Hiking Pants/Shorts for Africa

In terms of pants and shorts, you should try to consolidate as much as possible. While it's nice to have a good pair of nylon hiking pants, in truth you will probably only need nylon shorts whilst hiking, as it can get quite toasty (you can use wind pants and waterproof pants as needed). With your gaiters coming up to your knees, you ought to be well-covered.

A nice compromise are pants that convert into shorts. With these convertible pants, you can use the pants as another layer when it gets cold, and possibly dispense with pile pants (when hiking at significant altitude) if your long underwear is good enough.

Whatever you choose, make sure they're nylon (cotton is too hot and retains too much water) and relatively waterproof. It's also best to choose clothing that's light-colored as darker colors attract bugs such as mosquitoes, tsetse flies and other Jurassic-sized insects.