"Food glorious food", hippos, crocs ... and whiskey!

A South African 'GIVE WAY' sign!

Diary entry for August 1st from Team Mandela's: Joe G; Joe F; Joe W, Andrew I & Tom R-G

Everyone arose at around 6:30am, followed by a prepared meal including muffins and a tasteful porridge that was fully digested by every team member. The team split from camp at approximately 8:15am and headed towards the Town of St Lucia, the trip saw a lot of sleep from passengers with the journey lasting an hour and a half. We arrived at the docks at 9:45am and boarded the boat. We set off from the dock at 10:00 with the current pushing us down the estuary, along the way we saw several pods of hippos and a croc ... all the hippos stayed under water because of the wind chill.

Then we walked around some shops for an hour buying goods and essentials, while meeting afterwards at SPAR at 1.00pm. We then ventured down the road towards the outskirts of St. Lucia stopping at an animal nature reserve for lunch. Izzy met us with a bunch of food as we sat in the sun.

Our tour guide Justin then arrived and gave a short briefing of what to expect on our walking trail. Instructing us to keep in an orderly single file and keep our voices at a minimum. We then set off soon after and were instantly surrounded by a warm, strong wind. The wind seemed to contribute towards how many animals we were able to see. We saw a heard of wildebeest that instantly started running as soon as we got within 400 meters of them. Then a few minutes later we were surrounded by zebras that were in small groups called herds. Finally we saw some warthogs, then walked on back to the minibus. On the minibus we were able to see a few villages that seemed lively. We arrived back at camp then remembered that we were going to go up to the lodge and have a delicious dinner. After the dinner we thanked Issy for the amazing food we had and Tommy for being a great guide. They were delighted as they had a bottle of whiskey to share. We then went back to camp to sit around the camp fire then finally make are way to bed.

The trip has been great so far and we are all looking forward to sleeping in the bush tonight.

"Hope everyone at home is having a great time, we all miss you loads and can’t wait to see you all!"