A Fun Day at the Beach and a Wild Ride?!

     

Me and the kids practicing our surfer moves.

        This weekend, my new Dreamcatcher friends and I rode the waves at Stilbaais public beach! The first thing we did when all the kids got there was run to the rocks, we had to be careful as we walked through the slippery rocks but the trouble was worth it when we each got our loose stones and placed them back on the walls of the ancient fish traps. The walls that are standing are more than 3,000 years old! We decided to switch things up and attempted beach volleyball instead of playing soccer. It was a new game for most of the kids but they caught on quickly and we all had a blast.  Some of us were more interested in the sea shells than the water. We had to be careful in picking up the shells because they were perfect homes for hermit crabs! One of my favorite parts of the trip was jumping and crashing into the waves, and then letting them push us back to shore. There were lots of jellyfish we had to avoid, most of them were dried up on the beach, but they can still sting you if you're not cautious about where you step! At the end of the day, we snacked on fruit and yogurt. Most of us were exhausted from the sun and the day's excursion. One thing we could all agree on was that it was a fun day at the beach.

Cheetah blocking our path!

        Monday was my off day, and I got to go on a safari! It was amazing seeing all the animals up close, and in a place where they had tuns of acres of land to roam freely. Our tour guide told us there was usually a small chance that we would get to see the lions or cheetahs, but because of the cloudy weather, our chances were higher... Who knew I would be grateful for a rainy day? Almost right away we saw a lion, at first, he was far away but he ended up coming closer. Lions are very social animals, and he was probably trying to track the scent of his other friend. One cheetah that we spotted ended up lying down right in the middle of the road! They were my favorite of all the animals we saw. We also got to see a small herd of elephants, which can live up to 80 years old, they had one baby with them who was only ten, she was smaller for her age because when she was a baby she had to be fed by the rescuers and didn't get all the nutrients her mother would have been able to provide. We saw lots and lots of buffalo and antelope, they are beautiful and very fast! I met a lot of people from all around the world and they all seemed very interested in Dreamcatcher and the volunteer work I was doing. I was glad to be an ambassador for the nonprofit organization, and I hope this blog will help raise awareness, for the wonderful work they are doing.