The pith helmet also known as the safari helmet, sun helmet, topee, sola topee, topi,[a] or salacot (also spelled salacco), is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of sholapith. it is an adaptation of the native salakot headgear of the Philippines.
It was often worn by European travelers and explorers, in the varying climates found in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the tropics, but was also used in many other contexts. It was routinely issued to European military personnel serving overseas in hot climates from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.
Typically, a pith helmet derives from either the sola plant, Aeschynomene aspera, an Indian swamp plant, or from Aeschynomene paludosa. In the narrow definition, it is technically a type of sun helmet made out of pith material. However, the pith helmet may more broadly refer to the particular style of helmet. In this case, a pith helmet can be made out of cork, fibrous, or similar material. Whatever the material, it is designed to shade the wearer’s head and face from the sun.
In Pop culture
Comedian Richard Buckley, more famously known as Lord Buckley, wore a pith helmet so often in his act that it became his trademark.
The Indian comic character Shikari Shambu featured in the Tinkle children’s magazine always sported a pith helmet that completely covered his face.
Van Pelt, the fictional big-game hunter from Jumanji, wore a pith helmet.
Grandpa Potts, the eccentric father of the noble inventor Caractacus Potts, wore pith helmets on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Professor Shelly Oberon, a scientist avatar played by Jack Black on Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level, wore a pith helmet.
The Tarzan franchise features many humans wearing pith helmets, including Jane Porter, the love interest and eventual wife of the title hero.
Over the last century and a half, the helmet has become an iconic piece of apparel identified with western explorers, hunters, archaeologists, paleontologists, botanists, and colonists throughout Africa and South America. It was popularized by Teddy Roosevelt in the first half of the century, and by cinema in the second.
