To camp or not to camp

[RobertT]

I think I had too many horror stories while camping in my youth...slept in the boot of my Citigolf once in Shingwedzi to escape a Dimwit's snoring. Forgot I could have lowered the back seat.

Excessive alcohol to a point of budgie tongue and camping are not good companions, you cant blame camping for those stories.

[Flutterby]

[harrys]

Anja took her tent, chair and strecher today, as she plans to go camping on her of weekends and holidays

She drives a Datsun GO and there is enough space for her stuff and some

Just to get back to what Peter said... You sleep in your own bed and the peace and quiet at Tsendze is something you won't expierience in a camp with chaletts. But like I said before you either like it or hate it.........

[Flutterby]

That's what it comes down to harrys.

Almost eveytime we've camped it's poured with rain and everything was wet and muddy....not fun!

[Alf]

I have camped a few times in my life. I don’t mind setting up camp but after a nice relaxing holiday it sounds like hard work to break down camp and still leave early for your drive back to Gauteng

[Richprins]

Ja, Alf. And no aircon!

Drink was not involved, Robert...

[okie]

Hmmmm...... Hah ! IMHO , camping sucks
I really do not know what all the hoo-hah is about camping
It seems to be all about suffering discomfort , even after having brought the whole caboodle with you from home , including the latest high-tech kitchen sink
Firstly , it takes up oodles of time setting up camp , erecting tents , and deploying equipment all around the in order to make things " liveable" and life more " comfortable" during your stay .
Man , the stuff you see in these setups are amazing to behold
You see small families , digging themselves in next to the fence ( what for , only they know ) , erecting a site that eventually looks like a whole neighbourhood , including its own in-house TV room , surrounding area lit up like a christmas tree .

I just cannot for the life of me understand why people bring the city to bush

For me , I enjoy the comfort of a bungalow .
I do bring along a couple of paraffin lanterns , which I hang up outside while making/preparing/braaing food outside . Of course , the bungalow lights are switched off while we are busy outside .
And for mozzies ? On the farm I extract essential oils like Khaki-bush and Lavender , which I then blend with the paraffin for the lamps .
It smells good and works much much better than the so-called " Citronella oil " which you buy in stores . That stuff is about 99 % paraffin and 1 % citronella , and hellishly expensive

I do have a duel battery system in the Landy to keep my freezer going , and to keep the beer cold .
Therefore , power outages do not bother us at all . If necessary ( and only if necessary ) I can also plug in a string of LED lights into the duel-battery socket and also light up the neighbourhood -- but why bother
And , at bed-time , we can sleep easy on comfortable and soft(..ish..) beds , which is much much more kind to these old bones
Oh , and we have an inbuilt shower , plus toilet , so , no need to use a potty

A guy who lives on a farm and drives a Defender that prefers a Hut ..Thats total Sacrelidge ..Okie were you at school at Drakensberg Boys Choir then onto Bishops My Boys in their 30s now still thank me for the Camping holidays we had throughout Central & Southern Africa ..They have Africa in their veins. Sleeping in a Hut Bed ..you never know what you can pick up ...I mean WHO slept there last and what 'baggage' were they carrying ??..My Bed in the Skipper Trailer is more comfortable than my R 15 000 Base and Mattress at home and its ONLY me that has slept on my trailer Bed NOT TO MENTION all the money I save going camping in the wild (R 140 per night for wife and me at Rooiputs and my 3 weeks stay during FORTY PERCENT pensioners Discount in Nov I hae paid the booking in Full = R 3380.00 = 2 days in a hut with noisy aircon ..Go figure The pic below is my one son Andrew 31 years old now on the roof of the Defender in Central Kalahari Game reserve Bots and The camping scene below is on a 4x4 Trail somewhere deep in on the Bots side of Kgalagadi with my then young teenage boys and our friends from Pretoria Andrew on Roof Landy.jpg

My dear friend Peter Betts

I did enough camping in my youth -- long , long ago - enough to last a couple of lifetimes and these old bones of mine just cannot take it anymore .
Have you ever been to Sodwana bay ? Nine mile reef , 14 mile reef , Mbibi , all north , up the coast from Sodwana .
We drove up the beach in a landy , way back in 1960 snorkelling , spearfishing and sleeping out along those beaches . In fact , we were the very first to dive and spearfish there long before anyone else even knew about that stretch of coast .
We camped and dived off Mocambique coast , right up to Ponto du Oro .
Have you ever camped and dived at Inhaca Island , and have you ever heard of a place called Santa Maria . It is a small , sharp little spit of land surrounded by mangrove , and lies about 300 meters from the southern tip of Inhaca island . It is absolutely wonderful there , and cannot be reached by land - with tropical fish you can only dream of . But , the trough between land and island drops from beach level to at least 300 meters , with an extreme current that can rip you away and take you out to sea within minutes .
I have climbed the Drakensberg from down at Royal Natal National park hotel , up to and on to of Sentinel peak .
I walked across the top plato , from Sentinel , via Mount Amery , right up to Cathedral peak . Took me 4 days of walking . And I sang as I walked along -I did not need any boys choir for that .
And I listened to my voice echoing and bouncing back to me from distant mountain tops and cliffs and valleys ---- y-a-y- l-u-d-I...... y-a-y-l-u-d-I... y-a-y-l-u-d-I...
And where do you think I slept - certainly not on a soft , comfortable bed , in a luxurious state-of-the-art Caravan , fitted out with heaters and fridges and deepfreezes and stoves , which is lit up like a Christmas tree every night at the flick of a switch .....
I slept on the open ground or behind a rock out of the howling wind , without a fire , because at that height above sea level , there are no trees !

I have done all that........ and much more than you can even dream about

And when I lie in a bungalow somewhere , I remember that , and I pity you , because you have never experienced what I have lived and enjoyed in my youth

[Peter Betts]

I have camped a few times in my life. I don’t mind setting up camp but after a nice relaxing holiday it sounds like hard work to break down camp and still leave early for your drive back to Gauteng

You must try the drive to PE ..Gauteng is 3 hrs up the hill

[Peter Betts]

Hmmmm...... Hah ! IMHO , camping sucks
I really do not know what all the hoo-hah is about camping
It seems to be all about suffering discomfort , even after having brought the whole caboodle with you from home , including the latest high-tech kitchen sink
Firstly , it takes up oodles of time setting up camp , erecting tents , and deploying equipment all around the in order to make things " liveable" and life more " comfortable" during your stay .
Man , the stuff you see in these setups are amazing to behold
You see small families , digging themselves in next to the fence ( what for , only they know ) , erecting a site that eventually looks like a whole neighbourhood , including its own in-house TV room , surrounding area lit up like a christmas tree .

I just cannot for the life of me understand why people bring the city to bush

For me , I enjoy the comfort of a bungalow .
I do bring along a couple of paraffin lanterns , which I hang up outside while making/preparing/braaing food outside . Of course , the bungalow lights are switched off while we are busy outside .
And for mozzies ? On the farm I extract essential oils like Khaki-bush and Lavender , which I then blend with the paraffin for the lamps .
It smells good and works much much better than the so-called " Citronella oil " which you buy in stores . That stuff is about 99 % paraffin and 1 % citronella , and hellishly expensive

I do have a duel battery system in the Landy to keep my freezer going , and to keep the beer cold .
Therefore , power outages do not bother us at all . If necessary ( and only if necessary ) I can also plug in a string of LED lights into the duel-battery socket and also light up the neighbourhood -- but why bother
And , at bed-time , we can sleep easy on comfortable and soft(..ish..) beds , which is much much more kind to these old bones
Oh , and we have an inbuilt shower , plus toilet , so , no need to use a potty

A guy who lives on a farm and drives a Defender that prefers a Hut ..Thats total Sacrelidge ..Okie were you at school at Drakensberg Boys Choir then onto Bishops My Boys in their 30s now still thank me for the Camping holidays we had throughout Central & Southern Africa ..They have Africa in their veins. Sleeping in a Hut Bed ..you never know what you can pick up ...I mean WHO slept there last and what 'baggage' were they carrying ??..My Bed in the Skipper Trailer is more comfortable than my R 15 000 Base and Mattress at home and its ONLY me that has slept on my trailer Bed NOT TO MENTION all the money I save going camping in the wild (R 140 per night for wife and me at Rooiputs and my 3 weeks stay during FORTY PERCENT pensioners Discount in Nov I hae paid the booking in Full = R 3380.00 = 2 days in a hut with noisy aircon ..Go figure The pic below is my one son Andrew 31 years old now on the roof of the Defender in Central Kalahari Game reserve Bots and The camping scene below is on a 4x4 Trail somewhere deep in on the Bots side of Kgalagadi with my then young teenage boys and our friends from Pretoria Andrew on Roof Landy.jpg

My dear friend Peter Betts

I did enough camping in my youth -- long , long ago - enough to last a couple of lifetimes and these old bones of mine just cannot take it anymore .
Have you ever been to Sodwana bay ? Nine mile reef , 14 mile reef , Mbibi , all north , up the coast from Sodwana .
We drove up the beach in a landy , way back in 1960 snorkelling , spearfishing and sleeping out along those beaches . In fact , we were the very first to dive and spearfish there long before anyone else even knew about that stretch of coast .
We camped and dived off Mocambique coast , right up to Ponto du Oro .
Have you ever camped and dived at Inhaca Island , and have you ever heard of a place called Santa Maria . It is a small , sharp little spit of land surrounded by mangrove , and lies about 300 meters from the southern tip of Inhaca island . It is absolutely wonderful there , and cannot be reached by land - with tropical fish you can only dream of . But , the trough between land and island drops from beach level to at least 300 meters , with an extreme current that can rip you away and take you out to sea within minutes .
I have climbed the Drakensberg from down at Royal Natal National park hotel , up to and on to of Sentinel peak .
I walked across the top plato , from Sentinel , via Mount Amery , right up to Cathedral peak . Took me 4 days of walking . And I sang as I walked along -I did not need any boys choir for that .
And I listened to my voice echoing and bouncing back to me from distant mountain tops and cliffs and valleys ---- y-a-y- l-u-d-I...... y-a-y-l-u-d-I... y-a-y-l-u-d-I...
And where do you think I slept - certainly not on a soft , comfortable bed , in a luxurious state-of-the-art Caravan , fitted out with heaters and fridges and deepfreezes and stoves , which is lit up like a Christmas tree every night at the flick of a switch .....
I slept on the open ground or behind a rock out of the howling wind , without a fire , because at that height above sea level , there are no trees !

I have done all that........ and much more than you can even dream about

And when I lie in a bungalow somewhere , I remember that , and I pity you , because you have never experienced what I have lived and enjoyed in my youth

I dont know Sodwana at all ..But I have slept in Caves in the Berg a few times and done the 2 week traverse from north to South .. I am not a sea person but in my youth I was dared to do the 3-4 day Otter trail in a day and I ran it from Nature's to Storms River in a day when I was young and crazy .. I just cant consider R 2000 a night in a Hut in Kruger so I will no doubt die under canvas in 30 yrs time at Age 99

[okie]

We were on the mountain every New Year 1961 to 1965 -- each of carrying a bottle of champagne to enjoy at the turn of the year . I once even carried up my silver trumpet , in its case strapped on the back of my ruck-sack , and I sounded off the old year from the top of Tugela falls with The Last Post .....