Nick and Lins De Corte are anything but ordinary. They travel the world unclothed wherever possible, documenting their adventures on their now famous blog Naked Wanderings, as well as on their other social media accounts.
The Belgian couple have to date scuba-dived butt-naked off the island of Utila, in Honduras, drunk beers in the buff in Portugal, hiked nude through the Amazon rainforest, camped nude in France, and played naked laser tag in California.
Now, the naturist couple, who have gone viral around the globe, say they are itching for a visit to South Africa to visit the country’s only official nude beach Mpenjati beach.
The couple were set to come to South Africa in December this year, however the lockdown as well as high costs have held them back.
“We are in contact with some naturists in South Africa and they keep asking when we’re coming,” Nick told the Saturday Star this week.
“Because South Africa is the only country in Africa with options for naturists, it requires intercontinental flights to get there.
“Unfortunately, Covid-19 got in the way. We heard that SA opened its borders but as Europeans, we’re not allowed to travel outside of the continent.”
But the couple are still dead set to travel here. “South Africa has several naturist resorts. We wanted to visit Mpenjati beach and hoped to find some unofficial beaches as well.
“There’s a tour company called Joxylox that organizes tours for naturists, like a naturist safari. How cool is that? If that’s not an amazing bucket list item, we don’t know what is.
“And then there’s the amazing nature. We figure there might be more unofficial opportunities for naturists too.”
The couple, who hail from Ghent in Belgium, share photos of their travels on their blog and social media. Their presence aim to showcase their fun adventures, and provide information on the naturist lifestyle, and nude-friendly resorts across the world.
Nick and Lins quickly became aware they’d pinpointed a gap in the market. So the couple decided to start Naked Wanderings.
“We really had no idea that this would happen,” says Nick. “When we first started, we had no idea what we were doing. And we had no clue of how blogging or professional social media works.
“Naked Wanderings has been a hit from day one. Apparently, we were not the only ones looking for more information about nudists travelling in a fun way.
“Our readership grew month after a month and after a year we realised how big it had become.” The couple say they first got into naturalism after visiting a spa in Belgium where nudity was compulsory.
“We really believe (and know from experience) that all the cool things happen out of the comfort zone. But we can’t deny that it was intimidating,”said Nick.
“Only a few people had ever seen us naked in. When we parked our car at the spa and we noticed all the other cars, we realised that within minutes, the number of people that have ever seen us naked would probably quadruple.
“Then lots of questions started firing through our heads. What do we have to expect? What if it’s really uncomfortable? What if we do something wrong? What if everyone stares at us? What if we end up in a sex club?”
“When we were in, we realized that all our worries were based on misconceptions. It definitely wasn’t a sex club, it was really comfortable and nobody stared at us. This was all very new.
“What we loved the most was the comfort. One thing nobody can deny is that skinny dipping is so much better than swimming with a bathing suit.”
After the spa visit, the couple began booking nakations around the globe. “We wanted to combine our two passions, traveling and naturism,” says Lins.
“We would travel the world in search of naturist destinations and to find out how other people with different backgrounds, nationalities and cultures experience it. And we would blog about it and show the world what it is like.”
They have travelled to various countries in Europe and South America, and travel blogging has become their full-time occupation.
The couple say it’s tough to decide on a favourite nakation so far. “It’s very hard to pick a favourite,” says Nick. “We like the Mexican town Zipolite a lot, but it’s not just for its nude beach but mostly for the great vibe in town.
“In California, we loved the nudist resorts in the desert. You can hike naked in a desert landscape all day without running into other people. The most amazing nude beach we’ve ever seen was in Tayrona National Park in Colombia. We met up with lots of young naturist groups.
“Europe which is still the mecca for nakations. France alone has more naturist resorts than all non-European countries together. In Thailand, we learned that naturism is really something for everyone.”
Speaking about their experience of being nude in public, the couple say it didn’t take very long for them to adjust.
“It takes less time than you expect,” says Lins. “Once you get through the first ‘shock’, you start feeling comfortable and feels very natural.”
“At the spa we covered ourselves with a towel when we walked from the sauna to the jacuzzi and swimming pool. After an hour or so, we kept forgetting where we left our towel…”
The couple adds that they also feel no pressure to look a certain way when nude in public. “People come in all sizes and shapes,” says Lins.
“We have seen thousands of naked people before, it’s almost impossible that you look anything particularly different than what we have seen already.
“Because body positivity is an important part of naturism, we also don’t photoshop our pictures. We want the world to see what real bodies look like, we want to give people real-life role models instead of what you find in magazines.”
They say the feeling of being nude out in public is indescribable. “When you’re naked you start using your ‘touch’ sense a lot,” says Lins. “The largest part of your body is covered with textile. Once you take that off, you feel the wind against your body, the grass between your toes. It’s great.”
The couple are adamant that life without clothes is much better.
“During the last three months, we have been camping around France,” said Lins. “It was amazing, but we would probably have hated it if the camp grounds were not naturist.
“People ask us about hygiene. Where has your bathing suit been? You’ve been sitting in the sand, maybe in some leftover ketchup, you’ve been to the toilet a couple of times... That’s what’s not hygienic.”