Young travelers

We are a family of four, currently spending our waking and sleeping hours in close company with each other as we adventure through African wilderness. Brothers in a back seat and parents up front for what is at times hours and hours of driving on rutted and dusty roads. At night we share tents which are perched on the roof of our vehicle. 

When not driving, the children stay close to us and more extremely so after dusk, due to the presence of predators. Our days are physical and at the mercy of the elements, rutted roads and whatever the elephants, giraffe and lion are doing. We are up before dawn in search of nocturnal predators before the heat of the day sends us to shelter in whatever shade we can muster. At night elephant trumpet ferociously and the deep rumble of lion calls keep us awake. The kids have learned to eat foreign food and sleep in beds not their own. Early wake up calls are tough on our 11 year old whom we  rouse from deep sleep each morning. For a modern parent used to tending to the details of my children's comfort, it is quite liberating to see them happy to sleep draped over a camera bag in the back seat, whilst bouncing along rutted tracks, with mid afternoon heat acting like a soporific.

Kids are wonderfully resilient if given the chance, it's funny how giving them that chance is such a big deal.