This past weekend we decided to head off on a training camp with the team to the Pilansberg National Park to test out all our camping equipment and to have some time to get to know the team better. However, Bobby was unable to join us as he will only be flying in from the USA next month just before our departure on the 30th July 2016.
We drove up last Friday afternoon, in the Jeep Wrangler with the trailer in tow, up to Bakgatla Resort where we had booked a campsite for two nights. Bakgatla Resort is where we will be spending our 2nd night of the #Joburg2Kili expedition so it was great to be able to familiarize ourselves with the place and note where the best campsite spots are along the fence to the Pilansberg Game Reserve.
We arrived in the dark which made setting up the campsite more challenging especially as no one had ever setup the trailer tent before but we all worked together and managed to get it all setup relatively quickly. Throughout the weekend we took note of things we were missing to make our camping experience more comfortable for the expedition such as making sure we have enough camping chairs and cooking equipment etc.
Being situated right by Pilansberg Game Reserve, we couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to drive through the Park to try and see some of the Big 5. We had some great sightings during our drives including seeing two cheetah, a brown hyena, a marsh owl, jackal and a pride of lions.
Bryan also taught us about geo-caching, which is the world’s largest treasure hunt. We managed to locate one of the geo-caches in Pilansberg which was very exciting. Geocaching is something we would recommend our #joburg2kili supporters look into as its a lot of fun and allows you to explore new places in or around your city – there is a great video introducing the concept which you can visit on www.geocaching.com. Watch this space as you may hear more about geocaching on our journey.
All in all it was a very successful weekend away in preparation for this exciting adventure we will be embarking on in 43 days. Check out some photo’s from the weekend in the gallery below:
