“Aren’t you afraid of getting eaten by a lion?!”
Spoiler alert – no! (well, I’m not, but apparently John sort-of is!) But there are some things we’re have on our concern list…
I’ll start with an amusing anecdote that happened a few months ago.
We were outside the house, working on Penelope – we spent many hours out there over a number of months; testing out kit, figuring out where everything would fit, making internal updates and modifications to increase comfort, get the electrics working etc. It was a great way to get to know our neighbours as many of them were intrigued as to what we were doing, why, and where we were going.
A woman (whom we hadn’t met before but lives opposite us) came over with her young children who were excited by the big truck and the exciting looking roof top tent. We chatted about what the plan was and where we were off to etc, and she was enthusiastic for us.
Next time we were out there, a man approached us. “My wife tells me that you are going to Africa” he stated, rather than questioned. We affirmed that yes, specifically Botswana and Namibia.
“Aren’t you afraid that you will get eaten by lions?” was his next question.
A little taken aback and amused, I replied “not especially, the roof top tent is one way of staying more out of reach when sleeping, and they don’t usually attack humans as a rule, it’s relatively rare – considering the millions of people who (usually) safari in similar countries each year”.
He didn’t look convinced and peppered a few more terse questions at us and went home.
A couple of weeks later, John was outside and the same man approached again and simply stated “I’ve been watching videos of lions attacking people on Youtube – people DO get attacked!” And that was that. He didn’t say a lot else!
So, is this a fear we should have?
For me, not really. As with many things, it’s all about calculated (and accepted) risk and being sensible. Most of you will be familiar with the statistic that suggests that hippos kill more people across African countries than many other predators combined, and even that is quite rare. And I’m certain all of us accept the risk of being in a fatal car accident (apparently about 1 in 20,000) and yet we cross roads, get in cars, and drive cars every day.
If we follow guidance and aren’t reckless or stupid, we should be able to avoid most dangers. Most incidences are far more likely to be caused by visitors not obeying park rules by getting out of their vehicles and trying to engage directly with the animals (why on earth would you?!)
There are also others’ projected fears – which is also very common. And, sometimes, it’s that person’s way of justifying to themselves why they’re not doing something similar or taking a slight risk.
So, what ARE we concerned or worried about? It’s interesting to see that we don’t have many shared concerns, perhaps between us we seem to cover them all?!
Today, my biggest concern is getting everything sorted in time. Of course, when I started this planning I said “I’ll have the whole of the week off before we fly and be nice and relaxed”….ha! best laid plans and all that. We probably don’t have as much still to do as we fear, and we’ve done the main things (got vaccinated; shipped the truck; bought far too many maps and apps for directions) but we keep thinking of things and adding them to the ever-growing list. John agrees, although that we know it will all get done, somehow, eventually.
John said he WAS worried about getting eaten by a lion – but in quite a specific circumstance. It turns out that he doesn’t wish to suffer an untimely and undignified end – being eaten by a lion whilst using the bush-toilet (i.e. digging a hole in the ground in order to have a poo!) This is – thankfully - not a very likely occurrence.
Mosquitos are also a concern of John’s – especially now that we’ve been delayed and will spend more time in the wet season in certain areas where malaria is prevalent. I’m not overly concerned – perhaps I should be – but having travelled in malaria risk regions and taken anti-malarials as well as covering myself in repellent and always covering up, I’ve been ok thus far.
The heat is a concern for me. Not a fear or a terror, simply the discomfort of extreme heat and high humidity. I’ve experienced similar many times and it isn’t my favourite. We were hoping to avoid the very highest temperatures but, unfortunately, due to the four-week delay, this pushes us closer into the rainy season in some areas and into much higher temperatures. We’ll cope, for sure, and I know that we have to adjust our expectations of our energy levels as heat can exhaust easily and we need to be more aware of dehydration/heat stroke. The average temperatures aren’t a brilliant indication, and it’s currently no less than 35 degrees in most of the places we’re going, and temperatures can reach 45 degrees or more! (Sunburn isn’t a concern for me, as, with my history, I intend to be fully covered up and where possible, in the shade).
Road conditions are in the back of our minds – again, thanks to now travelling in wet season and the extremely muddy road conditions that this will exacerbate. Although to be honest, the late dry season can be almost as bad with deep, thick, soft sand. We’re prepared for the driving to be a challenge, that’s part of the fun!
We’re not seriously concerned about health issues – we did an Exploration Medicine course a couple of weeks ago to get fully appraised of real dangers, things to watch out for and be aware of. With many issues, it’s most valuable to take whatever precautionary measures possible, and then, just like being at home, an unavoidable or unlucky accident is just that. We’ve got an emergency satellite comms device which (in our opinion) is essential.
I’m more concerned than John is about anything happening to Penelope, mechanically. I don’t think it will, we’ve had a lot of servicing and tuning and checking done to her in the months before we shipped her, but there’s always a possibility. We’re as prepared as we can be, we have a lot of tools and spares etc so we’ll do what we can to be diligent and do regular checks to try and prevent where possible – and the quality of the driving makes a difference as well!
Provisions – we have no doubt that we can get whatever we need, there are simply some unknowns. For example, as we haven’t had a chance to test drive Penelope on terrible road conditions (which impact on how much fuel is used, sometimes as much as double or more the usual amount), we don’t know how much we’re likely to use. I’ve done some very conservative estimates and we’ll go off these until we have a more accurate picture. Erring on the side of caution where fuel is concerned is definitely best! We’ve got some very comprehensive paper and digital maps that detail where fuel stations are, so we’ll be filling up whenever we pass a fuel station and carrying as much extra as we can. The same goes for water – carrying a lot more than we think we’ll need (meaning we can also help out others in need, if necessary) and topping up at every opportunity.
Losing fitness – this is clearly only a (minor) consideration of John’s as I haven’t done any ‘proper’ exercise in months and months! John has a high level of fitness, as a triathlete, and due to the destinations where we’re going, opportunities for a run will be limited - for safety reasons! When a predator sees you running it triggers their hunting response, so avoiding that is a good idea! It’s a very minor trade-off when we consider how amazing the trip will be :)
It’s so exciting to think that within three weeks, we’ll be able to report back on how we’re doing and if any of these concerns are valid!
P.S. if you’d like to receive notification when the next adventure blog is up you can sign up here
P.P.S. If you haven’t checked out our beloved Penelope yet, the Youtube channel has an introduction to her and our set up.