Safari in Style: Part One

In April, K and I received an email from one of our best friends that started out like this:

Boys and Girls, 

Have you ever wanted to do this? (if the answer is yes, read on):

Africa... who's down?

The question I have for you is who wouldn't be down to go to Africa? Luckily for us, we were able to afford it and without even checking with one another, Handsome K and I promptly RSVP'd in the affirmative. We knew we'd be on the same page.

I guess I should back up and explain a couple things. One, our friend (we'll call him Dear T, which he'll completely hate) moved to Botswana from the Cotswalds with his mother and four siblings in 1995. Two, he then went on to document his time on a lion research camp in the Okavango Delta with one of his younger brothers and his younger sister (I would be lying if I said I didn't extract this information straight from Amazon.com, although I swear it's been told to me in person by T). It's a book called The Lion Children and I assure you, it's a good read (even Richard Dawkins agrees!). 

Three, since moving to America for college, meeting his lovely wife, Fantastic J, getting his Masters at Oxford and settling in the Bay Area (apparently it IS easy to condense nine years of life into one sentence), he's been itching to go back to Africa... and luckily for us, wanted his friends to come along for the journey.

In addition to Dear T, Fantastic J, Handsome K and yours truly, there are five others who jumped at the opportunity. All nine of us will be hitting South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe and experiencing the best it has to offer with Dear T as our knowledgeable, entertaining and sexy guide. 

But what to wear?

There must be some people groaning ("Really? She's traveling to Africa and she's thinking about outfits?"), but please relax. Apparently, it's supposed to be between 110 and 120 degrees during the day while we're there, so my travel companions will be lucky if I manage to put on an ounce of clothing every day. If that should happen to be the case, I think I'll be going in this direction:

By Malene Birger Hat, MiH Jeans top, Barton Perreira sunglasses, Isabel Marant bracelet, Toucan Print large scarf, 
Rue 21 cargo shorts, Alexander McQueen flat sandals

I love how well my malaria pills will fit in the cargo pockets and I think this will make the perfect ensemble for trying not to get bitten by snakes, charged by an elephant or eaten by a hippo, don't you?

I jest. I am over the moon excited, not only for safari, but to spend some quality time with a few of the people I love the most, miles and miles away from it all.

{Ensemble created here}