Blog: Kids & Wild Camping in Big Five Territory

After a magical stay at Savuti, the team headed to what was once the Serondela campsite on the mighty Chobe River. We were Overlanders and Wildlife Campers Extraordinaires with rigs kitted out to the max, equipment as if prepped to do a Cape to Cairo tour and with enough food and medical supplies to cater for a whole village – this just in case we got bogged down for weeks without assistance. We were the epitome of what Overlanders and Wild Campers should be when Overlanding the Wildest and Remotest parts of Africa – stuff that would feature on the Discovery or National Geographic Channels …….. so we thought!

Turning left off the A33 we descended down to Serondela with a sense of achievement and anticipation, ready to encounter the mighty Chobe River with its own set of wild predators. As we entered Serondela however, all the feelings of being part of an elite Wild African Explorer’s and Pioneer’s Club turned to confusion, embarrassment and a massive sense of debilitation overcame us – the first campers we encountered were 2 little kids playfully running around their campsite wearing nothing else but diapers whilst the parents were “hammocking” under a tree some 20 to 30 meters away.

This was not part of the script – all the vanity we bestowed on ourselves of being hectic, wild, and brave African Overlanders was reduced to a sense of us being excessively overequipped, overdressed and “over the top” Sunday campers at some picnic spot somewhere back in Johannesburg.

This sets the scene for the topic of this Blog but firstly, some facts before we explore this further:

• All wild animals distinguish quite clearly if a human is a vulnerable child or a capable adult.
• Predators are supreme opportunists, focusing on easy targets and have no conscious.
• Predators watch patiently, assess weakness, and then determine their target.
• By age 10 most kids have reached 90% of their natural adult height

So, my view is that until age 10, rather take your kids to fenced campsites before you take them along to unfenced campsites in Big Five territories.

My own mind was made up after our experience in Serondela, in suburbia when I was slouched in front of the TV and came across a program on some Wildlife Channel showing the behavioral patterns of wild animals towards human beings. At that stage, my daughter was 5 years old and although I myself had done many wild camping trips in Big Five territories in most of our neighboring countries, my child was only brought along to the “Kruger Parks” of this world in secure fenced campsites and developed lodges.

The scene in the TV program that left an everlasting impression on me, hence my stance on this subject, was the one showing the interaction of lions and humans in some zoo. Part of the Lion enclosure consisted of a pathway enclosed in glass where visitors would walk just meters away from the lions in their open area and at ground level. A male Lion was basking lazily in the sunshine just meters away from the glass wall but typically as Lions do, its eyes were half open and its ears scanning for sound. In the scene, visitors walked through admiring this particular Lion just a few meters away – crowds, groups, couples, lone adults, and couples with kids walked by. These did not interest the Lion, and he continued basking away. There was then a gap between the crowds until a small child walked past alone, on their own with nobody next to her. Instantly the Lion got up and lunged towards the child on the other side of the glass panel. Why?

Opportunistic? Mischievous? Playful? Astute? Aware?….?

I would assume the same would happen in the wild and not only with Lions but also with all the rest including Leopards, Baboons and Hyenas and, and, and… Don’t you?

After watching this, my mind went back to Serondela all those years ago and it sent shivers down my spine. You see, adults cannot be on top or right next to the kids 100% of the time in camp. Both the adults and the kids separate from each other even for short distances and short periods (as what happened in the TV scene), this as they mull around the campsite in and out of their vehicles and trailers or wonder off to the ablutions. What gives me even more shivers, is when the kid is sitting around the camp or campfire quiet and alone, during the day or night, while the adults are busy elsewhere at a distance. Worst is the child walking to the ablutions on their own!

Whatever you believe, we should agree that kids and Wild Camping in Big Five Territory does come with some risk and major precaution should be taken, always!

And sure, we understand the risks with kids and toddlers vs Lions and Leopards and Hyenas etc, but what about those massive and powerful male Baboons hanging on the fringes of the troop – pee’d off and bad tempered from being ejected from the troop’s inner circle? Even fricken vervets – extreme opportunists especially around toddlers and small kids and whose bites and gouging would cause dangerous infection!

I guess I say 10 years old because it’s either the first double digit number in age or because of the fact that at 10 years old, kids reach what would be 90% of their adult height but really, at the end of the day, it’s just a number that makes sense for me.

What is your take on this? Wait until they are at least 10 years old or even older?

Harry Nicolaides

Wannabe Wild Camper