Itinerary

April 18 – You will fly from Johannesburg to Eastgate airport in Hoedspruit. We will greet you at the airport and take you to Kimba Lodge. We will get settled in our rooms, have some optional yoga to “unkink” from traveling and have dinner by the fire under the wide African sky.

 April 19 – There is a small Catholic church in Rooiboklaagte which the women of Mapusha have been attending all their lives. Our first trip to the village will be for the Sunday morning church service, a very good way for you to get a feel for the community and a great treat to see the children in their Sunday clothes and to hear the women sing. We will have lunch at a wonderful barbecue chicken restaurant in the center of the township and then return to our lodging for a quiet afternoon with rest, meditation and a sunset yoga practice.

April 20 – Quiet early morning at Kimba with time for a walk in the bush, movement and meditation. We will go to Mapusha where you will meet the women of the cooperative, walk the streets of the village with guide Emerencia and visit the mission nursery school, meet with a group of HIV+ women. We will return to Kimba and plan our next four days of teaching in Rooiboklaagte.  It will involve teaching English, practicing English with the women of the cooperative, their children and grandchildren. It may be that various retreatants have special things to offer – help with accounting, empowerment training on some level for the unemployed women, help with design, marketing, help for the group of HIV+ women who meet each Wednesday afternoon. We will have a traditional South African poekie prepared by the Blyde River Canyon Lodge chef, Excellent.

April 21 – We will start the day at Moholoholo Mountain View for an early morning game walk with a wonderful ranger who knows everything about anything from birds to rocks to plants and trees and tracking. After brunch we will go out to Rooibok for the service project. Sunset yoga and meditation as the day turns to dusk.

April 22 – We will work on the service project in the morning and in the afternoon head up to Edeni Lodge for a game drive in their reserve that specializes in the cats – lion, leopard and cheetah. We will stop for lunch at Mad Dogs Café where there is a shop with wonderful African arts and crafts. We will have the luxury lodge experience for the afternoon and dinner after the drive in the boma.

April 23 – Early morning yoga and a final day of service work in the village. After our work we will take a picnic to the top of the Blyde River Canyon, a breathtaking spot for meditation. Excellent will have our final Kimba dinner awaiting us when we return to the lodge.

April 24 – We will pack up our things and head for a celebration lunch prepared by the women of Mapusha. The women would love to teach those interested how to dance in the Shangaan style.  We will say our goodbyes to the women and drive into Kruger National Park. Our first night will be spent near the Orpen Gate where we will drive out into the park at dusk to see what we see and then return to our rondavels to fix our dinner and sit by the fire listening to the sounds of the vast bush that surrounds us.

April 25 – We will rise with the birds and drive south through the park. It is wonderful to be in a virgin land as big as Scotland that belongs to the animals. We will spend the whole day driving slowly through the bush, stopping to see the zebras, the elephants, the herds of impalas, wildebeests, buffalos and with luck, lions, leopards and cheetahs. We will spend the night in the Sabie camp, which is on a river, a wonderful bird viewing site that is green and lush no matter what season it is.

April 26 – We will complete our Kruger Park adventure on Sunday morning and after sunrise game viewing we will drive straight to Field of Dreams, the home of a family of 18 which will touch your heart. The children from the Tower of Love orphanage will join us at the farm and will be delighted to perform their traditional Swazi dance for us. You will have a chance to really see how two amazing South Africans, Sophia Jardim and Isaac Mothonsi are handling their overflowing homes. You will meet many children who have had their lives impacted by HIV/AIDS.

April 27 - Our final destination is the magical Boondocks retreat center up in the ancient granite hills of Mpumalanga. This one of a kind lodge is where we will complete our journey and spend our last day together walking the hills, doing yoga and meditation on the labyrinth that Stuart constructed in a natural amphitheatre, a wondrous outdoor African cathedral. www.boondocks.co.za

April 28 –You will be taken to the Kruger Mpumalanga Airport to catch your flight back to Johannesburg. Judy is available to assist with any extensions to your time in Africa that you would like to make – perhaps Capetown, a private game reserve, or more time at Boondocks. www.livinglowveld.com

April is the beginning of autumn in the Lowveld. The summer rains have abated and though it is still green the grasses are not getting thicker, they are receding and the heat is softening. Average daily temperature would be in the high 70's/low 80's and the nights could drop into the 50's. April is one of my favorite months, moderate and refreshing. There are few bugs and the nights are cool enough that a fire is delicious. It is good game viewing season and the tourists are few. Except for Kruger Park we will not be traveling in the malaria zone.