The grade seven class from St Gregory Primary School went to Elandsheim Retreat near Dundee, in the heart of Zululand, for their end-of-the-year camp. The group could barely contain their excitement as they left Estcourt early on November 1.

They quickly settled into their cabins and were ready to start their two days of fun. The facilitators, Philile and Nama, eased them into the camp’s atmosphere with some icebreakers and the camp’s rules. The class was divided into two groups and each group received an egg as mascot. Each group had to come up with a name for the group as well as for the egg.

They set off on their first activity – a scavenger hunt all the way up a mountain. After lunch, they learned about archery and how to shoot with a bow and arrow. Their focus from the archery range proved a tremendous help with the obstacle course that followed.

They once again had to work together in their teams for some water games at the dam before each of them had to face the water alone to slide underneath a string of tape that was spun just above the dam’s muddy water. Despite the cool weather, a mud fight ensued that the learners didn’t want to end. The evening was spent doing activities that focused on communication and a hilarious skit acted out by the class.

Wednesday morning dawned wet and cool, but the group was completely unfazed by it. After a solid breakfast, they each made either a lizard or a dragonfly key chain accessory from colourful beads. By the time they moved on to the next activity – farm games – the weather had improved and they had lots of fun with games like egg toss, balloon trains and bowling over tin cans. The afternoon started off with more games and then the focus shifted to communication. It started off relatively easy with one member blindfolded and the other two giving directions as to where to find the balls they had to collect.

The arena was also booby-trapped with eggs to make things a bit more interesting. The next round saw each member of the group assigned a specific task, as well as specific restrictions – one couldn’t’ t see, one were not allowed to talk and had to use gestures and the third one couldn’t see the arena and had to communicate in animal sounds.

The last game for the afternoon was ‘defuse the bomb, where the learners once again got soaking wet while having a blast.

Supper was followed by a hilarious game of Minute To Win It. The group finished the day off by roasting marshmallows around a bonfire.

Thursday morning’s rocket building asked the learners to dig deep and to remember some of the things they’ve learned in Technology.
Each group had to build a rocket by using a 2L cooldrink bottle, carton and sand. The rockets were tested by means of an air pump. Both groups’ rockets were very successful and flew quite a distance. The only thing that was left to do was for the learners to say their goodbyes.

Thank you to the staff of Elandsheim Retreat for making this outing an unforgettable one.