The wild lands: emerald basin, savanna reserve and redstone canyon

Three wild destinations reached only by plane from the Skyport. You land at the airport on the south edge of each one. The departure desk for the flight back to the Skyport is in the airport: stand on it and press shift enter. Everything else lies to the north of the airport.

Type /wild for the wild lands menu, /expedition for today's expedition and /birds for the bird field guide. The menu is also in the main module menu.

How activities work

If you stop a boat trip, a rafting run or a game drive from the menu, you are set down on the nearest landing, on the river bank or back at the jeep stand, never in the water.

Every activity talks to you through short menus. A sound plays, a short line tells you what is happening, and you choose what to do. Some choices are timed: answer before the time runs out. You can only do one activity at a time; the wild lands menu has an item to stop it.

Each activity can also be started from the Activities item of the wild lands menu when you stand near its starting place. If you are far away, the menu tells you the way.

Emerald basin

A rainforest river basin. Porto Esmeralda, a village on stilts, is north of the airport.

River boat trip: at the end of the jetty, 10 ln point. Boatman Tiago takes you east to the research station and Emerald Falls, then west to the lily pond and the heron lagoon, and back to the jetty. At every stop you can stay aboard or get off.

Canopy walkway: the rope ladder is north of the river. Up in the trees are four platforms. Press shift enter on a platform to cross a swaying bridge, listen for birds, or climb down. On a bridge: when it swings left, lean right; when it swings right, lean left; a missing plank, take a long step; monkeys bouncing it, hold the ropes. Two mistakes and you fall to the forest floor.

Bird spotting: sit on a platform and listen. Name the bird from its call. Every new species goes into your journal and pays a Voyage Token. Doctor Ana Lima's field guide lets you hear every call first. The harpy eagle is rare, and heard mostly from the crown platform.

Brewing: Mother Yara brews jungle tonic with you from 2 jungle herbs and 1 cacao pod. She says four steps once. Remember them and do them in the same order. Drinking a jungle tonic heals you and gives you energy.

Healing: Mother Yara also tends your wounds for 25 ln point, once every ten minutes. Her poultice heals up to 300 health.

Gathering: cacao pods in the cacao grove, rubber latex from the rubber trees with a knife, jungle herbs in the herb clearing.

Danger: pythons in the oxbow swamp, a jaguar in the jaguar woods, peccaries in the forest and monkeys under the walkway.

Savanna reserve

A safari park. Acacia Lodge is north of the airport.

Game drive: at the safari jeep stand, 15 ln point. Guide Jabari stops five times and turns off the engine. Name the animal from its call.

Wildlife photography: in the hide at the waterhole. Something comes toward you from one side. Listen where it is. Wait until it is very close, take the photo, then point the lens toward the sound: ahead, right, behind or left, from the way you are facing. Close and well aimed gives an excellent photo. Mama Zuri's gallery buys photos.

Food: Mama Zuri's kitchen in the lodge house serves a hot meal for 30 ln point and a cold passion fruit juice for 10 ln point. You eat and drink on the spot, and it fills you up and quenches your thirst for real.

Anti-poacher patrol: with Head Ranger Kofi. The radio clicks from the nearest hidden snare. Stand on it and press shift enter to disarm it. After three snares, search the poachers' fire pit in the far north east, then report to Kofi. You have fifteen minutes. The wild lands menu can ask the radio for directions. Kofi also pays a bounty for snares.

Feeding round: with Keeper Amani in the elephant orphanage. Gulping too fast, pull the bottle back. Stops and looks up, tip the bottle up. Drinking steadily, hold it steady. Shoving you, scratch behind its ear.

Gathering: marula fruit in the marula grove, acacia gum in the acacia woodland.

Danger: lions on the kopje and the baobab plains, an elephant in the marsh, a leopard in the acacia woodland, jackals, warthogs and a python near the waterhole.

Redstone canyon

A red rock canyon. Redstone Outpost is north of the airport.

Climbing: three routes at the foot of the Redstone Rim. The Red Staircase has 5 moves, the Chimney 7 and the Sunset Wall 9. Lena calls each hold. A jug up and to your left: reach up left with your left hand. A crimp up and to your right: reach up right with your right hand. A foothold or a smooth sloper: step your foot up high. A ledge when your arms burn: rest. Wrong or slow moves cost grip; with no grip left you fall and Lena lowers you. Climbing chalk from Dusty gives a better grip. At the top you stand on the rim; walk south off the edge to come down.

Rafting: with River guide Kai from the put-in beach, 20 ln point. Eight rapids. Rock on the left, steer right. Rock on the right, steer left. A big wave, paddle hard forward. A drop, hold on and lean in. Fast answers score more. Three hits and the raft flips, unless you carry a raft patch. Kai makes patches from 1 rubber latex and 1 acacia gum, or sells one for 60 ln point.

The Sky Bridge: a rope bridge from the north bank to Eagle Mesa. A loose plank, step long. Wind, crouch and grip. Bouncing, wait. Solid planks, walk on. Three mistakes and you fall into the river. On the mesa are the fossil beds and the eagle's nest. Walk off the edge to come down.

Gathering: canyon quartz from the quartz vein with a pickaxe, and rare fossils on Eagle Mesa.

Danger: snakes on the sage flats, coyotes east of the outpost, wolves and a bear on the rim.

Trade

Trader Bento, Mama Zuri and old Hank pay Voyage Tokens for local goods, up to 10 tokens a day in all. Bento and Dusty sell water, protein bars and supplies for ln point, and Zuri sells water and juice. Dusty sells climbing chalk and pickaxes. Cacao pods and marula fruit can be eaten as they are.

Quests

Twelve people give 28 quests. Stand on a person and press shift enter. Each quest pays Voyage Tokens, ln point and pass experience once.

The daily expedition

Every day three tasks are chosen across the three wild lands. Finish all three in one day, universal time, for 6 Voyage Tokens, 150 ln point and pass experience.

Limits

Every activity has a small daily limit for its rewards, so play for fun as much as you like: the rewards stop, the fun does not.

Standing, titles and trophies

Every place by plane remembers you. Your first landing each day, every sight on its sightseeing card, every postcard you send from there, every quest and every victory over its great beasts raise your standing in that place. Three quests done in one place earn the title Friend of that place, six a trophy as its honorary citizen. Your first victory over a great beast such as the Temple Guardian, the Reef Queen or Old Kuma puts a trophy in your cabinet. See the page The travel planner and your travel companion.