Frequently Asked Questions

As is true of all adventure sports, the thrill comes from the adrenaline rush  of taking risks, pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Rivers are potentially dangerous, and have to be treated with care and respect. Our guides are thoroughly and regularly trained and hold Internationally recognised qualifications. Our equipment is well maintained and regularly updated in line with International Rafting Federation guidelines, and our guides practice their rescue skills throughout the year. We are very proud of our high standards, and we never compromise on safety. Listen carefully to guidance from your river guides and follow his or her instructions to the letter, and you will have MAXIMUM fun with MINUMUM risks. Always wear your protective equipment that we will provide you with and you have nothing to worry about.

Rivers are moving and changing all the time, guides making dynamic choices to bring you safely through the rapids, while having a great time as well. Do rafts sometimes flip? Yes, naturally, there are occasions when the flow of the water pushes a raft over. Is this a disaster? Definitely not! We practice flipping all the time, and can have everyone back in the boat quickly with no drama. Remember, the guides do this every day, every year, and know exactly what to do. It’s actually great fun to flip, but our guides will never flip a raft on purpose. 

Not really. Being able to swim helps people to feel more confident about the possibility of falling into the water, but in reality no one can swim well in moving white water. It’s far more important that you pay 100% attention during your in depth safety briefing. The guides will teach you how to float safely and defensively in moving water. You will be wearing a safety tested high quality buoyancy vest, your rafting life jacket. It’s specially designed for rafting, and will keep you safely on the surface of the water. Always check that your floatation aid and helmet are fastened and adjusted correctly before rapids, and do listen to the trip leaders instructions about correct usage. Your guides are happy to check your safety equipment for you, and if anything is uncomfortable or feels wrong, don’t ignore this. If in doubt, shout it out! Do have a practice swim in flat water as well, so you can find out how it feels to float safely in the PFD (personal flotation device), it’s very reassuring for non swimmers.

When you book an expedition with us, we will issue you with a detailed kit list. WE will provide all safety and protective equipment, including wetsuits, helmets and buoyancy aids. YOU will bring clothing for your time off of the water, recommended toiletries, head torches, personal medications and books or even some electrical devices. Remember that we CANNOT guarantee that everything will remain 100% dry, although we will provide you with shared dry bags to keep things as dry as possible. You take camera's and phones on the river at your own risk. Passports s etc can be left in your hotel safe. 

At Wet n Wild, we pride ourselves on our food, and we think you will be very pleasantly surprised by the quality and variety of food prepared on beaches. In fact, don’t worry about losing weight on an expedition, but do beware of gaining some! Part of your team will comprise of trained chefs, and raft guides all learn how to prepare amazing meals from seemingly little resources. We will bring dry goods and cooking essentials in the gear boat, and source fresh local food from villages and local people on our journey down river. Hygiene is taken very seriously on Expeditions, its part of our commitment to safety. Please listen carefully to instructions on camp hygiene, and watch our team carefully disinfect EVERY item of cooking apparatus BEFORE as well as AFTER use.  Hand washing before and after doing anything in camp quickly becomes habit for everyone, and you will hear gentle reminders from the guides to keep this up throughout the day. 

Please let us know in advance if you have any dietary needs or choices, so that we can plan and shop ahead to make sure you are fully catered for. 

Part of the challenge of wild camping in remote places is personal hygiene. Again, we think you will be pleasantly surprised. Each night an Indian style toilet will be dug in a suitable spot on the beach, with a tarpaulin style tent around it. This will be far enough away from the tents to not be intrusive, but not so far that it becomes inconvenient. There is a tried and tested system for sharing the facilities without any embarrassing moments, and meticulous hand washing protocols. Please don’t be tempted to avoid drinking plenty of water to avoid needing to use this simple but primitive bathroom: being properly hydrated is very important on these trips. We always burn all paper and fill in the toilets when we go each morning, to leave zero impact on the environment.  

Most visitors from abroad will already have some form of travel insurance, we recommend that you check your policy to make sure adventure sports are covered. Individual trip descriptions will tell you more about the river grade for your chosen schedule, make sure your insurance covers that grade. Domestic customers are also requested to have some form of insurance. Wet n Wild is insured to take you on river trips and to drive you in our vehicles, but any loss of personal property or injury not sustained as a direct result of the activity is not covered. Eg an injury due to a slip or fall on the river bank. Travel back to your hotel as a result of sickness is also not covered by our adventure sport insurance, so make sure you have good cover for peace of mind.

A reasonable level of fitness is necessary to fully enjoy this kind of trip, but people of all ages and abilities have joined us on our expeditions and had amazing times. If you have a health issue or disability, contact our offices to see what is available to you. Our advice regarding your health is always to consult your own doctor or health professional if you have any doubts or concerns. Please do mention any pre-existing health issues when  booking an adventure sport expedition.

We ask for a deposit of $400 dollars for 4-5 day trips, $500 on 6 day or longer. his initial deposit is strictly non-refundable so please make sure that you have chosen the right trip for you, and the dates as well. We are very happy to answer all and any questions, and to help you book the right trip, but once the deposit is paid it cannot be refunded. The balance needs to be paid in full no later than 90 days before the trip, if booking in advance, with exceptions made only for last minute bookings, when the full amount will be taken before confirming your place. Full payment is also non-refundable, with the few exceptions listed below.

Our cancellation policy applies in every instance, with strictly no exceptions. Wet n Wild Explorations cannot issue full or partial refunds for arriving late or leaving a trip early, whether voluntarily or for other reasons. Wet n Wild Explorations will not accept responsibility for any expenses incurred due to travel delays, visa issues, flight cancellations or illness. Please make sure that your travel insurance fully covers any of these eventualities. We reserve the right to alter the published schedule, if extremes of weather or other conditions make access to rivers unsafe or impossible, eg forest fires, landslides, flooding or other ‘acts of god’. Sometimes low water or extremely high levels means that we have to adjust the programme to visit different rivers. This is only done for your own safety, and is rare. There may sometimes be a cost implication in this for customers, but we will only do so in extreme situations, and do everything in our power to avoid charging more.

Should we have to cancel a trip due to extreme weather or other situations, we will try to offer you an alternative trip or expedition. In the rare circumstances of this being necessary we will offer a refund, of the amount paid by you in full.

We reserve the right to cancel trips that have not reached the booking minimum, usually 6 places. We will inform you no later than 30 days before your scheduled trip departure date, and will of course offer you a refund of the amount you paid in full, if an alternative trip cannot be found for you in our schedules.

As previously stated, Wet n Wild Explorations assumes no financial responsibility for personal injury, emergency evacuations or personal equipment lost or damaged in any way.

Buying alcohol is very much a personal choice, by individuals and occasionally as groups. You will have the chance to buy your own alcohol before trips, but please take note that some departure points are sacred places and beer or spirits are not available. If you would like to have a drink AFTER a day on the river, it might be a good idea to bring your own from home, or from duty free stores in airports. Drinking BEFORE a day on the river is strictly not permitted, for your safety and to prevent dehydration. 

We can't take glass on the gear boats or in our dry bags, as broken glass can cause serious damage to either, so please buy spirits in plastic bottles or decant them into suitable containers. There are frequently opportunities to buy cold beer and soft drinks from riverside villages or shops; your guide will know when and where you can shop for snacks and drinks on your expedition. 

Wet n Wild reserve the right to refuse to take any customer on to the river at any time, if they believe that safety has been compromised. This would include being intoxicated or under the influence of a substance or medication that impairs judgement or physical ability. This decision will be made by the head guide. Any one repeatedly failing to respond to safety or hygiene instructions also risks being asked to leave the expedition. We want everyone to have a fantastic time, but your and everyone's SAFETY must always come first. We don't want to exclude anyone, so please work with us to make sure we all have a memorable and safe trip. 

The answer is no thank you. There are 2 reasons for this. 1 is practical; if you don't have enough pens and coloring books for every child in the village, giving to some isn't fair, and can cause real problems. 2 is begging. We visit remote communities on most of our expeditions, some villages are only accessible from the river. Consequently rare visits from rafting and kayaking expeditions are great fun for local children, and we must be aware of the impact of our behavior. Whether we see ourselves as wealthy or not, arriving in expensive rafts, with all of our equipment, abundance of food and camera’s, phones and the like, we appear wealthy to subsistence farming communities. So please don't give sweets or money to villagers, or the next group along will experience begging, requests for money or even stealing. Instead, give your time, conversation, play games, practice your own  language with people, all of this is fun for you and your new friends. You could also think about making a donation to local charities or NGO’s working with developing communities, who can make sure it's used responsibly. 

In big towns and areas where tourism is the main source of local income, shorts and revealing tops are not really an issue. But please do respect local customs and beliefs in more traditional settings, particularly remote and inaccessible places or holy places. You will see that local men don't go topless, even on the hottest days, and women cover their shoulders and knees. If you want to swim on rest days and lunch stops, please wear t-shirts or something similar over bikini’s or spaghetti strapped tops, and shorts or sarongs. It's not a rule, just a sign of your respect. Public displays of affection are also not visible in traditional culture, so please just be aware of that when socialising with local communities. 

So you've had an incredible and unforgettable trip, and made new friendships, become a team. Your guides, once strangers are now friends, and you might want to offer them a tip. The guides at Wet n Wild Explorations do not expect tips, and aren't working so hard because they want gratuities. However, if you want to offer something to them at the end of a trip you are welcome to do so - and we would strongly suggest that you tip the head guide or trip leader, and we assure you they will distribute the tip equally among the entire crew from your trip. Your group can either offer this at the end of your trip, or electronically through the office afterwards. If you've had a great time, please tell everyone, (we are on Trip Advisor, Facebook, Instagram, What's App, Twitter and more). If there are things you think we could do better, please please tell us. We are always open to ideas, feedback and ways that we can improve our service. 

The greatest compliment that you can pay Wet n Wild Explorations is to come back for another trip. We love seeing our customers return for even wetter and wilder trips!  

Please contact us and ask, we love questions. There is no such thing as a silly question, we want you to know everything you can about your upcoming trip so you can get the most from it. So keep the questions coming!