The School

First impressions are very good.  It feels more like a safari camp than a school which of course is to be expected as we are deep in the bush.  We were greeted by one of the trainers, and larger than life Afrikaana called JP.  He's lived in the UK for some time so he knows our sense of humour and wit quite well so a bit of banter was given (started in part by the fact we are the only maried couple here and I was wearing a rugby shirt).

The rooms are great - Wooded pole structure and tent material, so for the next 6 months we will be living in a tent.  There is a bedroom area with 2 single beds (we can improvise when needed ;) ), a study desk each and side table with light.  At the back is a curtained off area with a toilet, shower and hand basin.  All perfectly nice and pretty much what we expected - also not dissimilar to what we have stayed in before when we have stayed in nice safaru lodges before.

The tents are raised off the ground and there are wooden raised walkways around the camp.  I guess this is partly for safety as the camp has no fences around it and the animals (including lions) can and do walk through the camp.  JP was very particular during the briefing that we always keep our touches on us and use them when around the camp at night as the lions are never far away.

Apart from the tents there is a lecture room, a dining room and a bar/tv/pool (the ball game variety) room.  This will prove to be a popular place to meet up for a few frames of pool before evening meals.

The 3 trainers have their own tents (JP his own, ED and Diana who are a coule share a tent) and Lee who runs the school has a house attached to the school.  This is where the office is, a snake room and where we can (very infrequently!) access the interenet for e-mails and my dreaded tax returns.

We met up with 2 other students at the school - one a local Saffer chap (Ian) and the other a Scottish lass (Thyrza) who actually lives in South Africa due to her father's work.  The age mix overall in the group is quite good, with enough youngsters to keep the oldies in the group young (at least at heart!).