dedicated to discovery, conservation and exploration

    • Zambezi ww 
    • glacier guiding  
    • it's just not cricket 
    • beautiful beaches 
    • Anglo-Zulu war Bike Trip 
    • Formal Dinner 
    • Namaqualand Flowers 
    • Fire 
    • Rovuma expedition 
    • Mountain top 
    • Zambezi white water 
    • Zambezi white water 
    • Inhaca 
    • Lake Victoria 
    • namaqualand bicycling 
    • Waterberg Hike 
    • Mutale river trip 

essa provides a forum for the conceptual & physical exploration of southern african

Home

Welcome to ESSA

Essa was established in 1988 and runs great trips and expeditions throughout southern Africa, as well as further afield. We hold a regular meeting on the first Tuesday of the month at the Cricket Pavilion Johannesburg Country Club at 7:00pm. We are open to all, and the society encourages ideas on exploring, as well as organising a great variety of trips for like minded people.
If you wish to join ESSA or subscribe to it's mailing list please visit the Join page.

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Upcoming Trips

  • Overnight Horse Riding in Rietvlei Reserve
    Friday, June 8, 2012 (All day) to Sunday, June 10, 2012 (All day)

    RIETVLEI NATURE RESERVE GUIDED OVERNIGHT HORSE TRAIL


     

  • Horse Ride and Sleep Over at Danielsrust Farm
    Saturday, July 7, 2012 (All day) to Sunday, July 8, 2012 (All day)

    Danielsrust game farm is close to Joburg, a beautiful privately owned game reserve where over 700 head of game roam. Come join us for a 1.5 hour horse back ride across the open savannahs of the highveld. The farm has a lot of history dating back to the 1800's and Michelle, the host will tell all the history related to the farm whislt on the ride.

    There is an option to stay over for the saturday night in the Tobacco Kiln, sleeps 8 (4x bunk beds), electricity and hot showers but very basic accommodation. The ride will  be on sunday morning and can only take 10 riders max.

  • Star Gazing Evening in Magalieberg
    Saturday, August 18, 2012 (All day) to Sunday, August 19, 2012 (All day)

    ESSA/ASSA star gazing evening


    This takes place near Paul’s farm in Magaliesburg on  18 august 2012 from 15h00. It comprises a Bring and Braai (bring your own food and drink, fires provided),  opportunities to look at stars through a variety of telescopes. There’s also a possibility of mountain biking on Sunday morning if sufficient interest.


    R30 per person for ESSA/ASSA members and family

  • Hiking in Mountain Sanctuary Park
    Friday, November 9, 2012 (All day) to Sunday, November 11, 2012 (All day)

    Mountain Sanctuary Park, is a beautiful destination in the hills of Magaliesburg for hiking and biking or just for a restful weekend away from the toil of Joburg.

    I have not booked a camp site yet and will do so once I have interested parties,

    Cost: R160 per person camping for the weekend, there is a car fee for about R20 that will have to be paid on arrival.

    For more details on Mountain Sancutary : http://www.mountain-sanctuary.co.za/

    Need to bring:

Upcoming events

  1. Burma Talk by Hugh Fraser
    Pretoria Monthly Meeting
    Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 18:30

    Hugh Fraser is an architect who since 1990 has travelled the world.  A lot.  He has visited almost everywhere and his insightful mind and eye for the unusual and the creative make him one of Essa's most popular speakers over the years.  

  2. Camino de Santiago talk
    Johannesburg Monthly Meeting
    Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - 19:00

    Penny talks on walking the 800km Camino de Santiago, in Spain an ancient pilgrimmage that has existed for over a 1000 years.  The Roman Catholic Church traditionally considered it one of three pilgrimages - alongside Rome and Jerusalem - that awarded forgiveness of all of a pilgrim’s sins.

  3. Mountain Climbing talk with Peter Lazarus
    Pretoria Monthly Meeting
    Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - 18:30

    Peter "Lobster" Lazarus has been climbing for over 25 years, starting out as a student at Wits University. While still at Wits he established Skyriders, the first rope-access company in South Africa - and now the largest such company in the country.

    Lazarus discovered and opened the first routes at the world-renowned Restaurant (at the End of the Universe) Crag at Waterval Boven in Mpumalange, the Chosspile near Hartebeespoort Dam in North West, and the New Slatesman in Broederstroom.

expeditions

Trek Across the Atlas Mountains
Friday, November 30, 2012 (All day) to Sunday, December 16, 2012 (All day)

We are planning a two-week long trip to the magical country of Morocco at the end of this year..

Some of the attractions Morocco offers include the following -

Aconcagua Expedition
Sunday, December 18, 2005 (All day) to Saturday, January 14, 2006 (All day)

Most of the Aconcagua team made it back to SA safely yesterday. Lorna remains in Argentina to climb other mountains and spend some time in Patagonia. The trip in brief: - our route was fantastic - we even had the camps to ourselves for the first 2 nights, and the 'False Polish' route proved to be both tough, scenic, and much less densely populated than the normal route on the way up, while the normal route provided welcome human contact and a different perspective on the way down.

Mountains of the Moon
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 (All day) to Sunday, March 7, 2004 (All day)

And then there was the weather. It poured an entire monsoon during the night, and it was clear things were going to be wet on the moon, despite this being the ‘dryest’ season.

Mt Mera
Thursday, September 25, 2003 (All day) to Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (All day)

Mt Mera 

Lake Victoria
Thursday, August 1, 2002 (All day)

146 Kilograms of luggage "I am sorry gentlemen, we will have to charge you for excess luggage". 6:30am in the morning, Paul and myself dig deep into our charm reserves and after 20 minutes are oh so close to the desk clerks turning a blind eye on our excess, they were fascinated by two blokes trying to get on a plane with an inflatable canoe (Croc), paddles and accessories but then senior management arrives and no way we are getting away with anything ( unless we pay a generous spot fine that is ).

Greenland
Friday, April 20, 2001 (All day) to Sunday, May 20, 2001 (All day)

 MILLENNIUM EXPEDITION COMPETITION
 
The spirit of exploration and enviromental conservation, a core tenent of the Society, is as alive in this century as it was in the last. To prove it we ran a competition  during the year 2000 to find an expedition worthy of our support. Did we find it !
The results have been announced and we wish the winners the best of luck in the artic wastes. We are proud to be associated with Lukas Grobler and are sure that his incredible drive and determination will make this a first for a South African.
Winner (R10 000)

Rovuma River Expedition
Friday, July 2, 1999 (All day) to Sunday, July 25, 1999 (All day)

Paul C gets the landy shipshape   Jo on the Lugenda river bridge   

Croccing the uMzimvubu River
Friday, February 10, 1995 (All day) to Sunday, February 26, 1995 (All day)

by Graeme McFerren

Zambezi River Vic Falls to Kariba Town
Saturday, December 7, 1991 (All day) to Sunday, January 5, 1992 (All day)

 Or, Through Binga To Binga

There had surely never been a trip quite like it, even in the long history of Zambezi exploration. The bare outline, for anyone who hasn't heard yet, was a follows. Three of the Explorer rafts shot the world-famous white-water Stretch,

from below Victoria Falls to where the Zambezi gives way to Lake Kariba at Deka Mouth (Stage 1). At Deka, outboard motors were attached to the rafts and a cruise across Kariba began (Stages 2 and 3). One motor and one raft were

First Descent of the Thina river
Friday, February 1, 1991 (All day) to Sunday, February 24, 1991 (All day)

 The N2 crosses the river near Quimbu and served as a good put-in. with 209km to the mouth of the Umzimvubu, and with the fairly rough Umzimvubu trip still fresh in our minds, we felt pretty apprehensive. To put ourselves a bit at ease, we recced the sections both above and below the Falls, as these were the steepest parts according to our river profile. In the first few days, however, the river was kind to us, allowing us to first find our feet. The gorge was beautiful & lush, liberally sprinkled with shining yellow acacias. Bird-life was ample.

Umzimvubu Source to Sea
Sunday, January 7, 1990 (All day) to Saturday, February 10, 1990 (All day)

Umzimvubu falls

Coming of Age on the Mzimvubu

A story of source-to-sea by Joey Monson

Essa Members blogs

Our latest blog features Katja as she cycles from Cairo to Cape town
http://explorationsociety.org/drupal/blog/25

Sanjay travvelled through Asia, and you can follow his entertaining journal here
http://explorationsociety.org/drupal/blog/34