Hwange braais, boys and bonfires – with jumbo amounts of laughter! Posted on 21 September 2010 Tags:washington Washington – Ivory Lodge’s gifted chef – asked me politely as always: “˜How would you like your steak?’ He was standing behind the red-hot coals of our night-time braai, with a giant bowl of meat positioned beside his sizzling grill. “˜Only a small piece thanks; I don’t eat too much red meat. And well-done please; I like mine dead,’ I smiled. There was a series of chuckles, followed by silence. And then all-of-a-sudden from right beside me came mutterings in Ndebele from a white-skinned man, followed closely by a few more (black-skinned) chuckles. I turned to the white man and grinned, asking that he translate what he’d just said (already fearful that I’d probably regret my probing). “˜Not dead for me,’ he’d requested. “˜I’ll have mine just a little bit hurt!’ “¦ “¦ And so we departed, he with an apparently delicious medium-rare slab of beef on his piled-up plate and me with my small piece of steak (that did indeed look more than a little bit hurt). Banterings around a good old African braai (just like around a good old Aussie bar-b-que) are often memorable. When there’s a steady stream of elephants slurping and rumbling around the flood-lit waterhole directly in front of you, it’s even better. When there are white Zimbabweans (of a certain age and gender) in that gathering however, you’re well-advised to bring a book of translations. “˜Wait!’ I interrupted, searching the eyes of our overseas guests, who’d arrived hoping for a special Presidential Elephant encounter the next day. We were sitting lazily with our after-dinner drinks, mesmerised by long, luxurious campfire flames licking the cool air. “˜There were like five words,’ I stated somewhat dramatically, “˜in your last sentence that I’m quite sure nobody here understood!'”¦ Be prepared, while in Zim, to be confronted with words like laaity (child); flattie (crocodile); hunna-hunna (problem); lekker (nice); katundu (luggage); dopping (drinking alcohol); muti (medicine); nyama (meat); babalas (hangover); dagga (marijuana); chaya’d or donnered (hit hard); hondo (war); fundi (expert) “¦ and the list goes on. After 10 years, I still can’t mask the smile that this mixture of slang and local languages brings. Soon, he’s taking me apart – in the most friendly of ways – for being an elephant-sexist. It’s well-known that my love of elephants lies primarily with the females and their close-knit families (which is not to say, I must add, that I don’t also admire the big males). But it’s an ongoing joke that I can’t really deny, since I do indeed love “˜the girls’. “˜I’m off to bed. Goodnight!’ I eventually declare, getting up from my comfy canvas chair. “˜But there’s still hobos (lots) of ndlovus (elephants) here,’ comes the surprised reply, his index finger pointing persuasively into the flood-lit night. “˜Yes, but they’re just boys,’ I smirk”¦ Related Posts BBC Earth to air another season of docu-series Dynasties II 22 September 2022 Due to much critical acclaim, the harrowing, riveting and compelling wildlife docu-series, Dynasties II returns... read more Volunteer at Cape Town’s TEARS animal shelter for Mandela Day 11 July 2022 Celebrate Mandela Day and help some animals in need by spending 67 minutes volunteering at... read more South Africa’s rarest: the Knysna seahorse 3 May 2022 Seahorses are adorable, but also play a vital part in the ecosystem. The Knysna seahorse... read more PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE
BBC Earth to air another season of docu-series Dynasties II 22 September 2022 Due to much critical acclaim, the harrowing, riveting and compelling wildlife docu-series, Dynasties II returns... read more
Volunteer at Cape Town’s TEARS animal shelter for Mandela Day 11 July 2022 Celebrate Mandela Day and help some animals in need by spending 67 minutes volunteering at... read more
South Africa’s rarest: the Knysna seahorse 3 May 2022 Seahorses are adorable, but also play a vital part in the ecosystem. The Knysna seahorse... read more