In July, 18 Bloxham Sixth Form students travelled to South Africa to learn about nature conservation and dive in the stunning waters of Sodwana
Many thanks to Robyn Coucher for her report on our Sixth Formers’ trip to South Africa, providing a real insight into the students’ time abroad:
On July 2nd a group of Bloxham students started their long journey to South Africa. It took a whole day of travelling (including an 11 hour flight) to arrive at our first destination in Kruger Park where we stayed in a private reserve called Balule. The following morning we woke up to see the camp in bright daylight, including the wide river alongside the camp where we could see hippos bathing in the waters and waterbuck on the banks. Then we were straight into our activities- these continued for the rest of the week and included game tracking and lectures on conservation and the animals we would see in the park. We also did walks and drives across the park, enabling us to see all the “Big Five” animals, elephants, lions, buffalo, rhino and leopards, which we actually saw by the camp. We were also fortunate enough to see impalas, bushbucks, nyalas and warthogs. By the end of the week we had picked up plenty of knowledge from both the lectures and the people we met there, including the staff and other school students who were also staying from Rotherham and Sweden. We were even able to identify tracks and what type of animals and birds were nearby just by using sounds. The most memorable nights of the first week were definitely bush camp, where we all went to a nearby camp with proper tents, and prepared classic African tales with our own spin, including one story involving Batman! The evening finished with roasting marshmallows on the fire and the staff telling us ghost stories under the stars. On our final night in Balule, we were divided into groups to do a presentation on a species of our choice, followed by a quiz on giraffe and a documentary on impalas. The next day we started on our journey to Sodwana for our second week.
After another long day of travelling to Sodwana, we made it to the camp and quickly got into our own tents for the night. On the first day we headed to the dive centre to be given kit and to finish our dive training, but soon we were all headed to the beach and climbing aboard the boats. The week was filled with boat rides and diving, and then lectures at camp. Due to the nature of the dives, which had to be planned according to the weather, the week was a lot more relaxed than in Balule. This meant we often had back-to-back lectures and some free time to get clean after a day at the beach. The weather treated us well throughout our stay, but we did lose out on one day’s worth of diving due to grey skies and rough seas. We made up for lost time elsewhere though and everyone enjoyed spotting different types of dolphins, humpback whales, turtles and manta rays over the course of the week.
This was a phenomenal trip for everyone and an experience no one will forget. It was a chance to build new relationships with people and see some truly incredible sights. We are all so grateful for the opportunities the trip gave us and it was definitely a once in a life time experience.’
To view full album of photos taken during the trip, please click here.