The ‘Big Sigh’: returning to Dog Camp, when all vehicles (and team members) are back and ready for tomorrow.

So think back to that scenario you imagined before. Stuck in mopane woodlands, kilometers from any road, with your “best car” that won’t budge, a few tools and your own resourcefulness. So what do you do? You think back to the time you spent in the workshop in camp fixing this car. You remember that, bit by bit, you have taken this car apart and put it back together. You think ‘this is just a big, logical machine’. A machine that you know on a personal level. And you know what it takes to make it start and move. You know how each component fits into the overall process that is going to get you out of there. So you diagnose the problem. You locate that last clunk or pinpoint the source of that smell of fuel. You determine why that part that should be moving is not. You assess if it can be fixed and, if not, what you can do to hold it together to allow you to limp home. Think MacGyver. And you get to work. You take your toolbox, various odds and ends lying around (of which you weren’t sure when you originally collected them how they could be useful), and anything in the immediate environment that could help. Being out in the bush and being repairable in the bush is what these cars were made for. So, you take what you learned about the car, your logic and your common sense and you head back. And when you make it back, you have a good story to tell about how your car brought you home.

But again, this scenario is rare. Not only are these vehicles robust, but, alongside our camp mechanic, we spend the necessary time to make sure they are in good shape before we head out. We need to invest that time because this machine is what enables us to do this challenging job in this challenging environment and on top of that it keeps us safe while we do it. And when you come back home from a long day out in the field and you switch off the engine, you return to silence and can for a moment appreciate that this machine, that you know so well, that you talk about like it’s a person, that you know has carried you a long and difficult way, can, like you, finally have a rest. You have taken care of it, so it has taken care of you.