from Tsitsikamma to the beach...

We had a spectacular hike through the fynbos biome in Tsitsikamma National Park. The girls now approach hiking days of 13+ kilometers with no difficulty. We hiked into our first hut, late in the afternoon to be greeted by a wonderful natural swimming hole. The girls explored this by sliding on the slippery rocks and testing their mettle by fully submerging into the cold, mountain pool of water. You could hear shrieks and laughter rising up out of the little canyon. Our second day out greeted us with misty cloud cover. It was the perfect weather, as the fynbos biome is characterized by beautiful varieties of shrubs and low lying plants and not much shade from the sun. We were blessed to see hundreds of the 8,600 species native to the Fynbos biome in bloom. The best sighting of the day, was South Africa's token flower, the King Protea. Photographed with drops of misty rain on the outside, it was a highlight. We greeted the truck again after a 11.5 kilometer hike out and hit the road for our next adventure. Other highlights included science and travel journalism classes on the trail, smores, cooking dinner over an open fire and evening games. What's next for these adventurous students? Surf lessons!