Tried and Tested
“July 2013 sees us embarking on our seventh school trip to Southern Africa with COLT.
Organising a trip of this magnitude is a mammoth undertaking in terms of logistics, the number of places visited, and the range of activities undertaken. It is no mean feat yet it is all made so easy, thanks to the hard work put in by the experienced and highly organised team at COLT. Our Southern Africa trips have always turned out to be well thought-out and well organised expeditions, with a wide range of activities offered with great flexibility and room to accommodate different people’s tastes.
Our needs and expectations have sometimes been quite challenging: we have high standards and have on occasions taken large groups – our maximum was twenty-seven. In spite of this, COLT have always been flexible enough to ‘make a plan’ whenever we have wanted to make minor changes whilst in the field. We have every confidence in their ability to organise an itinerary that meets our needs.
We have had a range of itineraries over the years with both circular and linear expeditions, exploring countries including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia; our July 2013 trip will be a linear route focusing on Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
Highlights of previous trips include destinations such as Cape Town, Robben Island, the Okavango Delta, Magkadikadi salt pans, Etosha National Park, Fish River Canyon, Chobe river and Victoria Falls. Activities have included helicopter flights, white water rafting, skydiving, quad biking, mokoro expeditions, wild camping, walking with lions, cheetah sanctuary, sand dune climbing, sand boarding, fishing in the delta, community service, wildlife watching, zip wire, microlighting, bungee jumping, bartering in markets, and sampling local cuisine!
Organising the students and staff into teams working on a rota of chores, such as cooking, truck cleaning and washing up gives pupils a sense of responsibility and helps them take ownership of their enjoyment of the trip.
The overland truck becomes our home from home although our night-time. accommodation has ranged from rooms in hostels through luxury riverside tents to standard expedition tents. Tents are, however, optional: our last trip saw many of the groups choosing to star gaze on most nights, sleeping outside the confines of the tent’s canvas. Sleeping around a fire, surrounded by the sounds of the bush adds another dimension to the trip; many fireside stories have been shared over the years.
Recent trips have seen us building relationships with rural community schools. Working in local schools has been a real eye-opener for our pupils: it has given them a new perspective to see how different the lives and experiences of pupils their own age are, and has enabled them to appreciate what a privileged situations we are in. It has been invaluable for them to give back a little, while still experiencing the fun of travelling.
Pupils and parents alike have described these as trips of a lifetime, and many of the pupils have commented on how much of a life-changing experience our Southern Africa trips are. Testimony to this is the fact that at least three of our students chose to return to the places discovered during the trip to spend their gap years there.
We intend to continue using COLT to organise our expeditions for future years and I cannot recommend them more highly to any school considering Southern Africa as a destination.”
Denzil Fernandes
Biology Department
The Leys
Six of the best
“Each of our six expeditions COLT have planned for us have been different and thoroughly enjoyable. The boys have come back with first -hand experience of different cultures, lands, people and wildlife and life-long memories.”
Duncan Witcombe
Trip Leader
King Edwards School
Birmingham
African Partnerships – Mukamusaba School, Livingstone
“On Tuesday 31st August 2012 our group of 16 girls and 2 staff spent the day at Mukamusaba School in Livingstone, Zambia.
We arrived at the school at 7.30am and were introduced to the school staff and the children. Whilst our 16 girls got to know some of the children, my colleague and I talked to the Headmaster and Deputy Head who explained that their greatest need was not for perimeter fencing but for computers for the school. They had two laptops for staff to use but no computers for children to use. So I accompanied the Headmaster into town and bought a Hewlett Packard PC, Office software, printer cartridges and USB memory sticks. We then bought lots of stationary and art materials for the school. We loaded up the truck and returned to the school.
During the morning, the girls had played netball with the children, and given out the lovely knitted teddies and puppets that we’d been given to bring out to the children.
We had brought out approx 150 books for the school and we gave these to the teacher in charge to start their library, as up until then, they had only had textbooks and no books for reading for pleasure or for general knowledge. They were delighted to have these books and I enjoyed reading (and singing!) one of the lovely books to a group of children.
We spent many hours painting a classroom with help from some of the school children. We used the materials that we had already bought for them on our way to the school. We worked hard getting the room completely redecorated by the end of the afternoon. It was messy work but very satisfying!
It was hard to say goodbye to the children as we’d had a very busy, happy day there. Thank you to everyone who contributed money, books, teddies, puppets and stationary for the children at Mukamusaba School.
Anna Moloney
Tour Leader
King Edwards High School For Girls
Birmingham
From Singapore to Auckland, New Zealand
“Our annual trip through COLT gives students a sense of independence, shared responsibility and a collective spirit of adventure. Stunning safaris and adrenaline-fuelled activities are balanced with invaluable work at a school in great need of our help. We are always over-subscribed.”
Paul West
ex- Head of Creative and Performing Arts ACS(International)
Singapore and tour leader
Now tour leader of the inaugural trip in the summer of 2013 from Kings College NZ
07789 952 848
