Sabie 2008

This week the theme for the Cub Meeting was H2Ohhhh - which was quite fitting as Akela and family joined the Scouts for the annual pilgrimage to Sabie in Mphumalanga.

So, althought we do not have any Cub Photos, we have some lovely family scouts photos of everyone going down the Sabie River.

There are two ways to start your journey down the river.

Either by jumping backwards into the river.....

..... or climbing in rather sedately!

.... and off you float....

The river was a little fuller than the last time I went down. This makes for a faster ride as well as one not hitting so many rocks with your bottom!

It looks terribly calm here but as you go along there are some awesome rapids...

As you can see safety gear is a must and everyone has to wear a lifejacket, closed shoes and be able to swim!

3 happy young scouts

Sunday morning and a last trip down the river.

Each tube is specially named - this one, as you can see, belongs to Akela!

The tubes come in all shapes and sizes. Some even have special seats on them or ropes tied around them to form a seat!

Ingenuity of a Scout ???

We really had a fantastic weekend. We stayed at the Castle Rock Municipal Camping ground which is adequate for one's needs.
..... and we will be back again next year, same time!

Till next time

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy

Survivor 1 February 2008

Survivor Arrowe Park!

After Grand Howl and Inspection the Cubs were sent out onto the 'island' to look for 'news' of their team mates. These of course, were envelopes hidden around the grounds that contained bandanas (2 different colours) determining which team they would go into.

The 'yellow' and the 'blue' team

After a quick game, we got straight into making our torches for Tribal Council.

Different shapes....

.... different sizes....

.. but they all looked great in the end.

.... and very simple to make.

1 x bamboo reed

1 x candle cut in half

1x 2litre cold drink bottle

Cut the cold drink bottle so that it forms a shelter for the flame - as you can see in the picture below. Trim the bamboo reed so that it will fit inside of the cold drink bottle top. The candle can also be trimmed to now fit snugly into the bamboo reed once the bottle has been placed over the bamboo. This can now be decorated with whatever you have available.

Completed torches - ready for Tribal Council

Let the Challenges begin!

Team Challenges

... and the first one was 'Tug-of-War"

and the Yellow Team won!

The seond team challenge was "laying an egg for breakfast" and I thought every egg would break but the cubs really surprised me!

Cubs are paired up back to back and a raw egg is placed between the two of them. They must work out how they are going to "lay their egg" without breaking it.

Both teams did equally well - so there was no out-right winner of the team challenges!

.. so on to the individual challenge and each cub was given 3 balls to see how many tins they could hit.

Our ball catchers!

We finally had a winner of the individual challenge and it was nearly home time!

A very special occassion - it was time to invest a New Chum and from all of us at 9th Benoni we say a warm welcome!

Newly invested Cub with mom.

Everyone had a tremendous time being "Survivors" and fortunately no-one was sent to Exile Island!

Next week will be just as much fun.

Till then

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy

Fear Factor - 25 January 2008

Our bunch of angels! .... but they did not know what was in store for them!

Our first game - a steam release game - was one where horrific and fearful pictures were scattered around the area. These were cut in half. The Pack was divided up into pairs and and handed one picture. They then had to go and search for the missing half. First one back to "face their fear" won a reward.

Nishlan and Mitch found their matching pieces!

Straight into Instruction and here we have a New Chum learning all about Baden-Powell.

Our Lions did their knotting.

We have 2 Cubs who are doing their Leaping Wolf Advancement at the moment and they learnt about the Outdoor Code

Our Leopards practised their skipping and climbed the lovely trees we have in the grounds of the Scout Hall.

We blindfolded all the cubs and set the scene.
Roger had not been lucky enough to go on holiday this year. All his friends had left him behind and he was home alone. His mom and dad had gone out to play bridge and he sat reading by the lamp light. It was 9pm and everyone and everything in the neighbourhood was still.
Roger decided a walk would be good - a walk to the graveyard. Crreeaaakk, went the big wrought iron gate, as he gently opened it. Roger's heart was beating so hard he thought someone was banging on his head! He was so frightening but he carried on walking. He could see all the gravestones, tall and white.
A black cat darted across his path - Roger let out a scream "Heeeellllppp" This was so exciting for Roger and he moved gingerly on. He heard an owl hoot way up above in the trees and as he took his next step, he felt himself falling. Roger had fallen into an open grave!
"Oh no" screamed Roger " this grave still has a body in it - get me out here"
(As you are telling the story, different body parts are passed aroung for the cubs to feel)
Roger gently sat up and in doing so, felt a bone or two. (use any meat bone that has been cleaned thoroughly). "Oh how gross" Roger said. As he moved around to get a better understanding of where he was, he felt something stringy and wet - oh no! it was the dead man's brains (cooked spaghetti).. Roger did not know what to do and while trying to push the brains back into the man's head he could feel the eyes popping out of the mans head!
(grapes covered with vaseline).
What was he going to do?

Brains and eyeballs!

We then had 4 bases with different disgusting items that the Teams had to eat. "Bones" were awarded to everyone who managed to eat the item.
This is baby poo in a nappy!

Some of the cubs did not mind eating the poo ! (peanut butter)

Fancy Lemons Slices...

We also had a base of slimy worms - these looked absolutely disgusting but actually were long pieces of cooked spaghetti which had been coloured in red and black!

..... while Roger was sitting thinking in the grave that he had fallen into, he realised that he was suddenly starving. What was he going to eat? ...... any suggestions?
Roger found something rather delicious - a bunch of broken fingers which he sat back and enjoyed!
I managed to get a few from Roger and the Cubs seemed to enjoy them as well!

Recipe for Bunch of Broken Fingers
125g margerine
125 g sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking power
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Mix together the margerine, sugar and egg. Add the vanilla essence. Gently add in the flour, little bit at a time together with the baking power and salt. The mixture must be quite firm. Put in the fridge for about 30 minutes or more.
Take a bit of dough and roll into a finger shape. Put an almond in for a nail and shape the finger as seen in the picture. Use a knife to make indents for wrinkles.
Cook at 170 degrees for about 25 minutes or until brown.
You can add red food colouring for "blood"
This makes a rather delicious, sweet and crisp biscuit!

Till next Time
Keep Cubbing
Akela Joy

Abracadabra

Most of our cubs returned after the private school holidays and we were almost back to a full house! Our theme this week was "a bit of magic" - it had rained the entire day and when we opened it was still raining. Just as we stepped outside, it stopped - so that in itself was "a bit of magic!"

Our first game - Disappearing Balls - had the cubs running around a bit! A whole lot of paper balls were scattered about the field. The cubs had to collect the paper balls and place them into the bucket but one cub was nominated to empty the bucket instead of putting balls into the bucket! This was quite hilarious as the cubs did not catch on at first.
After completing our Instruction for the relevant Advancement Groups we progressed onto our Magic Bottles! The cubs thoroughly enjoyed making their own "flying balloon" and were intrigued as to how it actually worked.

Cubs helping each other...

Having fun....

.... and what it is all about!

And of course what would magic be without a magic wand!

Each Cub made and decorated their own wand to take home....

Shavanah and Nishlan showing off their beautiful and enchanting wands.

Next week, if you dare, join us for Fear Factor!

Till then

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy

A is for Adventure!

Cubs was back in full swing today and we started our meeting off with some "adventure warm ups". Cubs had to blow up a balloon and tie it to one of their legs. On the blow of the whistle they had to run around whilst the other cubs tried to pop their balloons!

Cubs love any game involving balloons!
Trying to avoid being caught!

Down to the last 2 cubs!

During our Instruction Time, the Lion Cubs learnt a little bit on repairs and here Rikki is showing them how to repair a leaking tap.

The Leopards learnt about the importance of the Outdoor Code whilst the Leaping Wolf Cubs did Street Maps.

Whilst on our wild adventure travelling throught the jungles of India we came across a herd of elephants and in true cub fashion had to imitate them! Here the cubs are doing the elephant walk.

Walking through the mangrove was not easy and the cubs had to climb through branches and shrubs to get to the amazing waterfall they had heard all about.

The waterfall was truly amazing - splashing water everywhere but at the bottom it cascaded down forming a unique whirlpool which the cubs had to navigate to ensure their path further along in the jungle.

They could hear Chil the Kite high up in the sky, calling to them..... and in reply all the cubs had to climb a suspended tyre in order to ring a bell in answer.

It was now getting dangerous. As they approached the river, they could see the crocodiles lazing in the sun. The cubs knew they had to make a dash for the other side..... and this is just what they did!

Nearly home at last..... they only had to negotiate the Black Hills and they would be out of the jungle and back with Akela in the Den.

The cubs enjoyed this obstacle course so much that they begged us to do it again!

Our next fun adventure was a Treasure Hunt. Pictures were placed at stategic spots and cubs had to first of all find the picture, think where it was and go off and look if there was another picture there. Missing out one picture would cause disaster as they would then be out of sync and they would not be able to find the treasure chest.

Our first team to find the treasure chest of sweets!

Our next team to find their treasure chest.

Well done to both teams.

Next week we plan to have just as much fun! Do join us then!

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy

Cub Starts Soon

Loads of Fun and Adventure!

Just a reminder that Cub Scouts starts again on Friday 11th January at 9th Benoni Bambanani from 3:45pm to 5:30pm.

Hoping to see you all there - where we have loads and loads of adventure and fun.

For me information email me!

Till next Time

Keep Cubbing

Akela Joy