Safari straight up? All in the first week of the Southern Africa Combo

COUNTRY: Southern Africa (Swaziland, Mozambique & South Africa)
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Danielle Edwards

Here we are; a week and a half into our placement already. It feels like the time has flown but at the same time like we have known (not only) each other for ages, but the people that we have met from the other countries who are staying and working with the four of us. There are people from England, Holland, Sweden and Australia (of course) who have travelled to Swaziland to do the same placement as us although, the majority of them are only here for anywhere between 4-8 weeks.

When we arrived at Lidwala lodge (the place where we will be staying whilst in Swaziland), the environment felt pretty comfortable after we had unpacked and got settled in. The afternoon was spent just meeting all of the other volunteers arriving and getting to know who we were going to be spending our time with in not only Swaziland, but in Kruger and Mozambique also.

Tuesday was orientation day, where we got to meet all of the other volunteers that will be helping us with our journeys during the placement and we also got informed about Swaziland culture, history, statistics and lifestyle. We also had a briefing about the operations while we will be in Kruger Park as we were leaving the next morning. The afternoon of Orientation day was spent on a tour of the Swaziland museum, where we learned in more detail about the Swazi culture and the variety of festivals that they hold each year.

Following the museum was a lengthy stroll to a village where our staff member ‘Beggy’ lived. He showed us around the village and we got too properly for the first time the condition in which the majority of local people in Swaziland live. Seeing huts made from sticks, mud, bricks, twigs, dirt, cow poo and concrete (if they were more fortunate), was the first really obvious point of the culture contrast between here and back at home.



While we were walking through we received stares from some and warm greetings from others. There were groups of children who would run in packs to us and jump, hug, touch and play with us volunteers while we walked through. This was our first interaction with the children, so to see them so happy to see was really made us feel special. They were acting as if we were huge celebrities, and a lot of them were calling us ‘Teacher’, because the only white people that they interact with are volunteers who work in the schools and NCP’s (Neighbourhood Care Point’s). We had a meal prepared for us by some of the local villages for dinner and it was really good to try some traditional Swazi food.

Wednesday morning is when we left for Kruger National Park for our 5 day safari! We went in two separate vans with our tour guides, Bob and Psychology. As soon as we drove into Kruger Park we started seeing animals. Impala’s were the most common (which are animals that look like deer’s), therefore we kept referring to them as Bambi’s. It was only like 10 minutes into the drive when we started seeing less common animals such as giraffes and white rhino’s. Seeing these animals on the side of the road is when it started to sink in that we were in a Wildlife Game Reserve and that we were about to spend the next 5 days seeing so many amazing animals in person.

All of the drives that we took whilst in Kruger were so much fun. We were all trying to spot animals before each other and it was our mission to see not only the ‘Big 5’ but also the ‘Super Seven’. During the stay we went on a night safari drive with a Park ranger in an open safari truck which was awesome but also freezing cold! We used spotlights to see the animals after the sun had set. Along the drive we managed to find ourselves in the middle of a huge herd of buffalo’s; waiting for a herd of elephants to cross the road in front of us and also we saw our first lion only 5 meters from the side of the road! Another part of Kruger was an early morning bush walk, where we would walk through a certain area of Kruger Park with armed rangers leading the way.

We learned about so many different animals and also learnt a lot about each other during our time in Kruger Park. On Sunday morning we travelled back to the lodge in Swaziland and got all of our things
sorted out after the adventurous week that we had just encountered. By Sunday night, all the volunteers at the lodge were all getting along superbly; it felt like we had all known each other for much longer than one week.



Tomorrow is our first day of Project work where we go to our allocated NCP’s and start interacting and teaching the children. There are mixed expectations of what this experience is going to be like, but we can tell that it is going to be a life changing experience!