Three Tree Hill Stories - Page 3

A wonderful blog written by French family James & Solen Pennaneach that stayed recently….

Botshabelo is a multifaceted charity based in Johannesburg, South Africa. They are passionate about transforming children’s lives through excellent residential care and education. UpliftED is the Teacher Training Programme partnering into impoverished communities to empower both the teachers and their preschools to offer a better, more solid foundation in education. They reach into communities where many preschools are under-equipped, have poor facilities and the teachers are untrained. Zamokuhle is the first rural school that they are working with.

Four super-energetic, super-motivated, super-stars travel all the way from Johannesburg every two months in order to train the unqualified “teachers” that care for the children in our Learning Centres. The results have been unbelievable. The feedback from the community has been exceptional. Previously, the children at the centre would sleep all day. Now, they can sing the national anthem, say the days of the week in English & cut with a pair of scissors.

We do dream that one day Zamokuhle Centre of Learning in Hambrook can be the TRAINING centre for this area!

Christmas Eve 2017 was celebrated with Zulu Tenor, Mxolisi, who brought on the sunset with his magnificent voice rolling over the hills as guests watched the sunset over the Drakensberg mountains. Families with children enjoyed toasting their own “stick-breads” on the open fire, whilst parents sipped on craft gin & tonic under the shade of an ancient Acacia tree.

As the New Year 2018 rolled in, so did the rain… Accompanied by spectacular thunderstorms, finally the drought has abated. The dams have all filled up, the grass has thickened & turned green, waterfalls are flowing and all the animals are looking portly again. This section of the Spioenkop dam has been dry for 3 years, but now has water in it, attracting vast herds of game therefore making for spectacular guided bush walks.

The rains have brought great relief to resident amphibians, some that have been aestivating for the past 3 years. This is a process whereby these creatures will form a water-conserving cocoon around their bodies & burrow deep under the ground to conserve moisture. When wet conditions return, they will surface to breed, feed & replenish their fat stores before the next dry season.

The Guttural Toad (Amietophrynus gutturalis) is widespread throughout Southern Africa, spreading into areas in the southern Cape, which is causing problems with local endemic species. They can lay up to 25 000 eggs at a time & tadpoles take about 75 days to metamorphose.

Simon recently delivered 6 solar system set-ups for 6 under-priveledged families in the nearby village, Hambrook. The simple systems can be taken in at night for safety & easily set up again during the day for charging. The systems can be used to run 2 lights or lamps plus charge a cell phone. The residents were thrilled.

In celebration of 10 years at Three Tree Hill this year, Family Blackburn are celebrating by re-aligning design with their steadfast philosophy of sustainable tourism with old fashioned authentic luxury, family values, and personalised service. The new “three tree hill “ logo is inspired by the rich life and scratchy handwriting of one of Africa’s greatest and most renowned story-tellers to have ever lived – Sir Laurens van der Post. Handwriting, together with the summary of what we do at Three Tree Hill – history.nature.culture. makes up our new logo. A celebration of a life well lived, and the ancient, most valuable art of all – storytelling.

We are also excited to announce the launch of our brand new two-bedroomed Kiplings Family Cottage. We want to enable larger families (like our own) to all be under one child-friendly roof in comfort & style.

South African handcrafted fabrics & art fill Kiplings Family cottage. Original circa 1900 newspaper cuttings adorn the walls, as well as a number of custom-designed original artworks from the area. The children’s bedroom room has an en-suite wheelchair-friendly bathroom. In addition, the kitchenette, basin, light switches & door handles are modified to comfortably facilitate a wheelchair bound person.