Sailing UP the Zambezi!

We love hearing stories about the adventures our products have been part of and how they help people accomplish some pretty incredible things. Here is a perfect example. Friend of LifeSaver^®, Steve Adams of The Safari Store, shared how his LifeSaver bottle kept him safe during his groundbreaking expedition to be the first to sail up a 400 km stretch of the Zambezi River:

“Firstly, the name LifeSaver is 100% appropriate. Back in the day, when I used to guide, if we had a dodgy water supply, my tummy would go funny even if the water was only slightly off. So I knew the LifeSaver bottles would be a key piece of kit for this expedition. I set up the bottles using the instructions and had one for myself and gave one to Brent Dodd – Artist/Explorer.

Only two days in, Brent decided that he would just drink water straight from the Zambezi (as he had done so as a kid), while I cautiously continued using the LifeSaver bottle.

Negotiating the rapids of the Zambezi River with the LifeSaver Bottle safely tucked inside the boat.

Some of the children from the villages we passed found the sight of me drinking from the bottle quite funny. It must have looked like a large baby’s bottle from the side of the river!  But, it worked well. Very, very well!

About a week into our expedition, we were severely beaten up by a sequence of strong rapids, leaving our boat broken and the pair of us bleeding and tired. We just about got the boat to a nearby island and collapsed before looking to repair the boat. On this island was a stagnant pool of water containing visible spoor from baboon and numerous other animals! Brent drank straight from this water, while I filtered the water with my LifeSaver bottle. Suffice to say, Brent was so ill for the next 3 days – he lost 10kg. I was completely unaffected.

Sleeping rough on the island with the contaminated water source.

To read the full story visit the SafariLife Online Magazine here.