My Incredible Journey: TO LAZY DAYS AND BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

AN EPIC JOURNEY

We are Liani Broodryk, Maria Botha, Dante and Katryn, the Ripples for Good team. Before we called ourselves anything we were just 2 girls and 2 Jack Russels who, in the spur of the moment, decided to pack up a life that did not seem to make sense and trade it in for the road less travelled. In October 2004, we started our journey by cycling out of St Lucia, with heavy laden bicycles and a dog in each basket, making our way to Cape Town.

The spontaneous nature of our very first expedition left us with no definite route, no backup vehicles, and no support or sponsorships. We were merely equipped with a fierce desire to make a difference and a dream of purpose. We thought that if we let go of our fears, our need for security and our opinions, we might experience life differently and become in sync with our DESTINY.

Thus far we have managed to cycle, hike and kayak over 15 000 kms through South Africa solely on this fierce desire and dream of purpose. Along the way we have learned to sketch out rough "guideline" routes, managed to find support and sponsorship in the most amazing people that believed in what we do and have been even further inspired by many people and organizations who do so much for the conservation and preservation of all life. We have been actively involved with awareness campaigns with great emphasis on child abuse and anti-animal cruelty.

In continuing on the next chapter of our journey we seriosly want to help make a difference in the water crisis that is plaguing the world we live in at an alarming rate. Today, water pollution and water scarcity, is one of the greatest threats to humanity. We want you to join us on our next big adventure - circumnavigating South Africa, parts of Namibia and Mozambique, unaided and using various different means of transport in our passionate mission to motivate change in the waterways.

It Starts With You...

Thursday 15 January 2009

TO LAZY DAYS AND BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

We were packed and ready to go quite early for a change, but the camp was in a state of slumber. Pieter was nowhere to be found, and we had to settle the bill, so we waited. At around 10, Maria went to wake him up. Eventually, he opened the bar, and we stocked up on some cold drinks and ice. Pieter suggested we all have a "regmaker" which resulted in us sitting at the bar until well after 2pm. It was so nice; we almost decided to stay over again, because we had met some really cool people. Everybody started arriving for the girl's birthday party, and the mood was picking up from the laying low of before. Fresh souls were moving into the campsite. Pieter and Annemarie Knox were amongst them, and it was especially these two who made it difficult for me to leave. Lovely people.

We thought that even if we just paddled for an hour, at least we'd be moving, so we continued, said our good-bye's and got back into the water.
I got a bit drenched in some little rapids, where the water just spilled into my boat, but other than that, the water was amazing. We cruised on for about an hour or two, before we found a very nice spot to camp on the right hand side. We had to carry our gear for a bit, and hoped that our canoes would still be there when we needed them again in the morning.

Christo Meyer found us along the riverbank, because we had contacted him about the piece of land we were on, to find out whom it belonged to, and if it would be cool if we camped here. It was nice to see him, but he didn't stay long, just chatted for a while, and commented on the time it has taken us to get to this point. I could see how this could be so funny, because it has taken us 4 days to get here, which is at most a 2 day trip. We're not in a hurry however, and I'm more scared of missing anything, than getting to Bloemhof in record time.
We had a quick dinner, and an early night.