About this product
Fifteen litres is where most people land. Ten is enough for a phone and a towel; twenty-five is a proper pack. Fifteen takes a day’s personal kit for one person plus lunch, a towel and a camera – which is what a boat trip to Zanzibar, a day on the water or a walk along a wet-season trail actually needs.
A roll-top waterproof bag works on a completely different principle from a water-resistant backpack. There is no zip to leak and no seam under the flap. You fill it, fold the top over on itself at least three times, and clip the buckle – and the folded material seals the opening against water. It is the same method dry bags have used for decades, because it works.
The material is 100 percent polyester with PVC layers on both the inside and the outside. That double coating is what makes it genuinely waterproof rather than merely resistant, and it makes the bag wipeable – sand, salt and mud come off with a rinse rather than soaking in.
Two details make it more useful than a plain dry bag. There is a mesh pocket on the side for a water bottle or anything you need without opening the seal, and it can be carried in up to four different ways – as a backpack, over one shoulder, by the handle or rolled down small – so it adapts to a beach walk, a boat and a dala dala equally.
It suits Zanzibar and coastal boat trips, kayaking, fishing, beach days, river crossings on a trek, and the rainy season generally. One honest note: like all roll-tops it is made to keep water out in splashing, spray and rain rather than to be submerged. Do not treat it as a diving bag.
Naturehike Waterproof Backpack - Green 15L