12 |May2019go! Drive&Camp
NEELS’ RALLYTENTCampingand braais
go hand in hand,
and itjust seemsto
be humannatureto
quarreloverwhatthe best fuel
is formaking braaicoals.
Ithink there’s consen sus
thatgas is bestforabreakfast
of bacon, eggs, mushrooms,
tomatoes and more. Thebig
deba te ragesoverthe rest of
the day’smeals.
Wood,charcoal or briq uettes
bringto the fore ever yone’s
ownpreferences andtheories.
In theWester nCape, decent
braaiwood is appa rently rare,
but rooikrans,camelthorn,
eucalyptus andgrapevines are
popular.Thoselivin gint he
northwest of thecountrywill
tell youthatcorncobs make the
best coals. Everybody probably
doeshis thing in hisown way.In andaround Gauten g, sickle
bush iswell known, but thebig
problem is findingabag with
fairlydrywood in ahuge pile
of bags .InL impopo,mopane is
oftenusedasfirewo od,but stayawayfrom tamboti.It’s notonly
aprotected tree species ,but its
smoke istoxic. In KZN, wattleis
very popular.
Leadwood isoftenofferedfor
sale at road stalls ,but as far as
Iknowitisalsoaprotectedtree
species.Ibelieve businessmen
whoprofit fr om harvesting
protectedtreespecies needto
be takento task.THESTRIFE ABOUTwhether
it’s charcoal or briquettesthat
producethe best coalswon’t
be settled anytime soon.
People even argueover which
supermarket’s house brandis
best .RecentlyIsaw someone
announcingonsocialmedia
thatcharcoal from Namibia
shouldbeboycotted ,because
SouthAfricanRandsare being
wasted to import thousands of
bags .Someone else questioned
whether ourneighbouring
countr yisa ctually capable of
producingseveraltonnesof
char coal becausethereare
apparently toofew treesthere.
Not so.Namibia hasahealthy
char coal-manufacturing
initi ativethatismanagedbythe
countr y’sgovernmentunder
theauspices ofthe Namibian
CharcoalAssociation.Invasive
tree species, especiallyacacia,
areeradicatedand processed
into charcoal.
More than half of Namibia
is covered inthornbushes thatuseupgroundwater,which
results in lessrainwaterbeing
absorbedintothe soiltos ustain
nati ve grasses.
Currently ,thereare more than
650Namibian entrepreneurs
whomanufacturecharcoal.An
astounding600km^2 of densely
woodedand overgrow nareas
are“grow n” annually.IF YOU’REWORRIEDabout
anynegativeeffectscaused
by thesmokefromtensof
thousands ofcampers’braai
fires –orabout th eimpact of
turningwood into charcoal
on theenvironment–Ihave
interestingnews. In an article
titledPlumeCharacterisation
of aTypicalSouth African Braai,
researchers from theNorth
West University in SouthAfrica
and theUniversityofHelsin ki in
Finlandfound that braai fires do
not pose anynoticeable health
risks. So,lightyour braai without
acare. (Donote, however, that
amateurs whoproducecharcoal
maysuffer health problemsif
they inhaletoomuch smoke on
adaily basis.)
In the meantime, it is still
entertainingto listen to people
arguing whetherrooikrans,
grapevines,sicklebushorwattle
produce the bestbraaicoals. It
is soul-enrichingto braai when
you’re outcamping,but it can
also beachallengetokeep
ever yone happ y.It’s always fun to listento people arguing about
whichwood or briquettes makethe best
braaicoals,saysNeelsvanHeerden.Where there’ssmoke...Rese archers have found
thatbraai fires do not
pose anynoticeable
health risk.