So here we are in Upington. South African heritage site? Well if it is, they sure don’t seem to know it. I’m sitting here typing away while Jan amusingly coaches his interviewee on the history of this regional capital, of Sir Thomas Upington, the Attorney-General of the Cape colony after whom the town was named back in 1884. There’s a lot of laughter and “˜grappies,’ but the history seems of little consequence here on the banks of the Orange River today. This is really all about the true South African braai experience: the scattered family groups clustered around their braais on the banks of this wide, muddy river. The kids are playing on the banks, the “˜ou toppies’ lazily watching their fishing lines while the jetskiis and waterskiers pound up and down the river in front of us.
When I met Jan at the airport this morning he wasted no time in telling me I’d missed the best braai of the tour so far. In fact it was such an amazing venue that, so he assured me, if he died a very old man he, “would not be surprised if [he] never had another braai at a more beautiful location.” I suspect at least 40 per cent of his fervour was just his way of making me feel bad for skipping out of the tour, but I’ve seen his photos and, if he’s to be believed that they don’t nearly do the place justice, it looks like I missed out on something special for sure.
Today’s braai on the Orange River is perhaps not quite so beautiful. Augrabies is always going to be a tough place to beat, but what we have here is a more day-to-day South African braai experience. The braai-plek itself is up on the top deck of “˜Sakkie se Arkie’ – the rusty, well-used booze cruiser of Oom Sakkie who is currently out on his far sleeker looking ski-boat, towing a pair of bikini-clad local girls up and down the river to much screeching (from the girls) and laughter (from the onlooker on the shore).
I count seven braais in full swing around us and everyone seems to be having a pretty good time. Huge thunder clouds are building to the east and south and I have it on local authority that we’re going to get some rain later today. There’s talk of a cruise up the river around six and it might be quite nice to be out on the water as the afternoon thunder storm buckets down.
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Well a few hours have passed since my words above. We never got the rain as expected, though even now I can see lightning flashing across the grass banks of the Sun River Kalahari Lodge which roll away from our little bungalow down to the water’s edge.
It may not have been Augrabies out there today, but it was without doubt a beautiful place for a braai. We coasted up and down the wide river as the sun sank lower and lower, the thunder clouds ever building and the a seemingly never ending succession of excellent meat coming in wave after wave off the two hard working braais.
Eventually, after about two and a half hours on the river, we were all braaied out and the “˜Sakkie se Arkie’ headed to shore. It’s been a great reintroduction to the braai tour and I’m very much looking forward to the crisp linen sheets of Sun River tonight and the onward journey to Kimberley in the morning.
