What headgear do you guys use on Safari?

[Hogpatrol]

In the tropics, boonie hat, everywhere else, baseball cap. A fishing cap with neck flap is another optio
Lucked out one year, the outfitter gave us camo, one side, brown on the other side, reversible boonie hats with his logo embroidered on it.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Sunscreen for me. I have a big head and look funny in a hat.

 

[BeeMaa]

Boonie hat in olive green most of the time.
Fleece green watchcap for the cold mornings.

Next trip I'm taking along my Filson Tin Cloth Packer.
But I'm still gonna take a fleece watchcap with me.

 

[crs]

On my first Safari, my hunting buddy had a Pith Helmet and he wore it in all the pix, but not when hunting.

 

[Mort Hill]

Nylon or breathable fabric ball cap and one of my fishing gators for neck. Take hat occasionally to let any heat out, and neck gator protects neck and ears if sun terrible.

 

[Brandon.Gleason]

Tilley T3 and a neck gaiter. I frequently wear the same at home when hunting and shooting in warmer weather.

 

[Martin77]

 

[BeeMaa]

My Filson Packer Hat.
Getting a little sun with a Lake Trout in Upstate NY.
BTW - the hat is 23 years old and still going strong.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

The hat that I always reach for (if it is not on my head) is a faded green baseball hat that has two very small led lights under the brim. It has almost replaced my small torch, but not completely. It is powered by 4 small 2023 batteries and seems to last a very long time as long as I remember to turn it off! Invaluable!

 

[The Engineer]

For me the basic requirements are a soft wide brim for sun protection, a vent panel for cooling, and a relatively loose fit for comfort. In my case I have used an olive colored Tilley that has met all these needs. Tilley recommends the fit be such hat you can insert a couple of fingers between the head and the hat and the lace can be put under the chin if it is windy. I find this relaxed fit very comfortable and cool but as noted previously in thorn country it can/does snag and can bet pulled off. I guess it is a trade off between using a cap and having the ears pierced or the annoyance of the hat snagging. So far I have stuck with the Tilley to prevent sunburn and for limited thorn protection even though I do carry a cap also.

 

[8 x 60]

Don't wear a pith helmet unless you don't mind having the pith taken!

 

[buffybr]

This question prompted me to look through my albums and picture files of over 50 years of hunting Montana (including my Mtn goat hunt when it was -5* F when I started up the mountain), 2 Alaskan hunts, 4 Canadian hunts for caribou, Dall sheep, and Muskox, 6 hunts in Africa in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, and hunts in New Zealand and Azerbaijan, and I could only find 3 pics of me wearing a hat. Those pics were taken back when I had horses and would pack my camp into the Montana Wildernesses where there was a good chance I would be riding in rain or wet snow so I would wear a cowboy hat. In two of those pics I was with bighorn rams that I shot and the other I was with a Shiras moose that I had shot.

Short answer is that I can't remember me ever wearing a hat in Africa.

Sorry Wayne the AH baseball hat you gave me in Mozambique and the TMS hat that Simon gave me there are still unworn and hanging on my wall with my hat collection.

 

[John Telford]

Floppy light weight hat when there is work to be done. The felt hat is for looking smart!

 

[Trail Rated]

If you read Roosevelt’s African Game Trails, there’s a section where he describes being talked into wearing a pith helmet on his safari, and how he didn’t like it and would have preferred his old Army “slouch” hat.

I wear boonie hats now that I’m older and tired of getting sunburned.

 

[Velo Dog]

Fellow Hunters,

I’m with those who do not enjoy having their ears sun burned.
About 20 or more years ago, I bought a Dorfman brand, dull green canvas fedora, for $20.us and it has proved itself to have been worth every penny it cost.
It is a perfectly designed item for sunny hot weather, in my experiences.

I like it so much that also, I have a waxed canvas (waterproof) one for winters in Alaska, here where I live year around.
That one is made by Filson and has warm ear flaps, tucked up inside it, that can be folded down when it is snowing sideways.

Back on track .... The OP question was regarding hats for hot Africa weather.....

And so, I recommend the simple canvas fedora, NOT treated with any waterproofing process, as it will not “breathe” and so it would be too hot in the blazing sun.
Mine has been hauled around the world several times, by smashing it down into my luggage.
Nonetheless, it only has taken a few seconds to reshape it in camp, by a little tapping here and little pinching there.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[Rule 303]

I to like to cover my ears and some of my neck so I wear a bush hat. Most seem to call them boonie hats but to me a boonie has a larger and stiffer brim. many years ago when I was in the Army Reserve here in Ozzie we called the bush hats, "Hats, rags ridiculous". See my avatar.

 

[Philip Glass]

This is triggered by a Pith Helmet thread I just read.

Old safari photos often show some sort of Pith Helmet headgear and having googled Pith, apparently it is light, keeps the head cool and provides shade. Is the Pith too Colonial now?

New safari photos often have some form of baseball cap. Even in England in the summer a baseball can be pretty hot. Plus, it only shades you in one direction, whereas in Africa I guess that you would want your headgear to give as much shade as possible.

I would have thought that a straw hat would have been best: light, cool and fit in with typical safari backgrounds.

What do you wear?

I wear a ball cap unless it’s cold then a beanie (I have several both Kuiu and Sitka). If you go to some where that is extremely hot hen yes a brimmed hat can be good but his is likely only on a buff hunt or the like up North in hot weather. Never heard of anyone wearing a pith helmet.
Philip

 

[adzhoo]

Woodland bonnie hat. It can fold, I put it and forget it for the day.

 

[IvW]

Wide brimmed with ventilation in an approrpriate colour

 

[Pondoro]

Wide brimmed ventilated canvas hat..OR pith helmet..