We gave up our normal lives to move to the rainforest with our 3 kids – but we’ve been threatened with jail and deported
A FAMILY who gave up their normal lives to move to the rainforest with their three kids say they have been threatened with jail and deported.
Greg Dickens, 37, his partner Guen Bradbury, 36, wanted to spend 15 months journeying through nature and sending their children to rural schools along the way.
The travel influencers were excited to escape Cambrigeshire for a trip of a lifetime in the rainforest.
And Greg and Guen hoped the experience would give Talpha, six, Martes, four, and Lutra, one, a tropical taste of a very different life back home.
But the family “failed to navigate the Guyanese bureaucracy” and were refused a visa extension, meaning their trip had to be cut short on “pain of imprisonment”.
The family initially left the UK to travel to Georgetown in Guyana on April 17, reported the Daily Mirror.
Then they flew onto the town of Lethem about 350 miles away where they carried out a survival course intended to prepare them for life in the jungle.
After that, the family headed into the rainforest where they encountered “poison dart frogs, piranhas, caimans, whip scorpions” and a “rat the size of a dog”.
A few uncomfortable nights followed, including one evening where their camp was invaded by no less than eight different species of ant.
But there were also many moments of joy spent braving the wild habitat, such as precious family time spent watching river otters and eating “massive piranhas for dinner.
And they also enjoyed a memorable journey down the tropical Essequibo River from Surama to Rock Landing.
They had hoped to travel onto other villages and end up at a Guyanan research centre.
However, visa issues which saw them at risk of detention caused their trip to come to an abrupt end.
Proud dad Greg still described the adventure as a “great time” for all the family.
They went on the Amazon trip after both taking a sabbatical from their jobs in medical innovation at research and product development firm Innovia Technology.
The adventurers estimated the total cost of the tour at £30,000 and had said both of their families were supportive of their plans and the experience it would give the children.
However, they are now instead heading to the jungle 1,500 miles north in Panama and have also set their sights on a future trip to Tanzania, Malawi or Belize.
But a trip over to Africa still remains within their sights, as Dad Greg joked: “Our how-do-the-South-Americans-raise kids tour is going intercontinental”
