Members' Blog

We caught up with Elin Lewis from Montgomery YFC to hear all about the South Africa trip!

I have never had 12 days full of so much fun, and never before has a series of 12 days been so unforgettable! South Africa, Cape Town, Kruger National Park, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Victoria Falls, Chobe, Botswana – just some of the sights I was lucky enough to see on a 12 day trip to South Africa with YFC Wales .

From the 19^th-31^st August, myself and 19 other Wales YFC members set our sights on the trip of a lifetime. From the moment we landed in the country I knew this was going to be a busy and fun filled trip. While half of the new gang walked up table top mountain to get the view of a life time, the rest of us opted for a relaxed bike ride along the sea front of cape town, sampling the local delicacies at every stop! The remainder of our time in Cape Town consisted of lots of food, socialising and relaxing! Whilst in Cape town we also visited some hard-hitting parts of the country, with a tour around the township, something never to be forgotten, namely the slums people lived in and the high spirits they still carried. We were also fortunate enough to visit the Amy Foundation, a charity which supported young black people to gain skills to start their own businesses or go out to get jobs, where otherwise they may end up in very different situations. The first animal sighting we had in South Africa, and maybe one we really didn’t expect was a colony of penguins at boulders beach – talk about a cuteness overload!! And what better way to round off our time in Cape Town than visit a vineyard and taste their famous wine, with a view even more delicious than the liquid in the glass.

The next stop of our trip was Kruger National Park, here we arrived at our lodge where, casually, there were zebra’s and baboons roaming around – fancy waking up to a knock on your door by a baboon!! Some of us really had to watch our sandwiches from not being stolen whilst relaxing in the pool! The arrival at Kruger National Park meant the beginning of the Safari, this meant 5am starts to get to the park at the best time to see the animals. If it wasn’t a morning game drive it was a sunset one and searching for animals in the dark, in Kruger we were lucky enough to see so many varieties of birds, a huge number of elephants, zebra’s, impala’s, kudu’s, buffalo’s, giraffes and so many more! Yes, the binoculars were handy sometimes, but other times you just couldn’t believe how close these wild animals were getting! We rounded off our time in Kruger with a talk and tour with an anti-poaching hunter, and what an eye-opening experience that was!

For the third part of our trip, we fluttered on the boarder of Zambia and Zimbabwe and little did we know we were moving further away from a relaxed time to an adrenaline filled 2 days! We started off easy with a walk along Victoria Falls, and all I can say is if you are ever lucky enough to visit, please take your rain coat! After visiting, you really can see why it is one of the wonders of the world, just breath taking. That night, in true YFC style we found a booze cruise with a difference, we were able to get up close to crocs, hippos and elephants in the water! With sore heads in the morning, this is where the adrenaline activities kicked in, white water rafting, helicopter rides, bungee jumping, zip lines and bridge swings! Not for those with weak stomachs. Attending a boma dinner is how we finished off our time here, a traditional African dinner with lots of meat, drums, and dancing!

We finished our trip in Chobe, Botswana. Although a short stay, it may be one of the highlights of the trip for me. To start we went on a game drive through the park. And we were able to see lions up close eating their prey, elephants so close we could touch them, very inquisitive giraffes, and comical monkeys! If you picture the first scene in the Lion King, we saw it in real life, just WAW!! To top this off we then camped out in the wild, no security fences, just us, our tents and whatever lurked in the bushes behind. Animals roaring in the background throughout the night sent shivers down your spine.

Unfortunately waking up in the morning meant the end of our time in South Africa and time to start our long trip back home. This is only a glimpse of what we got up to, and I still can’t get my head around everything we experienced in out 12 days travelling, we are so lucky! We have all made friends for life, already dates in the diary for reunions! I please just urge anyone reading this that hasn’t tried for a Wales YFC to do so this year, you won’t regret it! And those that have already been on a YFC trip know that this is the truth!

What an experience! What 2 weeks! What memories!