Birthday party in the bush

Saturday afternoon we had a party with a few friends for Corné’s birthday. With 31 degrees it was a nice warm day and we sat on the terrace. Since everybody brought kids it looked like a children’s party and our boys had a great time! They even played with water in the afternoon. We just sat on the terrace and enjoyed chatting. The bitterballen (Dutch snack) that I made were a great success and it was even suggested that we should open a snack bar.
Rob en Michelle stayed for dinner. We made potjiekos and this was a great success too.  Al in al it was a great party.

Regards from the bush
Miriam

Medical care in South Africa

Soon we have to have our annual check-up at the dentist with the whole family. In the Netherlands I was always frightened for these events and if I had to come back for a treatment I used to have stomach-ache hours before the appointment. After my first visit to the dentist here I’m cured of that. Alex is a very nice guy, he is good with the children and he makes me feel at ease. Since I am here in South Africa my old grey fillings have been replaced with new white ones and although it is still not fun to sit there with your mouth open, I never had stomach-ache before these treatments. Of course the fact that they don’t even ask if you want anaesthetics but just give it to you (something that you have to specifically request in the Netherlands) could have something to do with it as well…
After a treatment the assistant always calls the next morning

Growing up in the bush

Our children have a fantastic childhood here in the bush. They grow up in this beautiful nature, in a country where they can almost always play outside and in a place where they have lots of space to play. From the moment they started crawling they have been getting healthily dirty and their daily bath was never a luxury. Now they get a little bigger they can run around, play football, build huts and in a few weeks time it will be warm enough to swim. They love going with Daddy in the bakkie (pick-up) to bring the garbage bags to the dumpster at the gate and our old Landrover is their favourite. Yesterday we drove at the end of the afternoon  

Four tips to get the best out of your safari

Although there is much more to see and do in and around Hoedspruit, the Kruger Park with its wide variety of animals stays the biggest attraction. Here four tips to get the best out of your safari.

Choose the right season for a visit
Each season has its own pro’s and con’s and it is worth your effort to look into this and choose the right season for your needs. From October till March it is the rainy season so you can expect some rain. It can be quite warm in this time and there will be more insects. On the other hand, the bush will be lush and green and many young animals are born in this period. The denser vegetation can make it a little more difficult to see the animals though. From April till September

Homemade Dutch snacks

People regularly ask me “what do you miss from the Netherlands?” My answer is that I, besides my family and best friend, don’t miss anything. Still there are some things that I maybe don’t miss, but that would be very nice to have here. There are some products that you can’t get (or very difficult) here. Drop is one of those, and when we visit the Netherlands we always take back a lot of this typical Dutch candy. Sometimes guests bring with some drop for us and that is very much appreciated. This way we don’t have to miss this typical Dutch candy completely here in the African bush.
Something else that they don’t have here is kroketten (and some more of these typical Dutch snacks). A while back we visited a Dutch friend who surprised us with homemade kroketten. She gave me the recipe and last week I finally tried it. It worked out really well and the kroketten were delicious! I still have quite a few in the freezer so we can enjoy them some more before I have to make new ones. Because of this success I decided to try something else as well