ED’S LETTER

Icut my journalism teeth at a community newspaper in Parys in the Free State years ago. You’d be surprised by how much news there is in a town like Parys. Sure, there isn’t a cash-in-transit heist or a political scandal every week, and when the town’s rugby team loses it was always because of “unnecessary handling errors and bad decisions by the ref”. But thanks to the locals there was an overabundance of news – from the Rotary Club, bowling results, schools news and giant vegetables grown in backyards to court cases, weddings, Christmas carol services and wedding anniversaries. I once had to photograph twins who celebrated their 95th birthday. These two had their hair done the day before and slept sitting up in their lounge that night so not to ruin their perms. The photo was published in the newspaper the next Friday and a short while later my phone rang. It was them. I thought they were phoning to thank me for the picture and write-up, but they were furious. They thought I made them look super-old in the photo. I felt sorry for the ladies, but the camera doesn’t lie. It was their 95th birthday after all and I don’t think anyone would have confused them with third-year NWU students. Just like the photo of the twins, on these pages we tell you exactly what we see when we go on our camping or off-road excursions. Yes, we tell the story and give you more info, but with regards to the facilities we tell you how we experienced it. We never say who we are when we phone to book, because we don’t want preferential treatment. We want to see the place exactly like you will see it. We also don’t rate campsites. We simply tell you where it is, what there is, what it looks like, and how much it costs. The rating we’ll leave to you.

Safe travels!