West2Wild – Day 6

Day 6 West2Wild road trip

We were up very early this morning as we had another 800km to drive today! We said good bye to Reghardt and Steph at Great Brak River and late afternoon we all arrived safely home in Cape Town – but not without a few scary moments as people drive like mad to get to their holiday destinations L .

Fortunately our Mercedes Vito crew bus have excellent safety features and we always felt safe and secure. During the YEP Selection Camp in Chateux d’Oex we spent time with the Mercedes-Benz team who taught us various environmentally friendly driving techniques and this came in very handy on this trip! The Blue Efficiency technology of the Vito really lived up to its reputation on fuel efficiency – even when carrying a full load of enthusiastic YEPs, their camping equipment and many boxes filled with donations!

I think the projects, West2Wild and Haga Haga were a great success as we certainly spread the Pangaea message where ever we were! We could have taken the “easy” route & just flew to East Londen, but by car-pooling we not only reduced our carbon footprint, we (as YEPs) got to know each other better & LEARNt from each other & the experts/places/people we visited, EXPLORED more of South Africa’s beautiful coastline and ACTed by spreading the Pangaea message!

During the West2Wild road trip we managed to support several Pangaea Projects such as :
· * The Shark Project ( Shark Lab visit / Shark Safety tips )
· * Clean-ups ( Nahoon Dam )
· * Green Wave Food Project ( distributing SASSI sustainable seafood pocket guides)
· * Presentations ( Shark Lab / Carmel Camp / Border Summer Camp )
· * Books4Buddies ( Life Community Centre, George )
· * Care2Share (Life Community Centre, George )
· * Environmental studies ( MBSA Coastal Centre)

I will never forget the smiles on the kids faces when we delivered all the books & clothes in the township, camping under the African stars with zebra & bushbucks roaming in the veld, all the fun & laughter, the sharing of our dreams for YEP – this made the many hours of driving certainly more than worthwhile.

All in all the past 9 days have been a great success with 6 YEPs exploring a total of 2 500km of the South African coastline and returning home with lots of enthusiasm for more ACTion !

A HUGE “Thank You” to the Pangaea Project & Mercedes-Benz SA for helping to make this possible!!