You’re either country folk, or you’re city folk, and it’s a deep-seated longing when you’re out of your element. Kurt and I are country folk, and we never get used to the close-quarter assignments of urban (or even suburban) living.

So we were really grateful, this past holiday weekend, to be invited to the family farm of our new South African friends. So much of what we’ve experienced here has been the usual tourist fare, and we were excited to just enjoy time in the country with friends.

The farm is about an hour and 45 minutes from where we live in Pretoria, just across the border into the Limpopo Province.
I don’t know what I expected from a weekend at a South African farm, but it was wonderfully similar to one of our weekend getaways in the states.


We had several braais (cookouts)…





…played in a swimming pool until we were exhausted, then sat around a fire in the evenings.
We even did a little target shooting…
and rode ATVs to get a beautiful view of the overflowing dam.



We fell in love with our friends’ South African family immediately, privately comparing siblings and quirks and campfire stories to those of our own families in America. Of all our regular tourist fare so far in South Africa, a simple, authentic outing turned out to be one of the most rewarding, because we felt like we had family again, even if only by borrowing someone else’s for a little while.

Everything was the same as it would be at home, except that the food is a bit different, and the surrounding wildlife includes deadly snakes like the Black Mamba, Mozambican Spitting Cobra, and Puff Adder. Oh, and some poisonous scorpions as well.

But we slept peacefully in the cottage next to the main house. We left the windows open and fell asleep easily to the sounds of nature around us. When we returned to Pretoria, we were barely able to sleep again, stirring at every small sound in our suburban landscape.
South Africans coexist with some of the deadliest species on earth, and before we came here, I wondered how anybody slept in a country home, knowing what might be stirring in the nearby woods. But even in South Africa, even in the countryside, you’re more likely to succumb to any number of man-made or self-made mishaps than “Death by Mamba.”
You live life, you pay attention, you know that those things want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them, and you learn… when bitten by a Black Mamba, be sure to write the words “Black Mamba” next to you, because that’s all you’ll have time for, and at least someone will know how you died.
Love, Marla
Hey Marla, was great meeting you and Kurt 🙂 plenty of laughter and you were both amazing entertainment for my grandchildren and ourselves. Take care and enjoy
your next stage of your travels:0
Looks magical. Makes me want to braai right now
It’s so great to see your email notification popping up in my in-box again, Marla. Looks like wonderful times — and that French toast sounds AMAZING! That alone would be worth the trip to South Africa 😉
Thanks, Ned. When are you coming to visit? I’ll start practicing braai-style french toast. I’m pretty sure we still have room for company in 2014! 🙂
One more thing to add to my bucket list 😉
I now how you feel been there it is amazing and that lovely family well that would be my sister and her family love and miss them and whenever I visit from Australia that is one of my favorite things on the to do list,glad you could experience it too
Hi Joy, how cool that you’ve gotten to experience that so much. It is incredible. We just kept calling it a little slice of heaven. It really is a beautiful place with such a warm, welcoming family.
That sounded like a FANTASTIC weekend!! Wonderful pics, anf I LOVED the “what to do if bitten by a black mamba” bit! Hahaha!!
It really was. I know, wasn’t that a great story? You would love his family, especially his dad and brother. A great crew, for sure.
Glad to see you continue to enjoy your stay in South Africa and got to experience some genuine hospitality rather than the increasingly over commercialized version one gets at the large game parks.
Thanks, John. And thanks for following along with our travels! 🙂