Reporting back on a large and quite complex event like the Bucklands National Camp is difficult because there is so much to report on and inevitably something notable will be left out. One can also only really report from one’s own experience of the camp and memory of events, nevertheless, it is important to try to record something of the event. The camp was held from 25 April to 3 May and was based at the Bucklands Guest Farm which is about 54 km south-east of Steytlerville. The camp was attended by about 125 people.

The camp-site and facilities at Bucklands were presented to us in tip-top condition. There was plenty of room for campers, and the ablutions were never really under pressure. You could shower or use the facilities basically, whenever you wanted to. What was especially good was the barn with its pub and tables and the nearby braai fires. Every evening the report back gatherings at the fires were very well attended and enjoyed, and after that, the crowd meandered from their braai into the barn to get a glass of wine and sit at the tables eating and chatting. There was a real vibe there every evening. The final dinner was superb, with simply the most delicious spit roasted lamb one had ever tasted, as well as fine decorations and lighting. With our national President and a large part of the National Committee there, this was an event that quite rightly can be described as the national dinner of the MCSA. These arrangements all contributed to the sociability and success of the camp.

The meets were well supported and they ranged from easy to strenuous and included cycling, hiking, peak bagging and rock climbing. Paul Martin ran a couple of birding meets with groups of up to 20 people walking with him. On the first Saturday afternoon he led a kind of a birding hike up a nearby hill and on top he gathered the group together and spoke to them about the landscape that they were looking down upon, its geology, ecology and history. It was a superb introduction to a region that was unknown to most of them. Angela Gathercole was the Queen of the easy meets. She ran an easy meet every day of the camp and all were well attended. She had chosen easy routes that always had some special interest and that kept one going.

An in-between meet was Francois Searle’s Gowerments Kloof meet, which was, in EP Section terms, an upper moderate. It included a hike up a spectacular jeep track and an exploratory hike down a very surprising kloof with three caves and San paintings. Richard Grant ran a couple of cycling meets which added another dimension to the camp. Amongst the moderate meets were the hikes through to Blougat, which is near the end of the Poort. Also the meet to overnight at the Gee Gee Hut that Gaye and Steve Hosking ran, and the four-day trip to Afdak at Hadley’s Drift that Chris and Betty Jones managed. Jeff Ferreira and Tim McLaren each took a party on the magnificent four-day trail which takes one to the Gee Gee Hut, then up on to the high ridge and down to Afdak at Hadley’s Drift, after which you spend a day-and-a-half hiking through the dramatic Grootrivier Poort.

There were also five strenuous peak-bagging meets. Paul Martin took a party on the Sunday to climb Scholtzberg the next day, while Hendrik Smith left on Sunday to do Cockscomb, returning on the Monday. Following that, Gavin McLachlan took the second party to do Cockscomb on the Tuesday, returning on the Wednesday. Serge Smetryns and Helene Gabriel took the third party to climb Cockscomb on the Thursday, returning on the Saturday. And finally, Richard Grant and Paul Martin took a party on the Thursday, to climb Mac Peak on the Friday. All these meets succeeded in summitting. The rock climbers, led by our national president, Paul Carstenson, spent about three days climbing in Pinnacle Gorge. It really was an active week of engagement with our mountains and veld that was both an eye opening experience for many, as well as a satisfying delight for all the participants.

So much work and effort went into the running of this camp that one must thank the team who ran what was, without doubt, a most successful MCSA National Camp. Organising committee chairperson Gaye Hosking, and committee members Angela Gathercole, Sue de Villiers, Paul Martin, Chris Jones, Jeff Ferreira and Tim McLaren all played their full role in ensuring the success of the camp. A special word of thanks to our host Hannes Hoon who made sure that everything worked, which went a long way to assuring the success of the camp.

Gavin McLachlan