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Boots

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by
John
on 30th April 2010 at 08:02 AM (1413 Views)
In September I plan to go, for the fourth time, to Namibia, this time to take part in a Biosphere Expeditions predator and prey census on a game farm near Windhoek. The ground will be dry and sometimes stoney so I am looking for a suitable pair of boots. This is a bit like looking for the perfect camera bag, which is also one of my preoccupations, and equally probably does not exist.

I have not yet managed to find the perfect boot. It has to protect, as snake bites are a possibility, but the weather can be hot (30 - 35 degrees) so it rules out really heavy duty hiking boots.

On my first stay on a game farm I wore my usual Merrell trainers which were very comfortable but they have no ankle protection and sand came over the top when walking in the soft silt of dried up river beds. So I want at least a half-boot.

Why not the traditional desert boot? I am flat-footed and need the kind of support you get from the contoured construction of modern trainers. As an immediate contradiction to that thought, I am tempted by the leather boots from the South African Rogue company which can be obtained from Kendrick Imports.

To buy or not to buy, that is the question.

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  1. Steve - 2nd May 2010 10:03 AM
    Steve's Avatar
    John,

    I know nowt about boots. I do have some black ones but that's about it...

    I did learn that a good protective camera bag is a good idea. Although I have one I can't be bothered to lug anything much around, it helps make me tired, so I tend to carry the large Pentax DSLR around in a mildy protective over the shoulder bag that is very light.

    That in turn led to the anti shake button being kicked or knocked off the back of the camera at some point recently. It was snapped off and totally broken and I could not even find where it went. It was then impossible to switch the anti shake options on or off.

    Thanksfully Pentax seem neat on repairs and it is due back any time now.. with a charge of just £50 plus VAT which seems okay to me. So the switch probably costs £2 and the time to replace it is probably 10 mins, still, a £50 charge is something you'd don't see too often these days, with lots of firms seeing to charge around £100 if they even have to look at something let alone repair it.

    I wish I was going with you on your safari type trip.. I used to hanker after doing one but when attending the World Cup turned out to be a nonsensical affair it probably killed my main chance of going out that way.

    I hope you have a good time and I look forward to the photos. Some of your kit, and boots etc, would probably add character and understanding to a general set of photos of where you go and what you see.

    Steve
  2. John - 2nd May 2010 10:53 PM
    John's Avatar
    Steve,

    I have also been carrying my camera in an ordinary bag and was bitten when it fell off a chair just 18 inches or so onto the ground. The LCD on my Canon 40D was smashed and cost £250 to repair.

    The main problem I have with camera bags is that they are too one-purpose. In my regular bag (a Lowe Alpine 30 litre day bag) I carry at various times a laptop, papers, batteries, gps, tablets, kleenex, lens cloth, and often some shopping as well as one or two cameras, sometimes a hard disk, books.

    What I want is a general purpose bag with a removable protected area for a pro sized dslr with a 70-200 zoom. When the camera protection is removed there should be one big space where I can carry a bag of potatoes, a cabbage, packets of coffee, etc. I don't want one bag for this purpose, one for that. The bag I brought the shopping home in on Friday might become my carry-on bag when I fly and my camera bag when out hiking or on safari. I'm sure it can be done as Crumpler make shoulder bags with removable insides. But the only one where the insides fit in my day bag is just too small for the camera and lens combination, and the next size up is just too large.

    Perhaps the US is the place to look for the kind of bag I want, or maybe I need to try to manufacture the removable protection and carry on using my day bag.
  3. Ryan - 3rd May 2010 11:03 PM
    Ryan's Avatar
    John

    Magnum make a good pair of desert boots that are trainer based, I wore mine all through my last tour of Iraq and had no problems, Alt-berg also do an excellent boot and are made to measure, you have to go to their factory shop in Richmond, N Yorks but you can get them through the post for your size.

    Another boot that I use is Meindl which is an excellent all rounder, I've used their desert version in Kenya and other hot locations and have never experienced any problems, I still use them now for walking or working around the house.
  4. John - 4th May 2010 09:39 AM
    John's Avatar
    Ryan,

    Thanks. That's extremely helpful. Meindl desert boots get lots of good press from everywhere, so I'll take a look for some.
  5. John - 7th May 2010 08:41 AM
    John's Avatar
    Ryan,

    Ordered a pair of Meindl Desert Fox size 11 boots from Genuine JayJays of Brecon for £60 which arrived today complete with spare laces. First impressions are very good, so this seems like a real bargain. Of course it's difficult to tell from a town environment how my feet will fare in rough terrain.