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Stark, I envy you, but I'll have a toast with a BL too!
You have described a perfect ending of a Kruger day

I don't braai, but I have been known to sit outside on the stoep after a long day, watching everyone else's fires burning while writing up my notes for the day.

Well I don't drink Black Label to end my day in the Kruger
But I do put off all the lights in the bungalow/house and then having an Amarula on ice (summer) MMC (winter) in my hand, lighting a cigarette and then just be quiet: listening to the wind rustling in the grass, the far off who-whoo of an owl and if I'm very lucky the hoop-hoo of a hyena or a lion roaring in the distance. Nothing is as beautiful as the starlit sky in the bushveld either

We usually braai..........and we never put on the chalet's lights.........I would sit outside writing my notes of the day with my headlamp on, while SO does the braai thing. After we ate we'll spend a nice hour of two just sitting outside listing to the night sounds!!!



This could so easy be applied to Kruger sounds at night.

The remains and ends of the days in Kruger are special times for us. We always have a fire, a braai and sundowners. It does us good those ending of the perfect Kruger days as we can talk about so many things and the Kruger bush is a perfect setting. And we always include what we have seen during the day on our drives in our talk. No wonder we are so relaxed and happy when we get back home again.

1. Grab a cold Castle, and a cold dry white wine.
2.Dungie sets his fire and prepares the meat.
3.Val prepares the veg/potatoes/rice etc.
4. Refill glasses while the fire burns.
5.Cook the braai and devour hungrily, having refilled the glasses again.
6.Clear away and wash up.
7.Make coffee and pour the Amarulas.
8.Reflect on the day, watch the (usually) amazing African night sky, and listen to night sounds.

Oh now I'm homesick even more than before.

I am alone around the fire. Absolutely alone. Everybody has gone to bed, even other campers. It is pitch dark and I have a certain Captain as companion. Whether something happens or not I don't care. I ponder about how lucky I am for a while and go to bed. The secret is to be absolutely alone in the dark. That does it for me.

Please can nobody else try this! It only works when I am absolutely alone.

And I will not be in Croc Bridge and Satara in three weeks doing it again.

We make a fire and we either have a braai or make a meal in the potjie pot, once we have eaten and had a sundowner or two, LO and I go do the dishes while SO puts more wood on to start the fire up again, then we talk about what we saw and we also discuss what and where we will be going to the next day, it is also a time just to be with each other with no telephones ringing,televisions playing,traffic noises and other irritations that happen everyday when at home and dealing with everyday life. We don't sit up very late as our favourite thing to do is to get into our sleeping bags, turn off all head torches and just to be "one" with the night and just to absorb all the sounds and smells around us. Our time in the Kruger is our happiest as a family.

End of the night (after braai's, sunset cocktail, few Castle's, review of the day) .. Lights off .. fire breathing it's last life .. it's a cold one, amarula and the darkness .. listening (watching if you're next to the fence) .. and just pondering ... then off to bed to go and snore up a storm that will make all male lions proud

So now I know who was in the tent next to me W@H

Need I say more.

sigh, wish I were there.

@ MM ... I'll be keeping a few other members of this forum awake in a weeks time

Ending my perfect day with belting W@H one across his forehead and then returning back to my unit after he woke me up with his snoring.

And be warned. If you cry, I will come back and give you another one!

Don't worry W@H.. we shall snor a orchestra next weekend.. WTM can go fly a kite