This is part of a series in which I’ll describe our time on tour with Intrepid. For 22 days, we joined the “Cape Town to Vic Falls: Basix” tour, along with three crew members and nine trip mates.
Rather than staying in hotels and taking public transportation from one destination to the next, as we had been doing on most of our travels thus far, we had a truck and tents as our equipment for our time with Intrepid. Nearly everything was provided, with a few things of our own being added to the mix to make it a bit more comfortable.
Our tent had windows with mesh, designed to keep out mosquitos and other insects.
Truck
Driving through Africa is tough on vehicles; only the most durable and rugged will be able to make it. Many of the roads we drove on were unpaved and remote; far from any mechanic’s shop and supply stores. Our Intrepid truck was a large Mercedes, built specifically for overland journeys such as ours. The seats of the vehicle were set up high, providing nice views over the countryside as we drove, with all of our food and equipment stored in lockers below. The back of the truck had lockers; one for each person, deep enough to cram all of our clothes, pillows, gear, and snacks while we were driving or at camp. Luckily, due to the small size of our group (11 tour members instead of the maximum of 24), we almost always had a duo of seats to ourselves. Charging outlets next to each seat meant we could keep our electronics charged while in transit; this proved especially useful since we were camping for a majority of our trip. Our driver, Rasta, kept the truck running in near-perfect condition and knew how to handle the potholes, mud, and hills of our route.
Makori sat in the main part of the truck with us so that he could point out interesting sites along the drives.
Our Intrepid truck guided us over rough and remote terrain throughout our three-week tour of southern Africa.
Tents
As we signed up for the “Basix” tour with Intrepid, we knew that we would be camping during most of our trip. Tents were provided and on our first afternoon, we learned how to set them up properly. This fell mostly to Jon during our trip; he would get the tent set up while I would assemble the items needed for the inside of our tent. We were assigned one tent for every two people and had numbered mattress pads that accompanied the tents. The tents were sturdy in the strong winds and thick enough to keep out mosquitos and other insects at nighttime. Although the mattress pads were not very thick, they were enough to keep us from feeling the ground while we slept and warm when the night cooled off. After our first night of sleeping in the tents, we decided to purchase two cheap, full-size pillows which made our nights much more comfortable. Instead of packing bulky sleeping bags, we took sleeping liners made from silk; used with a cheap fleece blanket we purchased, these were warm in the evenings and didn’t take up much space in our lockers. In the mornings, sometimes while still dark and always before breakfast, Jon would tear down and put away the tent while I packed up our bedding and clothes.
Homemade Detroit Tigers and Lions pillowcases made our tent and bedding feel like home! (Thanks Jennifer!!)
Jon assembled our tent everyday!
Chores
On a “Basix” tour, all tour members are expected to contribute – the experience is designed as a participatory camping trip. Our group of 11 was split into four groups, with each group regularly rotating through four different chores. The assigned duties were: cleaning the truck at the end of each day, setting up and putting away chairs at mealtimes, assisting our cook Peter (or later Mike) with prep at lunch and dinner, and washing dishes at dinnertime. Although we were split into teams with assigned chores, we all pitched in to ensure things got done. For example, the evening four of us went on the nighttime game drive at Etosha National Park, our friends chipped in to do our jobs so that we could leave directly after dinner. In addition to our rotating chores that were assigned, everyone in the group was expected to help with things like drying dishes and putting food away after meals. The chores weren’t very difficult or time-consuming, but helped to keep everything neat and bonded us as a team.
Camp chairs were set up for every meal – one of the chores on rotation.
Jon prepping lunch with his chore group at one of our roadside stops.
Personal Items
Everyone in the group was assigned one locker at the back of our trip for our personal items. For most, this was used to store our bag with clothes, toiletries, and shoes; bedding and pillows; and electronics like laptops or cameras. Being a couple, Jon and I shared two lockers, using one for our clothes and bedding and the other for shoes, toiletries, electronics, and snacks. We quickly figured out what was most comfortable to wear on the long driving days; our ‘traveling clothes’ got a lot of use while on the road! A mesh hanging caddy that perfectly held three small bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash had a hanger attached so that we could use it in campgrounds and not have to worry about where to put our shower gear. Aside from our camera, the electronic item that we used the most was the inReach locator device, which we activated at the start of every drive. The device would track our movements and set a point on the map every 20 minutes; the map was accessible to family and friends back home who could log in and follow our route each day.
My seat on the truck typically looked like this on long driving days – multiple electronics, a bottle of water, sunscreen, and occasionally a snack. (excuse the blurriness of the picture – it was usually a bumpy drive!)
There weren’t any laundry facilities while on our tour, so we hand-washed clothes in sinks when available.
The equipment that was provided by Intrepid was all clean, comfortable, and rugged to withstand the tough conditions of Africa. We were always comfortable and safe and ultimately enjoyed “roughing it” in the wilds of Africa.
To learn more about our time on tour with Intrepid, read the other posts in this series:
Pingback: Our Tour with Intrepid: Lodging
Pingback: Our Tour with Intrepid: Crew and Tour Members
Pingback: Our Tour with Intrepid: Route and Schedule