Geography Fieldwork Trip

On the 26th of January, the Year 11 Geography students set out for a fieldwork trip, much anticipated for most of our IGCSE course. We set out for the bus at around 8 am, geared up with all the geographical equipment we would need for the day ahead and many, many bottles of sunscreen and refreshments!

After a short bus trip out of Cape Town filled with hysterical laughter, attempted ‘sing-alongs’ and a brief on what was to be expected, we arrived at our destination – the Limietberg Nature Reserve in Paarl. Guided by Mr Henry, who had mapped out the hike previously, we began our trek alongside the Krom river. We continued to hike for about an hour and a half, challenged by some of the steep inclines but in good spirits all the way, and mesmerised by the stunning views of the Drakensberg nature around us.

Finally, we arrived at our first fieldwork site, a point near the top of the river ideal for the first tests we were to carry out. We had a quick refreshing dip in the water before starting our tests, including ones on rock size, river velocity and depth. Besides never having performed them before, they were carried out with little error and fine precision thanks to the preparation we had done in class a week earlier.

As we hiked back along the same path we had come, we stopped at 3 other places along the river, repeating these investigations to compare our data at the different points – something we had studied in great detail just the term before. At our last stop, the widest point of the river, we enjoyed a much-needed refreshing swim and snack in the pristine knee-high waters before setting out for a quick lunch on our journey back home.

It was a wonderful day filled with many memories we will treasure for years to come and an experience that heightened our education and let us put our classroom learning into practice!

– By Cara-Claire