I have the usual excuses – busy, busy – but amongst other things that have been occupying me is a camping trip (oh happiness!).
I am still so busy that I don’t have much time to write a good food post, and my food photos are piling up, but in the meantime, and to assure you that I haven’t fallen off the planet, here are some photos of the wonderful place in the Natal Midlands where we camped: Bushwillow Park.
Our camp site
I wrote about this lovely caravan park for the October issue of the Caravan & Outdoor Life magazine – writing a caravan park review was fun, and an interesting excercise! Hope you enjoy the photos.
Joel & Kylah like camping too!
Some highlights of our stay there were the daily visits from the samango monkeys – they are very shy but the fig tree behind our camp-site was obviously on their daily routine, and not to be missed. Whenever they noticed us watching them they would shyly pull some branches across in front of themselves to hide, but completely forgot about their long tails, hanging down from the branches!
Samango monkey tree
I was a little freaked out by the unearthly screams that filled the forest at night – we eventually worked out that it must be nag-apies (literally ‘little night-apes’ even though are not monkeys or apes at all!). They are related to bush-babies, and their nocturnal screams are as unearthly. The owner of the caravan park told us how one of his staff, a chap called Sandile (Sun-dee-lee) when asked by visitors what made those terrible screams at night, would tell them that the nag-apies would go to sleep at night with their arms and legs wrapped tightly around a tree trunk. At about 9 pm, they would be so fast asleep, that they would let go of the tree and fall to the ground, and then scream terribly. You can imagine his delight when gullible tourists believe him! 😀
I did get to cook and photograph some really good camp-fire recipes, these will appear in the next few issues of the Caravan mag – just submitted my articles for the March issue (spinach and feta rolls and pecan-cinnamon buns, all cooked on the fire), so watch this space – the recipes will appear here eventally.
We braai no matter what the weather is like...
Hopefully life will settle soon and I will be able to get back to writing some good posts! Have a good weekend. 🙂
- The view from the top of Mount Gilboa
Linda Roets
Fired Up Cooking SA 
Great post! Lovely photos!
We are so looking forward to summer. Although we wouldn’t mind if we could camp in Natal.
Enjoy!
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Thank you, Tok! You must be so tired of winter by now. Wish you could come camping here in Natal, too 😀
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hey I found you Zabs! 🙂
Lovely pics!
*hugs*
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Hello Hope!! Thanks 🙂 Hugs!
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Think we must go there when we come out looks lovely….and of course ‘MY’ Grand kids just are beautiful….they getting so big!! It all looks so relaxing and Oupa by his fire is just so “TRADE MARK” Andre. Need to have a personal try of all these tatsies. Nat xxx
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Hi Nat…next time you visit from the UK, we will take you there! And yes, it’s time you joined us around a braai fire. OUR grandkids are just beautiful, aren’t they!! 😀
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Missed you! That looks like such a wonderful trip and am looking forward to seeing some of the things you cooked. Welcome back 🙂
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Hello Chica – thank you for missing me! I should be back in action in February – but I still read your blog regularly 🙂
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Seems you have been in a lot of our thoughts – good to see you back. Aah the Midlands are so beautiful! Was there last July for a wedding – nearly froze to death!
Looking forward to you awesome recipes.
🙂 Mandy
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Hello Mandy! Thanks for thinking of me 🙂 The Natal Midlands can be incredibly cold in winter – snow, the works!! But it is beautiful.
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I was just wondering last night where you were! The camping looks great 🙂
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I must have felt the vibes, T!! Thanks :
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I was thinking about you just yesterday and up you pop! Looking forward to seeing what you’ve been cooking.
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The power of positive thought! thanks for thinking of me, Sue. I’m looking forward to getting back into blogging again 🙂
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Joel says: ‘Yook its Oupa watching his fire!’ Lovely pic of my kiddies 🙂
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Don’t they just look too cute??!!!
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A beautiful site!
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It is a lovely campsite!
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I don’t mind I loved the camping trip! I will go camping with you anytime your set up looks quite civilised.. have tons of fun.. c
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Consider this your invitation to camp with us! We do camp in a very civilised manner 🙂 Thanks, C.
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Sleep well. 😉
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And you enjoy your day in USA! xx
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What a beautiful view! Your grandkids obviously love the camping life too. I was beginning to wonder where you were. Glad you found time to post again. xxx
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Hello AD, honey, oh, I have been SO busy at work, just awful! It’s nearly midnight but I was determined to do a post 🙂 ! Have a great day xx
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