Chrysalis Project: Entabeni Adventures & Expeditions

Wanna paddle?

We are very excited to be the specialist providers on this lekker adventure. We had a great time with the groups from Oakhill School and we are very excited to work with Oakhill to offer this to these brave young folks from inland. Ashambeni!

ODYSSEY FROM JOHANNESBURG THROUGH THE GARDEN ROUTE

Oakhill School is very pleased to facilitate an 18-day journey of self-discovery for students from schools in Johannesburg that will embark on our very own, Oakhill Odyssey - the adventure of a lifetime in the Garden Route!

Recognising the enormous value and exceptional experience that Oakhill offers their Grade 10s, there are 16 girls and 7 boys from Johannesburg who have chosen to independently participate in the Odyssey over their school holidays. Their journey starts this weekend, 13 and 14 April and they return 18 days later.

The Oakhill Odyssey, developed in 2011 has been made available to students from other independent schools since 2016 due to the wonderful experience and an interest in the spectacular Garden Route. Fully supported by professional adventure specialists, the students encounter a truly life-changing adventure. Odyssey offers approximately 350km of hiking, cycling, abseiling and kayaking/paddling through some of the most beautiful scenery in the Garden Route. This social, emotional, physical and spiritual journey focusing on self awareness is an incredible journey to the soul!

The students will follow the Knysna River to access the Garden Route National Park, from there they will hike and cycle through the Knysna and surrounding forests and cross the Outeniqua Mountains into the Langkloof of the Klein Karoo. They will then cross back over the Outeniquas near George, and paddle, hike and mountain bike their way back through the lake and estuary systems to returned back to Oakhill triumphant.

Having recently completed this full loop, the Oakhill students will attest to this being a once in a lifetime experience and personal journey as they each conquered their own Odyssey!

Read more about it in last week's Knysna Plett Herald by using this link: https://www.knysnaplettherald.com/News/Article/Local-News/oakhill-s-joy-of-learning-beyond-the-classroom-202404041013

Silence and solitude, are so rare in modern society. We often observe our students coming alive through a couple hours alone without screens. In some cases, students have asked if we can spend more time in silence and solitude.

For others, the time can be hard and even scary, but most are grateful to have done it.

Packing...

Often students arrive on our journeys with excessive amounts of baggage, many of them not realising how much harder every kg makes the hiking. But after we do some training it doesn't take long for them to realise that they don't want to carry anything more than what is essential. We have seen students half the weight of their bags without leaving behind anything important after we sit down and help them sort out everything!

One of these pots fell over before finishing cooking... guess which one fell?

This was the first dinner on a long journey through the mountains and already the students were helping each other out. After the one pot fell over another group offered to help by donating food from their pot!

No Screens Allowed‼️ ⛔️

Having this rule on our programs and journeys is absolutely vital for the growth of our students. The lack of screens leads to moments like this: These two students in the photo decided to write questions for each other to answer during the times of solitude scheduled for the next day. The questions they wrote were, on paper, deep and meaningful and the idea was entirely their own.

One of these tents has been pitched ok, and one of them has not... how many mistakes can you spot?

Throughout our programs, we aim to teach the students to carefully pitch their tents to make sure that they stay dry no matter how hard the rain falls.

Paddling a canoe 🛶 is an activity that is incredibly fun when the teamwork works... but when it doesn't, it's hard.

One of the amazing things about seeing our students try this sport is how they get inspired by each other to become better teams because very quickly they discover that this is not a solo sport.

If you could hear this photo you would hear the boys calling "one, two, one, two, one, two" as they try to be the fastest boat.

A couple highlight moments from the last while here at Chrysalis! (check out the surprises in the last two photos!)

We love spending time in the outdoors and that manifests itself in so many forms, running, climbing, hiking, finding scary animals.... 😁