A dad has revealed he has 'nightmares' about what could happen to his children when they live in the Amazon for over a year. But he says he and his family are 'very excited' and looking forward to their adventure.
Greg Dickens, 37, and and Guen Bradbury, 36, will embarking on a 15-month-long journey through Guyana, starting from this weekend. Kids Talpha, aged six, Martes, four, and one-year-old Lutra, will also be joining them.
The family can expect to be faced with tackling the humidity, unpredictable terrain and creepy crawlies as they venture across the tropical forests of the South American nation. The family will travel to the south after a few days in the Guyanan capital of Georgetown, to take part in a survival training course, which lasts a fortnight, the Mirror reports.
There will then be a year of travelling to various villages through the Amazon, eventually ending up at the research centre of Iwokrama. This will be the first time the children have been on a plane or left the UK.
Greg has been spending the lead-up to the Cambridgeshire family's extended holiday modifying various gadgets and safety items for their trip through the deepest parts of the jungle. This includes bringing different component parts of a boat with him, so that the family members can piece it together and use it to navigate down the Amazon River.
Greg said: "We have got a boat engine, an electric one, it’s quite heavy and it weighs a bit but we’re taking it with us. We’ve got inflatable boat hulls which we can latch together and make a catamaran, a tiny one.
"We’ve got survival gear, water purification stuff, a pretty amazing first aid kit. Some hammocks that I have modified from their own original design to hold two kids instead of one adult. In fact, I don’t think there’s anything we’re taking that hasn’t messed with or modified from its original design."
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Bearing in mind the dangers of venturing into the depths of the rainforest, Greg says he has had to think soberly about the worst that could potentially happen on their trip. He said: "I’ve had a year of nightmares about this - the kids getting hurt in horribly unusual ways, or it all being too difficult, or impossible, or too dangerous. And then, in the last month or so, we’ve been watching some videos on YouTube and films of people doing similar things in Guyana, or Suriname, or anywhere locally - and it looks really fun.
"They’re having a really nice time, the jungle is not all death and all danger all the time."
Due to the enormity of the adventure, he admits he had "lost sight of how much I’m looking forward to this for a while", with it only being in the last few weeks where he has gone from "terrified and planning to not be so worried" to "being really excited and trying to have as much fun as possible". Mum Guen adds: "We would be being very, very foolish if we did not think very hard about the levels of risk here. So, we’re seeing those ‘nightmares’ as ways to help us with the risk, and what are our shields of protection to help us with that risk. One of the things that he mentioned is smartphones, and I think we often take them for granted but they are such an incredible tool to allow you to have access to wilderness medicine apps, to allow you to have offline access to huge numbers of bird species and recognise them by call."
The couple say they have done their best to identify the major hazards of life in the Amazon, and have put multiple layers of protection around each one - as well as having each child vaccinated "‘till kingdom come" against tropical diseases. While the biggest expense has been flights, and after that smartphones, the greatest challenge he expects from life in the months ahead is the unwelcome company of tropical flying insects.
"This is going to sound ridiculous but I love bugs, and I love the jungle, but I’m moderately sure that I’m gonna find being bitten a hundred times a day by biting flies to be wearing after a while? I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get bored of that pretty quickly", Greg said.
Guen has also singled out the constant stickiness of the jungle as one of the biggest tests, saying: "I think it’s going to be coping with being damp all the time, being sweaty, being uncomfortable. And helping the kids recognise the strategies to manage it, talk about it, get them used to it."
Their trip has been made possible thanks to Greg and Guen's sabbatical period from research and product development firm Innovia Technology, where they work in medical and surgical innovation. While in Guyana however, they will take up a new calling in education, as they have already agreed to teach in at local schools in the rainforest in exchange for having their children offered a place there.
Both of them are also trained vets, something which they say has helped them secure crucial meetings with various environmental organisations in the English-speaking country, and will allow them to do scientific research along the way. But the biggest thing they are hoping to gain out of the whole experience is witnessing the family working as a team, as well as the memories and unique opportunities for bonding that will undoubtedly crop up.
Mum Guen said it would offer something different from the usual patterns of modern parenting: "I am looking forward to having to be a team, parenting in lots of different situations, and especially with the older two, giving them defined responsibilities where they can see it’s important to do it for everyone.
"I think, with the best will in the world, it’s really hard with the way we live in the UK in general - a lot of parent’s roles especially as kids get older are taking them out of the family, so taking them to clubs, taking them to experiences. I think there are obviously massive benefits about that but I think sometimes it can come at the cost of releasing just how much you as an individual contribute to a family group."
Watching the kids grow will also be one of the highlights, adds Guen, and she says she is keen to see "develop their responsibilities within a family group" as they embrace the unfamiliar - and embark on what they hope will be an adventure of a lifetime.
