Taking a shower in the African bush sounds like a dream, until you remember you’re sharing the wilderness with lions, hyenas, and other curious creatures. How do you stay clean and safe?
After 30+ years camping across the continent, I’ve perfected a bush shower system that lets me stay clean without becoming something’s dinner. The best part? It requires nothing you can’t pack in a regular duffel bag.
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The Leopard Encounter That Changed My Bush Shower Routine Forever
Early in my African adventures, I made a rookie mistake that nearly cost me everything. In Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park, I’d set up a lovely shower area downwind from camp, hanging my canvas shower bag from a beautiful acacia tree.
What I didn’t realize: I’d created a perfect scent trap. The combination of fragrant soap, standing water, and a vulnerable human drew a curious leopard directly to my bathing spot. I only escaped because our guide happened to be checking the perimeter and fired a warning shot.
The 3-2-1 System That Safari Guides Now Apply
After several near-disasters, I now listen to what local guides call the “3-2-1 System” for bush showers. It’s ridiculously simple but addresses every safety issue I’ve encountered over three decades:
3 PEOPLE: Never shower alone. Have one person bathing, one person watching for animals, and one person ready in camp. Rotate positions. During a shower session in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, our lookout spotted a hyena pack approaching, giving us critical minutes to safely retreat.
2 LOCATIONS: Create two separate shower locations and alternate between them. This prevents any single area from accumulating too much human scent or water. In Kenya’s Mara region, predators began patrolling a shower spot we’d used for three consecutive days — switching locations immediately solved the problem.
1 HOUR BEFORE SUNSET: Complete all showers at least one hour before sunset, never later. The transition time when diurnal animals are seeking shelter and nocturnal predators are waking up is the most dangerous. I once ignored this rule in Namibia and found myself sharing my shower spot with a honey badger — trust me, you don’t want that experience.
The Soap That Doesn’t Broadcast “Dinner’s Ready!”
After the leopard incident, I spent years researching how different soaps affect predator interest. The results shocked me.
Most commercial soaps, even those marketed as “natural”, contain synthetic fragrances that travel astonishingly far on African breezes. Lions can smell these compounds from over a kilometer away, and they trigger investigation instincts.
I now exclusively use a simple castile soap with no added fragrances. The difference is remarkable. During a month-long Zambian bush camping trip, we did a controlled test: regular soap in one location, my unscented option in another. Game cameras showed predators investigated the commercial soap site seventeen times more frequently.
The 10-Liter Trick That Saved My Life
Most people hang standard camping shower bags (typically 20 liters) and take their time enjoying the water. This creates a prolonged period of vulnerability and leaves excess water on the ground, basically a predator billboard advertising your presence.
I now fill my shower bag with exactly 10 liters, enough for a thorough cleaning but forcing efficiency. This halves my vulnerable time and significantly reduces ground moisture.
This seemingly minor adjustment paid off dramatically in South Africa’s Kruger region. A pride of lions moved through our camp area just 12 minutes after I’d finished my quick shower. Had I been using my old, leisurely system, our paths would have crossed at exactly the wrong moment.
The Height-and-Distance Formula
During a trip with wildlife biologists in Uganda, I learned their precise formula for shower setup:
- Position the shower at least 30 meters (but no more than 50 meters) from sleeping areas.
- Hang shower bags at a minimum of 2.5 meters height, high enough that ground predators don’t get an immediate scent, but low enough to not disperse water scent too widely.
- Face the shower entrance toward camp, never away.
- Never position between camp and water sources, as this cuts across natural animal pathways.
An Unconventional Water-Heating Method
Traditional advice suggests heating shower water by leaving black bags in the sun. This works but creates a standing scent source all day long, not ideal in predator country.
Instead, I heat water rapidly using a technique borrowed from Namibian desert guides: I fill a metal water bottle with stones heated in the morning campfire, then place it inside my shower bag for 20 minutes before bathing. The water heats quickly without leaving an all-day scent marker.
Or you could do it like in this video :
The Simple Shower Kit I Never Travel Without
My complete bush shower kit fits in a small dry bag and has evolved through decades of testing:
- Collapsible 10-liter shower bag with short hose
- Unscented castile soap in a leakproof container
- Small microfiber towel that dries quickly
- Headlamp with red light option for emergency use
- Emergency whistle on a breakaway cord
- A folding stool to keep clothes and shoes off the ground
- A small squeegee to remove excess water quickly
This entire setup weighs less than 2 kilograms and has kept me clean and safe across 18 African countries.
Your Shower Isn’t Just About Cleanliness
By following these simple protocols, you can enjoy the refreshing luxury of a bush shower without becoming part of the food chain.
If you have any questions or comments about setting up safe bush showers, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below! I wish you clean, refreshing, and predator-free adventures across Africa!
And make sure to follow me on my socials for more updates.
Sincerely,
Lizzy
I now have a YouTube channel as well!
YouTube
Hello Africa travellers!
Who am I? Well, the least you can say is that I am quite crazy about Africa, its nature, its climate, its culture, and more.
As a young woman in my twenties, I had already traveled to several African countries by traveling along in an overlander on my own and mostly camping ( or glamping ) and just fell in love with the diversity of it all.
So much, so that at the age of 26, I went back to university to study biology, which, unfortunately, I couldn’t finish because of health reasons (yes, I got sick from a tropical disease, oh cynicism). But this did not stop my dream of traveling back to Africa several times, and I still do.
My dream was back then to leave Europe and go study animal behavior, especially the elephants (sure, that’s every girl’s dream haha), but I am also very much intrigued by hyenas and other “ugly African animals“.
So, I “kind of” have a little bit of a scientific approach to my articles, when I write about African birds, for example. And most of all: the passion.
But life goes on, you move from one side of the country to the other, you get sick again and top it off with lower back problems, and before you know it, you are over 50 hahaha!
Now, I still travel to Africa, but take it a bit “easier” than the good old camping days, and stay in comfortable, yet affordable accommodations, together with my husband Wouter.
These are some of the countries I have traveled to: Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Tunisia, and a little bit of Lesotho LOL .
While clearly not being African territory, but Spanish, I also visited Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and location-wise, I consider them “African”, because of their climate and nature, sue me :-p
The last trip I took was to South Africa in the year 2023, and it sure got the fevers for Africa back! From the Barberton mountains to the Drakensberg and the Southcoast, one month wasn’t enough at all to see the whole country, so we’ll be back! At ease and with a little bit more luxury than in my younger days haha!
I wish you happy travels!
Kind regards
Lizzy
