In 1983, when I was 11 and living in South Africa, I went to veldskool along with about twenty other girls from one of Johannesburg's 'liberal' private schools. Veldskool - a compulsory annual week in the bush - was part of the national curriculum, for private schools as well as state ones. Despite privations we'd never faced before (cold group showers, breakfast at dawn, powdered eggs) and a vicious rethink of the pecking order (suddenly, the poorer children who'd spent time on farms had the upper hand), we learned some interesting things. How to use a compass, how to pin down and kill a poisonous snake without it killing you, how to set up a leopard-proof camp. We tramped over breathtaking country and wondered at the ancient 'Bushman' paintings on the rocky outcrops studding the landscape.

LRB 8 August 2002 | PDF Download