A camping trip involves a meticulous checklist and hours of planning. It is a time consuming but rewarding task. The feeling of excitement for the adventure that awaits. Nothing quite compares to a camping trip out in nature.
Sometimes, however, no matter how detailed your plan is – the unexpected can happen. Whether its a missing tent pole, a hole in the waterproof cover or even forgetting to pack something important.
These may seem like trivial, easy to remedy issues in comparison to some of the camping stories out there. Find out how your missing tent pole compares to structural damage, flooding, unwanted guests and other camping nightmares.
1. There’s a leopard in my camp
Last December, a lurking leopard snuck itself into a rest camp in the Kruger National Park. Rangers attempted to lure the big cat out and set up a cage to remove the animal safely. The stress in camp was palpable, as the leopard slinked its way around in the shadows. Guests were on high alert, every bush rustling in the wind causing a sense of panic. Hours of unsuccessful searching only increased tension around camp. After two days, field rangers eventually found the animal and chased it away.
2. All Hail Mother Nature!
There’s something about experiencing a beautiful thunderstorm while camping. If you’re positioned on a raised platform with an intact dry mat and potentially a gazebo of sorts, even better. A hail storm on the other hand, is a camper’s worst nightmare. Especially if it happens to be a freak storm with ice pellets unlike any hail storm recorded in the area. In 2018 while on a camping trip to Kruger National Park, one unlucky fellow’s entire camp was destroyed. Car and caravans were pelted, many windows were smashed and campsites were destroyed. It’s one thing having bad weather on a camping trip, it’s another losing your entire campsite to a freak storm.
Image: Facebook/ Joep Stevens
3. Luxury-ish camping
A couple was on holiday in South Africa and decided to venture into nature. They were under the impression that their tented accommodation, in a private nature reserve along the Garden Route, was going to be as the name suggested: luxury. Upon arrival, in early August 2018, winter rains began to pour. Apparently wanting to warm up some food in a pot was asking too much. The lightbulb in the tent decided to call it quits too. A hot shower to remedy the rest? No chance of that with the broken and irreparable gas geyser. The next day their host gracefully offered them another shower facility. Hot water, however, was out of the question. So was any privacy as the shower was outdoors. The executive decision was made to leave the site the next day, with the apologetic hosts offering the pair a full refund. Did they ever see their money? Of course not.
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5. The haunted house of South Lake Tahoe
There’s an abandoned house on a hill in South Lake Tahoe where a porch light is known to flick on and off. A frequent hiker in the area has claimed she has seen the light on at night. Apparently when crossing toward the house, it disappears from sight for a brief moment. When it reappears, the light is off. Hikers have gone into the house and tried all the switches, but obviously none of them work. After doing some investigating, locals tell a story of how a young girl died in a fire at the house and her ghost is responsible for tinkering with the light.
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6. South Korea
Nothing can compare to finding a dead body while hiking in the woods. Unlucky for one man, while hiking in South Korea, he found the body of a man who had committed suicide by hanging. In a Reddit thread he wrote, ‘We were looking for a point and walking up a very steep hill when we rounded a bush and pretty much stumbled into this guy who hung himself from a tree. I sent them back down the hill and called up the duty desk for the nearby post. Standing up on the hill looking out at the last thing the guy must have seen just left me feeling incredibly lonely.’
7. It’s a bug’s life
A couple had planned a camping trip for weeks and finally the day arrived. The first few hours into their first hike were glorious. Beautiful surroundings, fresh air, their blood pumping and the birds chirping. Their blissful climb quickly turned into a nightmare when a wasp decided to sting the man’s face, sealing his eyes shut and forcing the couple to forgo their holiday. ‘Hour two of a three day hiking trip, I got stung by a wasp on my face. Face swelled up all over, to the point my eyes started to close. We had to turn around so I could go to the doctor for an antihistamine shot. Only took a few hours to ruin a trip we had planned for weeks,’ he said to littlethings.com.
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8. Three heads are better than one
A family were on a camping trip a number of years ago in a forest in North America when three brothers ganged up on their 9-year-old sister. The trio locked their sister in her tent and were playing around the fire. Recalling the incident to littlethings.com she said: ‘They started screaming about fire and running away, but I thought they were joking until the tent started to melt. I sliced a whole in the other side, got out, and then dumped all of our coolers on the fire to put it out. I ruined my shoes from stomping on fire, I ruined all the food because I didn’t take it out before dumping the coolers on the fire, the tent was wrecked, and those idiots told my mom that I was smoking in the tent and that’s why it started on fire. Three against one, my mom believed them and I was grounded for the rest of summer. I was 9!’
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9. Nighttime in Northern Ireland
A couple went camping in Northern Ireland when a fellow camper decided to crush the roof of their tent with his hands. After a drink or two, the boyfriend went to bed and his girlfriend lay awake taking in the nighttime sounds. ‘Apart from the midges we hadn’t seen another organism for nearly a day. We had a fun evening drinking and watching the stars. I was just chilling in the tent using a torch to read my book when all of a sudden the roof just starts bowing inwards. It came down 2/3 feet to the point where I had to lie down so it didn’t touch me. I’m sure I saw 10 points pressing in right above my face, like someone was pushing it down with their hands. I was full of rum at the time, and I’m a certified scouser, so I went outside with my torch and a knife in full on ‘lets-be-having-you’ mode, but there was no-one to be seen. I was scared for the rest of the night.’
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10. Say cheese
A woman went backpacking alone in America and with photography as the aim of her trip, her digital camera was her trusty sidekick. On the first night she went to bed, happy as a clam. The next morning she woke up and decided to look at her pictures from the day before. Rather than photos of the day before she came across photos someone else had taken of herself sleeping.
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Image: Unsplash
