[ECO]: Magaliesberg Canopy Tour

Ziplining Through Magaliesberg with Canopy Tours South Africa

Terrifying; exhilarating; exciting; adrenaline charging; electrifying; thrilling and most certainly

nerve racking are the adjectives I would use to describe the Canopy Tour I recently did in Magaliesberg, South Africa.

I thought I was going to be brave and wasn't even nervous about it but once I got to the first platform, I thought to myself "What on earth did I sign myself up for". 

Before I carry on babbling about my nerves, let me start from the beginning of my adventure. My brother and I drove to Magaliesberg and could not stop talking about how excited we were. Once we arrived at the Magaliesberg Canopy Tour, we were warmly greeted and went for a safety briefing. Every aspect of the tour was explained to us in detail and we were left feeling secure about our safely on the tour. While on the canopy tour, you are attached at all times, even while waiting on the platforms, and while you are zip lining, you are connected to 4 cables so there is zero chance of you falling. 

Once you are kitted up in your harnesses, you take a quick 4x4 ride to the 2,400 million year old Magaliesberg Mountain and traverse through the Ysterhout Kloof (the second oldest range in the world). There are 11 platforms and you zig zag through the gorge. 

After about the second zipline, I began to feel myself relax and appreciate the nature that I was observing. I took a moment to look around and even looked down, yes that's right, I looked down. I definitely wasn't as brave as my brother who pretty much wanted to go upside down he was having so much fun. 

Our guides were Richard and Lucky who were absolutely fantastic! Not only did they make you feel completely safe and reassure you with every line, but they encouraged you and supported you with each platform. Throughout the canopy tour, our wonderful guides taught us so much about the mountain; ecology; bird and animal life. It was great to learn about the eco system of the Magaliesberg Mountains and encourages you to be more eco-conscious! 

So what does one wear to a canopy tour? Comfy clothes (I chose leggings cause they the comfiest for me) and closed shoes (I wore my Nike trainers). Also, don't forget to apply lots of sunscreen as you are out there for about 2 hours in the sun!

Below are some photos of Ryan and I's experience:

There are Canopy Tours at the following locations: 

Tsitiskamma

Karkloof

Magaliesberg

Magoebaskloof

Drakensberg

Swaziland

The next one on my list? Magoesbaskloof as you get to go past 3 waterfalls! How cool is that!

You can find more information at Canopy Tour Website.

Here's something exciting for those that are booking a tour in October - it's the #Ispysomethingwild competition! You can click here for more information. Go and enter now :P 

A big thank you to MCT Footage Production Crew for the photos; Canopy Tour SA and Magaliesberg Canopy Tour for the experience and Sparkling Waters Hotel for the accommodation (a review on the hotel will be up soon) and Skye for putting this all together! I can't wait to do it again soon!

Love Always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

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[ECO]: Paper Recycling

Why Should We Recycle Paper?

Image: Unsplash

Those that have been reading my blog for a while now, know that I have an obsession when it comes to recycling. I can become quite hectic over it but I feel in terms of the environment, it's a good obsession to have. Over the next few weeks I'll be chatting more about recycling but today's post features a few facts on paper recycling.

While paper is pretty much a necessity in our everyday lives, we're luckily switching over to the electronic side of things but we still use so much paper everyday, and while it may be essential, the trees that are being cut down for it are far more essential.

Did you know that recycling one tonne of paper can save the following?
17 Trees
3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
9 barrels of oil
4000 kilowatts of energy
7000 gallons of water

So how can you play your part?

1) Change to electronic billing - this saves all those bills being thrown in the bin.

2) Need to print something out? Try use both sides of the page.

3) Keep a paper recycling bin right next to the photocopier and fax machine at the office, you'll be surprised how quickly it will fill up.

4) Subscribe to your favourite magazine or newspaper digitally.

5) Buy recycled paper. Using old paper to make new paper uses a lot less energy.

6) Visit Treevolution to find out where you can take your paper recycling to or if it can be collected from your house.

Need any help with recycling? Drop me a message - I'd love to help, like I've said, it's a passion!


Love Always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

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[NOTE]: I'MPossible Ambassador

Exciting Announcement

 

I'm thrilled to announce that I am now a I'MPossible ambassador! So what is I'MPossible? Well they do what their slogan says, "make things possible"! They partner with different companies to try and help those that are disadvantaged, for example, they work with the ACFS (African Children Feeding Scheme) - an organisation that focuses on educating and feeding children in different communities.

 

Through working with I'MPossible I will be able to go after the projects that I've started working on with much more force. As you know, trees in Zambia and the Platbos Forest are very important to me as well as the Elephant Orphanage in Zambia so I will be able to use I'MPossible as a platform to work more with these organisations. I also cannot wait to start on some new projects that will help spread the word of going green!

 

Yesterday we planted some vegetables at a school in Naledi, Soweto and gave monthly food packages to the families of the community. We also filmed a segment explaining what we were planting to help inform the communities on planting vegetables. This will be aired on Tshwane TV (DSTV channel 262) but I will hopefully be able to share the episodes on my YouTube Channel.

Here are some photos from yesterdays event:

 

 I'm so looking forward to haring more exciting projects with you!
Thank you all for your support!

Love Always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

 

 



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[NOTE]: Platbos Forest Ambassador

Exciting News...

 



 

Hi everyone!

 

It's with much excitement that I can announce that I have proudly become an ambassador for the Platbos Forest!

The Platbos Forest is Africa's Southernmost Forest and is home to some trees that are over 1000 years old! Why is the Platbos Forest so unique? Well,  the canopy make-up of the forest occurs nowhere else. It has the elements of a coastal forest with trees such as  milkwoods, sea guarrie, pock ironwoods and wild olive and is unusually combined with Afromontane forest elements such as white stinkwood, hard pear, white pear, wild peach and bladdernut. It is the hard pears, white stinkwood and white pears that give the forest its special character. Did you know that it is unusual to find white stinkwoods so far south?

Not only is the Platbos Forest home to amazing flora such as the trees I mentioned (and many more) and beautiful shrubs; bulbs and creepers, but it is also home to some of Africa's most beautiful animals such as Barn Owls, African Wild Cat's and even Leopard! Plus it is home to the endangered Leopard Toad! To see what other trees and plants grow in the forest, click here and to have a look at the list of other beautiful animals that live in the Forest, click here.

I'm thrilled to be a part of something so wonderful. I have a passion for protecting trees and you can read about my love of trees in this post and one of my favourite tree memories in this post.

Most of you know about the terrible fires that happened in Cape Town recently, well it even affected the Platbos Forest! So most of their fund-raising is now aimed at protecting the forest from future forests. You can find out how to make a donation or to plant a tree, click here.

If you want to visit, you can go for a forest walk or even stay over at the eco-friendly accommodation they offer! Click here for more details.



“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.” -Anonymous

 

Love Always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

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[VIDEO] [TRAVEL]: Zambia - March 2015

My Trip To Zambia in March 2015

 

As many of you know, I frequently travel to my 'second home', Zambia. I wanted to share a piece of what I experience through my YouTube video - I hope you enjoy it!

ps: Don't forget to subscribe to stay updated with all my latest videos!

 



 

Here are a few photos

 

 

 

Love Always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

 

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Miss Earth: Updates & Thank You's

What I've Been Busy With, Plus a Few Thank You's

Hi everyone!

Wow, what a crazy 10 weeks it's been! I've loved every minute though! Felt so good doing what I'm passionate about! 

I wanted to share with you some of the projects that I did during the semi-finals of Miss Earth South Africa - most of you have been keeping up with all my events via my personal twitter and Instagram accounts but here are a few links to what I've been up to lately:

One of my first projects as a semi-finalist was to attend a hospital drive in Soweto for the Easter weekend but I was away with family and friends in Zambia so I decided to hand out Easter eggs to some of the kids along the Zambezi River, you can read more about that here.

Next up, I planted a small vegetable garden at a nursery school in Pretoria. I had such a great day with the kids, they were all so cute and so eager to learn! You can read more about that here.

From the beginning of my Miss Earth journey, I mentioned that I would be collecting gently used clothing and non-perishable food for the Jacaranda Children's Home. I also got a few of my beauty blogging friends to donate some of their beauty products that they weren't using. I was so overwhelmed with all that I received! One whole room in my house was filled with donations! Here is the link for that project. 

I live in a beautiful estate in Pretoria that even has a game reserve in the one section so I knew when I had to my tree planting, I wanted to do it close to home. Have a look at this post to see what this area is all about. 

As my last project as a semi-finalist, I donated food; blankets and jackets to the SPCA in Watloo, Pretoria. I'm a huge animal lover and it was important to me to make sure the animals had blankets and food to keep them happy during the winter. Here is where you can read more. 

And now for the acknowledgments of donations:

Main Sponsor: 

Jesper Kjøller from Ess-Foods

Jacaranda Children's Home Donations:

Sylvia Taylor-Memmory

Irina Domanchuk

Verushka Ramasami

Leanne

Ali Graaff

Hildegarde Koen

Chicara Joubert

Mairi Yates

Heidi Taylor

Alyssa Koorts

Vegetable Garden Donations:

Dolores Grundlingh

Tree Planting Donation:

Jesper Kjøller from Ess-Foods

SPCA Donations:

Alyssa Koorts

Chicara Joubert & Family

Dolores Grundlingh

Stationery Packs:

Dolores Grundlingh

Hessian Bag Sales:

Sylvia Taylor-Memmory

Dicky Bosma

Amy Giliam 

Caron Giliam

Anne Giliam

Dolores Grundlingh

A very BIG Thank You to you all! You son't know how much I appreciate all the wonderful donations!

Another big Thank You goes to each and everyone of you that has been supporting me every step of the way! You are the BEST!

Here are some photos from the events:

You all rock my world and thank you for allowing me the opportunity of spreading the green love ♡

Love always, The Glam Green Girl xXx

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