The wind is blowing in our faces, the car is bumping, around us bushes and wide planes. The open vehicle we’re sitting in finds its way on tiny little paths through the Shamwari Game Reserve where we will spend the next three days with twenty 7-graders of the Fontein Primary School.
They are the best students of their grade and will get the possibility to experience wildlife and nature in a completely new dimension to learn about it and develop the wish to preserve it.
Our first activity was a game drive and just after ten minutes our guide Graham found a herd of elephants including little calves. We were amazed by the beauty of this species and how friendly they look like.
Our group was split up into three smaller groups in different vehicles. The guides would show us around individually which gave us the chance to profit from the discovery of the others.
When we found the herd of elephants, Graham told the others where they were so that they could see these majestic animals.
We even got to see one of the Big 5: the rhino! We were extremely close to a mother and her calf which should actually have been scary but we felt completely safe because these massive animals were just calmly eating without taking notice of us. Moreover we were very lucky to see a hippo which is normally were difficult to spot.
The kids enjoyed this first game drive as much as we did and are very much looking forward to the next days which will be fully packed with activities about wild life conservation.
Now we totally understand the advantages of going to a game reserve with a real guide because he knows exactly where to look for a specific animal and can drive off road very close to them.
The excitement didn’t decrease after the first day but grew even bigger as we now know what unique activities will await us in the upcoming days!
This is the first day in the Shamwari game reserve and so far it´s good and we´re having a great time. The landscape is beautiful, the air in the bush nice and fresh and we went out to see all the wild animals like birds, elephants, hippos, rhinos, monkeys… They were really close and while we watched them we learned a lot about them at the same time. We must tread the animals with respect and cannot kill them.
It is great to see the wild life for the first time in my life and it is amazing!
At night we played very nice games. Now I´m tired but I enjoyed the day a lot and I cant wait for tomorrow, because I like the nature so much.
My first day at the camp was very special and it meant a lot to me. When I left the school I knew it´s gonna be fun, but this is much more than I expected and I can´t even explain it. The nature is beautiful and it´s fun to watch the hippo and rhinos, animals that I´ve only seen on TV before. But now, WOW, I´ve seen them with my own eyes! When I saw the big animal I was like “wow, that´s what it really looks like” and it was nice. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for which I and my new made friends are very happy and thankful about. (by Payton Schutte, Gladman Stone, Nazlie, Darren, Moniqe, Tiaan Mintoor, Lllian Graaff, Lucastha, Anthea Louw, and Ruwayng)
written by Saskia Bauer