For the last 40 straight days, without pause or rest, myself, Jan, Frans, Faan, Timmy, Rob (for the first two weeks) and Craig (for the rest) have toured South Africa. We’ve touched every corner of the country, clocked up just short of 10,000 kilometres, braaied 46 times and visited all eight South African World Heritage Sites as well as numerous other regions and towns significant to the heritage of our country.
Not only did we visit all eight World Heritage Sites, but we braaied at all eight of them – a feat, I would venture to say, that stands unequalled, though perhaps in much the same way that holding 12 ping-pong balls simultaneously in one’s mouth might go unequalled… I guess it depends on your point of view and in any case, it’s not meant as a boast.
In doing all of this we weren’t, and aren’t, in the least bit interested in making or breaking records. Just to have visited all eight World Heritage Sites was an amazing experience and one I would very happily do again, any time. To have done it as part of the Braai4Heritage tour, and to be part of the dream to get 50 million South Africa’s braaing together on 24 September is even better. It’s promoting this dream – the goal of Braai4Heritage – that’s been important. Braaing at all eight UNESCO sites was not the goal in itself though creating awareness of them has been a bonus.
Let’s just recap all eight sites for the record… er, poor choice of word… let’s just recap because you probably stopped reading these blogs somewhere very shortly after day three anyway:
- Table Mountain (and later, Baviaanskloof) – part of the Cape Floral Region
- The Richtersveld
- The Vredefort Dome
- Mapungubwe
- Sterkfontein Caves and the Cradle of Humankind
- IsiMangaliso Wetlands Park, St. Lucia
- The uKhahlamba Drakensberg
- Robben Island – read Jan’s blog
I won’t give you a long spiel about the Braai4Heritage concept or why we did all of this – I’ve covered it in detail in previous pages and in any case Jan does a much better job of explaining himself on his blog, www.braai.com. Suffice to say that after travelling around South Africa these 40 days, one thing I can categorically confirm is that all South Africans love to braai.
Boerie, steaks, stews, veggies, pap, seafood, chicken, bread, and all manner of elaborate variations in between – it doesn’t matter what you like to braai or what you can afford to throw over the coals. Nor does it matter your religious, moral or dietary stipulations, or whether you prefer bloody and rare, or seriously well-done (ok, this point does kind of matter – don’t over-cook your steaks people). Anything cooked on an open fire counts as a braai and I’ve yet to meet a South African who doesn’t do this at least every once in a while.
Anyway. When so much political and chattering-class rhetoric these days seems focused on our differences, it’s been nice to have experienced, first hand, how standing around a fire, sharing a meal and a few drinks, can get some very different people talking about their similarities instead.
Look out for me on the KykNet TV series, first episode on 1 July 2011. I’m certainly not the star, but you should catch numerous brief glimpses of my ever lengthening blonde mop as I wander haplessly into shot in the background, stand in as tireless sidekick and butt of weak jokes, and almost get eaten by a lion.
Here’s hoping that last part doesn’t make the final cut. If there’s any screaming I swear it’s not me. Rob must have sampled it into the edit afterwards.
