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South Africa Itinerary - Africa and Asia Venture

South Africa Itinerary

GETTING THERE

You and your group will fly from Heathrow 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 two hour drive to Philippolis, where you will be living for the next three months.

BRIEFING AND ORIENTATION

The orientation course will take place over the next three 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 five schools in the surrounding area, at least two of which you will be working in yourself - so your time will be well spent!

YOUR NEW HOME

Your entire group will share the house, which is located in the main part of the town, on a quiet road about a three minute walk to the local shops/bank/restaurant. It is actually two 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 two double bedrooms, so you will have plenty of space. The water is fine to drink from the tap but electricity is intermittent at best, there is a daily two hour power cut suffered across the whole country, which you will soon get used to!

THE PROJECT

You will spend about 10 weeks (over two terms) sports coaching & teaching at your schools or local Youth Centre in Philippolis. Your daily programme is likely to see you volunteer teaching at the schools in the mornings and sports coaching in the afternoons at the Youth Centre's Soccer Clinic with local children. You will have the opportunity to get involved with the extramural activities, such as dance, art and helping with school work.

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. After the safari at the end of Term 1, you will have an opportunity to travel along the world-famous Garden Route and to visit Cape Town. 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.

 

SAFARI

Your safari will take place immediately after Term 1. A chance for your safari and some sightseeing will not only be brilliant fun but will give you even more freedom during your independent travel period at the end. From the plains of the Karoo, you will head east into the mountainous Malealea Region of Lesotho for three days of pony trekking. Lesotho is empty, rugged and staggeringly beautiful and seeing it on horseback is an unbeatable experience to look forward to. This will also enable you to extend your South African visa when you re-enter RSA in a very painless (but saddle-sore?) way. We will then get you down south into the famous Addo Elephant Park, home to 450 elephant as well as rhino, buffalo and a host of other extraordinary animals. You will love your wildlife experience - not only will you learn loads about the bushveld, its flora and fauna, but also you will have great fun around the campfire at night with the sounds of bushveld Africa to send you off to sleep.... Your comfortable vehicle will also provide a great contrast to the vigorous experience of Lesotho AND enable you to get over any lingering aches and pains!

Then it's off, a little further south, to the stunning Wild Coast for your two-day surf camp in Chintsa. Buccaneers, your home for the next two nights, is one of South Africa's most renowned backpackers and it simply rocks! Apart from that, the beaches are beautiful and amazingly empty, the sea really warm and the waves some of the world's best surfing breakers. Not only will you find learning to surf on modern lightweight surfboards a piece of cake, but we doubt that you will want to leave this idyllic spot... but then for the next week you are free to travel wherever you want, so if you want to stay put it's up to you!

 

If you do want to continue exploring, you couldn't be better placed - the coastlines east and west from Chintsa are equally stunning. Buccaneers is one of the pick up points for 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). We reckon you ought to head along the Garden Route for a few days, ending up in Cape Town over the Easter weekend to see for yourselves if it really is the most beautiful city on earth. April is autumn in South Africa and a fine month to explore Cape Town after the summer crowds have departed and before the winter rains set in. You'll have a ball lazing on stunning beaches, climbing Table Mountain, visiting Cape Point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans collide, and partying in cool and buzzing nightspots. Then you must get yourselves back to Philippolis for a final month sports coaching & teaching at your schools & Youth Centre before saying a final "goodbye" and heading off on more independent travel.

 

INDEPENDENT TRAVEL

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 Kruger National Park?

West. But then, we suspect you will find it difficult to avoid visiting at least some of the Garden Route again. Jeffries Bay (best surfing in the world?), Plettenberg Bay (whales, great whites, dolphins?), Mossel Bay (sportsmen and water sports 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

HOME

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!

 

 

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