My African Safari Tent
While attending Bible College in Kauai, I lived in a deluxe African safari tent ‘on campus’. My tent was surprisingly spacious and contained two bunk beds, a table, two chairs, and it even had a lamp powered by a solar energy unit that one of the students put together. The canvas tent was located on a raised wooden deck with a small porch included. From this porch you could see the faint outline of the ocean. The canvas sides of the tent would gently be nudged by the wind and the sounds of nature would easily drift inside to sooth me to sleep or give me a calm, peaceful feeling while I did homework. I felt more in tune and connected to nature while living in my safari tent. Kauai is a warm and humid place but the numerous screen windows would allow the cool breeze to blow through my tent. The screen windows and doors did let bugs in occasionally, but it was part of the experience. One time my roommate (tent mate is more accurate) left our screen door unzipped at night with our lamp on inside. When we came back, our ceiling was the hang out spot for the native bugs. We had a grand time in creatively getting rid of them and learned to never keep the screens unzipped at night with a light on inside!
An Unfavorable Description:
My Canvas Tent
While attending Bible College in Kauai, I lived in a tent ‘on campus’. This canvas tent was large enough to contain two bunks, a table, two chairs, and a lamp; but it was not large enough for a closet (or wardrobe in this case). The clothes for four girls were hung on plastic racks in plain sight where the entrance flap was, this made the room look constantly cluttered and unorganized. The tent was on top of a wooden deck so you needed to take an extra large step to get up on the small porch. The sides of the tent were always loose so I could never lean against the ‘wall’ near my bed. Because the sides of the tent were so flimsy, the wind would constantly make them flap obnoxiously. There was no barrier of sound for that tent. I could hear everything including the loud crowing of roosters that roamed the island and the conversations of students in neighboring tents. Kauai is a warm and humid place so we often had to spray our walls with cleaner to keep mold from growing on the damp canvas. The tent did have screen windows to let the occasional cool breeze to blow through the heated tent, but when those windows were down, it was easier for the creepy crawlers to invade. One night my roommate (or should I say tent mate?) left our screen flap that we called a door unzipped with our single lamp on. When we came back our ceiling was covered with bugs. It took me and my tent mate close to an hour to get rid of all those bugs. We learned the hard way that it is not bright to leave a screen unzipped at night with a light on inside, but we never made that mistake again.
p.s. I loved living in my safari tent, the first description was easier to write!
First of all, that is an amazing experience, I hope I can do something a long those lines it seems like a very cool experience, an experience quite the opposite of our daily routines here. I left a light on in my tent when I was camping down below and bugs got in like crazy, so I can't imagine what kind of bugs you had to deal with haha. I went to Kauai when I was about 13 and I loved it there, it was very humid and warm, but absolutely beautiful. I think when recollecting our trips and adventure we tend to block out the bad and focus on the good, unless it is a truly traumatic experience then we try to focus on the bad instead of the good. Everybody likes good memories. I agree the first one was better. Everything was fun and adventurous in the first one, rather than a chore. The first paragraph is just more pleasant to read, and I felt like I was there when reading it. I mean how could you have a bad time in Kauai haha? Kauai is an exotic location that most people long to visit, so the last thing they want to hear is how bad it was there.
ReplyDeleteFirst let me say wow that is pretty neat that you got to go to Kauai for any kind of camp. That must have been amazing to wake up every morning and find yourself on an island paradise. And the picture is really pretty and the tent you had to live in does not honestly look to bad. When I go camping the tent I have to live in is a lot smaller and I can barely stand up in it. And I glad you discussed the bug issue because that is the worst thing to have to find bugs in your tent. I speak from experience.
ReplyDeleteOverall your two descriptions we very good, I did get the sense that the first one was easier for you to write though. The two descriptions sound like tow different accounts of the same tent, like you and your tent mate each wrote one about this tent you all had to live in. The first description gave me the feeling of peace, serenity, and the sound of waves lapping on the beach came to mind. The second all I got out of it was a creepy crawly feeling of bugs all over me. So very good on your descriptions.