Arriving at Camp (13th Jan) - by Ellen

The next morning we headed to Hoedspruit (which, by the way Evan, is pronounced hoodsprayt, not hooedsprooitt), where our transfer to was waiting, ready to whisk us off into the wilds of the African Lowveld.
We waited by the Spectre Gate (which, was just a few kilometres up the road from the turn off to London) in the baking heat. Peering inside looking for any sign of wildlife, but in the midday heat nothing was stirring. We’d met our first course mate on the transfer; Lucy was an English gap year student, adventuring her time away before starting Uni. The other bus load of people arrived from Jo’burg, the gate was opened...and we were all locked inside.

There were 12 of us in total, plus our lead instructor Rob, his wife Karen and our other instructor Jaco. We students were a mixed bunch; with the 5 SA residents (Berno, Raymert, Roelien, Kathleen and Heman) being slightly outnumbered by the international crowd of the English (Lucy, Rob, Evan and myself), Dutch (Rob), French/Australian (Julia) and Argentinian (Antonella).

We were shown round the camp, allocated to tents in pairs and pointed in the direction of the indoor – and outdoor – bathrooms. The big canvas tents were pitched in the shade of the wooded area by the riverbed, along a path that, in the darkness of the night, seemed much longer than during the day. The main area of the camp comprised of four raised wooden decks with thatched roofs, two were sleeping decks (one above the kitchen), one was the meal and lecture deck and the other was Jaco’s house.

Introductions over, we broke the ice with an extensive game of volleyball in the dry, sandy riverbed near camp. Exhausted but excited, we settled down in our tents not long after dinner, falling asleep to the strange sounds of the night.