Holidays are gladsome things, absolutely essential in anybody’s life.
In the planning there is such hope. The weather ahead is always perfect of course, never a cloud in the sky. The road ahead is always open and the drivers beyond criticism. We dream on…………..
Our planned month away in our caravans with friends, had four of us sipping wine and pouring over maps and brochures in happy anticipation.
I enjoy living in my home on wheels.
The luxuries of hot and cold running water and a loo are very attractive especially in the middle of the dark night with animals growling over a carcase nearby.
But what I adore (big word but I mean it) is the camp fire at night. Secretly it is my main reason for agreeing to leave my comfortable home in the first place.
Imagine with me…….the day has passed pleasantly….. we’ve done some game viewing, even seen a lion or two and had a swim in the park pool with the entertaining twitters of birds foreign to me overhead.
Evening falls and it’s time for a CAMPFIRE.
Pixabay
The anticipation of the crackling of fierce flames as they gnaw and devour the logs into a bank of glowing red, orange and white coals is huge.
We are extravagant with wood so the sparks splinter into the gathering darkness enfolding us in a sweet cocoon, a million miles away from the mayhem of civilisation.(This includes amongst others, the daily rub with awkward neighbours and taxi violence at the city centre)
Eventually the crispy fat of a lamb chop has been licked from my fingers and the goop from a braaied marshmallow scraped off my jeans. I am mellow with a glass of sauvignon and the conversation has dwindled into comfortable fits and starts.
I stare a foreign world into being as purple flames suggest royalty and the hisses of unexpected moisture, strange animals………..I am totally divorced from reality.
BUT, back to my reason for mentioning our holiday away in the first place….. Those 3 F’s.
On the winding road through the Eastern Cape, formerly known as the Transkei we were overwhelmed by the FLOCKS of sheep and goats that crowded onto the road…..the national road I must add. Horses and cattle also grazed on the verges where the run off of moisture makes for green grass along its edges.
Dogs too decide that it is obviously better to be on the ‘other side’……….do canines also suffer from ‘the grass is greener’ syndrome? The odd black pig makes for an injection of humour.
But death is there with macerated animal corpses distressingly evident every few kilometres. My eyes are tightly shut a lot of the time. For me the exquisite view of the Maluti mountains is marred.
We arrive at our destination of Mountain Zebra National Park with relief after a 10 hour journey. Apart from a gate guard with his blindingly white toothed smile we also have flocks( no silly! herds by now) of stubby legged, beautifully decorated zebras after which the park is named.
Fabulous red sheened Red Hartebeest buck graze and bulky giant Eland stroll by.
Relief and the reason for the journey takes over and I relax.
Not for long………. We set up camp just in time for a gala symphony orchestral storm to erupt over our heads . Cymbals clash as lightning streaks the sky. The huge drums roll dramatically and we dart into the warmth and cosy comfort of our van as the rain pours down, side drums rat tatting on the roof. Fabulous….?
NO…………….FLOOD
Suffice to say that a river of mud and water cascades under our van and over our veranda area under the awning, necessitating a MOVE!
It was an ‘interesting’ move to a new site earlier today! Friends helped hold the awning as Himself used the (blessed) remote control to drive the van slowly into its new position on higher ground.
The third F under discussion is FRIDGE.
A fridge is a humble thing. It is not normally in in the forefront of anyone’s mind, completely taken for granted until the milk for early morning coffee is SOUR! Our handsome fridge in our caravan revolted and turned into an expensive cupboard.
Apparently a technician in Craddock a town 90 kilometres away, said blithely ‘it’s probably a faulty gas problem sir, just pop into town and we’ll have it up and cooling your naartjies in no time at all.’
No pop in visit possible………… we make do sharing cooling facilities with our generous friends whose fridge is working and now, bulging at the seams.
It seems they offered help to prevent a murder, ‘I had TOLD Himself before we left home that the fridge seemed not to be cooling effectively!’
Flocks, Floods, Fridges aside I’m typing in the comfort of our caravan in the shade of a tree with just the murmuring of people chatting, gently rocked by a vervet monkey who is on the roof peering at me with his cute face to see if by any chance I’ve left out a banana or a crust of bread for this ‘orphan of the wild’!
Problems yes but heaven in the camp? …………Definitely.
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