Our littlest residents already understand that it’s a privilege to grow up on Raptor’s View. It’s an environment that provides endless learning and stimulation for growing minds and bodies. By living in sync with nature, children on Raptor’s View develop a concrete appreciation for the ebbs and flows of the seasons, and an understanding of the circle of life.

Southern Cross Schools, an English medium co-educational day and boarding school is located on the estate. This offers many opportunities for active hands-on learning; if it’s not a wild dog kill, it’s something else – there are so many things to observe and learn from in the bush. The environment is an extension of their classrooms, which means your kids’ bush knowledge may soon surpass your own! There are also several other fantastic schools in Hoedspruit that foster a respect for nature and self. Children from the estate will no doubt share their learnings with their teachers and friends; whether it’s a foam nest frog that’s taken up residence on their deck, a family of warthogs that’s colonised a termite mound, or the whooping of a hyena that thrilled them in the night…

There are dangers that come with living with venomous snakes and scorpions, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, and other large mammals, but these can be managed by making your child aware of the risks, and of how they should behave around wildlife. Responsible supervision and simple precautions and ground rules will keep them and the animals safe.

Within these parameters, there is extraordinary freedom to play and explore! Some favorite activities include:

• Supervised walks, hikes on the estate trails, and bike rides,
• Playing in muddy puddles when the rains come,
• Marking the change of seasons like when the knob thorn blooms, when the impala lambs drop, when the woodland kingfishers return etc.
• Birding,
• Learning about insects, reptiles and mammals,
• Tree and flower identification (and pressing),
• Track and sign activities,
• Bush bingo and scavenger hunts.