South African Railway and Harbor Police Camo

Hello all,

Just a few photos of a pretty nice African pattern.

Does anyone have any information about this somewhat mysterious unit ?


Field jacket. Cut somewhat like a BDU blouse.[im
Always found the tied dyed beret a bit 60s retro.

Peace !! rip...

Very nice examples of this uniform. I have seen others that have been pretty faded or beat up.

Regarding the unit, here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Police

An interesting article.

Totally agree, that is a very nice camo pattern.

Do you know the inspiration behind the pattern, looks sort of "lizard" print, whereas the last pic of the trews ,has a "DPM" look to it,very cool things to own


The berets are indeed "far out" !

I have an osprey book with a section on the SAP RHP i will scan it and post here tomorrow.

Nice uniform! I've got the same set but with a long sleeve shrit insted of the short sleeve shirt. My bush hat has the SARP patch on it as well:



Overall view of the items, no need for detail shots, you did an great job on that!


I've also got the vest and helmet to go along with the unform. The vest is a neat peice, having a built in rapelling harness that most operators cut out, and pouches for Uzi magazines and shotgun shells:



And the helmet, a modified combat vehicle crewman helmet. This one has been hand painted:



As for information, most of what I know I have read in the osprey book or wikipedia. The section of the unit that wore the uniforms and equipment that we have in this thread only existed for a brief period of time, being disbanded in 1986. Their primary weapon being the Uzi submachine gun (or S1 in South African service, locally made by LIW and later ARMSCOR). They ran a British SAS style selection and did some service in the operational area guarding trains and harbor infrastructure.

Hi Rip the pages and colour plate and some extra Photos from the osprey book I said I would copy for you.

Hey guys

Thanks for all of your posts.

Ben, thanks for the link, and comments. I am not certain where the inspiration for the pattern came from, but suspect a mix of Portuguese and see some similarities to the 32 Battalion darker pattern, aka: Wet Season.obviously with a different color. Good question Gary, hope some one out there can shed some more wisdom. Grahm, thanks for the effort it took to post the Osprey piece. Osprey is awesome.

mrf2, I love the insignia on that boonie. You have a very impressive collection of this great pattern and some amazing related gear. Have a crappy photo of a beret with a similar badge. Funny, a friend just sent me a nicer beret badge for my naked SARP beret.
Naked no more I did find an old long sleeve shirt in my pile of SARP stuff...

Thanks again, rip...

No Probs if it was of help it was my plesure

Hi Guys I was given a peice of SARHP camo fabric probaly enough to make a cap for my self

I have a few SARP items myself , long sleeve and short sleeve shirt and pants , also a set of cloth jump wings .
If I can ever figure out how to post photos I'll show them !
Cheers Chris

Hi all,

Just received a SARP patch (?) to add to the old Para Wings.

Also found a very clean replacement for the old crusty miniature wings...

Enjoy,rip...

My wings are the yellow paint , Uzi with wings type .

My SARP shirt, I have the pants too. They were given to me by my uncle that was in the Recces, it was given to him by a friend of his that had been in 1 Recce. Theyre both unused, no fading, no tears, rips or stains only missing the labels