South Africa Day 6 - Concert in Hartenbos

This morning it was time to say goodbye to Cape Town. After all the suitcases were loaded and lunch boxes packed, we gathered once again in the lobby of the hostel and sang "Kwangena" for all the hotel employees, who were very happy about the musical farewell! Then we got on the bus and headed out of Cape Town towards Hartenbos.

We passed the townships and went to Sir Lowrey's Pass, which we crossed. The landscape was beautiful, with jagged rocks, clouds hanging low in the mountains and very low but varied vegetation. At the top of the plateau of the pass, a township suddenly appeared on the left. Martin told us that the people there lived mainly from growing and harvesting apples, pears and wine. We continued to climb so that we were soon in the middle of the clouds and visibility was barely more than 50 m. But this state of affairs did not last long and shortly afterwards, about two hours after our departure, our bus driver Massa drove the coach into a sunlit petrol station for a short break. Soon after we continued our journey, we had to cross a weigh bridge. The bus was checked here for weight and registration. We then rolled back onto the road with an official weight of 25 tons. Passing mandarin and clover plantations, we stopped again two hours later, this time at the House of Aloes. We used this break for some exercise ;) However, we didn't stay there for long, as our host families were already waiting for us in Hartenbos. On the last stretch towards Hartenbos, the definite highlight was seeing two elephants in the distance. We finally reached Mossel Bay at around half past two. Here, too, we first saw a seemingly endless township before the road led over a hill and the city and the sea stretched out before us.

After 400 km and almost seven hours of driving, we finally reached Hartenbos. We were welcomed by the pastor of the local Dutch Reformed Church, Johannes Engelbrecht, as well as the families from the community who agreed to take us into their homes for a night. We were assigned to our host families and had just under an hour and a half to spend with them. Many of us visited the beach promenade and some were even lucky enough to see whales and dolphins! At 5:30 p.m., the host families took us back to the church and we had a half-hour rehearsal for the upcoming concert.

An hour later it started. In a church that was completely full, we spent about an hour and a half singing for our host families and the congregation. Everything from sacred music to German literature and Queen was represented and we were rewarded with a standing ovation. We then spent the evening with our families and enjoyed our short stay in Hartenbos.