What a great weekend! We’ve just come back from a four-day camping trip at Lapalala Wilderness with our friends Ran and Anriette and their two kids. Bob and I had to polish up our scouting badges for our first African outdoor adventure!
Fortunately we were with old hands. Ran and Anriette have been coming to Lapalala for years, bringing their kids since they were infants. They knew quite a few tricks we’d never seen before, such as how to bake pita bread on a campfire!
During our first three weeks in South Africa, we stayed at Ran and Anriette’s garden cottage. Bob and I agreed that one of the best perks of this arrangement was getting to eat Ran’s food! His cooking repertoire draws heavily on the tastes and techniques of his native Israel, including the pita bread and his trademark humus (secret ingredient: double-cream yoghurt).
Ran also field-tested a brand new campfire recipe this weekend. A recipe for no-knead bread appeared in the New York Times last week and became one of the paper’s most emailed stories. It makes a very sticky dough which bakes into a thick crust with a moist, chewy center. We baked a loaf over coals in a cast-iron pot this weekend, and the results were very satisfactory.
Lapalala Wilderness is a private nature reserve in the Limpopo province of South Africa, about four hours’ drive from Johannesburg. The area is not as wet as Kruger National Park, so there is no malaria risk. I only got a few mosquito bites the entire weekend. And Anriette assured us that we could play in the river without catching any nasty parasites.
Because Lapalala is home to so many black rhinos — which behave quite agressively toward humans — you can’t go walking around on your own. Game viewing happens from the window of your car, or on an organized hike.
So we entertained ourselves at the campsite with stories and board games. Here Bob is engaged in a cut-throat game of Monopoly against some worthy opponents.
Aside from enjoying quality time with friends and a break from the big city, we did also came to Lapalala to check out the wildlife. And in this we were not disappointed… more detail on our brushes with baboons, wildebeast, zebra, giraffes, and other big game coming up soon!
7 responses so far ↓
your favorite sister // 20 November 2006 at 10:04 pm |
bob i hope you didn’t steal any money from those poor children. remember that it’s only a game and that they are not your sister so don’t try to trick them into giving you their boardwalk and park place for a lousy railroad. sounds like you guys had an awesome time. i can’t wait to see pictures. Love you!
Lea // 21 November 2006 at 2:16 pm |
Actually, that comment reminds me of something kind of cool that I forgot to mention: we played South Africa Monopoly.
So when you pass BEGIN you collect 20,000 Rand, all the property names are different, and you collect airports instead of railroads.
I’m sure this confusion explains why Bob was the first one to go bankrupt.
mammalu // 21 November 2006 at 4:04 pm |
Sounds like fun. I sure would have liked to be with you.
mammalu // 21 November 2006 at 4:05 pm |
Excuse me, to have been with you. Where is the edit? Do the kids stick right with you or do they explore as somebody else I know was apt to do?
Bob // 22 November 2006 at 7:41 am |
I would like to point out that our only goal (the children and I, that is) was to crush Lea, who spent the first game ripping the kids off in shameless fashion.
Lea: (Smiling peacefully) I’ll give you 12 cents and a popsicle for three airports and a free pass…
Kids: (Excited that they have something Lea wants) Let us think about it….OKAY!!
Lea: Heh, heh, heh, I’ll get you my pretties, heh, heh, heh….
You all will be happy to learn that Lea was crushed in the second game, and I remain the intergalactic South African 26 and under Monopoly champion. Heh, heh, heh.
Uncle Tom // 22 November 2006 at 6:32 pm |
Lea and Bob – I’m living my life externally through the adventures of my niece. Keep up the exciting travels – love to read it. I especially liked your description of panic at your first public Zulu speaking engagement. My advice is to calm yourself by envisioning the audience naked (I read that somewhere – but somehow I personally don’t find it very appealing).
Granny D // 24 November 2006 at 7:28 am |
My Lea would never take advantage of the young and gullible. Good luck next time.