September 25, 2012

Today we had another very early 5 am wake up call, however, the scenery awaiting us was very different. We woke up underneath the bright African stars and witnessed the beautiful sunrise. That night we had all decided to sleep outside, and although it was a little chilly it was all worth it. After eating a packed breakfast in the bus, we headed to the Magoebaskloof Adventure Camp for a day packed with excitement.

We began our day with a canopy tour over the beautiful mountain waterfalls. This consisted of 11 zip lines reaching a maximum height of 50 meters above the ground. I was going to have to face one of my greatest fears to be able to finish the tour. The tour started off with two practice zip lines, only about six meters high to give the zip liner a little confidence but then the third one comes with a shock. The zip line goes from six meters high to about 30 meters! Let’s just say it didn’t take very long for the little tears to roll down my face! After realizing I could get through that zip line I started to calm down and actually enjoy the ride. In the end I was very happy I decided to do the canopy tour and I was very amazed by the beautiful views you could actually see when looking down from 50 meters above!

The second activity was another great experience. We were about to take on a two-hour tubing ride down the river. Being Canadian, I figured when the South Africans said “the water is quite cold,” it wasn’t actually going to be very cold. There was no way it could compare to spring swimming in Lac Brome. My body was shocked when it felt the 12-degree water! Paddling hard was the only way to stay warm. This turned out to be actually very amusing since it didn’t only involve floating in a tube down the river, but actually jumping off cliffs and sliding down rapids. It was a long but very exciting day, and it ended with a nice warm dinner awaiting us at the Mashutti lodge.

So far we have had a wonderful trip and cannot wait for the days ahead! — Melanie Allan ’13