What to Pack for a Jungle Trek
My jungle trek through the Mae Tang district area was absolutely an experience of a lifetime.
I enjoy the outdoors but I am by no means an outdoorsy person, so I was a little nervous to embark on a 3 day trek through Northern Thailand’s hill tribes. The trek was definitely tough but entirely worth it. I highly recommend doing a trek if you can — it’s such a unique opportunity to connect with a country’s landscape and local communities — and here’s what you need to make the most of it!
What to Pack:
A small day pack. You’re going to want a lightweight, small but roomy, durable day pack while trekking. It’s going to hold all your essentials and more importantly, it’s going to be on your back the whole time. So make sure it’s comfortable, too. I used my Fjallraven Kanken backpack and it held up quite nicely!
A battery pack. You’re more than likely going to be trekking through the jungle or rural areas and villages so there won’t be any plugs! My battery pack lasted me the 3 days and 2 nights I stayed in the jungle, which meant I had my phone to take pictures with. FYI: you probably won’t have service in such remote areas even if you’re using a local provider. But hey, we still like our phones then, right?
LOTS and lots of water. Trekking is going to be tiring and you will be sweating all the H20 in your body out. Whether you bring a reusable water bottle to refill or buy water bottles, make sure you carry more than enough to get you through or day, or at least until your next rest stop in the day (places we stopped at for lunch sometimes had water we could purchase). Depending on where you’re visiting, it also might be extremely hot. It was brutal at times to trek when it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit with about 85% humidity — I was constantly drenched in sweat.
Sunscreen and bug spray. You’re going to want bug spray on you at all times, even right after showering. It might feel gross, especially when you’re sweaty all the time, but you’ll be thankful for it. Same with sunscreen! You don’t need to be any more uncomfortable during a trek than you need to be.
A change of clothes. Some people recommend bringing enough underwear to last you through your trek and only one shirt that you rewear day after day, but I think a change of clothes is worth the bit of space you lose in your day pack. It is so nice to change into a clean shirt after showering at the end of the day, and you can wear to trek the next day. If anything, bring an extra shirt and rewear your shorts, and you can rotate through your shirts. You’ll want lightweight, quick drying clothes on your trek, and that makes it super easy to wash a shirt when you shower and hang it up to dry for the next day!
Sturdy shoes. Like I said, I’m not an outdoorsy person so I wasn’t about to haul a pair of hiking boots I’ve worn once 4 years ago all the way across the world. I may have worn my Stan Smith Adidas sneakers, but they worked just fine. So it’s not the end of the world if you’re trekking and you don’t have hiking boots on you. Just make sure your shoes give you ankle support, sole support (trust me, your feet will be SORE by the end of the day), and have good traction!
Multiple pairs of socks. Depending on where you’re trekking, it can get really dusty. We all kicked up so much orange dust onto our legs and somehow into our socks and onto our feet. Again, you can wash your socks at night and dry them, but it will be nice to have a clean pair of socks on your feet! You might want to consider a taller pair of socks, too, but I was just fine in ankle socks at the end of the day.
Sunglasses or a hat. You’ll most likely be wearing this during the day so it won’t take up any room in your day pack, and you’ll definitely appreciate having it during the very sunny days.
A sweatshirt (and possibly thin, longer pants) for night. Again, depending where you are, it can get pretty chilly at night. One night in the jungle I woke up twice to find eventually what would be a collective 5 blankets because I went to sleep in shorts and a t-shirt. It was also absolutely chilly waking up at 6:15 am for breakfast. If you have space, bring it.
Your one luxury item. Whether it’s hair gel, your special face wash,
What Not to Pack:
Makeup. You won’t need it. Unless it’s BB cream with SPF for your face, ditch it.
Technology. It’ll just take up room, and honestly, not having technology will challenge you to connect with your fellow trekkers. Kids on my trip who brought headphones.