As the evening went on, one of the single travellers declared himself the "leader of the tribe" and proceeded to play the bongo drums that had accompanied Krista's performance earlier. He certainly had an interesting concept of rhytthm and style. He also delivered a graceful dance around the campfire in a towel and for some reason kept referring to my friend Leslie and me either as "the kayak girls" or "the sacrificial virgins" (yeah right..), but overall the tribal leader turned out to be a lot less obnoxious than he initially seemed to be. I was wondering who was actually going to get voted off the campground by the end of the night....;)

My friend and I had a great time socializing with a few people from this group, jokes were flying the whole evening, we even went down to the 3rd campground level (designated specifically for noisy campers...) where the local residents had the biggest bonfire on the go that you can imagine. It was one of those evenings where you just feel giddy and laugh your head off, both Leslie and I unaided by alcohol since neither one of us actually drinks. Mind-altering drugs weren't necessary, since this was an evening of pure unadulterated, spontaneous and harmless fun.

Overall the single travellers seemed to have a great time. There definitely seemed to be more group socializing going on than individual mating attempts, and overall it seemed to be a pretty respectable way of connecting with other like-minded human beings, male or female for that matter.

Leslie and I headed to bed at around 1 am, but many in the crowd were still going strong. The next morning the group had another day of rafting scheduled and some people had been on the go until 6 am, when the cows made their wake-up calls and daily inspection and paddie-dropping run through the campgrounds. There were a few bed-heads and red eyes in the crowd and I didn't envy these folks for having to go rafting on whitewater for the whole day after a night of hearty partying.

The crowd returned at about 2 pm, and there were even more tired faces in the group. They were safely packed into their bus, ready to go home to Toronto, until next time. All I can say is that an adventure outing for a group of single adventure travellers seems like a pretty decent alternative for people who want to make friends with shared interests. Whether it is a good mating venue only time will tell.....

About the Author

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of http://www.travelandtransitions.com. It deals with travel to foreign countries and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers, insights, cross-cultural issues, and many other features. Participate in our travel story contest http://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm and win great prizes, a fabulous cruise to the Amazon. Life is a Journey - Explore New Horizons.