Bush Camp

As part of our orientation for the international students to get to know each other we went to a camp called Bush Camp. Essentially we went into the ‘Bush’ for the weekend away from electricity and the technological luxuries that we are used to. We left around 11 A.M. on Friday (February 4) morning and the drive was about an hour long to get to Umlambo (where Bush camp was located).

On the drive there though we stopped at a Reptile farm so we had knowledge of what snakes we may run into while at Bush camp. The reptile farm was very fun. We walked through a small zoo like exhibit which housed several incredibly poisonous snakes all of which are indigenous to South Africa. Soon after the exhibit was over the head of the reptile farm had us all sit down in a communal area so he could brings reptiles and snakes to show us.

Head of Reptile Farm

He brought out a few snakes and reptiles that were relatively harmless but then he brought out the two most dangerous snakes in South Africa! The two snakes he brought out were the Black Mamba and the Cape Cobra with both responsible for the highest number of deaths to humans. Probably the most incredible part of that experience is that he brought them out at the same time!! He would tease them and get them to settle down but it was still insane that he was simultaneously restraining the two most dangerous snakes in South Africa. Anyways after explaining some of the reasons what made these snakes so dangerous he brought out a Burmese python for us to hold. The one we held was about 40 pounds but we were told that they grow much larger.

Burmese Python - Luke's New Favorite Animal!

Finally to round out the reptile farm we were able to pet a crocodile. All in all it was a once in a lifetime experience that I now I will never forget

Soon after that we traveled the remaining miles to Bush camp. The camp consisted of a main shelter overlooking a river. Further back there were tents and wooden cabins where we stayed. In addition there was an obstacle in the woods and a climbing wall. Anyway soon after that we played some ‘get to know’ each other games for a while and then went to bed early. Initially the plan was for all of us to run the obstacle course all day and do some other activities outside. Unfortunately it rained literally all weekend! We were told that the area had been experiencing for two years so we just got dumped on. While we didn’t run the obstacle it was still an enjoyable weekend. As I mentioned earlier the camp overlooked a river. We spent much of our time when it wasn’t raining there. Hanging over the river though hung a zipline that you could ‘zip’ down and jump into the river with. That was a pretty exhilarating experience to be so far above the river and then just let go. Another highlight of the weekend was doing a portion of the obstacle when it was raining. We all were getting sick of being inside so we decided to all go to the obstacle course. We went through several obstacles of which the highlight was crawling through a mud pit.

For dinner that night we had what they called a 'Wild Beast Feast.' We didn't have any silverware so we ate everything with our hands. We tasted different kinds of South African food while being brought back to our childhood days of eating. After we had to put these skits on. The only rules we were given was that we came from a different universe, all of us had different languages (symbolizing South Africa the rainbow nation), and had to create a language, uniform, and origin story of our own. The stories were extremely imaginative and funny.  We then ended the night with a slide show our leaders put together from all the happened during the weekend.

Tim's Skit Group

Even though everything didn’t go as planned at Bush camp I still had a lot of fun. I got to know some people that are from elsewhere that are attending NMMU and I also got to know many of the members of our group much better so that was beneficial.

The Bush Camp Group