Written by Nadja and Tanguy

The morning started off nice and cold. It was nice finally sleeping in real beds. We had some breakfast, washed our bikes in the river and started biking. Today was supposed to be a bit shorter route, but we decided to extend it from 45 to 67 km. It seemed like we will be lucky and have some nice weather today, sunny and warm. We biked for 25 km going up one of the two hills we had in front of us today. On top of the hill we left our bikes and went hiking for a couple of hours. Our hiking destination was Bushmans Arch on top of one of the hills around. Apparently Bushmans sacrificed animals under that arch hoping to have luck in the hunt. 

We climbed up and near the top we lost the track we were going on so just started climbing random rocks trying to get to the arch. It was a great experience climbing up because the view was just amazing. We were surrounded by a lot of plants and green mountains which was a nice change from desert. After this nice walk with the beautiful landscape we came back to the place were we left our bikes. We had another  40 km to ride before we could reach the camp site and it was already 15 past 3 in the afternoon. We had to hurry up because the darkness is coming very quickly, and then it gets very cold. So we jumped on our bike and started biking with the energy that we had left. We biked amongst beautiful landscape through small villages. Biking on the sand made it more difficult because we couldn’t bike without falling down. Then came a big downhill which wasn’t easy because there were a lot of rocks that could easily make you fall down. After that big downhill came a huge uphill with took us a long time to bike.

Only Nora managed to make the all climb without getting off her bike. Arriving to the top of the mountain we couldn’t even stand on our bike, but we managed to find a little bit of power that we had left to ride the 5 last kilometres to reach the camp site. Finally we made it to the camp and it was already getting dark. We could eat some nice warm 'Trek'n Eat next  to camp fire, before we could sleep in our tents, that were still wet from the last night.

“Nature is the mother that feeds us” (Mike Horn) because of that we should not destroy nature and protect it. This is the message that we want to transmit  to the 20 kids of our EcoCamp here at the Shamwari Game Reserve.

Sadly there is a lot of poaching in South Africa, every day poachers kill Rhinos only for the horn, Lions for their bones, Elephants for their tusks and many other animals for either their skin, horn or meat. It is very important that everyone becomes aware of this situation and so can hopefully stop it. This morning the kids got some lessons about poaching and after that they had to find some signs of poaching in the nature. They all seemed to be very interested and the message anti-poaching definitely came across.

To get the kids closer to nature they had to prepare some presentations about different animals and then had to present their animal during a Game Drive in front of everyone. We could see that some were really passionate to present their animal. At the end we had presentations about lions, zebras, elephants, hippos and other animals.

After 2 and a half days we can see that the Ecocamp is a full success and that the kids start to understand how important it is to protect nature.
 

Written by Laura and Nada

Our day started nice and peaceful, comfortable sailing without anybody getting seasick. We had some amazing food on board, Kate and Oliver made pizza for us which we all enjoyed very much. Today was relaxing day – we were packing our stuff and looking forward to the biking trip. Next 4 days we will spend biking and exploring the unique nature of Cedeberg mountains. We were told that it will be an exhausting trip through the sand which will push us to our limits.

Both happy and a bit scared we arrived at our camping spot for the night. After a great dinner by the lake we got our equipment for the next days. Now it’s time for us to get some sleep for exhausting days ahead of us.
 

Written by Robert

I chose to give my Wenger knife to Ant, our river guide on the rafting section of the expedition. He works for Gravity Adventures based out of Cape Town and has been guiding for eight years. Ant loves the outdoors. He has traveled to 54 countries but keeps returning to this remote area of South Africa because he loves it so much. He picked us up in Pofadder and drove us to his camp on the Orange River. After helping us get set up that evening, we paddled off down the river the following morning. We ran exciting rapids, spotted all kinds of wildlife, and learned tons about the local environment. Throughout our two days on the river, Ant expertly guided us through tough rapids. He ensured we were safe and had fun at every bend. Ant was very grateful to receive the Wenger knife and I’m sure he will put it to great use.

Blog written by Ollie and Nora

We had an early morning start waking up to a light drizzle, all dressed up in new gear ready fort he expected ride ahead. The normal breakfast then we were quickly assigned our bike and ordered to take a short spin around the camp sight to get a feel of them. As Mike arrived we headed out on the start of a muddy trail.

Thankfully today we had no serious wipe out aside from the almost casualty. Ollie spun out and holding on for dear life managed to regain control in the nick of time. Coming from the desert we were all stunned to see the lush vegetation and rock formations all around us. However due to the conditions of rain and cold weather we ended up pumping our bikes through thick muddy dirt! Our path took us through the valleys of the Cederberg wilderness. Our 60 kilometre cycle left the group widely spread out and even the strongest of us are now suffering from severe cramps all up and down our legs.

The top priority once we arrived in at the camp sight was getting warm and luckily the showers were waiting for us with warm water. In one shower we squeezed in 6 people all hugging each other still with all our cycling gear on, already wet from the rain outside.

Now we sign off and huddle around the fire chomping down on our glorious Trek`n eat.
 

Pangaea moors in Saldanha, as the Young Explorers and Mike head off on their overland cycling trip through the Cederbergs. In just a few days, the team will be reunited once again with the boat and will start their trip to Cape Town.

Our day started nice and peaceful, comfortable sailing without anybody getting seasick. We had some amazing food on board, Kate and Oliver made pizza for us which we all enjoyed very much. Today was relaxing day – we were packing our stuff and looking forward to the biking trip.

The next 4 days we will spend biking and exploring the unique nature of Cedeberg mountains. We were told that it will be an exhausting trip through the sand which will push us to our limits.

Both happy and a bit scared we arrived at our camping spot for the night. After a great dinner by the lake we got our equipment for the next days. Now it’s time for us to get some sleep for exhausting days ahead of us.
 

The first challenge of the day was a portage. The river dropped down into a gorge, so we jumped out, hauled the boats to the cliff edge and prepared to abseil them down. Ant, our guide, lowered the boats and then we formed a chain to pass them into the water. I think he was quite impressed at how we worked together to complete the process so quickly and efficiently. The whole trip has been full of valuable lessons on working together, communicating effectively, trusting each other, reading the situation and planning ahead!

The next challenge the river threw at us required us to use the skills we’d been honing so far, and remember those lessons. Big Bunny; the swiftest, deadliest rapid of the river. We all climbed the cliff beside the river to assess what lay before us. The water ran wildly, rocks and waves forming dangerous obstacles which we had to plan a route through, so that once we were in the water and could no longer see what was coming and had little time to react, we could come through without ending up in the water! Ant showed us the route and then it was our turn. The waves and current challenged our well laid plans, but other than a few 360s, we came through beautifully and no one capsized, although everyone was very wet and Ant had expected that we were going to swim!

The rest of the paddling was quite easy and we finished much sooner than expected, so some people swam a bit and then the Young Explorers climbed up a rocky mountain to get a photo of us on top. It was a decent scramble to get up, and by the colour and shape of the rocks we could see how high the river rose when flooded – it was so high it was hard to comprehend. It also brought home how low the river is now: due to irrigation pressure the river runs at only half its natural level.

At the end we met two local shepherds and Nadja and Seb gave their Wenger Swiss Army Knives to them which made them very happy. And now it’s back to PANGAEA for our next adventure and hopefully calmer waters!