Many of us went camping in our youth. Camping presented a very affordable option for family holidays, school and church outings, and outdoor events like paddling and mountain climbing. We are fortunate to still have quite a few campsites on the coast, as well as a ‘veldschool’-type facility for schools. A lot of camping also happens at music festivals and trance parties.
Apart from (usually) costing less than built accommodation such as hotels, camping brings a whole range of other dimensions to the experience of going away. For those who live in urban areas, just being so close to nature – smelling the grass, hearing the birds and seeing the stars – is an exciting and refreshing change, and even the less fun stuff (especially rain) makes camping more interesting than being at home. Many campsites are integrated into the natural environment with minimal disruption and contain plenty of wildlife, helping us to ground and remember our place in the web of life.
Camping also provides a great setting for social interaction. The lack of fences and the need for communal facilities such as ablution blocks and braai areas makes camping communal by definition, and the campsite often becomes an informal short-term ‘family’.
Camping requires and teaches quite a few practical and social skills. Campers need to be organised (especially, don’t forget the spoons!) and able to go with the flow and ‘make a plan’ when things go awry. The Scouts movement has used camping as an ideal context in which to foster values such as responsibility, independence, resourcefulness, helpfulness, compassion and communication.
Scouting is popular among school children in KZN: no fewer than 180 000 members are registered in the province, and 90% of these are schools-based Scouts. Unfortunately, many of the Scouts camps currently take place in classrooms, as neither their parents nor the schools are able to afford camping equipment such as tents.
The Green Net is initiating the development of a campsite in St Faiths, 60km inland of Port Shepstone. If anyone is able to donate camping equipment to this project, please contact Helen on 084 9872018.
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