Pirate District Camp - 20th February 2008

What a lot of fun we had!

40 cubs and 11 leaders on the Pirate District Camp

at Arrowe Park in Benoni.

This is 4th Benoni in their Air Scouts uniform.

1st Benoni are Sea Scouts.

6th Benoni are land scouts

... and we had cubs from another district join us as well.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and after opening, it was time to get the tents up!

Cubs were then allocated their team mates and put into groups.

Their names were:

* Walker D Plank

* Black Beard

* Buccaneers

* Privateers

*Calico Jack

A bit of refreshment and sustenance was in order before they all got to work!

Each group was given a flag to decorate.

The final product

We actually had 5 bases.

At this table they were making their head gear and eye patches.

Very fashionable!

At this table they were making their sashes. These were pieces of material approximately 1.5 meters long by about 15 cm wide. At the end the material was cub into stips of approximately 1.5 cm thick. Onto these strips, gold painted pasta was threaded and finished off with a big brown bead. This was very striking.

Here they were making their weapons.

Another group finished their flag!

WIP

A real pirate - even with lose tooth!
This is a good photo to look at the painted pasta and bead at the end of the sash.

A weapon of choice!

Getting the gear ready!

Pirate in Action

Their very own pirate flag.

Cool Dude!

Kitted out...

Once the bases were completed it was time to decorate their pirate ships!

Each ship had port holes and we inserted cable ties as handles so that the ship could "sail the merry seas"

The cubs could not wait to have the pirate war that decorating the ships was forgotten!

At the end of the camp, a few of the cubs said this was the hi-light for them!

As you can see they had tremendous fun!

Ahoy - I see land!

Captain of the ship

????????

oh no - this was Gunpowder Gertie!

and this was the Captain!

Captain Kitty the Corruptable!

Rise and Shine

PT for Pirates

Delicous breakfast for all the hungry pirates

chilling out

Guarder of the Flag

Taking it easy

We again spit up into bases.

Here they made canons and had to shoot little paper cutouts.

Doing a bit of compass work!

Wow! treasure at last!

the distric flag

Making their very own pirate ship from polystyrene trays

The Pirate Games

Three legged race!

This was a great game!

Cubs in relay formation with a bucket of water and a cup. Opposite each cub stands another cub holding another bucket. The first cub scoops water, takes a step forward and throws it into the awaiting bucket. 2nd cub puts bucket down and runs to back of line. 1st cub now holds 'catching' bucket .... and continue until time is up.

Akela then measure who has the most water.
Akela measuring the water.

..... and then the Balloon Bust Bonanza!

As part of one of the bases, we made fishing rods from the bamboo that grows in Arrowe Park. This is s very simple activity and yet the cubs thoroughly enjoy it.

Not only do the South Africans enjoy biltong (dried meat) but so do our crabs!

and a number of our cubs were lucky enough to catch huge crabs.

Look at this beauty!

They were all released back into the dam after capture.

Another base was a trip on the gig!

A lot of the cubs had never been on the gig before so this was true adventure!

What would a pirate be without a tatoo?

Each cub painted his own camp fire patch

Some of the completed patches!

At another base we had an obstacle course

It looks very easy yet when you are on there, it is quite tricky!

Doing well ....

Oooooppppsss - what happened!

Out on the boat again

... and just look at those pirate pj's

Getting ready for inspection!

counting the bones just before the Grand Howl.

We really had a tremendous weekend and we know that everyone had a wonderful time.

Straight after the camp we attended the BP Service.

getting ready to march to the outdoor chapel

One of our cubs being the flag bearer for the 9th Benoni Cub Pack

Marching to the chapel

After the BP Service all parents, leaders cubs and scouts were invited to the hall for a bring and braai to celebrate 9th Benoni's 60th Anniversary.

What an enjoyable weekend.

Till next Time

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy

District Pirate Camp - 20th to 22nd Feb 2009

We have our District Pirate Camp starting today at 5pm

So remember to pop back on Monday or Tuesday next week for some awesome pirate camp photos

As well as to see what we do for our BP Sunday ceremony.

Till then
Keep Cubbing
Akela Joy

'Mazing Meerkats - 13th Feb 2009

Some interesting facts about these gorgeous little animals - called the Meerkat.

* Meerkats only live in Southern Africa

* They are very social animals and live in family groups of up to 40

* Who are their enemies? The jackal, the serval and the eagle - to name a few!

This little guy is acting as the sentry and keeping a watchful eye out for any stray jackals!

Our first game was similar to "North, South, East and West" with all 'meerkats' running around and on the blow of the whistle all meerkats had to run to their burrow. Each Six had a specifically allocated burrow.

Safe home!

Yellow Six taking a rest in their burrow!

Getting ready for Leopard Instruction!

Taking in the Lion Instruction!

And our Cheetahs doing some sense training.

Our New Chum learning all about the Grand Howl, Promise, Law and Hand-shake!

...and once all our meerkats had done their learning for the day, it was time to play....

Meerkats were scratching all over for bugs!

A relay game with sour worms on paper plates in front of each Six. On go, 1 meerkat races up and using no hands, has to pick up a worm and race back to his Six and the next meerkat has a turn. Continue until all worms have been eaten!

Keith Westergaard, Assistant District Commissioner Voyageur District, Bay-Lakes Council, BSA suggested that I should perhaps video some of the games. Well, I am not too clued up on doing a video with my camera but I tried .... and you can see the result at the end of this blog....... being not too au fait with this, I am not sure why it posted it at the bottom and not right here where I needed it!

Nevertheless go and take a look!

Take a look at this snazzy meerkat!

Each cub had to draw in what their meerkat was having for lunch!

Well, we had bugs a plenty, scorpions and some other very interesting creatures!

Mmmm..... wonder what is for lunch today..

We played a Kim's Game whereby I made up a story about the meerkats living in the Karoo. Mommy Meerkat had to go shopping and accidently her million kids knocked the hand bag off the table. As each meerkat put an item back into Mommy Meerkat's handbag they had to remember what it was!

Some of the items were:

Bright Red Lipsick to make Mommy Meerkat look marvelous

Keys for the Meerkat Mobile

Tissue to wipe away a tear

Money for a trip to Hawaii

Battery for Mommy's ipod

and a few other items...

On to our next game and this was a circle game with Akela naming cubs as Meerkats, Scorpions and Eagles. When the Meerkats were called, they had to run around the circle and back to their spot and into the middle to grab a sweet.
Next the Eagles went and then the Scorpions and so on and until time is up.

It was a very special day as we invested 2 new chums.

Invested and saluting the pack.

The Sixer of Yellow Six welcoming the new chum into her Six.

And then it was time to invest another New Chum!

And here is the Sixer of Green Six telling him all about the 'greatness' of Green Six..

Saluting the Pack.

The Video of the Meerkats collecting their Worms!

Let me know what you think - would you like to see more videos?

Next week we will be having our District Pirate Camp - so there will be great photos to show you all!

Till Next Time

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy