On Saturday, 12 September, we gathered to bid a fond farewell to our inaugural Rafiki, Judith Bishop, and to celebrate the remarkable contribution she has made to our Meerkat Den. Judith founded the Meerkat Den …
On Saturday, 19 September, Meerkat Dens from across Cape Town, and as far afield as Paarl and Onrus, came together in Muizenberg for a good old-fashioned, carnival-themed Mob Day. With around 138 Meerkats in attendance, …
I love orienteering and I think it’s a great Scout activity. It is fun, it is like a big treasure hunt and you get to be outside. This year the Scout WC Orienteering competition was …
On Sunday morning, Sam, Emily, and I were at the hall bright and early to pack. We arrived at Keurboom Park at about 8:45 and started unloading the equipment. There were lots of dogs. Soon …
This year’s Doc Trophy was held at Appleton scout base on signal hill. The morning started with packing all the equipment into the trailers. It was my first time being a PL for a competition …
On the 21st of January, a brave few adventurous scouts, friends and parents of 1st Claremont set out on a quest of getting to Klassenkop without anyone dying. On the extremely dangerous journey up, the adventurers were met with many a challenge (e.g. Daniel’s choice of route and Daniel himself). Luckily everyone got up fine, even with Caleb being part of the group.
The brave group had wanted to see the beautiful wildlife but Daniel and Caleb’s raucous laughter scared away every living organism for 1,5km. They even had some insane scouts trying to climb sheer rock faces just for fun.
After some hours of the tough hiking, the party arrived at their destination — Klassenkop. Here they had an incredible time discovering new obstacles and overcoming challenges and just generally exploring the area and the incredible view.
After the group had conquered Klassenkop, they headed down the other side to De Villiers Dam which is where the tragedy happened…
The group had to split up for completely unknown reasons (half wanted to swim). So, leaving each other, the 2 halves went their separate ways, both never seeing each other again… ….Until the next meeting.
Thank you all who went on the hike it was really fun.
– Peter Raynham
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/hike-club/
We all awoke to the birds shining and the sun tweeting. We could tell that it was going to be a tiring day. But nothing could prepare us for the horrors of the day! We started out by laying out the beams of the building as the mastermind of the plan sat behind his desk contemplating which ropes he should use and the correct staves to choose. We began the tedious job of tying all the lashings. This was a boring job that had to have surprisingly good amounts of attention to do. We worked for ages until I decided to take a break.
I had the most amazing idea to make some hot chocolate for myself and very thoughtfully for two of my friends. Little did one of them know that they would get the fright of their life. I had laced the hot chocolate with peppermint essence, but Emily added the herbs. It was a terrible idea but it had amazing outcomes. Bridget gratefully took the drink and smelt it wondering what could be off. To her it smelt like a peppermint chocolate drink. As she took a sip her face changed from a smile to a look of disgust. The horror of what we had done left both Emily and myself in fits of laughter. After this rather unfortunate event the rest of the build went smoothly and there were very few interruptions. The raft was spectacular when it was fully constructed, sadly we had to promptly deconstruct it after we had finished as there was limited time.
–Tristan Staak
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/kon-tiki-pre-build/
The day started off early as we started our journey up to Vlakkenberg Peak. The day was quite warm and the sun was beating down relentlessly. Many water breaks were needed. Along the way we encountered beautiful views surrounded by the mountains. There were not many trees around so we treasured any small bits of shade that we found. After reaching the peak we sat down for lunch. Upon finding a rusty pole that was on the top, Peter proceeded to wack around the ‘free tetanus’ and almost concussed Joel in the process.
We then hiked a bit further up and found a better rest spot where the scouters talked about complicated university stuff that I didn’t understand to which I just smiled and nodded. There were some cool little rock formations that we could climb around where Peter found some more ‘free tetanus’. We then began our descent and reached the bottom ready to go home.
– Malaika Kazadi
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/hike-to-vlakkenberg/
Our Den Scouters have been thinking hard about the Meerkat Observer Challenge badge. The requirements are simple – perform three activities scoring 5/8 with three different senses, and play a memory game. We started off with gusto, pointing out eight sights during our outing to Kirstenbosch. Then I tested each Meerkat and they could remember at least five.
For sound, we thought a broken telephone relay in Burrows (3-5 Meerkats) would work. Well, it didn’t. Even simple instructions or statements like “fish and chips” did not get through. We ticked them off for effort and moved on.
Touch was exploring a bag and then telling what they found in it. They managed that. And the memory game was the usual turn cards over till a pair is found, but with a nice Meerkat twist. My thought as a leader, though, is: are we enabling the Meerkats to actually “learn through play”? We would like Meerkats to distinguish themselves from others by being spontaneous observers. They should be able to say “Rafiki, you left you car lights on!” “Oh, Yendi has left her jacket.” and most of all to remember a phone number or an address when given to them in an emergency. Next time we do the badge we might inject some more realism into the activities and check the outcomes.
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/1stclaremont-scouts/meerkats/meerkats-observer-badge/
One of the newcomers to the Meerkat Interest badges last year was the Family Heritage Badge. As it is part of the National Challenge 2024, our Meerkat Den decided to give it a go!
First of all, we held a Grandparents Day, with a large turnout of grandparents bringing interesting food to taste from their heritage, and teaching the Meerkats games and pastimes from a bygone era, like Kennetjie and Cat’s Cradle. One grandparent also talked about his Dad who had been a Scout in the UK and had a Wood Badge certificate signed by BP himself. Thank you to our wonderful grandparents for their participation.
Then the Meerkats made Family trees. They began to realize the relationships with their elders in terms of years – more than 50!
Finally, we made Time Capsules with photos, letters and favourite items. These are to be opened when they are 10 years old. We’ll report back in 2028 and 2029 on their reactions to their younger selves.
– Judith Bishop
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/meerkats-family-heritage/
Not one! Not two! Not even three! But wait not four either! This term we invested 5 new cubs who borrowed up from our Meerkat Den. Wow! What a pleasure to have Josie, Grace, Thomas, Bernard and Claire with us. They have got right in there joining us for our fun activities, learning new and exciting things and making new friends.
Time to Say Goodbye
Time stops for no-one. And so it was with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to two more cubs who aged out this term.
Jenny Kenyon-Wimbush and Zach White reached the end of their cubbing journey. Big congratulations to Jenny for getting her leaping wolf. See below her lovely piece on experience at cubs. Zach leaves not just the cub pack but Cape Town all together. We wish him and his family all the best in their new adventure and we hope to see them again soon.
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/what-up-meerkats-to-cubs-to-scouts/
We spent a great deal of time both at Friday meetings and on camp working on some essential scouting skills. Namely knot tying and compass work.
For survival, bushcraft, wilderness, camping, and hiking, knot tying is very import. It allows you to secure shelters, create traps, build tools, and perform various tasks in the outdoors. Knowing how to tie different knots is essential for safety, efficiency, and resourcefulness in the outdoors.
As we all know cell phones die and signal is a luxury when you are out hiking. Getting lost happens even for the most experienced outdoors person. But with solid navigational skills a cub or scout can find their way not only to safety but to beautiful spots in nature.
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/do-you-know-any-good-rope-jokes/
This term the cubs were back at Newlands Forest but this time with a twist. Not only did we explore new routes we also split the party into Silver and Gold wolves. This allowed the older cubs to take a more challenging route (or so we thought – they motored through it!) and for them to hone in on their hiking and outdoor survival knowledge. It would seem that being with their younger peers only brought the Silver wolves out of their shell a little bit as they bombarded the pack leaders with the most interesting and thought-provoking questions. Then we all came together to enjoy the route back as one pack.
Permanent link to this article: https://1stclaremont.org.za/smoke-signals/cubs-take-a-hike/
