around the middle east, usually without socks. They are less than £30. They may well do you - you say you travel to India frequently, it sounds like the emphasis is travel/low key rather than some hard core climbing/mountaineering so I would give them serious thought. Lots of people who go travelling end up taking foot wear that's way too heavy - you have to be realistic about what you are really going to do.
Footwear for monsoon season will get wet wet wet... rural India in that weather - seriously consider wellies. All the rage in central America. They are cheap n cheerful, dry out well enough, and wont soak up nasty poo water.
Just my 10 cents..
very precious comment bullterrier thanks. I was also considering wellies didn't know if it was a good options since I'm not expert so I let speak who actually is expert.
I'm not doing serious marching just visiting remote communities for work (renewable energy engineer).
can you point me an Amazon / ebay entry for those cheap cordura boots? what you think about the jungle army boots I posted in first message? (the black British army jungle boots) or the used boots another member pointed in the surplus army site?
I'm not doing serious marching just visiting remote communities for work (renewable energy engineer).
can you point me an Amazon / ebay entry for those cheap cordura boots? what you think about the jungle army boots I posted in first message? (the black British army jungle boots) or the used boots another member pointed in the surplus army site?
Hi
I'd say those British jungle boots would be a steal at £5... as long as they fit! They will do for hot dry weather, as well as wet. If it is proper torrential rain you getwet anyway. in areas of poor sanitation, you can get a problem with really filthy water/sewage and if you have any open sores or athletes foot you can get problems. A little bottle of that alcohol hand sanitiser is very good for dealing with that.
In the monsoons lots of locals wear wellies. I knew od a Brit working in Malaysia who swore by Nokian rubber boots. I never believed it until I saw lots of locals wearing rubber and plastic shoes. Found this link
http://www.jmcaleer.com/index.php?p=product&id=305&parent=25
Bottom line - big difference between the Wet and the Hot Dry!
cheers
I'd say those British jungle boots would be a steal at £5... as long as they fit! They will do for hot dry weather, as well as wet. If it is proper torrential rain you getwet anyway. in areas of poor sanitation, you can get a problem with really filthy water/sewage and if you have any open sores or athletes foot you can get problems. A little bottle of that alcohol hand sanitiser is very good for dealing with that.
In the monsoons lots of locals wear wellies. I knew od a Brit working in Malaysia who swore by Nokian rubber boots. I never believed it until I saw lots of locals wearing rubber and plastic shoes. Found this link
http://www.jmcaleer.com/index.php?p=product&id=305&parent=25
Bottom line - big difference between the Wet and the Hot Dry!
cheers
Honestly, i think it depends on what you want in a footwear. But if the reason you want to wear "x" brand shoes" or "y brand boots" is for your feet to stay dry in a jungle, do consider these facts;
Fact 1 ; Jungle is wet and very wet during the monsoon season, even flooded in some areas.
Fact 2 ; You probably have to do some wading in the water when jungle trekking anywhere at anytime. Sometimes up to knee or thigh with water.
Fact 3 ; Due to the situations above, your feet will not be dry halfway through the trek no matter what you wear.
So.. all in all.. the faster you absorb the fact that your feet are going to be wet, the better decision you will make for your feet. I am not opposed of any brand, material or construction in jungle footwear. Wear what you will, but then lets do it for a right and reasonable cause. I myself wear a pair of canvas-sided jungle boots during trekking on dryer days, but prefer a pair of heavier leather boots during a hard trek.
My excuse to wear a boot is, I fear for the danger of snake bites and thorns on the ground enough that I'd be happy to bear with the weight and cumbersome related to wearing a pair of boots. Other than that, I'd get a gore-tex socks rather than boots because i heard the socks dry easily at night. Gore tex boot? They'd dry like a pillow under the rain during the night. Cheap canvas+leather jungle boots dry easier, but offered me less protection from snakebites.
Find out what danger from the jungle area you're dreading for your foot then buy the right boots to protect it from the specific danger of the area. But, remember, getting your feet dry in a real cross jungle trek is very difficult if not impossible. Best last advice i can give to you is, you cant go wrong to find the most durable, fastest drying footwear for a jungle use.
Fact 1 ; Jungle is wet and very wet during the monsoon season, even flooded in some areas.
Fact 2 ; You probably have to do some wading in the water when jungle trekking anywhere at anytime. Sometimes up to knee or thigh with water.
Fact 3 ; Due to the situations above, your feet will not be dry halfway through the trek no matter what you wear.
So.. all in all.. the faster you absorb the fact that your feet are going to be wet, the better decision you will make for your feet. I am not opposed of any brand, material or construction in jungle footwear. Wear what you will, but then lets do it for a right and reasonable cause. I myself wear a pair of canvas-sided jungle boots during trekking on dryer days, but prefer a pair of heavier leather boots during a hard trek.
My excuse to wear a boot is, I fear for the danger of snake bites and thorns on the ground enough that I'd be happy to bear with the weight and cumbersome related to wearing a pair of boots. Other than that, I'd get a gore-tex socks rather than boots because i heard the socks dry easily at night. Gore tex boot? They'd dry like a pillow under the rain during the night. Cheap canvas+leather jungle boots dry easier, but offered me less protection from snakebites.
Find out what danger from the jungle area you're dreading for your foot then buy the right boots to protect it from the specific danger of the area. But, remember, getting your feet dry in a real cross jungle trek is very difficult if not impossible. Best last advice i can give to you is, you cant go wrong to find the most durable, fastest drying footwear for a jungle use.
Take a look at the French Foreign Legion's Canvas boots.
http://www.trancheemilitaire.com/fr/rangers/1042-chaussures-de-brousse-en-toile-armee-francaise.html
http://www.trancheemilitaire.com/fr...usse-en-toile-armee-francaise-originales.html
http://www.trancheemilitaire.com/fr...brousse-wissart-en-toile-armee-francaise.html
And here is one of the French companies that still makes such models
http://www.palladiumboots.com/shop/us-men/us-men-footwear.html?material=57
http://www.trancheemilitaire.com/fr/rangers/1042-chaussures-de-brousse-en-toile-armee-francaise.html
http://www.trancheemilitaire.com/fr...usse-en-toile-armee-francaise-originales.html
http://www.trancheemilitaire.com/fr...brousse-wissart-en-toile-armee-francaise.html
And here is one of the French companies that still makes such models
http://www.palladiumboots.com/shop/us-men/us-men-footwear.html?material=57
I'd be very surprised to find any new boots with actual canvas. They've been replaced (the same designs as the old ones) with cordura.
One more thing to add, as a part of the education on the history of modern US military jungle boots, the green canvas boot was developed at the start of the VietNam war and had the drain holes and a screen mesh insole. That allowed the water from rice paddies to drain out and the screen mesh insole kept the air circulating under the foot to aide drying. When the military switched to the black cordura nylon upper they also switched the insole to a more conventional, all synthetic, solid foam insole. It does not allow that breathing and draining to the same level as the older green canvas model. For everyday wear, the black boot was fine. When in an actual jungle environment they did not perform as well.
I have not seen anyone selling the original style insoles for some years. Some boot makers that still supply the military with boots also still make some of the green canvas boots. They do not have the screen insoles though, they have the solid foam ones.
I will also say that the screen insoles took some getting used to. They added no padding under foot and were somewhat abrasive when walking long distances. I recall getting 2 inch blisters on the bottoms of my feet on one occasion and that made the military course I was attending rather a challenge.
I have not seen anyone selling the original style insoles for some years. Some boot makers that still supply the military with boots also still make some of the green canvas boots. They do not have the screen insoles though, they have the solid foam ones.
I will also say that the screen insoles took some getting used to. They added no padding under foot and were somewhat abrasive when walking long distances. I recall getting 2 inch blisters on the bottoms of my feet on one occasion and that made the military course I was attending rather a challenge.
I was lucky that my last pair of junglies were a lucky find off ebay and were the green canvas and leather type with the later sole for £8! In a size 12 which is also hard for me to find. I found them harder to get on than the nylon later version not sure why, but once on I found them a lot more comfortable. It was a sad day when they went kaput! They came with the plastic mesh insole as mentioned above, I quickly threw those out, it was like walking on a cheese greater! I just used them without any insole they were fine for me, but the foam type are very good.
I recently spent some time in Australia and was hunting in the swamps, it was hot, sweaty, and very wet. I used what the locals recommended, regular old trainers. I brought some with nylon mesh sides because they gave better support than any of the canvas ones I looked at. They got stinky of course and a good wash in the ocean every night didn't help much. The biggest downfall was when I got sand in through the mesh and the sand began to chafe my tender little toes. I'd looked at jungle boots but thought they probably weren't quiet enough for stalking buffalo and pigs. There isn't really any perfect footwear for wet conditions.
Check out these Altberg Green Zone boots, they say they are a cross between Desert and Jungle.
http://www.altberg.co.uk/product/the-green-zone-boot/
Nice colour and made in the UK to boot.
Josh
http://www.altberg.co.uk/product/the-green-zone-boot/
Nice colour and made in the UK to boot.
Josh
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I have some Meindl Desert Fox boots which I really like but they are in no way shape or form waterproof.
They do dry out fast though.
They do dry out fast though.
I bit the bullet and bought some new balance junglelite boots.
Pretty modern design, PU synthetic uppers ( not leather ) and mesh you can blow smoke through. They have 3 drainage vent each side and are supposedly very light ( 1lb per boot. )
I'm only hoping they come in time before my flight to Kerala.
I really like the sound and look of them. I feel like a kid waiting for Santa! Lol
To the origional poster, iampmat, when are you going to Kerala? I am out there from January the 6th 2013.
Be good to meet up if you want?
Pretty modern design, PU synthetic uppers ( not leather ) and mesh you can blow smoke through. They have 3 drainage vent each side and are supposedly very light ( 1lb per boot. )
I'm only hoping they come in time before my flight to Kerala.
I really like the sound and look of them. I feel like a kid waiting for Santa! Lol
To the origional poster, iampmat, when are you going to Kerala? I am out there from January the 6th 2013.
Be good to meet up if you want?
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