Kruger to Coast Adventure Tour

I am on the flight home after an unforgettable 4 weeks! I have made incredible memories, which I will treasure for a lifetime, making great friends along the way. After meeting my group at the airport we made our way to Ezulwini, Swaziland, where we were greeted with a warm welcome by Lidwala Lodge staff and other volunteers. Our adventure began on a safari in Kruger where we were lucky to spot the ‘Big 5’ on our first drive. My favourite sightings were being parked in the middle of a herd of 40 elephants and also a sighting of 2 male lions 2 metres from the truck! The following 2 weeks consisted of our volunteer placements; playing, feeding and teaching 3-6 year old children at local NCPs. I was fortunate to visit every NCP, so met hundreds of children, all of whom greeted me with hugs and smiles! For our final week we headed to Tofo Beach, Mozambique, with 27 degrees it was pure paradise with our lodge directly on the beach. From kayaking to swimming with dolphins to sunbathing, it was the perfect week to end on. I have absolutely loved learning about the culture and language, while experiencing a different way of life to mine in the UK. I am truly sad to leave and wish to continue my support with the charity. I want to thank everyone at All Out Africa and Lidwala Lodge for an amazing adventure! Kate Ratcliffe, UK, 18 years old.

We were volunteering at an NCP, which is a Neighbourhood Care Point, in Ezulwini in Swaziland. The NCP was a little classroom with a big playground, a kitchen and a storage room. There were 36 kids at our NCP, aged from 3 to 6. Every day we started by saying hi to everyone and learning the days of the week, the months of the year, the numbers, the colours and the shapes. Sometimes we would also do the alphabet. Almost every day we made some work for the children. Mostly it was letters or numbers. They had to trace the dots and write the letters properly. There were some children who found it very difficult to do, and we tried to help them as much as we could. Sometimes it was difficult to help the children because a lot of them don't speak English very well, and some of them don't understand anything you say. Fortunately we had a very nice teacher, teacher Gugu, she was always very helpful and she loves the children very much. After finishing their work, the children had to wash their hands and eat breakfast. After breakfast it was story time, which was always nice. We would read the story in English and then teacher Gugu would translate the story in to SiSwati. After the story reading, sometimes we sang songs. And after singing the songs we were finished and it was play time for the kids. This was a normal day at our NCP, but some days were more fun then others. When it was raining there were almost no kids, and when it was sunny there were a lot of kids so it was very busy. But every day did have its highlights. I really enjoyed my stay here and I now love the kids in Ezulwini. It was one of my best experiences and I am so glad I signed up for this program.

The first week we came to Swaziland we went to Kruger national park in South Africa. That was really exciting. We saw the big five, that includes the lion, the elephant, the buffalo, the leopard and the rhino. And of course we saw lots of impala's and birds. The guides who drove us in Kruger knew a lot about the animals and could tell us about that. They also see everything. When there was a small bird in tree they had no problem with spotting them. So it was really great to have them with us, otherwise we would not have seen as much as we saw now.

My program Kruger to coast was amazing. Working and traveling was well combined and gave me the opportunity to explore the country and get to know the people of Swaziland. We started with a trip to Kruger to see animals and the landscape. We had time to get to know the other people of the program. Back in Ezulwini valley I started my volunteering project. I could built a toilet for the neighborhood care point and doing sport lessons with the kids. For the weekend there were some offers for short trips. We went zip lining in Malolotja. After two weeks of working we drove to Tofo in Mozambique to relax. We did quad biking, ocean safari and kayaking. The guides always took very good care of us. Together with 13 other volunteers I had a great time, made many experiences, worked and relaxed and learned much about people, animals and time in Africa.

Looking back on my Kruger to coast trip I had a really enjoyable time for most of the time. I think this was largely due to the great care that the All Out Africa staff took to keep all of our group comfortable and happy. In particular the team of Bob, Melusi and Mpoh who covered our Kruger and Mozambique trips were fantastic - the food, the company, all of it was great. Lidwala as our main accomodation was also fantastic, great location and environment. If I were to comment to change anything it would be to inform us volunteers before arriving that we were signing up at a time when the schools would not be open - I think I expected to be working with the kids throughout the entire duration and found this a little disappointing. Other than that I think All Out Africa ran a fantastic trip and were very accomodating to all of us.