Matt's Blog Day 8: Altitude training

We move on to stage two of my Triathlon training. Having honed my aquatic skills by outswimming the sharks, we head North for some altitude training.

The flight to Johannesburg was followed by a two and a half hour bus trip up to Rustenburg on the Northern edge of the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. On the way to Rustenberg, we stopped off at Royal Bafokeng School, a school in a very rural area, for another coaching clinic. The only housing in the area consisted of ramshackle tin sheds with little to no facilities and services.

Once again, we were faced with 150 kids, all excited to be there, all hanging on every word we said and all desperate to impress us. After the session, we played a quick game of touch to attempt to get used to the altitude. Within two minutes, we were sweating and wheezing like old men - doesn't bode well for Thursday!

From Royal Bafokeng, we headed to the Game Lodge with a mixture of emotion and excitement, having seen pictures of the amazingly scenic hotel and guilt that we were off to this luxury while the kids trudged off back to their homes - absolutely worlds away from what we faced!

The hotel is absolutely stunning, nestled in the base of an extinct volcano with the sides of the volcano forming the natural walls to our own personal game park.

With a pre-breakfast game drive planned for the morning and the natural light fading by 6.00pm, it's an early night, ready to check out the sights in the morning.

View links to all Matt's blogs here, and see the picture gallery of his tour here.