Leadership Program for Schools held at Hadeda Creek

Guide your child to choose the best pair of "shoes" to leap over the hurdles of life.

"Every parent wants thier child to walk, (or run) out of school showing a definitive level of IQ, EQ, maturity, accountability, youthful exuberance, enthusiasm, accountability and possibly more. Not too much to ask after 12 years of school fees.

From the nurtured environment of school, home and family, our young adults are about to enter the big world that awaits; whether work, further academic tuition, the GAP journey, a sports sponsorship, an OE or a NGO working holiday. It's all about to happen and we as parents just hope or pray that they do the right thing. But what is the right thing? Is it the world, according to us, our teachers, mates, GARP, the Government or something extra-terrestrial?

The decisions our young adults are about to make are critically important and will have a direct impact on thier future, a future that is just about to be put fair and squarely into thier hands, or do we continue to shadow them a further 2, 3, or maybe 10 years. The umbilical cord is often difficult to cut and the reason is usually doubt. Doubt that they can or cannot, decide or not decide, do or don't, commit or not commit, be sensible or senseless. We are not sure that they will make the right choice, but imagine if we had absolutely no question about thier ability to do this perfectly without us being there for them. Isn't this what their preparation is all about? Isn't this what we hope to happen at some magical moment in our children's life?

I sum it up in a word; leadership.

We want our children to take leadership, not just to become the CEO of some multi-million dollar company, but more importantly, of themselves. Leadership is more than a set of skills such as; decision making, realistic problem solving or the art of influence. In my opinion it is more, a culture, a centricity or value that can be taught in a lesson, but becomes more of an ongoing and consistently travelled journey of experiences, each of which helps mould the thinking and provide a consistent understanding of how to do the right thing more often. If only i knew how to get this concept to every child, including my own!"

Signing Off,
John Ingram

Stop the whinning, drink the stuff

Yes, we know….. Capetown has a large rock, the sea, the prison and the wine, and we hear about it every time a Capetonian visits us to do business. We have lions, a clean river, gold dust and real people. But it’s not about having or being one or the other, we believe in having the best of both cities. We provide the best of the Cape along with the best of JHB in what we call Jhb’s Own Wine Route.

At Hadeda Creek on the Vaal River we have created a unique trip that allows clients to partake in two wonderful pastimes. Outside Parys, the Vaal River drops some 15% due to the meteor impact in the Vredefort Dome. This creates 12 kms of exciting rapids that provide fun and excitement for the 5000 rafting guests who participate each year.

Most people have a vision of the Vaal as being a slow, off-colour, speed boat infested playground. Well, this is true to those who have not travelled south of Parys. The river is clear, effervescent and breaks into mystic channels. The rafting can be experienced by both beginners and “pros” alike and the rafting trips range between 2 – 6 hours in duration.

So when does the wine route come into this?

During the last 2 kilometers, the river decides to chill out and it is at this point where our ever alert guides converge all the rafts together and dig into the cooler boxes for silver wine goblets, fine merlots, saviguan blancs and a platter of delectable nibbles to accompany the occasion. The wine even has the distinctive Hadeda Creek label and is the only wine we know the is “The Rafters Choice”.

The relaxing hour back to camp, allows one to savour the beauty of the Vaal while tasting the trophies from the Cape. The sunsets are spectacular, the birdlife abundant and one cannot help but feel really happy about living in this part of the world.

I have heard that Capetonians are trying to do a similar type of combo, but I feel our Pilansberg lions roaming the V&A waterfront will never take off.