By Charlie Benton
We’d paired our buddy Zack with Quinton as his professional hunter on the Fourth Annual Outrider South African Safari. Quinton is a solid PH, built like a rugby champion, wears proper short shorts year-round, and is just a really great dude. Some trivia about Quinton: He’s never sent an email. Never had a social media account. Never had a passport. I’ve known all of this for a while. This year, as I rode with Zack on his first safari, I learned a new fun fact about Quinton: he has really shitty taste in music. He’d say the same about me, but he’d be wrong. Any doubts I had—and any chance Quinton had to redeem himself—were firmly quashed on our ride from camp to the airport at the end of the trip, but I’ll come back to that.
Prior to hosting this year’s safari, I found myself in the market for a rugged piece of checked luggage large enough to live out of for two weeks and hearty enough to withstand both harsh weather conditions and the not-so-delicate touch of African baggage handlers. I ordered one of KUIU’s new Waypoint 6500 Rollers. As with other KUIU bags, the number in the name refers to the bag’s storage capacity—in this case, 6500 cubic inches. The bottom is constructed of molded polycarbonate while the upper exterior is made of ballistic nylon for durability and weatherproofing. There are two main compartments separated by a zippered divider. The interior fabric is poly ripstop coated in DWR. There are two mesh pockets on the divider and an internal lashing system.
Around the World in the KUIU Waypoint 6500
KUIU lists the empty weight at a little over 11 pounds. I think it feels lighter than that—so much so that I immediately doubted it would hold up on my trip. I’m happy to report that I was wrong. The bag’s first test came when we arrived at O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg. I stood with the rest of the Outrider crew at baggage claim and watched all 750 other passengers from our flight retrieve their bags. The conveyor ramp from the basement stopped moving. The carousel stopped moving. My bag was missing. I found an airport employee near the baggage area and explained the situation. She rolled her eyes before keying up her radio. About 15 minutes later, I heard movement from the basement area followed by a large cloud of weed smoke. The conveyor ramp kicked on and I watched my bag inch its way up. Just as my bag reached the top and was about to tip over onto the metal slide that leads to the carousel, the ramp stopped, and my bag stopped with it—stuck at the top. I told the annoyed employee I would just climb up and get it. She nodded toward an AK-wielding colleague and told me no, I would not. She was right. We all waited another 15 minutes for them to turn the ramp back on and my bag to eventually drop.
Camp was muddy from a few days of rain prior to our arrival. I extended the built-in handle and wheeled my Waypoint directly through 100 yards of sloppy red mud down to my cabin. The interior of the bag had ample room for a pair of boots, all my hunting layers, several hats, dopp kit, spotting scope, tripod, and various gifts for my African brethren, as they don’t have Amazon. Or even a functioning postal service. I used the Waypoint as a dresser for the two-plus weeks in camp. But sitting in a room is easy.
Great weather followed us for the duration of the safari. We woke up on load-out day to dark gray skies that dumped rain as soon as we got on the road. The bag sat in the uncovered bed of Quinton’s Land Cruiser for the two-and-a-half-hour ride from camp to the Port Elizabeth Airport. We drove through a downpour nearly the entire trip. I checked my belongings afterwards, and everything inside was bone dry. As a relevant aside, Zack and I were forced to endure Quinton’s love of ‘90s girl pop-country from the time we got in the Cruiser until we stepped out at the airport. At first, I thought he was joking, but then I watched in horror as that typically reserved muscular giant quietly and confidently sang along to Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine” and right into “Heads Carolina, Tails California,” by Jo Dee Messina, followed by many, many more.
Land Cruisers to Bentleys
My Waypoint, and more importantly, its contents, made it back to the States in perfect condition. Since the safari, I’ve also put it through several more hours of rain on a family beach trip where it rode uncovered in a cargo carrier and again kept all our belongings dry. But it’s not just good in crappy conditions—it also held up just fine in the back of a Bentley to and from the airport on a recent visit to The Preserve Sporting Club in Rhode Island.
Price: $499.
Pros: Sturdy, weatherproof, lightweight, and roomy.
Cons: None to speak of yet. She’s holding up really nice, Clark.
