Today began quite out of the ordinary for the delegates with “The Silent Chef”.  Each team was provided with ingredients and had to prepare their breakfast, the only snag being that they had to do this without saying a single word to each other.  Now, as you can imagine this was rather entertaining watching 42 very vocal youngsters trying to get this together.  Hunger was the driving force and soon alternative methods of communication were “discovered” and tantalizing wafts of cooking food filled the morning air – even the monkeys enjoyed it!

Bodies refuelled and spirits lifted after time spent reflecting on the preceding days, it was out into the bush on an invigorating nature appreciation walk.  Topics covered during the bush walk included aspects such as ecological principles, soil erosion and bushcraft, to mention but a few.  Animals seen included klipspringer, scrub hare and Jamison’s red rock rabbit, rock hyrax, eland and a variety of birds.  A chorus of frog calls was ever present as the trail followed the Klein Olifant’s river.  They walked through grassland, marshy/wetland areas, up and down hills, hopped over boulders and climbed over rocks, all the time discovering the amazing animal and insect life around them.  Even the variety of grasses impressed and led to some serious discussion.  . The children had a wonderful time exploring the natural environment. Comments such as “awesome”, “cool” and “amazing” summed up their appreciation of the natural bush environment.  After a two to three hour walk in the bush, Yuka Matsubara from Japan spoke for all - “The hike was great.  I learned so much more about the environment in that short time than reading text books.”

The activity for tonight was a Night Orienteering course in the bush, met with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.  Activities were just under way when a thunderstorm bringing lightening and rain moved in and put an end to this as one and all returned to camp somewhat drenched. The delegates were disappointed but cheered up when assured that the Night Orienteering will be done later during the programme.  After hot chocolate it was off to bed and a well deserved sleep after a busy and active second day at Botshabelo.