A weekend in the Bush at Kwe Kwe

Been back from our summer vacation for a month now and we feel it is time to go to the bush for a weekend. So we decided to go again to KweKwe Farm, where we have been before and enjoyed it so much we went back. Last time it was in February for the Valentines weekend, see here the post about it. We went again to the same house ~ Hornbill. A nice 4 bed/bath self catering house with a game room w/table tennis, pool table and darts. A swimming pool, big garden and a huge fire pit to braai our food on.

The most fun to go here is with a few friends, so you can share the cooking, drinking, play the games, bike and hike together and just enjoy the nature and animals that walk freely around. We also learned a few new card games, which one of them was Casino. Kids loved it!!

Hornbill, the house we stayed at.



Elliott, Clara, Juliet & Jasmine enjoying the hammock.



All the kids loved this super duper bike, and used it frequently, although it was tough to peddle, very heavy but an excellent work-out!



Nature is beautiful here.



So we decided to go for a hike. From L to R: Friia, Lene, Jasmine, Clara, Juliet and Manju.



Then we run into 2 ostriches, sitting and relaxing in the middle of the road, totally not bothered by us! Although they didn't even flick their eyes at us, we didn't dare to go to close. Because these can be vicious and pecking you with their huge beak.
We saw on other walks the 2 resident giraffes, some warthogs and kudu's, but didn't have the camera's with us.



The 4 girls, Friia, Jasmine, Clara and Juliet posing in front of a funky African tree.



At night we hang out in the play room and light the huge fire in the BBQ area to braai our food on.





And I made our new favorite drink of the moment: Orange-Basil Mojitos. Simply swap the mint & lime for fresh basil & oranges and you have the most refreshing drink!!





Another great weekend in the bush! We are so lucky to do these weekend getaways so frequently, since it is just around the corner from us. Just pack some food, drinks and go!

Are you going on camping trips like these in your surroundings??
Mireille xx

Easter weekend at Leopard Leap Lodge

We went to Limpopo for the weekend to celebrate Easter in the bush veld and we stayed at Leopard Leap Lodge were Maya and Jan were our hosts. Our friends Lene, Claus and their children Clara, Noah, Elliott and Friia joined us for the weekend.

A 4 hour drive and we were in the middle of nowhere, where a heaven of silence, beauty and nature waited for us. Time to camp, hangout by the campfire and make lunches and dinners around the fire pit.

The lodge

And the view on the look-out point

The view on the water hole and surroundings from the lodge

The 4 girls, Jasmine, Friia, Clara and Juliet in front of their own house, Hansel & Gretel

Having so much fun together!

We did some nature walks, safari drives, looking for animals foot steps, egg hunting, egg painting, but mostly just relaxed had some great food and drinks while the kids were exploring the wilds, enjoying their Hansel & Gretel house all to themselves.

Ready set go! To find the easter eggs, then divide it equally and color some easter eggs, what fun to have Easter weekend in the bush!

Beginning of our nature walk, full of energy with Maya leading us.

All the kids, except Friia, posing on a branch during our walk

Jasmine, Clara & Juliet relaxing on a tree trunk, they had such a good time together!

We saw many footprints

And found a beautiful feather

Being silly, from L to R: Clara, Friia, Juliet, Jasmine, Elliott and Noah.

Time for a snack and a drink, we made it!!

After the 2 hour walk mostly downhill, we were so glad that Jan picked us up to drive back to the lodge, instead of walking back!

A really fun weekend, with beautiful sunsets and gorgeous views over the wide open spread valleys and hills of the Waterberg mountains.

We saw some gorgeous sunsets

We made beer butt chickens on the braai, the most tender chicken roast you can imagine!! YUM YUM! There is a beer can shoved into the cavity of the chicken to keep it moist :-) Click for recipe HERE

Our braai area, which we used 24/7 to keep the chill at bay!

The tented camp where the Astrups stayed. There are 3 of these tents with each their own outdoor showers.

Last breakfast at Leopard Leap Lodge before we leave for the White Lion Breeding camp, more about that later. From L to R: Dirk, Lene, Claus and Elliott.

Thank You Maya & Jan for the wonderful weekend we had at your lodge!! We truly had a magnificent time and for sure we will be back! Your lodges and self catering tents are beautiful and we felt instantly at home by your hospitality!!
Mireille xx

Easter Weekend in the Bush

While you are reading this we are on our way to the African Bush. Going for a camp out and celebrating Easter weekend in the Waterberg Bushveld in Limpopo. We will be staying at Leopard Leap Lodge, owned by a Dutch couple Maya & Jan, who moved to South Africa in 2007 to run this 787 hectares gamefarm. The farm is a refuge for Giraffe, Zebra, Eland Antilope, Kudu, Nyala, Impala, Oryx, Leopard, Serval, Caracal, Brown Hyena, Jackal, Porcupine, Pangolin and many other smaller species. There is also abundant birdlife on the farm. So hopefully we will run into some of these :-)

Source

Together with another family, friends of us with 4 children, we will be doing some Easter crafts from Bush findings, baking Easter bread on the Braai instead of in the oven. And looking for Easter eggs while running into some (not so) wild animals. Sounds fun to me!!

Planning to cook our meals under the stars and listening to the lions roar in the background, hopefully not too close by!! Haha.. there are no lions here, but maybe we hear some other animals sneaking through the bushes while we are sitting around our campfire and grilling our Beer Butt Chickens. Have you ever had these before? They are the most succulent and moist roasted chickens you will ever taste!! And if you don't like to use the beer, just empty the can and add apple juice instead. Although you don't really taste the beer, it just makes the chicken moist. You have to try it, you can buy these racks to put the chickens on top and then put the whole rack on the BBQ and 1,5 hour later voilà a perfect roasted chicken!!

Just being outside and having a hike on the game farm, being in nature and enjoying the beauty of Africa, relaxing by the campfire and reading a book and just doing nothing if you don't want to do anything.

Hanging out with friends, while having some vino or the African Amarula drink... I think; life will be good this weekend!!

Have a GREAT EASTER WEEKEND everybody!!
I sincerely hope you will have as much fun as we have... ;-)

Love, M xx

Camping in Limpopo

This weekend we went with 3 other families to Kwalata Wilderness camp. We had a great time! The lodge was just beautiful, rustic and rugged, but ideal for 8 adults and 11 children!!

The lodge was build in a circle, the main house had 7 bedrooms, a kitchen, extra showers for girls and boys. A huge boma with a campfire in the middle and a bar area with a breakfast table, seating and entertainment area. Then a big garden with a nice size pool and an overview at a watering hole, which we were hoping we would see some wild animals drinking from it, but I guess we were too noisy and we didn't end up seeing any animals there....





We stayed 2 nights, and each family made a meal, so there was no pressure on any of us, just prepare either breakfast, lunch or dinner and then you are done for the weekend. We of course had all the dinners on the huge wood fire, because that is what you do in the bush!

But we also made stock bread on the fire and roasted marshmallows and s'mores on the fire, one of the highlights of all the kids!

Here the kids around the fire place in the boma. Jakob, Joachim, Tobias, Noah, Elliot and Chan were the boys.



The girls are: Clara, Jeongwoo, Juliet, Jasmine and Friia, but in this picture below you will see also Elliot & Chan.



The second day we all went on a safari, it was a fun drive, although we didn't end up seeing that much animals, just the drive through the Waterberg reserve is nice. We only saw some Blesbucks, Impalas, Kudus, Gemsbucks and lots of Giraffes, which I think are one of the finer animals anyway!! So gracious, I love to see them!!





But just to hang out with all these friends and their children hanging out with each other, doing games, dance and sing together while sitting around a huge campfire at night and during the day just hanging out around the pool, having some good meals and fab drinks was already enough to make this weekend a FAB weekend!!

This is the fun part of living in South Africa, you are so close to nature, bush veld savannah is only a few hours drive from our home, so it is easy to go away on a weekend trrip and feel you are totally out of the city and enjoy and relax in complete silence in the bush. This bush camp lodge was so far away from everything, the only thing that surrounded us were the wild animals. Although they were hiding from us...

A nice and relaxing long weekend...

What did you do during the weekend?
Ciao, Mireille

Camping in the Bush veld

It is time for a new adventure!
We are having a long weekend off from school the weekend of September 24-27, so we have decided that we are going to camp! First time for the girls! So we are not doing our usual 5* safari trip, but back to basics! I am quite looking forward to it. Having campfires under the stars, eating simple meals that are prepared on wood fire, hearing the lions roar in the back while we are drinking our Amarula by the fireplace.



We are going with 3 other families and 11 children in total, so enough company for all of us!

Kwalata is situated in the heart of a biosphere reserve in the magical Waterberg region of the Limpopo Province. This means that Kwalata is not only the premier wildlife area, in fact a sanctuary for rare and endangered animals, it is also one of the worlds richest ecosystems. Our camp is named Zingela, and built in a semi-circle. Life at Zingela inevitably ends up revolving around the huge log fire that dominates the center of the camp. This area provides the perfect place for a shaded afternoon doze or an evening spent sitting around a mesmerizing blaze sharing bush tales.



In contrary to the other safaris we used to do before where the meals are catered to us, this time we have to make our own meals. So preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner in the bush on a gas stove or campfire. We are still sleeping in a lodge, but this time not a 5*, but not completely back to basics and in a tent, that will be the next step! The girls are ready for a more rustic adventure, but we will take baby steps :-)



The activities we can do are, although we probably not have time or even wanting to do all, but it is there!
•Game walks
•Game drives (included)
•Elephant back safaris
•Quadbike safaris
•Photographic safaris
•Spa & beauty treatments
•Trip to the goat farm for cheese and wine tasting
•White lion breeding project
•Curio shopping
•Paint ball
•Bass fishing
•Hot air ballooning

And the sunsets are just stunning this time of the year, so hopefully we will have some great sights!! There is just no better and more gorgeous sky than AFRICAN SKY!!



Go well,
Mireille

Birthday in the Bush

We celebrated Jasmine & Juliet's 8th Birthday this weekend with a camping trip and safari in the Bush at Zenzele River Lodge in Limpopo. A real experience going with 11 girls, all 8 year olds and me and Dirk. Quite the adventure!! And this while it was Mother's day weekend and I should have been relaxing and getting pampered!



"Go to sleep in the African bush, wake up to the call of the Fish Eagle. Exchange stories around a boma fire, watch the western horizon ablaze with an amazing sun set. You will experience a stirring in your soul as you become one with the elements." This is exactly what we did!

We gathered at our house and with 2 cars we drove the 2 hours to our bush location. A backpackers camping ground where we had to go back to basics. We arrived around lunch time so after settling in and each girl chosen their bunk beds we had lunch. I brought some noodle soups which the girls loved!


from L-R: JJ ~ Jeongwoo ~ Jezz ~ Zahra ~ Emma ~ Elle

Then we explored the grounds a bit, played around, hung up the Bday decoration and lanterns so it looked quite festive there in the bush! Then our rangers arrived to take us on a open Jeep Safari.




Top L-R: Chenika ~ Elle ~ Jezz ~ Iris
Bottom L-R: Ines ~ Amelie ~ Emma ~ Zahra ~ Sofie ~ Jeongwoo ~ JJ

We saw quite some animals, although this game reserve has no predators, which we were happy about, since we could just walk around freely! However, we saw 3 giraffes, lots of zebras and blesbucks, wildebeests, birds, kudu and tons of insects and butterflies ;-) We made a stop to drink a sundowner and made use of the bush toilet and off we went to go back to our camp. Since we had lots to do!



Our ranger Jan, made a huge campfire in the boma where we had to prepare our African dinner; which was boerewors, chicken, potatoes, corn and veggies all made on the grill. After dinner we roasted our own marshmallows and then it was time for the Bday cake. This was a beauty, a safari themed cake, just gorgeous made by our friends at TART in Leaping Frog. Sharlene makes the most beautiful cakes and cupcakes, so we are a regular customer!





But the girls were most excited about going to bed and sleep in those wonderful bunkbeds all snug together. So they hurried to get their PJ's on and starting to giggle and tell stories while me and Dirk were sitting in the boma listening to their squeals of laughter and in the background the sounds of the bush and jackals. It was a great night with a clear starry sky. By the time it was 11pm these girls were still up and talking so much, but we decided to go and sleep as well, and as soon as we opened the door they pretended to be asleep. Suited us well enough :-)
By 6 am the hen house was buzzing again, time for our African breakfast, mielie porridge, rusks, apples and biscuits. Well, the porridge was not the best success... these girls wanted cereal and scrambled eggs, but that we don't do in the bush while camping! LOL

After breakfast we headed out for our walking safari, where we could explore animal foot prints, birds, insects, plant and trees. Jan our ranger told us he knew a short route and off we went. 2 hours!! later we were back at the campground, exhausted... this was a short route for HIM, not for us! Luckily we had saved some juices, water and apples before we headed home.





Wow, this was a real African camping experience in the Bush and I hope that all the girls had a great experience and friendships are made for life!

Mom and Dad were in bed by 8:15 pm that night, exhausted but happy that everybody had such a blast!
This was a complete different Mother's Day for me, for once I wasn't the focus of the attention on Mother's day, but one I will never forget!

I hope you guys all had a great Mother's Day weekend!
Mireille