CEDERBERG

For a number of years when we were young my father took us to a farm in the Cederberg called Kromrivier for Christmas. It was better, as at least we spent a few Christmases without arguments. It was paradise for us. We would walk up to the shop and get fresh home baked bread and milk. When we got back we would put butter and jam on the hot bread and it tasted like heaven.

There ere endless hikes and so much to see. My biology project one year was to disect an insect and mount it. The Cederberg had the most awesome locusts, they were red and orange and colourfull. I was going to catch one of them. 

One evening while we were having supper something moving on the floor caught my eye. I loked and nearly fell off my chair. It was a scorpion!! A black one. My mother jumped on the table and of course my father called for a bottle. We caught the scorpion and I had my biology project!! The best project!! I of course got 100% and the school asked to keep it. There is a river and a dam so we had a ball. For 3 young boys and me it was really fun. We were allowed to take our dogs which was great. One day my mother chased off an eagle that nearly took one for dinner. Lots of excitement! Why we stopped going I have no idea. I remember my mother stuck a small branch in a pot and decorated it with cotton wool. That was our christmas tree. It stayed as our christmas tree until she died. My father wasn't a person that was interested in buying a tree and decorations etc. My mother was far more traditional. Unfortunately her wishes were not paramount. Now I was going to revisit it as an adult!!