Year 11 Namibian Trip

It was finally time for this year’s Grade 11 students to embark on the famous annual trip to Namibia and led by the wonderful organisation of Bundi Adventures, it did not disappoint!

The trip was 5 days and 4 nights long, with 2 of those nights being spent at the Bundi base camp upon arrival and departure and the other 2 along the Orange River banks. We departed ISCT at 5 am in the pitch dark on Monday after a weekend filled with anticipation. It was a long and somewhat tedious bus trip, but thanks to our committed driver, Leonard, we all arrived safely and in high spirits. 

The next day, we set out for the journey after the briefing and safety talks at base camp. The first day was challenging, as we paddled along flat water most of the day. However, we were fascinated by the exotic wildlife and nature surrounding us. When we arrived at our camping spot for the night, we were completely taken aback by the spectacular views of the mountains and the beautiful full moon. It was a great evening settling in and getting used to being so out of many of our comfort zones.

After a delicious breakfast prepared by our brilliant guides on the bonfire, we set out for day two. We experienced some thrilling rapids, and overall it was a wonderful day which required many bottles of water and sprays of sunscreen. We even took a short hike to a nearby limestone mine, where we collected limestone pebbles for the spectacle later that night! The evening was once again an exquisite one, and we played many fun campfire games while truly bonding as a year group. But undeniably, the highlight was definitely our very own light show that we created when we threw the pebbles we had collected earlier, which exploded into luminous green sparks! It was truly breathtaking. 

Finally, our last day on the river approached, and we were all exhausted and achy. This final stretch took a lot of determination and endurance from all the students, but we managed to reach our end goal thanks to the motivation provided by our teachers, Mr Moore, Mrs Sutton and Miss de Villiers. At our destination, we were picked up by a massive tour bus, where we packed our rafts and goods and set on our way back to base camp. This took a measly 40 minutes compared to our three-day rafting expedition, and we all found this quite humorous.

After a relaxing last night at base camp, where we were treated to a magnificent ‘blood moon’, we set out early on Friday morning to head back home. On the trip back, it was evident that the trip was memorable and would go down as one of our key memories in the Class of 2024’s journal.

– By Cara-Claire