Camping Reasons

Summer is around the corner and some families will go camping. They will dust the four tents in the garage or buy new ones before they set out. That’s the problem right there. Parents will sleep in one tent, and the remaining three are for their kids: Selfie, Simi and Nonsense.

The rationale is that all three have their own rooms at home.  Therefore, it should be the same accommodation set-up in the wild. It defeats the purpose of camping, which is surviving without home comforts. Hopefully, they did not pack pillows in the trailer. Nonsense, the baby of the family has a favourite teddy bear but did not bring it along, for fear of attracting real bears. Out of the mouths of babes. They have more common sense than us.

Camping is synonymous with closeness, intimacy, without the distance caused by locked doors. It enables the mouth to do its job, talk to other mouths, something that is in short supply because we text: “Mom, is dinner ready?” Camping enables hands to do their job: roast mushrooms,  corn and sweet potatoes on the camp fire.

Camping is surviving without the comforts of home and this means not bringing the small BBQ grill. Kids must be taught that dead leaves, dry twigs and branches are fuel. But smoke will get into their eyes! It should, because that is what life is all about, smoke in your eyes. I hope you brought only one credit card for emergencies, and left the six others at home because you don’t need them.

Camping is about recycling back to nature. It’s about throwing banana and orange peel in the bush because they will dry up and go back to mother earth. That’s why parents didn’t bring packets of potato chips, that will float around aimlessly, when all cars have gone back to the city.

It’s a good investment because one day parents will hear Selfie, Simi and Nonsense talking about how city skyscrapers block the sunset, and its amazing colours.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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