Alex’s family trip to South Africa

We were lucky enough to head to South Africa for the Easter holidays, the first time for my wife and children to enjoy this incredible country and an opportunity for me to visit some of our Pod Volunteer projects!

We flew into Cape Town and were able to pack a lot into our first few days - exploring the city itself and the V&A Waterfront, taking a cable car up Table Mountain, relaxing in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and, probably the highlight for the kids, driving out to Boulders Beach to see the African Penguins! We found it to be a very friendly and safe city, with so much to do and fantastic food.

From Cape Town, we set off on our road trip on the Garden Route, along the stunning Southern coastline. Our first stop was near Plettenberg Bay, where we spent a few days at the Elephant Care and Research project.

My family loved being able to walk with the elephant herd and get close to some of the magnificent African elephants! It was great to be able to catch up with Christina, who looks after our volunteers on the ground, and we were able to see some current Pod volunteers (Viola and Karin) in action doing field observations of the elephants. They had travelled from Germany and America and were spending a month volunteering at the project.

When not at the project itself, there are a lot of free time activities to do in the local area and we particularly loved the hike at Robberg Nature Reserve. Viewing the many seals from the cliffs and looking out for Great White sharks, we spent most of the day there exploring the huge dunes and beaches before heading to a local outdoor pizza restaurant set in a lovely garden. Well deserved after all the walking!

From Plettenberg Bay, we set off to Kenton on Sea, to meet up with Helena who looks after our volunteers at the Big 5 Conservation project. It's so nice to be able to meet up and catch up with local teams again and not just see them on the computer!

We then headed to our final destination, our Horse Rehabilitation project, which is a located in the "Wild Coast" region of the Eastern Cape. My children had been especially looking forward to meeting the horses and it wasn't long before they had been assigned to some grooming duties!

After their hard work, we were all rewarded with a ride along the stunning beach. I was very pleased to be back with Frodo, a horse who had looked after me (and my novice riding skills) so well the last time I was here a few years ago. It really is an unforgettable experience, being in such a beautiful and unspoilt part of the world, taking it all in on horseback. Georgie and Penny (humans not horses!) look after volunteers so well and extended their hospitality to us with a magnificent South African family braai (bbq). We were very sad to have to pack our bags and say goodbye after our time with them.

Thank you to everyone who looked after us so well and we can't wait to visit again!

Find out more about all our South Africa projects here - https://www.podvolunteer.org/destination/south-africa

We also have a wide range of volunteering projects for families - https://www.podvolunteer.org/who-volunteers/families