About Scouting

Meerkats is the first section of Scouting in South Africa. At 1^st Paarl Scout Group, we take boys and girls aged five and six in a Den of 4. Meerkats follow a trail of outdoor oriented activities and earn badges on their individual achievement. To encourage team spirit, Meerkats are organized into Burrows of four, with a qualified Scouter looking after their progress.

Meerkat Dens go on adventure explorations, Nature rambles, hold camps at home, have campfires, and do community service such as making special treats for health workers at Children’s Hospitals. They learn how to make volcanoes, give speeches, sing songs together, read a compass, and work on keeping fit.

Meerkats meet from 17h00 to 17h45 on a Friday evening. Mostly the meetings are at the scout hall at 193 Bonaparte Road, Klein Parys, Paarl, but meetings are also held away from the hall to do outdoor adventurous activity.

If you are reading this you must already know that scouting holds enormous benefits for young people. Becoming a scout is as simple as contacting your local scout troop. Please visit our contact page to view a list of all Scouters.  Scouters are adults in charge of scout troops and are in the best position to assist you in joining your local scouts troop.

The first 2 – 3 weeks serves to introduce the new troop member to scouting. Once the new member decides that he / she wants to commit to the scout movement, a ceremony is held to formally “invest” the new scout. See the section on troop membership below to learn what this ceremony is all about.

You may also want have a look at the world scouting website to read more on what scouting is.