If you were to tell me that you could find a tourist destination without a single photo on the internet, I would call you crazy. In this digital age of oversharing on social media any place travel worthy has been facebooked, instagrammed and tweeted to death, in addition to being marketed on its website and myriad accommodation booking sites. Everywhere can be found on Google’s image search. At least that’s what I believed until I went on a cyber mission to locate somewhere nice to stay around Vanderkloof Dam in the Northern Cape.
Mopani and Letaba in the Kruger National Park are the recommended overnight camps close to the Giriyondo border post into the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. We were quite concerned as to the state of the roads on the Mozambique side, but our research suggested that even though the route we were taking was for 4×4’s only, we should be fine in our normal Kombi which has quite high ground clearance but no 4×4.
I must say I was feeling very apprehensive about the whole thing – here we were, not very well prepared at all, going on a family road trip into a completely unknown territory. All the other cars we passed on the highway from Johannesburg were rugged looking cross-Africa 4×4’s, loaded with extra wheels and jerry cans and serious bushwhacking trailers brimming with stuff. We were just a family with a bag each piled into a normal car.
We are busy gearing up for an epic cross-country road trip from Port Elizabeth to Mozambique, and part of our preparation is making sure our medical kit is fully stocked. Our family travels a lot, both locally and internationally and we have learned through trial and error how to pack a compact, portable but extremely useful medical kit that should address all minor conditions and avoid having to spend precious holiday time at the pharmacy or doctor.
Here is what to pack in a travel medical kit for families with teens and older kids:
(Note – the brands mentioned are all from South Africa, similar products are available globally)
The well-worn leather bound South African National Park Visitor’s Book at Narina Bush Camp in Addo National Park is such an entertaining read that it is reason enough to visit this delightfully rustic camp.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a multitude of other reasons to visit Narina and it remains one of our all-time favourite SANparks spots. But each time we arrive, the very first thing I do after settling in is head for the gas fridge, on top of which is a trio of books. The first is a recipe book where campers can add their favourite fireside concoctions. The second is a comprehensive list of all the flora and fauna in the area and the third is the bee’s knees in camp side entertainment.
What is it with kids and car keys? I have memories of keys being locked inside my parent’s car (with my parents being outside the said car) on quite a few occasions. Every time it stemmed from something to do with my brothers – they had taken the keys to fetch an item, or to sit in the car, or heaven knows what. When Jacob was a baby, we managed to lock him and the keys in the car – there is just way too much stuff to do when you are transporting a tot and the keys can easily get overlooked in all the ruckus.
This weekend it was our turn as parents to experience the dreaded keys-locked-in-the-car scenario. We had been suffering elephant withdrawal, and needed to be near some gentle giants, so a braai lunch in our favourite spot was in order. Plans were to mosey through Addo Elephant National Park’s Matyholweni gate to Jack’s Picnic Site in the middle of the park, have a braai lunch and then wind our way back out the Colchester side and go fishing at the Sundays River estuary. Sounds like a sublime way to spend a Sunday, right?
