Poffertjes—small, fluffy pancakes popular in the Netherlands.

Protea—South African flowering plant.

Provita—savoury South African biscuit or cracker.

Quiver tree—a tall, branching species of succulent plant, indigenous to southern Africa, and also known as the Kokerboom.

Ratel—honey badger, a mammal native to Africa and Asia,which lent its name to a South African infantry fighting vehicle because of their alleged shared tenacity.

Res—another way of saying residence, typically when referring to a university residence.

Restios—reed-like plant, which is considered part of South African fynbos.

Skink—a type of lizard.

Staffie—short for Staffordshire Bull Terrier, which is a short-haired terrier of medium size.

Tog bag—sports bag.

Tsitsikamma—comes from southern African Khoekhoe language: tse-tsesa,means“clear,” and gami,means“water.” This compound word refers to the clear water of theTsitsikammaRiver, which runs through the Tsitsikamma National Park, a protected area on the Garden Route of South Africa.

Uni—short for university.

Varsity—another South African way of saying university.

Veld—open, uncultivated country or grassland in southern Africa.

Vygie—means “small fig” in Afrikaans and refers to a species of succulent flowering plants from southern Africa.

Wild Dagga—indigenous species of mint plant found in southern Africa, which typically has a bright orange flower and is known for its medicinal properties that are mildly psychoactive.

One

One

It was an unusually warm evening for that time of the year in the mountains, which might’ve been an omen if anyone had thought about it. For years, the friends had discussed the ideal season to do the hike. They’d finally settled on any six days that suited everyone’s diary. Even then, they hadn’t all been able to make it, which was how Clare came to be there.

With supper over, she sat on the stairs of the three-walled, thatch-roofed lapa, which, typical of southern African campsites, was the hub of the overnight stop. Stacked on a counter behind her, eight stainless steel plates glistened in time to the coals flickering weakly in the firepit. Clare’s aim was to stay out of the way of her father and his friends as they went about whatever it was older people did before bed.

The stone was cool against her legs and the air lightly scented with smoke, resin and damp forest floor. Pine needles hung motionless against the barely lit sky, which was flanked by two peaks rising east and west like tall, craggy sentinels. Bar the thrumming of the nearby stream, the distant huoo-hoo-hoo of a wood owl and the occasional crinkle of the cooling embers, the night was quiet.