"There are two things we should give our children; one is roots and one is wings" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -
first chapter CAPE TOWN

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We´ve just been over a month now in South Africa and have already experienced so much. But out of all we have seen and done, the best part is to be sharing these experiences together with my family. We now get to spend so much time with mommy and papa. Back home in Barcelona we go to school all day and only get home around 5.30pm. After doing our homework we don’t have much time for play, because soon we need to have supper and then it’s off too bed. Last year I was very sad because papa was away from home quite a bit. He went on 2 expeditions that took him away from us for 6 weeks at a time and then when he came back home he was locked away in his editing room working hard to make the deadlines. But now, here in South Africa I can’t even keep up with all the activities mommy and papa have taken us on. A fun mixture of cultural, environmental, and outdoor activities. Sandboarding, bowling, surfing, horse riding , skate boarding, playing biliard to name but a few.
second chapter PORT ELIZABETH
Mommy even did some research and hooked us up with a privately organised community of home schoolers. Now we get to do activities and make new friends with other kids that are not going to normal school. Mommy said that when she was living in South Africa this was totally unheard of. There was no such thing as home schooling. Now it seems like quiet the trend as more parents are doing it. Each family seems to have their own reasons. Some just want to spend more time with their kids, others have given up on the level of education in this country (mommy says that the government doesn’t spend enough money on education in the country. There are still so many kids without school books or even schools to attend) And then you have the home school parents that just don’t want to get away from the mainstream school with its conventional rules and regulations. As for me and Jason, we are LOVING IT. Going on the occasional mini” safari” where you can drive through a game farm and spot the animals is always a treat. There are 2 game farms very close to opas home in Port Elizabeth, where we are living. One is called Kragga Kama and the other one is called Seaview game park. One day when we went with opa to Kragga kama our back tyre got stuck in the sand while driving through the cheetah enclosure! When the rangers came to help us they were followed by 8 cheetahs that thought their “food truck” had just arrived. That was an exciting experience. Besides all the other activities, spending time with Opa and playing games such as UNO together or swimming in the pool are things that Jason and myself also love to do. Having these moments with Opa are very special to us! I love my opa very much. As far as cultural and environmental activities go, we have done a township tour in Jeffrey’s bay with Goodwin, our guide and made a boat trip to Robbin Island to learn about its history and more importantly the story of Mandela – the father of Africa - and how he came to occupy a prison cell for 18 years. Back in Port Elizabeth we visited SAMREC, the bird rehabilitation centre where we learnt about whales, seals, and other sea life. SAMREC is a non-profit organisation that rescues bird and animal life that are victims to oil spills off the coast. As far as keeping up with school for the next few months Jason and myself are in a daily “reading” routine. Because we attend the swiss school in Barcelona mommy says we must read 30 min of german and 30 min of Spanish every day inorder to keep up with the language At the end of each day we write in our diaries to remind us of what we did that day. To help us with our school work mommy also found two lovely spanish and german teachers that give us 2 hour classes every day. That way we can keep up with the swiss school´s curriculum. In 3 weeks we are heading to Cape Town for a month. Its papas dream to be able to wake up every day and to kite surf with the best picture perfect back-drop you can imagine, namely the magnificent Table Mountain. I´m looking forward to our many outings with the entire family. Cape Town is so beautiful!
After 2 days driving up South Africa´s coast we finally made it over the border and have spent the last 2 weeks just driving from one sightseeing point to another. Our adventure is taking longer than we expected. Not only because we didn’t realise how far away everything is but also because we are CAMPING! That´s right, mommy and papa surprised us when back in Cape Town they drove up our drive way in a rented 4 x 4 with tents on top! Camping means that each morning we need at least 3 hours before we can hit the road. We start by first making breakfast and then do a bit of studying with Olivia, our german aupair. Afterwards, we pull down the tents, pack everything and finally make it all fit back into the car. Papa ends up doing most of the work because he is the strongest. Jason and I also help whenever we can. It’s so special that Jason and myself can discover Namibia this way. What an adventure! I couldn’t believe mommy when she said she is also going to camp. You see, mommy doesn´t really like camping. Papa, on the other hand, is always camping on his expeditions so I know he is used to it. As for me and Jason. WE LOVE IT! Its exiting every time we get to a new campsite. Jason and I immediately start walking around to see what nature has to offer. During the day, I help Jason make little bug hotels in front of our tents and hospitals for the bugs and insects that can't walk or fly. I even made a small graveyard for the ones that died. :-( At night, it’s also very exciting. That’s when Jason gets to make a fire and we braai marshmallows. Or when all the insects come out and gather around our gas lamps. That part I don´t really like that much. After supper, we spend most of our evenings lying down with our sleeping bags staring up at the stars. They all seem so much brighter out here in nature, even the Southern Cross – that mommy says, we can only see in the southern hemisphere. But I´m not only finding nature in every new campsite. I´m discovering it all the time. Where ever we are, in all shapes and sizes. Like canoeing with my family 3 hours down the Orange River (the natural border between South Africa and Namibia) or looking down the spectacular Fish River Canyon that was so impressive that papa had to fly his drone. I even saw how the Namib desert swallowed a ghost town called Kollmanskop- a small settlement that began when they discovered diamonds in that area. In the boiling heat I have climbed with Jason and papa the big and beautiful red dunes at Sossusvlei. As part of the nature here, I have also seen lots of animals. So far I´ve been lucky enough to have seen dolphins, oryx, zebras, ostriches, springboks and giraffes. And we haven´t even made it to Etosha Nature Reserve yet. Besides the dunes, the canyons, the deserts, my feet have touched the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean at Luederitz, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. Hmmm, so after 10 days on the road and after 8 campsites I think it’s safe to say that mommy can handle the camping bit of this adventure. Actually, I think she is enjoying it. But not if its 3.00 am in the morning and she is woken up by animals scratching at her tent, then I think she doesn’t like it so much. That’s what happened at the Kanaan campsite, one of the most beautiful campsites we have been to so far. It was amazing. It truly was just me, my family, and the wide open desert plain. The lady at the reception did warn us though that there were wild animals roaming around. But because of the draught, she said, it’s unlikely that we will see or hear any animals. Well, it turns out that the lady was wrong because the next day after mommy showed the photos of the tracks she found in our campsite the lady confirmed that they indeed belonged to jackals and wild dogs. From that day onwards mommy said she no longer wanted to sleep in the ground tent but instead in a tent on the roof of our 4x4. Not only am I getting to see so much of Nambia but I´m also learning a lot about the country and its people and the problems they are facing today, the biggest one being the drought. It makes me sad to see all the dried-up river beds. I think of all those poor animals searching for water and the famers that couldn’t farm anymore because there wasn’t enough water for their livestock. At the Kanaan campsite, they told us about their ongoing conservation projects, one being how they want to educate and promote the cohabitants of man and animal. You see lots of the farmers have fences on their land to keep out the cheetahs and jackals. But these same fences are also a threat to the big antelope called Oryx. They are the only kind of buck that can´t jump over fences so when they try, they get stuck between the wires and can´t move. Sometimes the mother can wriggle herself free but ends up on the other side with her babies left watching her from the inside. We saw quite a few dead oryx on either side of the fences on our long drives through the desert and now I know the sad reason why. Driving through Namibia in a 4x4 is really the best way to see the country but on these gravel roads we have had a few experiences so far. At one campsite, we woke up to a flat tyre. That was a scary moment for me because I thought that we would be stuck there forever but then papa was able to fix it. We are always driving on gravel roads here so it’s very normal that small, sharp stones can be a hazard. Now we also have a cracked windscreen Visiting one of the many LIVING MUSEUMS projects here in Namibia was also very interesting That is where myself and Jason learnt how the Damara tribe used to life and hunt. I even saw how they make a fire just with sticks. Their language is also funny. They use a lot of clicking sounds with their tongue. Hello from Namibia!!
We are only now half way through our Namibia adventure and we have already seen and learnt so much.
third chapter NAMIBIA ROAD TRIP
The 10 day trip to Durban to meet our new cousin Thandi was again quite the adventure. On the way up we drove through the previously known region of TRANSKEI, up the east coast. There we stayed in COFFEE BAY at the Coffee Shack Backpackers. A colourful, vibrant and idyllic backpackers. Yet another cool accommodation that mommy found for us 😉 The minute we got there, Papa signed us up for some surf lessons with the local surf instructor Gabriel. We spent 2 whole days learning some tricks of how to surf. Because of that, Jason has got quite good now. All he wants to do is surf the green waves. I´m still enjoying the white waves, the green ones are still too big for me. But one day, I will be up there catching and surfing a wave with my brother Jason. We were sad to leave COFFEE BAY. It was such a magical place. So quiet and green with only scattered Xhosa huts on the beautiful hillsides and now and again an occasional cow roaming the desolate beach. I always looked forward to dinner time because that meant after our surfing session we had to cross the river stream to get to the backpackers communal kitchen and restaurant….in the dark! This meant: A bit of high tide, lamps on our heads and then trying to keep dry by dodging the odd wave that surprisingly came shooting in from nowhere. If we weren´t quick enough we would all get wet except mommy because papa of course gave her a piggy back every time, Next stop was DURBAN, that´s where we finally got to meet Thandi, our new cousin. She came to meet us with my uncle Martin and aunty Shereen at the backpackers HAPPY HIPPO, where we were staying. We did lots of fun things with her. Long strolls on the beachfront, visiting uShaka Marine World. Definitely the best aquarium I have ever visited. I saw so many wonderful and strange fish and sea creatures that I never knew existed. After 3 hours of wandering from one sea tank to the other we got to spend another 3 hours with everyone at the water park next door. Now that´s a place I didn’t want to leave. My lips were so blue at one stage but still I had to keep on going until the park finally closed at 4.00pm. After our 4 day stay in Durban we had to sadly say goodbye to our wonderful Thandi. But I´m sure we will get to see her often because uncle Martin and aunty Shereen live in London, basically just “next door” to Barcelona. Before we hit the road again for the long drive back through the Drakensberg, just outside of Durban we stopped at PHEZULU SAFARI PARK. Again we learnt new things!!! Together with the pupils of a school excursion from Lesotho we watched and learned how the ZULU courtship and marriage customs are. We learnt that the man can have as many wife’s as he wants as long as he has enough cows to pay the LOBOLA ( the marriage gift ). After watching their traditional dance and singing we went off to discover the inhabitants of their reptile park. Jason and myself got to hold a Burmese Boa snake and a small alligator. NOW THAT WAS REALLY COOL !!!! After leaving the PHEZULU safari park we drove another 4 hours until we arrived at the KIARA LODGE, just outside the Golden Gate nature reserve. Mommy and papa were a bit stressed during check in because the lady at the front desk was very rude to them. But eventually after the manager came to sort everything out, we were shown our fantastic 3-bedroomed apartment. I was so glad to hear that we would be staying there for 2 whole days. It was a kids paradise. Jumping castles, trampolines, mini golf, indoor swimming pools and even more cooler were the hundreds of bunnies that were running around on their grounds. After KIARA LODGE mommy and papa said they had a surprise for us. We had no idea what it was about and where we were going. After a 2 hour drive all of a sudden we came to the border of the Kingdom of Lesotho and still we had no idea where they were taking us. The drive through the mountains was so beautiful. We kept on climbing higher and higher into the mountains passing the occasional hut until we turned a corner and I couldn´t believe what I saw…SNOW !!!! I have been begging papa over and over again that one day I want to see snow again. I even asked him to take me on his next expedition where there is lots of snow and huskies, my absolute favourite dog in the world. Of course you can just imagine how excited I was when I saw the big patch of snow lying there just 200m from where we had stopped. Mommy and papa told us that when they realised that in the Drakensberg there was a place called AFRISKI, in the Kingdom of Lesotho, they just had to take us there. SKIING in AFRICA was just something that had to be done. It sounds crazy I know. Only a few days earlier we were surfing in Coffee Bay and now we were about to SNOW SKI. We spent 4 hours skiing down the same slopes over and over again, not feeling tired for a second. Jason and myself even forgot to eat and drink. We were so into the moment that everything else was not important. That was the best afternoon ever, snow skiing in AFRICA!!!!
fourth chapter DURBAN & LESOTHO
I still can´t believe it! Jason and myself are going to Madagascar. The land of King Julien, one of our favourite movies of all times. I never thought that we would come here. It´s like a dream come true!!! Looking back, I´m so glad that Jason and myself agreed to take the necessary vaccinations. Mommy told us that if we wanted to come with we needed to protect ourselves from the 2 main diseases that exist in Madagascar, namely Hepatitis A and Typhoid. For Malaria which is also a risk we just have to take the prescribed tablets. The last time I had a vaccination, I was 5 years old. I remember that I screamed so loud that the nurse in Barcelona told mommy to come back another day because I was not going to let her stick a needle in my arm. 2 years older and seeing Jason do it without flinching I felt a lot braver to get the job done. Turns out it wasn´t so bad after all, although my arm did hurt for a couple of days after that. So after all our vaccinations, malaria tablets, chlorine tablets and first aid kit, I’m glad to say that mommy and papa were ready and very much prepared to take us on this new adventure. I´m sure that coming to Madagascar wasn´t on mommy and papas TO DO list when they decided to leave their hectic lives in Barcelona and instead live in South Africa for 8 months. Our calendar was already so full, so many events had been planned ahead of time like going to live in Cape Town or discovering NAMIBIA for a month, not to mention also travelling all over South Africa. When would we have time for more?! BUT as always with my family, often things happen spontaneously, without so much as a warning. So when mommy heard that her childhood friend Lisa Taylor – who lived in Madagascar for 5 years - was planning to escape the South African winter yet again and go back to her house on Russian Bay, Mommy asked her if we could join her! After checking our finances and papas job obligations, I´m so happy that they decided to go ahead and do it. It was clear to both of them that this was an opportunity they couldn´t pass by. How often does one get the chance to go to Madagascar and even more so with someone who knows the island and speaks the language!!!! Of course, myself and Jason were over the MOON when they told us! 1 month later while papa was away filming in America all flights were booked and the itinerary for a 4-week Madagascar adventure had been made. The entire trip would also include a 5 day stop over on the island of Reunion. But only because the airline Air Austral happens to fly to Madagascar via Reunion. Now talk about a BONUS! Reunion was a new adventure on its own. Arriving at the airport we got into the big 8-seater van that papa had booked and together with Lisa and her 4-year-old daughter Grace we drove straight to her friend Carols house that we rented for our 5-day stopover. Papa told us that Reunion forms part of France and that´s why we could pay in Euros and everyone spoke French. From the minute, we arrived it was exciting to hear all the people speak this new foreign language. I can´t wait to learn it back home in the Swiss School. In Reunion, we always started our day with a typical French breakfast consisting of chocolate milk, chocolate croissants and creamy eclairs. Hmmm, that was a lot of chocolate! This of course being my favourite part of the journey although I doubt it was mommies. She is always on about us not eating sugar. Well, in Reunion she lost that battle 😉 Papa was buying! We made the most of our 5-day stopover by driving all over the island. Looking for beaches where we could snorkel without getting eaten by a shark (there are L O T S on this island, everybody told us), or driving up Piton de la Fournaise, one of the most active volcanos in the world. Now that was cool. I have never walked on fields of old lava. We spent quite a few hours investigating the area and looking for lava bombs. Papa explained that Lava bombs is what the volcano spits out when it erupts. He once got to see and film a very active volcano in Vanuatu in the South Pacific so we pretty much believed him. The island of Reunion is so beautiful and green with its many mountains and hills. Around every corner you come across waterfalls just gushing down the vertical forests. We visited one famous one called Cascade Niagra. I have never seen such an amazing waterfall before. Standing right in front of such a huge one was very impressive. I loved feeling the wind through its gushing force and the spray on my face. I guess I was a bit sad to say good-bye to Reunion but then again, I was also so looking forward to the new adventure that was waiting for us in MADAGASCAR REUNION
fifth chapter REUNION & MADAGASCAR
Arriving to Nosy Be in Madagascar was soooooooooo exciting. When we landed I still couldn’t believe we were actually here! We ended up spending a lot of time at immigration, buying visas, stamping visas, presenting visas, signing visas and presenting them again. A never-ending story. Lisa Taylor was even asked for a bribe from one of the officials! (Mommy explained to me that a bribe is when someone asks for money for doing the job he already has been paid for…like getting an ice cream after just having had one….) Eventually we all piled into the taxi and headed to the town of Ambataloaka where Lisa had organised our accommodation for the next 4 days. Because Lisa Taylor had so much experience with Madagascar, especially after living there for 5 years and speaking the language, mommy happily let her work out a daily schedule for our 1 month stay. Alone the taxi drive from the airport was so different than what I expected. First of all, it was really hot. I was still wearing my long- sleeved T-shirt from the flight from Reunion, so I was absolutely and positively dying of heat. I started crying because it was so unbearable. Eventually I moved closer to the front to get out of the sun and feel some of the breeze on my face. Driving to our accommodation was like driving through a jungle, the road being sandy and kind of chaotic, randomly placed villages on the side of the road, stick huts on stilts and lots of people in the streets. Papa said it reminded him of India. The accommodation in VILLE RAZAMBE was perfect and cheap! 30 euros per night per room. It was situated up on a hill with a view of the ocean and it had a pool! Grace, myself and Jason happily made use of that every morning and afternoon. It was also only a 5-minute walk to the beach and to the bar where we had sundowners every evening. The small little village of Ambataloaka was so authentic. Only 1 sandy main road with a few “restaurants”, and in between, the locals living in their stick and grass roof huts making dinner and breakfast on the side of the road. A kind of “kitchen for all”, where any passer- by or neighbour could sit down and enjoy a cheap home cooked meal. Lisa Taylor took us to her favourite restaurant that she has been going to for years. CHEZ MAMA. With only 4 tables it was the smallest “restaurant” I had ever been to but also the yummiest. We always had rice and then either a traditional calamari or meat stew. Mommy and papa also loved the price. 1.80 euros per person. Now who can beat that. Especially for an authentic freshly home cooked meal. It goes without saying that we ended up at CHEZ MAMA every night after that! The second day in Ambataloaka, Lisa Taylor organised a trip to the LOKOBE RESERVE. This meant that Jason and I were finally going to see King Julien!!!! I couldn´t wait. But first we had to drive 40 min to the the village of AMBATOZAVAVY. And then in a local PIROGUE (wooden canoe) our driver and guide took us to the reserve. Once we landed at the shore, Jeremy took us through the little village and then straight to the jungle where we got to discover so many animals. He showed us the smallest Chameleon BROOKESIA MICRA and all kinds of Geckos. The most exciting part was when he showed us a Boa snake in a tree just above us! It was so close. Finally, last but not least, we met the King Juliens of the Jungle the nocturnal LEMURS. Our day on the nature reserve ended with an amazing lunch that the villages had prepared for us. Coconut turmeric rice, shrimp and meat brochettes, crab stew and salad. A real feast. 
The following day after having “breakfast on the beach” at one of the local restaurants we went into the town of HELL-VILLE to stock up on supplies and water. Where Lisa Taylor lives there are no shops, actually there is nothing except her home on a small hill, so everything we bought was going to be our food for the next 2 weeks. Later we realised that we sadly did not buy enough. We ended up running very low on supplies, especially when we had to compete with the Rats who scuttled around at night digging their little teeth into anything that was lying around. There wasn´t really much to see in HELL-VILLE except a very basic grocery shop, the fresh produce market where the fish and meat were covered in flies ☹ and the “fancy” European café CASA MOFO, where we had a cooldrink and mommy and papa got their internet dose for the day. Just like every other evening the day ended with sundowners at our favourite beach bar and then a delicious home cooked meal at CHEZ MAMA. Day 4 we spent on the MARINE RESERVE island TANY KELY This meant another early rising to prepare for the day outing. Mommy, Lisa Taylor and Olivia made us baguette sandwiches and packed lots of water and fresh fruit. The boat trip only took about 20 min but wow what a beautiful unspoilt island it was. Mommy and Jason were lucky enough to swim with sea turtles! Papa took us kids snorkelling a few times. So many beautiful fish. Big ones, small ones, Dories and many more. With the water being so clear and warm it was easy to just get” lost” swimming in the natural big “aquarium”. Before leaving the island, we took a walk up through the jungle and spotted at least 20 LEMURS in the trees above us! Papa also got to fly his drone at the top of the lighthouse so we could later see how the island looked like from the top. All in all, another awesome day spent in this part of the world.
 Day 5 is when we packed up and took our long-awaited boat trip to Lisa´s place at RUSSIAN BAY. I was longing for this day. The day we could get to know Lisa and Graces home. At last I could climb the special tree that Grace has been telling us about. The place where a duck, 2 chickens, a rooster, and a dog called MILU and lots of natural inhabitants also call their home! So, with full tummies and a very full boat with all our luggage and groceries for our 12-day expedition we started our boat trip to RUSSIAN BAY. The water was a bit choppy! Poor Olivia landed on shore with a serious bout of sea sickness. Us kids just jumped off the boat and went straight to INVESTIGATING our new home. Lisa Taylor wasn’t joking when she said her home is far out. Only water, sand and forest all around. We soon learnt what “stranded” on an island meant. At Lisa´s place everything “works” on solar panels. She explained to us that if there is no sun, i.e. at night or if its cloudy, no energy can be made by the solar panels that are on the roof. During the day, the sun shines on the solar panels and energy is made and stored into batteries that then helps the pump to bring water from the well to the small reservoir, or gives us light and electricity for the freezer at night. With so little water or electricity available we often run out of both of these by the time the sun has set. Thank goodness papa thought of bringing us all head-lamps. It´s like camping all over again in Namibia. The good news is, that I can get out of washing my hair often. Life here is so different to our lives back in Barcelona. I´m learning to appreciate what I have back home. No walking to wells to fetch water for bathing or toilets. Compared to back home, turning on a tap or switching on a light is pure luxury. The day we arrived at Russian Bay was also papa’s birthday. While he tried his luck at kite surfing, we surprised him with a decorated table of collected shells and sand and sweeties. After singing happy birthday, we ate cake and played games. I bet Papa never thought he would ever celebrate a birthday in Madagascar! From here on out our days and evenings were pretty much the same in Russian Bay. Jason and myself always woke up early to write our diaries. Then we would sneak back into our beds and wait until 8.30 when everyone awoke and breakfast would be prepared. Jason would in the meantime feed the chickens and rooster while mommy would fetch well water to clean and papa would fetch drinking water from the spring. After breakfast, Olivia would sometimes give us an hour lesson in German. After lunch while Grace had her afternoon nap, Jason and myself would practise some reading. Before supper, with the high tide coming in we would go for a swim with mommy and papa and sometimes Grace would join us. Lisa Taylor says that the difference between high and low tide is about 4 meters. It´s incredible to see what a difference that makes. When its low tide we can walk at least 50 m until we reach the deeper water and when its high tide the mangroves appear and we can touch the water from the end of Lisa´s stone path. While mommy, Lisa, Olivia and Patricia prepared supper Grace and I would collect small sand crabs and build them little homes in a plastic bucket. Before bedtime we would then set them loose. A plastic bucket not being their natural habitat of course! Mommy says that Lisa´s place is truly a piece of paradise because there is no cell phone reception. It’s just us, the house and nature, which includes the occasional mosquito attack or hearing the rats at night eating our food. Turns out they love plastic, even the plastic of papas Kites they liked. The fact that mommy or papa can`t receive or send messages, emails or whatsapps seems to be a big deal to them. Mommy says she can finally “disconnect” in the true sense of the word. Disconnect from the rest of the world and just spend her days cooking and like the rest of us, reading, eating, playing UNO and sleeping. And after we finish doing all of that, we just do it all again. Sometimes, maybe every second or third day mommy and papa take a walk to the top of the hill so they can try their luck and receive and send messages. It’s a bit of a walk and sometimes even from there the reception isn´t good. That´s why they decided to only make the effort every couple of days. While mommy reads Papa – alias “holiday papa” for Grace because her dad wasn´t able to come ☹” spends his time editing the footage he has taken over the last few months during our sabbatical. (Luckily, we have enough electricity stored from the solar panels to charge laptops and phones at night.) Sometimes we get to see something funny that he is editing like when I was filming mommy and Jason at a petrol station in Namibia, or when Jason and myself were looking for shooting stars under one of those many starry skies. So many wonderful memories that Jason and myself will never forget and that I´m so glad papa has captured and is making a movie out of. That´s going to be fun to watch in a couple of years’ time, when we are all grown up. But even while we enjoy our “Robinson Crusio “days at Lisa’s place we have also had the odd highlight and done a few excursions. Once we went over the hill to buy a chicken at the near-by village (which we are going to eat as soon as he is fat enough). Another day we paid a local fisherman to take us all to the other side of the bay, a place called Andassi Bay where we had a pick-nick on a beautiful sandy white beach with glorious turquoise water. His family also came with. Lisa said that they probably have never been to Andassi Bay because boats are only used for fishing and not for fun excursions. It was a nice feeling to have them all with us and share our pick-nick lunch with them. Jason, Grace and myself spent the day swimming and playing with the kids Frankie and Christian. We are learning all about survival here. Lisa Taylor is the best teacher. She knows so much. She has been sailing since she was 18 so she knows a lot about making a life at sea and of course remote island life. In 1998, she started chartering a boat to Madagascar. She spent 15 years chartering boats for boat owners in South Africa. In 2005, together with her ex-husband they built a house here in Russian Bay, one of the remote parts of the mainland. In 2008, she went back to Port Elizabeth. Each year, when the south African winters approach she packs up and comes back to the wonderful WARM climate and basic life that Russian Bay has to offer. Every day Lisa is teaching us something new. For instance, how to keep eggs fresher and longer by rubbing them in oil. Because we don’t have a fridge all the fresh provisions we eat like fruit and vegetables only lasted us for the first couple of days, after that it was canned food and pasta. She does have a gas stove so we did cook meals and bake bread. Occasionally, Patricia, the housekeeper treats us with a yummy local dish. The other day she made us a delicious pumpkin coconut dish with rice. We are all learning what it´s like to eat in rations because once we run out of something there are no replacements. It´s difficult for us kids to understand this concept. We just want to eat until our tummies are full. It´s difficult for us to think and plan for a tomorrow because all we think about is what our tummies want and need NOW. The fact that they don´t grow any vegetables or fruit on this part of the island makes it difficult for us to get our daily intake of vitamins. There are no shops or markets where we can buy fresh food. Unfortunately, it’s also not MANGO SEASON ☹ even if Lisa has a few of those trees around her house. Thankfully there is always a local from the next village that sells us his freshly caught fish. With all of that said, papa did also bring along us some treats that we get to enjoy with our afternoon chocolate milk. A definite highlight of the day. About 4 days living at Lisa´s place we ran out of bottled water. That´s when we had to start boiling spring water that papa fetched every day up the hill. After the water cooled down we had to add chlorine tablets that made the water taste like Opa´s swimming pool. Even if it tasted horrible it’s the only water we had ☹. Papa says that living out here is like on one of his expeditions. It makes him happy to see that we can also experience what it’s like for him when he has to fly to remote places like Vanuatu, Himalaya or Greenland. When it boils down to the basics, namely survival! Having enough to eat and drink becomes the biggest priority when he is out there in the middle of no-where filming. 
I almost forgot to mention what it’s like here at night. Papa explained that because we are so close to the equator the sun sets as early as 17.00 -18.00. As soon as its gets dark we smear ourselves with mosquito cream and hang up the mosquito nets for the night. After supper, we play a few rounds of UNO or PHASE 10. We are normally all in bed around 21.00, the time when the “night visitors” start coming out. Even after 10 days I am still not used to the noise of rats trying to eat our food or the big cockroaches that start flying on the terrace. Yes, cockroaches can fly! I also never knew that until I saw it with my own eyes! Our last day on Russian Bay Lisa Taylor organised an excursion to the school of the near-by village that she started 3 years ago. I was excited to see how the children here went to school. The school consisted of 1 grass roof hut with a few chairs. The children were already waiting for us when we arrived. With smiling faces they started to sing for us 😊. In return, we sang a song or two in English and German. During the 2 hours, we were there each of the children came up and introduced themselves with their name and age and showed us proudly how they could count. Even the younger ones. It was so cute. Afterwards they wanted Jason and I to count to them in English and German. I could see that they were also excited and curious to meet us. I’m not even sure if they have ever seen a white person, besides Lisa Taylor who started the school for them. Nevertheless, the most exciting part of our visit for them was when papa packed out his DRONE! That was the absolute highlight! Of course, they had never seen something like this before. I guess the only technology they have come across from the “outside “world is the occasional cell phone (NOT A SMART PHONE!). Lisa Taylor says that since about year ago the mobile company Orange has coverage in most towns and villages but here we still have to climb up the hill to find the coverage that is coming from Nosy be. I wondered if any of the 20 homes in this village owned a cell phone. I guess not because how would they even charge it. They don’t have any electricity ☹ Once papa launched the drone he came back inside the classroom and asked the kids to gather around the IPAD while he handled the controls and flew the drone around the school and over their part of the island. I don’t think any of them knew what life looked like on the other side of the bay. I’m sure none of them have even walked further than a kilometre from their own home. All of a sudden with this strange looking “helicopter” in the air, they were able to see what their village and surroundings looked like. It felt good to be able to share our knowledge with the village children. When we said our good byes and started walking back to Lisa´s place I really hoped in my heart that perhaps our visit will inspire at least one or two of those kids if not all to keep on studying and dream big so that one day they can sail across the ocean and not feel intimated when they reach the other side. Lisa Taylor says that some of the uneducated people from the village are scared to leave their village. They think the people in the towns will laugh at them for their lack of knowledge. I hope that these kids won’t have that problem. I hope that they will keep on learning and believe in a better or at least have a choice of a different future. MADAGASCAR