GreenPop’s Family Reforest Fest… A Family Festival with a Purpose…

It’s a long weekend over here because of Human Right’s Day on Tuesday, a day I feel strongly about, and I am giving my family a long weekend off blogging. But this post is good to go and I really wanted to share all about my visit to the GreenPop Reforest Fest last weekend, because it really was a magical weekend. If you are looking for something fun for your whole family to be part of then look out for this annual event… the easiest family camping and a weekend of tree planting ever.

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For the last few years I have blogged about GreenPop’s Family Reforest Fest and I have been to their Zambia Festival of Action, but this was the year that I actually ventured forth to enjoy the Family Reforest Fest in the heart of the Platbos Forest. Last weekend my instagram feed was full of camping and the great outdoors and tree planting. Here’s how it works… GreenPop are a group of folk that believe in a little goes a long way and so they plant trees, because every tree planted really does add up to forests. One by one they inspire teams of tree planters to plant trees… last weekend in the southernmost indigenous forest in Africa we planted 2000 trees, this weekend they planted 5500 more. At the same time is a wonderful way for families to get away and celebrate all that the great outdoors has to offer and here is the picture rich story…

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I arrived on Friday night, to a campfire, food trucks and fairy lights… Basically this is the easiest weekend away ever… if you know how to put up a tent (and I quickly learnt… though there were moments when I wished I had taken a closer look at my kids’ survival books)… then your weekend is laid on for you. A couple of snacks in my bag and the clothes I was wearing. Really food trucks are there to provide you with wholesome feasts… no need to bother with cooking, and there is full-on entertainment the entire time. Kids, teens, grownups were busy having fun the whole weekend… in fact the schedule is so full of wonderful choices that there were more than a few things that I never got round to doing and so I am keen and eager to return again next year for a little more adventure.

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Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful…

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And I was ready and eager to get moving… the point of the weekend was to plant trees… a forest in fact.

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Stretch, grab a spade…

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And into the forest we went…

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To learn…

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About tree planting…

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Dig… mulch… plant… and repeat… good wholesome hard work…

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Teamwork…

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Milkweeds, White Stinkwoods, Wild Olive and Pock Ironwoods…

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And tree planters as far as the eye can see…

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And a snack time interlude…

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Snack o’Clock


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Followed by more tree planting… and 2000 trees later…

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Meanwhile… you need a password to get back to camp… Little people take these responsibilities quite seriously…

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Where there is bunting…

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And activities galore…

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Family Fun


There was heaps of kids to do… while they helped to plant tons of trees there was plenty of freedom for them to roam around and find fun activities under a shady tree… there were puppet shows from the Two Oceans Aquarium and so many different earth friendly crafts and games for them to join in too…
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And after the sweetest most inclusive talent contest for the kids… the best I have ever been too thanks to the great host and story teller: MAfrika… All big and small and smaller still could join in…

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This was followed by an evening…

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Around the campfire and live music… with Brian Ernst (you have to check him out… loved his back story and his music), as well as… Adelle Nqeto, Crosscurrent and the Brothers Remedy.

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Sunday morning and tents as far as the eye could see…

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Was spent listening to Ted Talks under a canopy of trees… thanks to TedxCapeTown…

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There is just so much to learn about green living and zero waste and steps we can take ourselves and global steps… we can take together. Including Change the Way we Learn by Lebo and Antidote to Suburbia by Epiphany.

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GreenPop Signage is the Best


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And why oh why do I forget to take a t-shirt for screen printing every single time I attend a GreenPop event!!! Note to self, remember for next time… there will definitely be a next time.

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GreenPop Family ForestFest 2017
click on the image for a photo tour

Huge thank you to GreenPop again, for their wonderful hospitality, and for providing me with a ticket to the Family Reforest Fest. This is not a sponsored post, I was not paid to write it and of course opinions expressed are as usual my own.

7 Replies to “GreenPop’s Family Reforest Fest… A Family Festival with a Purpose…”

  1. So badly want to do that !!! where do you find the dates for upcoming events? or is there only one a year?

  2. Hay Tammy, I think you guys would love a weekend with GreenPop… they have regular planting days in Cape Town, about once a month. Locally they have the Family Fest weekend, once a year and of course their weeks away in Zambia every year during July. There are many ways to get planting with them, I suggest you email them and ask them or sign up to their newsletter, the Active Citizen, which has lots of information about upcoming planting dates… Hope that helps!!!

  3. Yes Marcia, Cape Town has been incredibly hot the past few weeks… it is almost as if summer has upped her game over here!!! Could do with some cool respite… but you know me, I couldn’t possibly say no to more summer!!!

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