On Monday 10 March 2014, 16 waddlers set off on another awareness campaign in support of the endangered African penguin. Where 100 years ago there were more than 1.5-million African penguins swimming around, today there are only 18 000 breeding pairs left to sustain the whole population.
We woke up to a lovely and misty day. Waddlers love mist, as walking in drizzly, slightly cooler weather is much more pleasant than 30-degree heat. And we actually had a few individuals with a bit of sunburn from yesterday, myself included, and I was not even in the sun that much. I blame my European genes.
We cannot reiterate enough how great our sponsors are. Every year since the start of the Waddle for a Week campaign, Mosaic Farm has accommodated us in one of their amazing houses. Thank you, Marcello, for sponsoring our accommodation again and thank you to your team for the refreshing breakfast this morning.
The other half of our team stayed at the beautiful Stanford River Lodge, where Valda welcomed us most graciously and all of us slept very well in the very comfortable rooms.
Our main sponsor, without which we could not do our campaign as easily, is Old Mutual Finance: a fun team of financiers who seem to be experts when it comes to walking, as they take staff to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, hike through the Fish River Canyon and even the Parish to Parish Walk on the Isle of Man.
The Parish to Parish Walk is an ambitious 137km walk done in 24 hours. Our Waddlers should try that next year.
Day 2, and the Waddlers were off to an excited start, with a 24km walk to Hermanus. Thank you to Stanford residents and passersby for making our day, and hooting from the get-go.
This year we are very lucky to have two very talented independent Waddlers, filming and taking photos of everything along the way. One is Mike Hardaker, who has made and will make a one-minute short film of each day of the Waddle for a Week campaign. Keep an eye out for those on our YouTube channel.
Fritz Bucker, who is studying at the University of Cape Town, majoring in film studies, will be making a documentary of this whole week, which we are all very excited about. Here he is filming Waddlers Zac and Gabby Harris for a short introduction to day 2.
The further we walked, the rainier it got. Our Waddlers, however, never lost their enthusiasm and pressed on.
And if you look closely at the picture above, that is not a fallen Waddler – just Fritz taking photos from a different angle.
Today was definitely the day of hoots! To give you an idea, last year we received a grand total of 3 000 hoots for the whole week. Yesterday, and I forgot to mention this in yesterday’s blog, we received 579 hoots on the Gansbaai-to-Stanford stretch.
Today blew us away, and we are so thankful to all of you who drove past us and hooted. Today we received 1 023 hoots in total. That means that we are already more than halfway past last year’s total hoot count. Waddler Albert Snyman, from SANCCOB, actually mentioned yesterday that the Waddle makes you appreciate the sound of a hooting car.
Thank you to Chrysler Jeep Dodge for the vehicles and keeping me, the driver, dry on rainy days like these and, of course, getting us safely to our destinations. And thank you to Pepito Designs for making and sponsoring the designs on both of our vehicles.
Our Waddlers finally arrived at the Whale Tale in Hermanus, exhausted but still smiling. Tomorrow we will be tackling another 24km from Hermanus to Kleinmond. In my experience, this has usually been the hardest day for most Waddlers, mainly because their muscles are screaming by now. So show your support, hoot and make a Penguin Promise!
Thank you to our main sponsors:
Chrysler Jeep Dodge Newlands
Thank you also to:
Better Earth
Born in Africa
Badges Unlimited
Pepito Designs
Read about Day 1 of this year’s Waddle here.
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