Apprentice Boot Camp in South Africa (Part 2)
- by Tim Koekkoek
By Maximilian Michel (DE), Jorge Garnacho (ES), Daniel Maull (UK), Adam Griffiths (UK), Guillermo De Las Nieves (ES), Catriona McGill (UK), Ed Dunlop (UK)
Today we have the second part of the adventures of seven apprentices from all over Europe in South-Africa!
Kruger National Park & other experiences
Going to the Kruger National Park was definitely an
experience we will all remember for the rest of our lives. This trip,organised
by Patrick Fitzgerald, owner of the Travellers Nest (where we all stayed), took
us from the hustle and bustle of Joburg to experience what Africa is all about,
the wild! Although the first week’s training we had prior to this trip to the
Kruger was going very well, we all knew this was to be a very nice break before
we started the second week of training. And we were right, the animals, scenery
and sights we saw were just simply incredible and like I said something we will
remember for the rest of our lives. To see lions, elephants, cheetahs and
rhinos and many more in a zoo is one thing, but to see them in the wild, in
their natural habitat is very special and I personally only realised this from
the early 5 am start on the first morning in the Kruger, which was definitely
worth it. Not only was it all about the safari, we ate some wonderful food, in
particular on the Saturday night, Patrick made us a traditional South African
Braai which was one of my favourite meals of the whole two weeks.
After the Kruger National Park we had a whole day of
traveling back to Johannesburg but even this was made to be a good day by our
hosts. Despite the early start on the road it was all worth it by the time we
reached God's Window. The walk to the top was made a lot harder by all the
steaks we had eaten in the first week but the hard walk was worth it at the
top, with views that stretched for miles.
The Food
The food in South Africa is typically meat and in big
amounts, while there we ate a lot of big beef steaks, ribs and kudu sausage.
All of the meat we ate was usually cooked with a sauce such as a Barbeque
glaze. The restaurants we visited were:
Upperdeck Restaurant, with live music and a great terrace to
eat, the atmosphere was good for enjoying the music and eating our food. Most
of us ate Spare ribs that weighed 600
kg, with barbecue sauce that was delicious.
Die Bosvelder Pub & Restaurant is a restaurant with a
very surprising decor, this is because the walls had many of south Africa’s
famous animals on them. The food was maybe the best we ate in South Africa. Our
orders were: Springbokvlakte Lambs' Neck Stew, beef in gravy and steaks topped
with cheese and then more meat on top! All meals were accompanied by a
selection of white sauce cauliflower, spinach and zanhorias.
Pepper Chair Restaurant, where the specialty is T-Bone
steaks of 1.4 kg, but most of us were happy to attempt the 1 kg. Cooked with
barbecue sauce over the meat, it was very good!
The only problem was their size causing the the meat to get cold if you did not eat it
very fast!
We’re all waiting for our 1.0 kg t-bone steak including our
Senior Director EMEA Systems Support Germany & Switzerland: Werner
Hoellrigl
The Godfather Restaurant, the food here was more meat in
abundance. We ate: great ribs, hamburgers, steaks and all accompanied with a
small plates of carrot and sauteed spinach, very good.
We had two great weeks in South-Africa! If you want to join Oracle, then check http://campus.oracle.com
