Day Five: Super Adventure Park, Lake Swadini, Endangerered Species Sanctuary

Ladies and Gentlemen.... Fear not, the blog is back.

As some of you may have know, as we travelled through the Mpumulanga and Kwazulu-Natal regions, we experienced some insurmountable technical issues; put simply, no internet connection, no blog!

However, can I take this opportunity to quash a few rumours fizzing round the electronic ether that have been cited as reasons for RHS's 'blogging silence':

1) Mr Mann did not get eaten by a hippo, causing us to be hounded out of Kruger National Park; furthermore, the rumour that Mr Mann devoured a hippo, when he realised he'd forgotten his lunch, is similarly untrue.

2) We did not re-enact the famous battle of Rourke's Drift of 1879, as seen in the film 'Zulu'; indeed, the heavily outnumbered staff were not forced to retreat onto a coach, defend themselves with only red pens, as a marauding horde of rampaging students, armed with only Jack Wills sweaters, swarmed round outside, seeking retribution against the school rules.

3) Miss Smith did not hop over the border into Swaziland in an attempt to become King Mswati's fifteenth wife, as a small herd of goats were shipped back to Warrington...

4) Mr Jones did not dress up as Elton John, bring a grand piano into Kruger Park and ask a baboon to hold up a lion cub on a rocky promontory, in an attempt to recreate the opening number of the 'Lion King'....

5) I have not been indulging in any traditional Zulu remedies that could have hindered my faculties, or indeed, my perception of reality.

And so, we start where we left off - the adventure continues

Having enjoyed similar activities to date, the group split off into two: the adrenaline junkies bounded off for some white-water rafting and and a 100km p/h zip-wire, while those of a slightly more serene disposition, went to visit  a number of wildlife sanctuaries.

This started with a boat-trip across Lake Swadini to visit an impressive waterfall, over 200m high. While on the boat, much of the local African wildlife was spotted, including a bathing bloat of hippos and a rather large crocodile sun-bathing at the water's edge, much to the group's excitement.

                                    

RHS' intrepid sailors journey deep into the heart of Lake Swadini

A panaormic shot of Lake Swadini.

Shortly after the group disembarked onto dry land, we visited the 'Moholoholo Endangered Species' centre, where we were treated to a very informative and interactive introduction into the plight of some of Africa's beautiful mammals and birds. The vast majority of the animals at the centre, were uable to return to the wild as they had either been injured, suffered at the hands of human cruelty, or lost their natural habitat to urbanisation. Students had the opportunity to encounter eagles up close, have vultures fly to their outstreched arms and stroke a very friendly cheetah, as well as seeing leopards leap for meat and lions bathe in the mid-day sun. 

To cap this off, students strolled through a baby rhino enclosure, as the little monster charged around, narrowly missing Mr Mann; no-one was completly sure who would have come off worst...

Sophie Rennison takes some shade under the wingspan of a whiteheaded vulture

Sam Eminson and Harriet Pope practise their arithmetic counting cheetah spots.

Finally the cheetah experience continued with a visit to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species centre which hosts the largest cheetah breeding programme in South Africa. A convoy of four ten-seater safari vehicles toured the establishment, viewing many of the seventy-plus cheetahs, lions and wild dogs. 

That evening, we ate together at Kuka Restaurant with both rafters and wildlife fanatics exchaging stories in the African twilight. Despite initial concerns, the white-water adventure had been an astonishing success, parallelled by the natural world experience.

Tomorrow, we will all encounter the real thing, with an early start at Kruger National Park!

Roaarrrr...