Our 4th ‘braai’ weekend is combined (once again) with a camping weekend. By now, you should know this is how we most enjoy our weekends – around the fire on a camping trip.

Just a reminder: “What is a braai”?

The word ‘braai’ is an Afrikaans word, meaning barbecue. This means you grill or roast (mostly) meat over the open coals – something South Africans love to do (especially over weekends).

Slanghoek Mountain Resort

Our choice for a camping site for the weekend was in the beautiful Slanghoek Valley (literally translated, that would be ‘snake corner valley’). Fortunately, we’ve seen none of these reptiles at our camping site – or rather we did see a very small one, but it was dead).

In fact, the Slanghoek Valley is more known for their splendid wines and amazing views.

On the way to our camping site, we’ve stopped at Ou Meul (‘Old Mill’) to enjoy a light lunch. This bakery/café is situated next to Du Toitskloof Wines and is about 3km from Rawsonville. They are well-known for their famous pies, wood-fired pizzas, burgers and fresh salads.

Beautiful views over the Du Toitskloof Mountains at Ou Meal
Delicious chicken salad at Ou Meul

Our next stop was literally around the corner from Ou Meul, the Slanghoek Mountain Resort where we have camped for the weekend.

View towards our camping site

This was our first time camping at Slanghoek and we were really impressed with the camp sites and cleanliness of our (own) ablution facilities. Electricity is available and the bathrooms have gas water heating. A convenience store is within walking distance where they sell wood, ice-cream, cold drinks, ice, etc. You will also find a separate room with the most beautiful handmade gifts which are for sale such like bowls, handbags, soaps and of course wine.

Our tent at the camp site
Hanging bridge over a small stream
Bright swimming pool at the camp site

While our friends were still sleeping on Saturday morning, we took an early morning stroll through the farm to enjoy nature.

Here’s a look at our walk:

The upcoming sun is throwing beautiful colours on the mountains
Three horses and their stables
Roads leading into the vineyards
Another road at the end of the farm
The picturesque mountains at Slanghoek
Great wine is coming from these vineyards

On our way back, the sun was completely out from behind the mountains and we took a few last photo’s before heading back to the camp site.

This horse was not scared of us and posed happily for a photo
Both the mountains and vineyard were now in full sun
One last photo before turning back to our camp site

We will get to our ‘braai’ food in just a bit, but first we want to take you with us to taste wine.

We’ve decided to visit the Slanghoek Cellar and taste their wine. At the amazing prize of only R20 for 4 different wines (USD 1.40) per person, we’ve had a blast of a time!

Tasting wine at Slanghoek Cellar
The inside of Slanghoek Cellar

Braai Time!

Now, for our ‘braai’ food of the weekend!

Something that is well-known in South Africa, especially under the Afrikaans speaking people, is ‘braaibroodjies’ (grilled sandwiches). This is the South African version of a grilled cheese sandwich to which we normally add onion and tomato and then braai (‘grill’) these on the fire.

‘Braaibroodjies’ on the fire

We also had ‘boerewors’ again (the traditional South African sausage) to make delicious hotdog rolls (covered with tomato and onion relish).

Traditional South African ‘boerewors’

On Saturday evening it was time for the star of the ‘braai’ weekend – rotisserie boneless leg of lamb. We’ve had two legs of lamb which Berto de-boned himself and then filled one with only garlic and the other one with sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese as well as some olives.

Unfortunately, we have not taken any photo’s during the preparation stage – all hands were needed to hold on to the legs while stringing them to keep the yumminess inside!

The stuffed legs of lamb on the rotisserie
Left – filled with sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese & olives. Right – filled with only garlic

After about 3 hours, Berto drizzled a little bit of his own sauce over the legs of lamb – which consisted of tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and chutney.

After drizzling the sauce over the legs of lamb, we were ready to eat. One of our friends prepared vegetables to go with the meat … what a delicious meal!

After a great day out in the beautiful Slanghoek Valley – tasting their great wines and enjoying nature – we sat around the fire with a last cup of coffee before everybody went to bed.

A fire on a camping trip – wonderful therapy!

To conclude our ‘braai’ weekend, Berto prepared chicken livers on the fire for breakfast. This is a favourite camping dish and always features somewhere when we’re out in nature.

Chicken livers with a creamy sauce (served on fresh farm bread)

We had another great camping weekend – enjoyed with our friends in nature. We can definitely recommend Slanghoek Mountain Resort – and if you’re not geared up for camping, there’s good news: They have alternative accommodation options such like Safari Tents, Chalets and Log cabins.

The main house at Slanghoek Mountain Resort
With such an amazing view, we would love to come back

And yes, of course we brought back some of their excellent wines back home. We will be thinking of our enjoyable time at Slanghoek Mountain Resort when opening these bottles.

Wine from Slanghoek Cellar

We hope you’ve enjoyed our combined camping and ‘braai’ weekend … see you next weekend again with more great ‘braai’ dishes!