Since my sisters and I were small, my dad Mike would whisk us away from civilisation's tame embrace and we'd clamber up snowcovered peaks or hike through game reserves where dangerous animals roamed. Unlike most parents, who mellow with age, Mike has chosen the opposite direction. Now on the other side of 80, he often quotes lyrics from that Toby Keith song “Don't Let the Old Man In”. And to his credit, he never has.
So, here I am, at 26, trying to keep up with Mike. That's what has brought me to this hunting lodge (a stuffed giraffe will watch us dine) a few kilometres downstream from the Vanderkloof Dam in the Northern Cape. Tomorrow, we'll start a four-day Orange River paddling trip. All Mike's
