Concert practice time over and the goodie bags packed into boxes and hidden away ready for the next day, the kids were rounded up for some team building games .... ( and to get rid of some excess energy I assume before we made them sit down and concentrate for a while )
The kids started off by dribbling a ball between some coke bottles with a nifty home-made croquet mallet .... the lucky few in the front of the queue got to do it with tennis balls but as the game progressed the poor kids at the back of the queue got table tennis balls – sneaky as they are a lot harder to control and way lighter than a tennis ball ....
and smacking it through a blue pipe .... and round some orange cones ....
Then they had to toss 5 camelthorn seed pods into a bucket from a distance – each one that landed in the bucket was a point for their team ... and no, you don’t stand there and hurl armfuls of seedpods with gay abandon until you get 5 into the bucket – you only get 5 to throw – period !!! That needed some serious explaining I’m afraid and some serious checking up on .....
Then a hop through the tyres on the ground and a crawl through the oil drum...
Once out the oil drum they picked up 5 rubber rings that they had to throw over 3 different coloured stakes that were hammered into the ground ... yellow stake was 20 points, red was 10 and the blue one was 5 points .... ( I think ...)
There was lots of screaming and yelling encouragement and huge dramatic sighs of exasperation when it came down to the wire and the last few kids got to throw their rings – the kids were eagerly watching the scoreboard as the game progressed and were yelling the odds at their poor team members no end – no pressure there !
One last photo I have to share with you is of our first group of Philandersbron kids – the grade 4’s and 5’s – a really sweet group of kids ( they lulled us into a false sense of security I'm afraid as their slightly older counterparts who came next were a different kettle of fish entirely
) ... after the games had finished they were hanging around waiting for us to pack up so they could climb in the bus and go back to the hall.... the sun was setting and all was peaceful until one bright spark decided that he saw something on the far dune ... dis n leeeeeu !! Everyone hurtles to the fence to see this lion he is convinced is lying on the top of the dune – there’s lots of argueing and shouting and pointing ... wait ... now there’s 2 of them .... a male and female ( naturally ) .... everyone is convinced they are lions – they call Jannie Bok to come and see – no, he can’t see anything ......Henriette gets her camera and takes a photo of the lion shaped lump ( we all know those don’t we) on the top of the dune .... and we zoom in on it – no, sorry guys, it’s just a bush we tell the kids ..... YES, insists half a dozen of the boys, there ARE lions – and one screams “ hier kom hulle !!” ( here they come!) .... All hell breaks loose as 50 kids turn en masse and stampede for their dorms all screaming at the top of their voices .... no pictures of the stampede I’m afraid – I was too busy trying not to get run over – but here’s one of them all looking at the “lions “ .....
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. We are leaving for Kgalagadi in 3 day's time (mainly Bots side). Top of my "to see and to do" list are those glorious times at dawn and dusk - to see, hear and smell nature. If a lion or 2 comes wandering by... it will be a bonus 
. I do not believe one must go "hunting" for animals the whole day - that is not what Kgalagadi is about (the lack of good roads is a testimony to that) - you need to experience it with all your senses and by staying put at one spot is almost always the best way to do that.
- thanks so much - so glad you are enjoying this epic drama .... I must admit I was howling on the bus too, but not with laughter 
