We had 23 people on the Camp, of which 19 were our teenagers and 4 were carers. A few of the teens are from Mokopane (a township in the north western parts of Pretoria), the rest are from the City, and I selected some of the most disadvantaged kids in our groups who don’t even have the privilege of dstv to watch animal planet or such. This camp was a very good thing for them and for their dreams in life, but they were very shocked that there aren’t a lot of South African clients for wild life tourism, but they also soon learnt how much foreign currency tourism brings into the Country.

The buses were here on time and we all received a friendly briefing about the length of our travel and what to expect when we arrive from Greg, Carina, Jonas, and Sean just before we left our Campus in Sunnyside. Both buses had fruits, snacks, and water so the kids and we were quite comfortable and well fed. We arrived 3 hours and 30 minutes later, the tour guides showed us how to set up our tents, and setting up took a few minutes and once we were settled we prepared lunch and ate, followed by a brief talk from Greg and Sean about what was next. We were in great hands for real, we all arrived back on time, safe, and well fed. I have been receiving WhatsApp messages from the kids sending their thank you to Sunway Safari. I wanted to wait for their personally written letters so that I can send them, but I will send those later when I have received all of them.
Each day we prepared our own breakfast, lunch, and dinner in teams. And we had game drives where the kids were taught about all types of Animals we found there. Most of the kids said they see these animals on television and it was quite interesting to learn about them in detail, like what they eat, their habitat, and of course to see them live was epic for everyone, especially seeing the big 5. Here are few WhatsApp messages I got from the kids about the camp.

This is what Boipelo had to say: “It was very interesting to hear about the waterbuck and how when you see it, you must just know that there is water close by. And I also learnt how to identify a white Rhino from a black Rhino, and I saw the biggest flying bird in the world. I learnt about the impact of pollution, what causes El Nino, I will never take littering lightly again. The food was really great, and the Sunway Safari team is really awesome, they know so much about animals. I have so many stories to tell my parents and all my friends at School”.

And Kgothatso had this to say: “I have such great passion to manage a hotel but I did not know how to start and where to start, and after a talk with Aubrey on Saturday I was very inspired. I know now that starting at the bottom does not mean that I will not make it to management, during the School holidays I work as a waitress for some extra money, but the biggest reason is because I love this field. I was not so sure about how many opportunities there were in tourism, but I now I am well informed”
Kgotso: “Friday night the Sunway Safari people gave a very powerful talk about their work, and how working in a field that you are passionate about is useful because the work does not drain the life out of you, it energizes you. I was studying Public relations, just because I wanted to please everybody but it was killing me. Now I have the courage to talk to my mother about what I really want to study, what really gives me life, Drama and film making. Greg really inspired me with his passion for tourism, his life story gave me a lot of courage”.

Tshupo: “I think the government should invest more in tourism, I never knew that we have so many tourists coming to South Africa just to see animals. I want to protect Rhinos, I want to prevent this heartless and misinformed crime. This camp was more than a luxury to me, it was very educational to me, and emotional here and there. I learnt so much from listening to Sean, he’s very motivational and funny”.

Everyone had a lot to say and they have been praising your team, they have such complimentary personalities and they are good with people. I am very grateful for the lessons learnt and for giving our City teenagers one of the best weekends of their lives, they had fun and they were inspired, and we all had no idea how broad tourism is. All in all we were all excited about the tour, and this is an experience I believe all City kids must have this kind of experience. Thank you Sunway Safari