Yes it was definitely me and Waidmannsdank!!!

Yeah drank from the pools all the time. There are literally hundreds of them sprinkled throughout the are and majority are springs. There was no actual flowing water to speak of. Some we avoided as they were a bit big and may have had crocks in them. Others were covered in dust and leaves but other were crystal clear with little fish and tiny Cherubin swimming in them, these are the ones that we would drink from most of the time. The water was exceptionally good and often quite cool because many of the pools were at the bottom of very deep creeks. Some creeks were at least 5 or 6 meters deep and lined with big trees so they provided good shade. Some of the water holes are all rock bottom so they are not that comfortable to sit for long periods but where we could we rested in were there was a sand bottom so you could have a kip after cooling down.

Further to what Mick was saying regarding the water bottles. The insulating qualities of those Yeti water bottles has to be seen to be believed. I carried two 1 litre bottles and when filled with ice you could fit in a 600ml chilled water bottle. When you had drunk the contents of the bottle you just filled it up in a spring and instantly had cold water again. Once consumed you could do it one more time before the ice had finally melted but you still had icy cold water. A game changer.

There were lots of little tricks you learned fairly quickly such as shoelace tension. Too tight and your feet would get hot fast, too loose and you would get blisters to fast so you had to compromise.

The same with your pack. I took two small ones as I wasn't sure which one would be better. Used the smaller one first which was lighter but the straps were to narrow and would dig into your shoulder over time especially with the 10 pound rifle slung over as well. Switched the next day to the slightly bigger on which was a little heavier but had much wider straps and the back was padded better, much more comfortable.

You also carry the absolute minimum you can because you are carrying it for a long time.

Rifles were carried in a variety of ways depending on conditions and what you were walking through and whether or not you were anticipating action.

We both used open sights only. Micks had a single small bead, mine was the same originally but I machined the ramp and fitted a Recknagel bead with flip up moon sight which as the bead was taller than the original it corrected the POI perfectly and the Moonsight was fantastic, I used it all the time especially as the animals were all black or dark in colour. I never once felt handicapped with open sights only, but I do practice.

Matt.