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From Discovery and CruisingTo Advanced Mountaineering Expedition
On this trip to South Africa, you will explore one of the world's great areas of biodiversity and a hotspot for plant and animal life. The climate diversity and its topographical landscape consist of sandy dunes along the coastline, fertile lowlands, and rugged mountains. The forests here are just breathtaking with their colorful low growing bushes and wildflowers. During this trip, you will get familiar with the word fynbos, a unique type of vegetation known for its high richness in plant species and its high endemism. In this southwestern part of South Africa, you will learn about this pristine environment and the conservation efforts to protect this beauty and its wildlife for future generations. Your guides will take you through different habitats and each day is packed with activities designed to both educate and inspire the next generation of naturalists. The mammal life in South Africa is impressive but so also life in the sea, which we will explore by boat. This trip does not only consist of learning about the environment it also includes several historical and cultural elements like visiting sites of human origin and million-year-old stalactite caves. This trip will provide an outstanding opportunity to understand and study the wonderful diversity and ecology of South Africa.
Countries:
Starting Point:
George
Activities:
Grading:Introductory
Addressing:
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Day 1
Arrival
Welcome to South Africa! At the George Airport (GRJ), a World Expeditions Schools representative will welcome you. Private transport will take you to the accommodation in Hartenbos, a small town, in Mossel Bay municipality. The bay is famous for its golden beaches and welcoming atmosphere. Its location along the scenic Garden Route is just stunning. When we all are settled in our rooms we meet again for a welcome introduction and a safety orientation. We are heading out for dinner and getting ready for this week full of adventure!
Meals: D
Day 2
Hiking With a Field Ranger
After breakfast, we get picked up by our guide for the day. We will follow a field ranger in one of the private reserves. He will track us for 2 ½ hours through diverse and safe habitats such as coastal renosterveld (rhino areas) and Cape fynbos. You’ll have the chance to see wild animals while exploring the wonders of insects, ecology, birds (Knysna Turaco, African Fish-eagle, Jackal Buzzard, and more), and the medicinal values of the plants. When it’s time for lunch, we get transported to a lodge to relax on the deck and soak up the view. When we get back to our accommodation, we have a quick freshen up and then meet up for dinner. We end the day with a debrief before it's time for bed.
Meals: B,L,D
Day 3
Wildlife Workshop and Beach Clean Up
Today we start early with breakfast. The first activity of the day is a wildlife workshop together with our partner organization Nkonzo Wildlife. We will learn about hands-on and educational initiatives and get a better understanding of the problems plaguing African wildlife, the efforts being made to assuage these issues, and how they can continue to work with conservation and make a change for the better of wildlife, ecosystems, and our planet. After lunch, we head to the beach for a beach clean-up. We get back to our accommodation for a well-deserved rest before it's time for dinner. A mindful reflection will be our last activity before it's bedtime.
Day 4
Safari Game Drive
Get your cameras ready! After breakfast, we will be transported to a private ethical reserve for a game drive. Hopefully, we will see all the Big Five. The term “Big Five” originally referred to the difficulty in hunting the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and African buffalo. These five large African mammal species were known to be dangerous, and it was considered a feat by trophy hunters to bring them home. Today, however, the expression takes on a gentler form, referring to seeing the Big Five from a safety distance sitter in a safari jeep. We will also keep our eyes open for cheetah, giraffe, hippopotamus, black impala, golden wildebeest, Cape mountain zebra, and more! Lunch will be in an open-air restaurant overlooking the African bush. When we get back to our stay, we share what we have seen and learned during this full day of wildlife immersion. We prepare dinner together and then the lights go out.
Day 5
Hiking and Waterfall
Today we depart early after a steady breakfast to Wilderness National Park. It is a nice shady walk through the forest, you are likely to see most of South Africa’s famous birds like Knysna Loerie, Giant Kingfisher, and the Fish Eagle. We make a stop at a waterfall and have a sack lunch. When we get back to our starting point we get picked up and transported to our accommodation. We freshen up and get ready for dinner. We end the day by watching the sunset before its time for bed.
Day 6
Rhino Conservation Workshop
After breakfast, we will join a workshop and talk on Rhino conservation in South Africa. Our partner organization, Nkonzo Wildlife conservation, are specialists in this field and will share what ongoing activities there are to save the rhinos. We will get an extensive insight into the white rhinos and why the population is endangered. South Africa is home to 80% of the Rhino population, and several actions are taken to preserve and protect them from illegal hunting due to their horn. We have a break for lunch and then continue to dig into the world of these 2000 kg heavy creatures. We have dinner together and a reflection on what we have learned today.
Day 7
Cango Caves
We get up early and have breakfast. Today we will drive to Cango Caves, a cultural and natural landmark in South Africa. The Cango Caves are one of the world's great natural wonders and were formed over 20 million years. The caves are one of the largest and longest in the world, and we will explore its tunnels with an experienced guide. For those who are claustrophobic or have back ailments, we will take it slow and find alternative routes. We have lunch in a restaurant and continue to learn the history of the caves before it's time to head back to town. In the evening, we have dinner together and a reflection before bedtime.
Day 8
Seal Island Trip and Diaz Museum
After breakfast, we get ready for a full day of marine activities. South Africa is famous for wildlife on land, but there is a lot to discover at sea. The boat takes off from Mussel Bay, and we will be exploring its surrounding islands. We will see seals and if we are lucky white sharks. We have lunch and then we will learn about the explorer of the bay, a Portuguese seafarer named Bartolomeu Dias. The museum complex includes many interesting artifacts and an ethnobotanical garden. In the evening, we have dinner together and a reflection before bedtime.
Day 9
Point of Human Origin & Hiking
We get up early for breakfast and our first stop for today is the world-renowned archaeological site, Point of Human Origins. At the site, closed to the public, we will be guided and learn about the early evidence for modern human behavior. A series of wooden steps and walkways will take us below the clifftop to some of the caves where we will find flint artifacts and other tools used by our ancestors 200 000 years ago. It's then time to get ready for a hike! We will walk along the famous St. Blaize Trail with beautiful coastal views. We will have a picnic stop for lunch and the hike experience ends at another important Stone Age archaeological cave site at the iconic Point of Mossel Bay. It's time for a well-deserved rest when we return to our accommodation. After we have freshened up, it's time for dinner and a reflection on what we have learned and experienced today. We will be tired after a full day of outdoor activities, and our sore feet will thank us for heading to bed early.
Day 10
Wildlife Research Workshop & Beach Clean Up
Breakfast is served a little later this morning after several days full of activities. On this last full day of the trip, we will join a workshop on wildlife research and talk on conservation in South Africa. It’s time to ask all those questions you have after exploring the wildlife. We will re-cap what we have learned and explored during the trip by sharing our experiences and reflections. After lunch, we are heading to the beach. We will bring plastic bags and do some clean up and enjoy an afternoon playing around in the sand. Our farewell dinner is taking place tonight and we will have time for some last-minute souvenir shopping.
Day 11
Departure
After breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport for your onward flight home.
Meals: B
Quality Education: Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development.
No Poverty: Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality.
World Expeditions Schools journeys are designed to encourage positive personal development and the learning of life skills, while leaving the communities and environments we travel to, in a better condition than when we arrived.The programs are designed to:• Build strong friendships and bonds with their peers, their teachers, and the local people they meet. • Increase the confidence to engage with new people, and collaboratively make informed decisions.• Discover the benefits of working cooperatively together as a cohesive team, to achieve a common objective.• Increase the ability to face, and cope with, mental and physical challenges and therefore increase resilience.• Give students a chance to appreciate and care for the natural world. The environments we travel through are beautiful and often pristine, invariably the students will gain a deeper appreciation and understanding about how their individual actions impact on the environment.• Learn personal skills i.e., time management, personal hygiene, responsibility for personal gear, patience, tolerance, and public speaking.We help encourage students to learn what it means to be a true global citizen.
What's included
What's not included
Although there is no commitment to extended walking or cycling on this journey we nonetheless want to keep the ‘accent on the active’. We therefore advise that any physical training you complete before undertaking the trip will be to good effect.
Per Person, Twin Share
We can fully customise a School Travel Program to suit your students' learning objectives and budget. Whether you require a Service Learning program, physical challenge, cultural immersion or certain curriculum targets - talk to one of our educational travel experts about the elements you need in your itinerary. We pride ourselves on developing unique itineraries to meet the learning requirements for schools.
World Expeditions Schools is a division of one of the world's leading adventure travel companies, World Expeditions. We can develop itineraries in any destination that is offered by World Expeditions, which is to every continent on earth.
Use our simple Expedition Design Form to contact us with your requirements and an educational travel expert will be in touch to assist.
Since the 1980's, we have helped students from around the globe to experience the world's most exciting destinations, allowing them to travel, give, grow.
Together with students, we have completed over 400 Service Learning programs in developing countries. We will always continue to support causes including social justice, animal welfare, the environment and more.
Want to include service learning, your school curriculum and a physical challenge, or any of the above? Contact us and we can design a program fully catered for your students and budget.
Every school receives a detailed risk management plan that is guided by government advisories and the local partners we work with. We never compromise on the safety of your students to reduce the price of the program.
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Our educational travel experts are ready to help you tailor an itinerary or service learning project to suit your school’s needs and budget. Contact us today to receive a free consultation.