What is it about ‘some’ campers?

I love camping and this weekend, at Mnweni Marathon – in the Drakensberg, I camped in the delightful comfort of my little tent and cushy down sleeping bag.

There are few things I like better than to settle into my tent to read for a bit before dropping off to a deep post-long-run sleep. In the morning, a sleep-in is a treat. And I’m not talking about sleeping to noon. Even by my standards that’s a waste of a day. It’s nice to sleep until the sounds of rural settlement and nature – bird calls, roosters crowing, cows mooing – gently rouse me from slumber. Then I open the flap of my tent to enjoy the fresh morning air and there I stay for another half-hour or so reading. True pleasure.

Unfortunately nearly every camping experience is tainted by fellow campers. This morning, I was woken just after six by the people camping next to me. They were chattering and packing up their tent and goodies. Another person came past and they had a full-volume conversation and, of course, they set off their car alarm.

What is it with campers and friggin’ car alarms? It’s like they’ve never operated their car’s remote control nor opened their car. Do they trigger their car alarm every morning at home too?

They left just after six-thirty, leaving peace and quiet in their wake. I dozed on and off, deep slumber disturbed intermittently by passers-by.

At some stage other campers (fellow runners too) turned on their tunes in their car, transmitting intrusive sound waves across the campsite. To their credit, they didn’t pump up the volume, but it was intrusive nonetheless. What, dudes, makes you think that the rest of us want to listen to your terrible music instead of the sounds of nature in this magnificent Drakensberg setting? I can listen to music at home; here I want to listen to the mountains. Music of any kind is sound pollution to those who have not chosen its intrusion. That’s why we have personal mp3 players. Next time, dude, plug it in your friggin’ ears.