Dorje and I went camping this weekend.

The car was packed full of games as we headed off into the sunset. So was it the wilds of the Cederburg? A nature reserve? Hiding out on Table Mountain? A holiday camp? Not quite – we went went camping at a friend’s home. Their home is currently a caravan park, and we camped right in front. The best of both worlds – camping in a tent waking up to the sound of the waves over the dunes, and spacious indoors with a heater for a marathon game of Catan Barbarian Attack. It’s the second time Dorje’s played this Settlers of Catan variant, and he persisted with his all-or-nothing strategy, armies of blue knights sweeping the island keeping the barbarian hordes at bay, ignoring the more mundane things like gathering resources by building cities and settlements. He came even closer to success this time, one dice roll from victory, but Noel’s multiple metropolises around the grain fields eventually saw him home, a mere half a victory point ahead of Dorje.

My game saw me stuck in the desert with nothing but bales of wool, wishing I’d attended more knitting classes so I could find a use for them all.

If it’d been just Dorje and I camping in the wilds we’d have been lucky to have baked beans, but the friends were Noel and Natalie of Earthshine, so the food was scrumptious and the blender was in full swing for warm chocolate nut milks.

On Sunday, we left our semi-urban campsite and Dorje headed off to Wild Ways, a programme aimed at celebrating natural spaces and connecting people more deeply with nature through direct experience.

The approach is fun, filled with games and stories, and Dorje loved it, and loved telling me all about it. I enjoyed the story of the human-like ‘stalkers’, hypnotised aliens who can’t stop moving and are destroying nature, who the children had to overcome in one of their games.

All the other children I know who’ve attended have immensely enjoyed it as well, so if you’re interested, email wildways (dot) sa (at) gmail.com for more information.