In the hot summer months, children who visit the Lapalala Wilderness School can enjoy a variety of outdoor and water activities.
During a recent visit, some boys from St Johns school in Johannesburg got to experience some great adventures…
Swimming in the Lephalale River is always a popular activity. Small rapids near the school provide hours of fun as children bob, float and shoot down the river. Safety is the order of the day and the children all wear life jackets and are watched over by School staff and teachers.
As the boys gain confidence, much fun is had by all as alternative ways down the rapids are found…backwards, on a tube, in a group…anything goes.
Another fun activity is treasure hunting in canoes. The boys are split into groups and have to locate coloured ribbons that are tied into bushes and shrubs that line the sides of Kolobe Dam – a croc-free zone.
The canoe activities are thoroughly enjoyed by the boys, with teams trying hard to thwart efforts of opposing team members whilst trying to master the art of paddling, direction and treasure retrieval.
Outside of the water, boys with a head for heights also enjoyed activities offered by Outward Bound, a group that comes in to conduct specialised outdoor activities with the children.
On this trip to Lapalala, pupils enjoyed abseiling down some of the cliffs on the School grounds. In the experienced hands of the Outward Bound team, the St John boys literally reached new heights on their trip to Lapalala.
As the boys sat and viewed the Lapalala landscape from their lofty vantage point, there was only one thing left to do, and that was to give the thumbs up to their latest adventures and activities at…where was it again, boys?
