Page 39 - Intra Muros November Issue 2024

TRAVEL

to feel the cold. Although at the end of our keep everything dry. Pack an extra blanket; The kids are wild, and we have long given
trip, Trystan tells us the trick is to sleep it is cold at night. Do not hang your clothes up trying to get them to brush their teeth or
with two sleeping bags. Instead, we sleep up on thorn trees. Have snacks at all times use soap. They act feral, hunting, gathering
like a tight community, tents in a rough of the day and night for ravenous children, and cuddling with the fishes.
line, except for the honeymoon couple, even though you eat three amazing meals
who stay on the outskirts. Earplugs are a day. Finally, pack your cooler box with On our last day, Guide Michael is sent down
suitable for this kind of communal sleeping expertise to ensure a cold beverage on your river to ensure we don’t take the left fork,
arrangement. last day. or is it the right? The wrong one takes
you into Namibia and is unreachable for a
By the end of the trip, we learn that sand By the end of day 5, isolation and quiet least 20kms. The wind is up, and the river
is part of the deal – live with it. Keep your are the norm. Cell phones and devices are is swirling. I’m trying to stay on course but
shoes inside your tent at night because the long forgotten. We have left the calls of the instead, shove Wingman M into a thorny
early morning dew soaks them. Close your hadada and fallen into tune with a pair of bush face first. Boasting a torn shirt and
dry bag properly, at least three turns to fish eagles who seem to be following us. some bloody scratches, she now looks
more like a contestant on Survivor than a
part of our family trip. Luckily, she doesn’t
hold it against me, and we continue down
the river.

When we reach our final destination, my
adrenaline is pumping. We have just come
off some crazy rapids and paddled hard
against a raging warrior to make the tricky
turn to our pickup point. But we have made
it in one piece, exhilarated, triumphant and
smiling.

It turns out that completing someone else’s
bucket list is not too bad. In fact, it might
just be epic.

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