My Thoughts From The Deep End : Preps

In early September we will be taking a trip to Kruger National Park. Kruger is one of the largest game reserves in Africa covering over 19,000 kilometers (7500 square miles.) Located in South Africa, the park borders Mozambique to the east and Zimbabwe to the north. Kruger is home to more species of mammals than any other African game reserve. We look forward to seeing big game, pretty scenery and birds. Reptiles, not so much.

The trip is five days, four nights on the Lebombo 4x4 Eco Trail which gives us the opportunity to drive the jeep through a large portion of the park. Only five 4x4 vehicles are allowed on the trail at any one time with a maximum of four people per vehicle. A guide leads the small group of vehicles in a separate 4x4.

Each person must bring everything that s/he needs for the trip including, water, food, firewood, camping equipment, etc. We will camp every night and drive every day. From what we have read the trail is not overly challenging or technical but the road conditions are rough so a 4x4 is required.

As we have to be fully self sufficient and there is no room for error, Mr. Deep and I spent all of last Saturday going through our camping supplies and figuring out what we have and what we need. Preparing for a trip like this is something we both enjoy - but for different reasons. Mr. Deep loves preparedness and having whatever he needs on hand for any challenging or difficult situation. If you have watched the TV show Doomsday Preppers then you understand. He isn't as bad (aka crazy) as the people on the show, but the man loves preparedness, especially when combined with the outdoors and wilderness situations.

I love organization. I love the fact that if we are organized and pack properly we will not only have everything we need but we will be able to find it and quickly without unpacking our whole truck. I also love planning and list making and double checking everything for accuracy.

The list with my detailed notes and follow up action items

So you are thinking, "that's great. It must have been an easy process to go through everything given that you are both on the same page."

Well not quite. What I learned is while we both desire the same outcome, we each have a completely different approach to the same task.

My approach is to go through the list that is posted on the trip website in order (very important to go in order), find each recommended item, make sure it works, is clean, etc. and then move onto the next item on the list. If we don't have something listed, then we need to put it on another list to make sure we either buy it or take it from where it lives in the house prior to the trip.

Mr. Deep's approach is to get completely sidetracked at every opportunity. Oh, the list says we need to bring a hatchet? Great, he will sharpen both of our hatchets now and then continue to sharpen every other dull tool that we own regardless of whether or not we need to bring it on the trip with us. He also sees no purpose in reviewing the list in order. Instead he prefers to shout out things that he thinks we might need as they pop into his head. "Sleeping bags!" "GPS!" "Sunblock!" He also thinks it's fun to comment about how stupid some of the things on the list are and proceed to tell me at length why we don't really need to bring this thing or that thing.

Sharpening the hatchet

The good news is that even though he was driving me bonkers throughout the planning process (and I am sure I was driving him nuts as well by not being a free thinker and engaging in what he clearly thought was a brainstorming session) I have no doubt that we will be the most prepared people on the trip. And that's good because that's another trait that we share, our competitive nature. The other people on the trip have no idea that we are secretly competing to out-prepare them. Our biggest triumph will be if we can lend a fellow camper something that he or she needs but doesn't have or forgot. If that happens, we will be celebrating for days.