As you can probably tell, I’m a little behind in my blog posts. Life has been busy and it just never seems to slow down. So here is the post from our camping trip to Lotheni in the Drakensberg mountains in September. Cameron turned 18 and this was what he wanted to do for his birthday present. Not that we need an excuse to go camping! Lotheni is part of the national park system. This particular campground is off the grid, so we were fully reliant on solar power for four days. The plan was to explore and relax. We did both.

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The first day we went for a walk in the beautiful countryside and ended up swimming in one of the many mountain streams. It was really hot and the water was cold, so it was a good combination! That afternoon we were all totally lazy. Lots of book reading, game playing, and some of us even took a nap….

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The second day we decided to go back through the Sani Pass, one of the most dangerous roads in Africa – and the world. You need four wheel drive and it’s a bit of a crazy ride. This was the third time we have done it and it was the best. The road takes you in to the country of Lesotho, which is landlocked in South Africa. This drive is also in one of my earlier blogs, but we had great weather and I took better pictures this time. Cameron drove up the pass and Reid drove back down. We did have lunch at the top of the pass, which is home to the highest pub in Africa. It’s a very cool spot.

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We had two days of gorgeous weather and then it promptly turned bad. I mean really bad, miserable bad. The temperature dropped and it started to rain. To top it off, the wind picked up and made life even more difficult. Not good camping weather. We spent the third day trying to stay dry and then decided to cut our losses and head home. Everyone else in the campground had left as well. We were trying not to be pansies, but yours truly said it was enough and time to go home. It was good thing we did. The next day the area had a huge storm with gale force winds.

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Now for the food! My last blog post was about sous vide. A good bit of cooking that day was for this trip. I tried to get more pictures this time because I have been epically failing at taking pictures of food. I’m getting there. The problem is, I’d rather eat it than take pictures of it… It was all delicious. It was really nice to cook with that view. Here’s the menu:

Friday, Sept 20 – B: Muffins @ home, L: on the road, Country Market, D: Butter chicken, rice, and naan

Saturday, Sept 21 – B: Breakfast sandwiches, L: Beans & franks, D: Burgers & veg

Sunday, Sept 22 – B: Biscuits L: chicken wraps, D: Pork chops, augratin potatoes, asparagus

Monday, Sept 23 – B: yogurt, fruit, eggs L: Pork grillers & chips, D: SV Chicken & salmon, corn, risotto

Tuesday, Sept 24 – B: Banana bread, L: on the road, Country Market, D: Chili @ home

The trip to Lotheni takes between 7 and 8 hours, and takes us through part of the Midlands Meander. The Midlands Meander is a beautiful area, well known for its arts & crafts community, unique shops, and fantastic restaurants. We have found a little place called the Country Market where we love to eat when we’re passing through. We stopped there for lunch on the way to Lotheni and on the way home. It has a french country feel and the food is freaking amazing. They also have a deli/bakery where you can buy fresh eggs and dairy, fresh bread, homemade food that’s been packaged and frozen to take away, and a deli counter with meats and cheeses. It’s not to be missed!

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Yep, hot chocolate. Because I was freezing and I’m a wimp and real hot chocolate is hard to find. We came home to beautiful warm weather in Joburg and I was not upset for a second that we left early. We really like Lotheni, but I’m not sure that we will go back. They don’t allow dogs and we’d like to find somewhere in the Drakesbergs that we can take the doggo. The hunt begins!

That’s all for now, thank you for reading! More coming soon 🙂