AAVE Trip BLOG » 2006 » November
November 10, 2006
Peru Summer Adventures in the Andes
Posted by Chris in : General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Biking in the Andes
November 8, 2006
Teen Summer Camp in China!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : China, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
“I LOVED CHINA” AAVE did an amazing job, in creating the summer of a lifetime! We travelled all around China, did all the activities you can imagine, and loved every minute. If I could do it again I would go in a second!
Noah Wallis (2006)
November 7, 2006
Cultural Hawaiian Summer Camp!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
“I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity of traveling with your program on such an amazing trip to Hawaii! It was a blast and I love the fact that we are constantly doing activities around the big island and because of that, the trip flew by incredibly fast! Even though I had my minor arm injury during the beginning of this Hawaiian adventure, I still loved every minute of it and my leaders took care of my in my time of need. I really believe that Karen and Steve were two of the best leaders I ever could have. They both had a positive attitude towards all 13 of us and were a major part in me enjoying this trip.”
-David Rose, camper
Hawaiian Surf, Sail & Snorkel Adventure Camp!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
“Total success! He really liked Ian and Jenny and had wonderful things to say about both. All of the kids really seemed to have bonded and he gave us many details about all of the various activities. He is still telling stories about the trip and looking forward to next year!”
-Harrison Family
Utah, Colorado, & Arizona Summer Camp Sees All!
Posted by Chris in : Boot Saddle Paddle, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
“Adam came back so much more mature and worldly. It was a wonderful experience and he loved the outdoors and all of the new experiences. I would recommend it to any family for their child. What a wonderful trip!”
-The Gross Family
Rocky Mountain Teen Adventure Camp!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG, Ultimate Colorado , add a comment
“Svea loved her experiences with AAVE and came home very excited about rock climbing and really liked the rafting as well. For this reason and the friends she made, it was successful!”
-Olsen Family, Rock & Rapid
“Abbott, I know you hear this a lot but this was the best summer I have ever had. I want to thank you a lot for all of your help when I needed it the most. I had no problem catching up with the group and the leaders were awesome! Thank you very very much!!!”
-Francisco Guarderas, camper
Wild West Adventure Camp!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG, Ultimate Colorado , add a comment
“I think that the best part about AAVE was how you got to try out different outdoor activities. If you didn’t like rafting for example, in a few days you would move on to something different. It allowed me to try out things I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to do at home, and helped me realize that rock climbing is the greatest thing in the world!”
-Svea Olsen, camper
“ Gus had an ‘awesome’ time; lot’s of fun and activity. He was never bored, good food, and great counselors. We could not have expected a better adventure for him!”
- Talarico Family
Rocky Mountain Adventure Summer Camp!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
“I think that the best part about AAVE was how you got to try out different outdoor activities. If you didn’t like rafting for example, in a few days you would move on to something different. It allowed me to try out things I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to do at home, and helped me realize that rock climbing is the greatest thing in the world!”
-Svea Olsen, camper
“ Gus had an ‘awesome’ time; lot’s of fun and activity. He was never bored, good food, and great counselors. We could not have expected a better adventure for him!”
- Talarico Family
Wild West Adventure Camp!
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
“Svea loved her experiences with AAVE and came home very excited about rock climbing and really liked the rafting as well. For this reason and the friends she made, it was successful!”
-Olsen Family, Rock & Rapid
“Abbott, I know you hear this a lot but this was the best summer I have ever had. I want to thank you a lot for all of your help when I needed it the most. I had no problem catching up with the group and the leaders were awesome! Thank you very very much!!!”
-Francisco Guarderas, camper
Our Days in Africa
Posted by Jenny at AAVE in : Africa, General AAVE Trip BLOG , add a comment
Our adventure is complete. Because we were so busy and out of range of internet we were unable to post to the blog until the last day. Here is a summary of our 21 days in the heart of Africa.
Day 1- July 25, 2006- Capetown
We climbed Table Mountain in the morning (challenging hike-INCREDIBLE views of the cape, Indian and Atlantic Oceans), went down to Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, watched the band/ dancers, aquarium with penguins, trip to Robben Island Prison where Nelson Mandella was imprisoned, and ate dinner out at Primi on the wharf.
Day 2- July 26, 2006- Paternoster
We went to West Coast National Park and saw flamingos at the viewing hut, along with some ostriches and mongeese. At Fossil Park, we rode horses and everyone learned to trot, properly. After the horse back ride, we organized an obstacle coarse competition. Gustave and Cory had the leading times. From Fossil Park, we drove to Beach Camp, a little campground run by Hannes, a self-proclaimed professional beach bum. Despite windy, frigid conditions, Gus, Cory, Tris, Omar, Caroline, Britt, and Oriana swam in the Atlantic ocean. Afterwards, the whole group went boulder hopping and played card games.
Day 3- July 27, 2006- Paternoster
We began the day with a nature walk along the coast because the water was too rough for kayaking. After lunch we went to the Cape Colombine lighthouse, the last manned lighthouse to be built in South Africa, also the first lighthouse spotted by ships arriving from Europe. Next we went to the little town, Paternoster, where we walked around and shopped a bit. For the meeting of the day, leader of the day Tris chose a spot on the boulders to watch the sunset.
Day 4- July 28, 2006- Strandfontein Town
After a long truck ride, we went quad biking for the first time on the sand dunes. It was the first day of truly beautiful sunny weather, and we had an awesome afternoon out on the dunes quad biking, sand boarding, and getting sandy. We had an early dinner around four, cooked by a South African family. The highlight of the dinner was the very large lamb rotisserie and the wide selection of local dishes. After dinner, we drove to our next campsite - also right on the beach were we actually set up our tents for the first time!!
Day 5- July 29, 2006- Strandfontein Town
Today we all went quad biking again along the coast on bigger quads than last time and had an exhilarating ride. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the Out of Africa restaurant and in the laundromat, where we did a load of much needed laundry.
Day 6- July 30, 2006- Orange River
Today’s early wake up at 6:00am also required us to pack up our tents for the first time- a task that proved to be quiet a challenge for some of us. We all piled onto the truck and drove to Springbok Town for shopping and lunch, where Caroline and Oriana bought some decorations for our mad max safari truck. Lunch was eaten on the truck- good ol’ American KFC. We crossed over into Namibia, then back into South Africa to camp along the Orange River. When we arrived into camp, we took advantage of the beautiful sunshine by laying out and playing frisbee. About half of the group slept outside and watched the shooting stars all night.
Day 7- July 31, 2006- Orange River
We packed everything we thought we would need for a two day river rafting trip into the dry bags and hit the river in our crocodile boats by 10am. At first it was all smooth sailing, but by about 12, the wind, spray, and current had picked up too much and everyone was really cold, so we stopped for lunch and for a warm up. Then we were picked up by Rod and the truck because of the river and temperature conditions. We met another Wild At Heart(the local travel company leading our tour) group of teenagers from the States back at camp and ate dinner together.
Day 8 - August 1st 2006 - Ai Ais
After a breakfast of french toast we checked into Namibia for good and drove to out next campsite - the hot springs at Ai Ais. After lunch we all went swimming for a good two to three hours we then hung out in the restaurant where Meisha, Trish and Britney tried ox tail soup and others enjoyed coke floats. Some called home before an amazing pasta dinner.
Day 9 - August 2nd 2006 - Hardap Dam
We woke at five and drove for a sunrise breakfast at fish river canyon which was truly breathtaking, it is the second largest canyon in the world after the grand canyon. After breakfast we drove to giants playground where we all ran around and climbed boulder formations for a few hours. During the drive we passed two cheaters in an enclousure right beside the road, when we arrived at our campsite we put up our tents and then played on the playground, played 21, a word game till dinner.
Day 10 - August 2nd 2006 - Sesriem canyon
Oriana’s Birthday! we woke at 6.30 ate a quick breakfast and hit the road once we set up camp we went for a beautiful hike through Sesriem canyon where Kasey, Sharon, Carolin, Gustave, Tris, Oriana and Omar climbed to the top. Back at camp Brit, Meish, Oriana, Tris, Omar, Caroline and Mat all went for a swim in the glacial pool, cold, but very refreshing. After a relaxing afternoon and warm showers we had dinner and cake for Oriana’s Birthday!!
Day 11- August 3rd 2006- Sesriem Canyon
We woke up at 5:30am to make it to Dune 45 to climb it in time for the sunrise, which was completely worth both the early wake up and the climb. Once we took pictures and admired the view, Matt rolled down the side of the dune while everyone else ran down to breakfast at the bottom. We headed to a pan after breakfast where we hiked for about 2km to get to the pan that was surrounded by beautiful untouched dunes. Omar, Gus, Oriana, Caroline, Sharon, and Kasey climbed the tallest one while everyone else relaxed. Jamie, as well as a few others, went down into the pan, being watched by a springbok. Back at camp, we found a store that sold ice cream and hung around the pool for the rest of the day.
Day 12- August 5, 2006- Swaopmund
Our first stop today was at Long Beach for lunch, a beautiful beach community en route to Swakopmund. Oriana and Caroline enjoyed the ocean and went swimming, while Tris and Gus spotted seals and dolphins. Then we headed just across the road to Dare Devil Adventures for extreme sand boarding and quad biking. After a couple painful spills on the sand boarding, we all went quad biking on the dune, which was AMAZING!! By the end we were all on such a high from the sunset, the dunes, and the speeding quads that we blasted music on the truck and had a little dance party. Our accommodations for the night were little four person chalets with wonderful showers. We all washed up and went out for dinner at Napolitana’s, an Italian Restaurant.
Day 13- August 6, 2006- Swakopmund
Today was a town day- after a late wake up at 9, we all headed into town and shopped for souvenirs until lunch, after which we headed back for more haggling in the market. Omar and Tris were really good at bargaining and managed to get one of the guys to sell a bong drum for 80 rand- they usually go for about 130-180! For dinner, we all got dressed up and made up to go to Atlantas, and African themed restaurant in downtown Swakopmund.
Day 14- August 7, 2006- Etosha
Today began with Antony waking everyone up at 4:30 by screaming in everyone’s doorways for our long drive to Etosha. On the way, we saw springbok, zebra, kudu, giraffes, wildabeasts, elephants, and a lilac breasted rola. For lunch, we stopped at a watering hole where we saw more zebra, oryx, and three VERY large elephants. We continued on a game drive through Etosha to our campsite, where we set up camp and had dinner. After dinner we went to the watering hold where we saw hyenas and rhinos.
Days 15-21
The last week was the most fun and packed with laughs, adventures, and birthdays. Kasey turned 17 on the 8th (Happy Birthday!!) The itinerary was perfect for her birthday, game watching, which we saw multiple groups of lions, giraffes, zebras, oryx, wildabeasts, jackals, elephants, leopards, birds of prey, impala, rhinos, and many others.
We finally made it to the service project, a lot of people were looking forward to aiding Harnas Wildlife Foundation (basically a Noah’s Ark.) As a bonus, our group was able to visit a secondary school, interacting with children a few years younger than us. We walked in and we all felt like celebrities. They loved Caroline, Oriana, and Jamie’s blonde hair, Britt’s blue eyes, and even ask Jamie, “How do you get so fat, what do you eat?” (its considered a compliment & she is skinny.) Sharon taught some kids tag, Omar taught them how to hack, and Caroline and Tris taught them kickball. After visiting the children, everyone was overwhelmed, filled with excitement and huge grins, a feeling hard to describe.
At Harans, the next day, we painted the living quarters of the volunteers, a job very significant since the volunteers are the support of the foundation. Some would question whether or not there was more oil-based paint on the walls or on our skin and clothes- not a smart idea. Later that afternoon, we were given a tour of all the animals in cages. Everybody had a chance to pet the baby and adult cheetahs and lions…oh my!!! Kasey even had the opportunity to sit in a cage with a velvet monkey.
Now we flew back to Capetown- also Steph’s birthday today, everyone had an enjoyable last night going to a restaurant with African dance music. Mostly everyone pulled all nighters, and a large majority of campers and the three leaders, Ant, Jules, & Cory, were thrown in the freezing outdoor pool at midnight. What a wonderful way to end the amazing experience in Africa. Everyone is sure to take a peace of these countries back as well as 15 new friends.
LYLAS,
Oriana and Caroline