When the view becomes a nice bonus (TMIT)

I am really not sure why this particular experience sprung to my mind, but I thought it was valuable to air the memories, so to speak.



About four years ago, my family and I went on a camping trip to (in my mind) one of the most beautiful nature reserves in South Africa, Ndumo. The situated on the northern border of KZN and Mozambique, closer to Swaziland than the sea (see map).



The roads were really bad, so a trip into the park (you cant walk without a field guide - there are big things like rhinos running around). Added to this, it really isn't sedan country, so my dad's car (a rather low Toyota Camry) was considered to be a hero for tackling the roads the way it did. However, this meant that a visit to a picnic spot took a few hours, instead of just one.



We were returning home from an outing to a bird hide (camp was at least 45 mins away), when I felt the first grumble in my stomach... This rapidly developed into full on riots within my belly, and I knew I was never, ever gonna make it back to camp in time to reach the loo... it was gonna have to be a hole in the bush somewhere, or... someone checked the map, and realised we were not too far from a picnic spot... WITH A LOO!



A flush toilet, complete with clean and sparkly taps, I hear you thinking. But, we were very far from absolutely anywhere... So, no flush toilets. Rudimentary hand-washing facilities (a large drum of water with a tap set in the base). This was a proper long drop, complete with spiderwebs, a dodgy-ish toilet seat, and a three sided shelter, to preserve one's modesty.


I dashed around to the front of the shack, ripped up the seat (pretended not to notice a few flies. Although, there honestly weren't many), and proceeded to evacuate my bowels. Noisily, as one does when situations like these happen.


After a while, once the urgency in my abdomen had subsided, I noticed the view... I had a private viewing seat with which to witness monkeys playing on the opposite bank of the river, as the loo was situated near the edge of a cliff, overlooking a river dividing SA from Moz. Bliss. Until I started getting a pins and needles from sitting on the loo for too long. This was the best drop-and-listen experience I had had up until that point, it probably will remain one of my favourites...