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Itinerary - Gap-Year-Teaching-South-Africa - Africa and Asia Venture
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Itinerary - Gap-Year-Teaching-South-Africa - Africa and Asia Venture
Itinerary
You and your group will fly from Heathrow to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, where you will catch a connecting flight to OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. Here we will meet you and help you with the internal transfer to your flight southwards to Bloemfontein. Kate Groch, our AV representative, will meet you there and take you on the 2-hour drive to Philippolis, where you will be living for the next 3 months.
The orientation course will take place over the next 3 days a couple of minutes walk away from your house and cover the following:
- History, culture and customs of the Republic of South Africa (RSA)
- Safety, health and security
- Teaching techniques, lesson planning and practice
- Education system in RSA
- Basic Afrikaans (the main language of the area, apart from English)
You will also be able to settle into your house and visit all 5 schools in the surrounding area, at least 2 of which you will be working in yourself - so your time will be well spent!
Your entire group will share the house, which is located in the main part of the town, on a quiet road about a 3 minutes walk to the local shops/bank/restaurant. It is actually 2 houses, linked by an internal door and with a spacious, private back yard/braai area. Each house has a sitting room, a kitchen, a bathroom/loo and 2 double bedrooms, so you will have plenty of space. The water is fine to drink from the tap and there is no shortage of electricity, except for the daily 2-hour cuts suffered across the whole country, which you will soon get used to!
Your group will split up into twos or threes for working purposes. You will spend about 3 months teaching and your daily programme is likely to see you working with primary school children in the mornings and getting involved with the extramural activities, such as sport, music, art and drama, as well as teaching in the High School in the afternoons. Late afternoons will be spent working with the "Matrics" - the A Level equivalent age group in RSA. There will be homework to set and marking to do. You can teach in pairs or on your own - it's up to you and how confident you feel. You should have at least 15 forty-minute academic and PE/games lessons a week.
At weekends and on public holidays you will be able to do whatever you want with the other AVs. Some weekends you may want to do a bit of painting/building work at your schools or organise a sports event; and on others, South Africa awaits! The Orange/Xhariep River is on your doorstep and towns such as Ladysmith and Bloemfontein only a couple of hours' drive away. We will probably arrange an opportunity for you to visit Cape Town over an extended long weekend as well. This will allow you to at consider the stunning Wild Coast route when it's time for your independent travel, as you will at least have spent some time in Cape Town already and won't necessarily feel the need to see it twice.
At about the 2-month point, we will get you into Lesotho for some pony trekking over a long weekend. This will also enable you to extend your Visitor's Pass when you re-enter RSA in a very painless (but saddle-sore?) way. Finally, your 3-month school attachments will come to an end and your sadness will only be eased by the 4 weeks of safari and travel that await you!
Your safari will take place straight after you finish teaching. This is because RSA is so vast that you really need time to get around. Coming back over roads you have already travelled to meet up and do a safari would be a big frustration for you.
We plan to put you onto the great Orange/Xhariep River for 3 days and nights of canoeing and white-water-rafting. Then, we will get you down south and into the beautiful Kariega Game Reserve, part of the Greater Addo National Park. Here you will spend 2 nights and some very full days game viewing and seeing some of RSA's world famous wildlife - the Big Five are all there! The accommodation in Kariega is extremely luxurious and you will love the comfort your lodge will provide at the end of a hot, dusty game drive - hot showers, clean linen, spectacular views and the night sounds of bushveld Africa to get you off to sleep.
Then it's off a little further south onto the beginning of the Garden Route, where we will put you up in Port Elizabeth for the night. This will leave you well placed to begin 3 weeks of independent travel and to pick up the Baz-Bus (a safe bus company that allows you to hop on/off anywhere on its route and delivers you to safe hostels every night).
This will be a tough choice for you as you head off in your groups - east or west? Mmmm...!
East. The Wild Coast, considered by many to be the most beautiful and unspoilt coastline in the world, offers the additional bonus of ever-improving weather (and suntans!) the further east and north you travel. This is rugged, virgin territory much like it was when the world began - and there aren't many places like that to see. What about some surfing lessons on the Indian Ocean coastline before heading on to the Zulu homelands and battlefields of the Boer War, and on up to the Kruger National Park?
West. But then, we suspect you will find it difficult to avoid visiting at least some of the Garden Route. Jeffries Bay (best surfing in the world?), Plettenberg Bay (whales, great whites, dolphins?), Mossel Bay (sportsman's and waters sport enthusiast's paradise?), and Wilderness (rivers, lakes, endless golden beaches and adventure training capital of the Garden Route) - all provide serious temptation and must be seen.
Either choice will see you getting yourself back to Johannesburg, where you will have been given an address to stay at overnight. Our representative there will get you to the airport the following evening for your flight home. If you are staying on a bit longer in Africa, that's fine, because "Once an AV, always an AV!"
Don't underestimate the reverse culture shock of returning home - it is real and can be quite a surprise! But most AVs fall in love with Africa and come back again...and again!
