Cape Town

Feb 26 2016

Top tips for tip-top travels

Thinking about becoming an MBC volunteer? Or just looking to travel to Cape Town? Here at MBC, we’ve created a list of top tips to make your travels smoother, safer, and even more fun!

caitlin Name: Caitlin
Been in South Africa: 6 weeks
Position: Volunteer
Advice: There are so many incredible independent cafes in and around Cape Town. I love Bob’s Bagel Cafe in Kalk Bay, Monicle and Mermaid in
Simon’s Town, and Empire in Muizenberg – just round the corner from MBC!

ANT Name: Ant
Been in South Africa: 40 years
Position: Director of MBC
Advice: Stay for as long as possible, there’s so much to do. Just a couple of weeks won’t be enough – you’ll have to come back another time! Make
sure to explore the surrounding area as well, and get out to the Garden Route if you can.

phila Name: Phila
Been in South Africa: 19 years
Position: Former MBC member, surf instructor at Learn 2 Surf
Advice: Be safe! Cape Town is an incredible area, but there will be some people out to spoil your fun. Keep your belongings in your sight, be vigilant, and don’t let anybody stop you having a good time

Temba Name: Temba
Been in South Africa: 14 years
Position: MBC member
Advice: On a rainy day, Grand West in Cape Town is a great place to go. It has everything, from cinemas to an ice rink to bowling, as well as loads of restaurants. There’s enough there to keep you entertained for hours!

Asi Name: Asi
Been in South Africa: 15 years
Position: MBC member
Advice: There are so many amazing surf spots here. Muizenberg is great for beginners, while Long Beach is good for more experienced surfers. The water isn’t as warm as you’d expect, so a wetsuit is a good idea to keep you comfortable

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: advice, cafes, Cape Town, Garden Route, grand west, Learn 2 Surf, long beach, MBC, Muizenberg, South Africa, Surfing, tips, Travel

Feb 26 2016

A Fond Farewell

As my time at MBC comes to a close I am only just now beginning to understand how short a time six weeks truly is. When I left the states to start traveling six weeks felt like it would be plenty of time get to know the city of Cape Town and the boys who attend MBC. I was dead wrong.

Sunset at Cape Point Vineyard Market

Cape Town is a massive place with so many cool things to do I feel as though I’ve barely scratched the surface. The markets, or which there are many, are one of the most incredible things that I have experience while I have been here. If you come for a visit you must check out Bluebird Market, Neighbourgoods Market, Cape Point Vineyard Market and Hout Bay Market. They may all be markets but each offers a unique experience that cannot be missed.

Themba, Frankie and Asi enjoying the surf

As for the boys, they are all so incredible, not just as surfers, but as human beings. Their desire to learn more about other cultures and get to know the volunteers never ceases to amaze me. They are all becoming fine young men. I wish I had more time to watch them continue to grow into themselves and see everything that they will accomplish in their lives. It is with a sad heart that I bid the MBC and the friends I have made here goodbye.

Until next time,

Caitlin [USA]

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: #volunteers, Bluebird Market, Cape Town, Hout Bay Market, Learn2Surf, MBC, Muizenberg, Muizenberg Beach Club

Feb 12 2016

My first week @ MBC

Hey everyone!

My name’s Helen and I’m just beginning my first week of six, volunteering at Muizenberg Beach Club. I met the kids yesterday, and I think its fair to say that they are already better at surfing than I will ever be. They have so much energy!

mbc-1 smaller

I’m really excited to be here. With my endless list of things to do and see, I’m not sure six weeks will be enough. Top of my list is climbing Table Mountain, although definitely using the easier route; shortly followed by seeing the penguins at Boulders Beach.

MBC-2 smaller

I’ve never visited South Africa before, and as someone who was brought up in a comfortable home in England, I was quite shocked by some if the poverty here. It makes me very glad that there are projects like this that are working to improve the lives of kids who have grown up in some pretty tough conditions.

I have to say, I was struck by how polite the kids are. Each of them was keen to shake my hand and introduce themselves, and I have no doubt that they all have so much potential to grow up to do great things. Hopefully as a volunteer I’ll be able to help give them the opportunities that they deserve; keeping them from getting involved in gangs, and allowing them to get out and enjoy themselves.

Adios for now, I’ll let you know how it goes

Helen

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: body boarding, boulders beach, Cape Town, Muizenberg Beach Club, Penguins, South Africa, Surfing, table mountain, Travel, trip, Volunteer

Nov 26 2015

Full Moon Walk

No surf yesterday for the MBC kids. No surf because it wasn’t cooking, there was just white water. No surf yesterday because it was full moon, so we decided to climb Lion’s Head and admire the sunset on the ocean and the full moon rise on the town.

Since last week, our bus isn’t fixed : Ant’s bakkie is the our only means of transport. The kids seemed to enjoy the drive, they were singing, playing and one of them took a little radio : everybody was so exited to hike up Lion’s Head.

To get to the top of Lion’s Head, it was a long walk, all around the mountain. But the view was beautiful : on the first side we could enjoy a direct view on Cape Town (City Bowl, Green Point), to the other side an amazing view to Camps Bay and its different little narrow bays and in the middle : the huge Table Mountain.

Cape Town city center

Camps Bay

Table Mountain

As the kids are fit, we were quickly on the top ! Unfortunately, this hike is very famous and this night, hundred people decided to climb up to enjoy the sunset… No problem : we were still the kings of the world, but with a lot of subjects.

MBC yeah !!!

MBC MBC MBC !!!

After a hike, it’s essential to drink, water is excellent, but Coke tastes better and as the add said « share a coke with your friends », so let’s share a coke together ! But as MBC promotes an healthy way of life, and Coke isn’t really healthy, some apples are there to calm the starving stomaches and to get some energy for the way down.

Once everybody had drunk and eaten, it’s time to catch the moon ! Nothing is impossible for a MBC kid.

We watched the sunset on the ocean and we just had to turn our head to enjoy the moon rise on the city.

Amazing sunset on Camps Bay

Moon rise on Cape Town

Cape Town by Night

Even if the way back was in the dark, it wasn’t a problem for the kids, they were the first in the car ! And when Ant, Julia and me arrived at the car, the kids were so quiet : nobody was spoking… They shook their arm to communicate with us. The game is : the first who speaks is loosing.

We could think the drive back will be quiet. But it wasn’t as from we were driving in the city center, the kids were screaming and singing. The excitement was for its height hen we stopped in front of the Ferrari shop…

Such an amazing hike !

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Cape Town, Full Moon, Hike, Lion's Head, MBC kids, nature

May 10 2015

Goodbye Cape Town!

My little “Africa adventure” has already came to an end. My last week in South Africa was fully packed with unforgettable activities.. so let me report about it!

I had an awesome last day at MBC project and also at Muizenberg beach. Ant and I organised a little surf competition, therefor we all met at 3:30 pm at Muizenberg beach excited for today’ s surf session. The waves were quite brilliant that day. After warming up, Ant briefed everyone about today’s surf rules. Surf competition started!

While one part of the kids surfed against each other the rest of us cheered happily. Ant made the judge. It was an heavy neck-and-neck race, the kids are all quite good surfers and showed us their best surf moves, Ant judged fairly… but we all know, in the end there only can be one winner! Third place went to Siminkiwe, second to Asi and first place was made by Godfrey!! Back in the office we had a little award ceremony and then it was time to say goodbye to all the lovely MBC kids…:( I will definitely miss them!

Next day I left Muizenberg early in the morning going on the 3 Day Big 5 Safari Tour for my last weekend which was organised by Cape to Addo. I spent 3 exciting days on the tour seeing wild animals, having the chance to do the World’s biggest Bungy Jump, having an elephant encounter and visiting the incredible caves.

On Monday morning I had to say goodbye to Ant and Zeus and also to the beautiful village Muizenberg where I spent the last month. My last 3 days I stayed in Cape Town with a really good friend of mine who I met here in South Africa. We just enjoyed the City for the last time, we did the Cape Point Tour (Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope, Bo Kaap… ;)), the Red Bus Tour and visited the Water Front once again where we bought some souvenirs.

On Wednesday we both started our journey back home to Europe. I firstly flew to Ireland, Dublin to visit my boyfriend (he’ s studying there…).

When I finally arrived in Germany, Stuttgart, I left the airplane and realized I was back home where everyone around speaks my mother language, I felt really strange.

Now it has been about 3 weeks when I landed in Stuttgart and I still love to reminisce back about my trip in South Africa and MBC project. Everything here is so much different than it was in Cape Town… I may have left South Africa but South Africa will never leave me… one time I will definitely come back!

Anna, Germany

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: adventure, Bungy, Cape Point, Cape Town, MBC, MBC kids, Muizenberg, South Africa, Surf, surf competition, volunteering, wild animals

Apr 7 2015

Last week at MBC project…

Time runs so fast…

…unfortunately I have to realize that there are only 10 days left until I have to fly back home. Today my friends in Germany text me that it is still snowing over there. So I guess, I will miss the sun, the lovely Muizenberg Beach and of course the MBC project. But now I don’ t wanna think about leaving, I’ m still here.

Having a good time at Muizenberg Beach

The last days with the MBC kids were fully packed with exciting events. School holidays has just started! Last week the kids and me enjoyed some great days at the beach full of surfing, relaxing and just having fun. Waves were quite brilliant but as a consequence too many surfers outside

On Tuesday we went to “Lifestyle Surfschool” to try on brand new, super cool wetsuits which will be sponsored to the MBC kids.

Just taking a shower after a great surf

I should not forget to report about the big soccer match against the Surfshack kids last Thursday. We have been all quite excited. Both talented teams met at the soccer field in Muizenberg. After a 50 minutes head-to-head fair play filled with struggle, swaet and fun the winner was absolutely visible. The MBC kids made the match (5:1!!!) against Surfshack. Atmosphere on our way back was just excellent.

“1, 2, 3 MBC!!!”

head-to-head against the Surfshack kids

We made the match!!!(:

The MBC soccer team

I still can’ t belive that I had the oppertunity to come to South Africa. The last 3 weeks I collect so many different impressions and made some important life experience which will definitely shape me and my life. I have an amazing time here in Cape Town and at MBC project!! One of my favorite activities here was climbing up on Table Mountain. After a 2 hour hiking tour it seemed like being at the end of my rope. But as soon as we reached top of Table Mountain all effort has blown away… The view was just incredible!!!

On top of Table Mountain

Anna, Germany

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Cape Town, MBC, MBC kids, Muizenberg, Soccer game, South Africa, sun, table mountain, volunteering

Mar 26 2015

My first week at MBC

Hey… May I shortly introduce myself…?;)

I’ m Anna, 18 years old. I normally live in a small town in Germany far away from South Africa, Cape Town where I just started volunteering at Muizenberg Beach Club.

Full of anticipation on sun, beach, surfing and a good time at MBC project I started my exciting journey to my world’ s other end.

On Monday I finally arrived at Ant’ s house in Muizenberg where I will stay the coming 4 weeks. After he showed me around the house and his lovely facility I immediately felt like I am home and fell asleep tiredly and curiously for the next day.

On Tuesday my first day at MBC project started. I waited excitedly until the kids arrived at 3.30 pm for their one hour surf session which I enjoyed with them. After my first day with the kids they’ ve made me already feel like being part of their team.

#warm-up #readytosurf?

On Thursday we met for playing soccer together at a field near Muizenberg.

#soccer #havingfun

On top of that my personal highlight of the week with the MBC kids was the soccer game on Friday at Athlone Stadium, it was also Phila’ s 19th birthday. After visiting Muizenberg Market we picked the kids up to the stadium. In aid of flags and vuvuzelas we cheered for Ajax Cape Town who finally made the match against Bloemfontain Celtic.

#cheering #AjaxCapeTown

I enjoyed my weekend staying with some friends in Cape Town where we climbed on Lion’ s Head, spotted Cape Town nightlife and just relaxed at Cliffton Beach.

#Lion’sHead #amazingview

Now it has been more than a week when Ant welcomed me heartly in Muizenberg and I’ ve already fell in love with the beautiful and breathtaking landscape of South Africa.

I just can say that I am really looking forward to spend my next weeks at MBC project!!

See you, Anna

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Athlone Stadium, Cape Town, MBC, MBC kids, Muizenberg, Phila's Birthday, Soccer, Soccer game, South Africa, Surf, volunteering

Mar 10 2015

My 4 weeks with MBC

I’m Selina, a volunteer from Germany and I decided to come back to South Africa to do another volunteering program. This is now my 4th week in Muizenberg, South Africa, and also my last week unfortunately. It’s my first time in Muizenberg and it is a really nice town as everyone is really friendly there and you get to meet a lot of different people. This is a picture of where I work during the week. Can’t complain!

Me, Harry, Whymth and Sorcha

I’ve never done surfing before so I was really excited on my first day to learn it. At the beginning I found it a bit hard but during my stay I improved my surfing skills and it was a lot of fun! One of my highlights was the surfing in the mornings and in the afteroon with the kids. All of the MBC boys are so lovely and it’s always fun to hang out with them. I’m really going to miss them! Every morning I was looking forward to go surfing with the kids, play soccer or go for a hike with them and it was so nice to see how excited they got every time we went surfing. It was great to see that the kids tried to get more people coming to MBC and to learn how to surf as well and spend their free time efficiently.

During the weekends the volunteers have time to see a lot of Cape Town or other places, for example we hiked up Table Mountain and visited Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope and Robben Island.

Some of the volunteers at Cape Point

I can highly recommend to volunteer at MBC and hope that all the following volunteers will have an amazing time as I had!

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Cape Town, Hike, MBC kids, Muizenberg, Soccer, South Africa, Surfing, volunteering

Feb 13 2015

The Lion’s Head Hike

Table mountain towers over Cape Town and is absolutely worth a visit, however for the most panoramic view of Cape Town, Lion’s Head is the mountain to climb.

So it was that on a glorious sunny Tuesday evening in Cape Town our ragtag group of volunteers, friends and MBC kids arrived to tackle the behemoth in time for the sunset and supposedly spectacular full moon views. However we soon discovered that every tourist in the city along with a great majority of the local population had the same plan as us and we soon found ourselves shoulder to shoulder all the way up the climb which made for slow going at times.

After a brief stop to take some stunning panoramas above the clouds we pushed on up the climb looking to catch up with some of the frontrunning kids who were bounding gazelle like up the mountain despite the stifling heat. After around half an hour of gentle climbing we hit the main section of the hike which involved vertical climbing up ladders welded into the rockface. This slowed our progress considerably however we did get to feel like we were hanging over the edge of the world with sweeping clouds unfolding in every direction below us.

Arriving at the peak was if anything an unexpected surprise as the climb suddenly just stopped abruptly and there was Cape Town sprawling out below us, the glorious full moon we climbed to see slowly inching its way into the night sky. There are many breathtakingly sweeping views the world over that encapsulate what it means to live on our planet and at MBC we aim to show our participating kids how big and beautiful our world really is. By getting up Lions Head in time for the full moon we were lucky enough to witness how beautiful this country and this city can be both before and after dark.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: Cape Town, Full Moon, Hike, Lion's Head, MBC kids, South, Volunteer

Nov 28 2014

Farewell for Udo

The kids know all the hikes in the region already, so they proposed to take the bodyboards and go to Smithwinkel Bay, a nice remote beach in the very south close to the Cape Point National Park.

The view from the road to the bay is magnificent:

Beautiful Vista

The water was very clear but very cold. The kids absolutely enjoyed the play with the bodyboards in the waves.

This Friday was also the last day for me as volunteer, so I brought some muffins for the kids and the kids performed a song for me:

We took a last group picture:

Group Picture with Udo

Then it was time to drive back to Steenberg and say good-bye.

By muizenbergbeachclub • Uncategorized • • Tags: adventure, body board, Cape Town, farewell, fun, Kids, laughing, MBC, muizenbergbeachclub, sun, Udo Sommer, volunteering

1 2 3 4 5

Cape Town

Facebook Page