On Saturday the 16th March the AWCRC hosted some of the children from Briershof Primary School, in Alldays, for a field trip. The children at the school are working on the theme ‘Biodiversity and Nature’ for their next eco-schools award, and as part of that we put together an environmentally focused program.
The fun started with a game drive on Campfornis by Braam. As the kids excitedly gathered on the back of the game viewer Braam led us into the bush! The first stop was to the nyala camp to help feed them. The nyala sauntered cautiously over as the feed was laid out and the kids got a great close up view of them – a mix of beautiful females and young, as well as some of the bulls too. It was then back into the wild, bumping over rocks and dips in the road! The children were excitedly nattering in the back with some of the more focused scrutinising the bush for any sign of animals!
Impala, dassie, kudu, leopard tortoise and plenty of bird life were spotted on the way to the giant baobab, where we took a moment to explore! The huge hole inside allowed for the kids to pile inside the great tree, before we attempted to join hands all the way around the tree, eventually completing the chain with 13 people!
Back at camp we split the group in two for the remaining activities, one group taking on sports and activities while the other had a nature walk in the bush before swapping over. Lottie, Steffi and Maria took the sports and activities, setting up a handstand area, a bowling station, hoop toss and a slack-line activity too. The slack-line caught a lot of imagination and attention especially, as the kids tested their balance and future circus skills walking across the line! The handstands also provided significant entertainment for anyone observing!
Jamie and Katherine took the nature walks, with assistance from Holly as she moved between sites with her camera (credit to her for the awesome photos)! Katherine entertained the children with checking her reptile cover board sites, explaining her research and what animals make use of the cover and why. Several spiders, a huge group of shield beetles and a little tropical house gecko were found under the cover boards, while the walk provided some great views of golden orb spiders in their impressive webs. Jamie explained about the vegetation area that Alldays is based in and the characteristics of the Limpopo Sweet bushveld that dominates the local area. Discussing the different grasses, tree types and adaptations of the vegetation in the area led to some great questions and answers from the children with some impressive understanding of invasive species not going unnoticed!
Before the day was up there was time for a bibron’s blind snake to be rescued from the swimming pool before a cooling dip was had and some nice lunch cooked up by Emma! We really enjoyed hosting the children and look forward to some future trips!
Alldays Wildlife and Communities Research Centre 