The jacaranda school for orphans

The children of the orphanage have formed a choir and are performing right now on the beach stage.

Village life

Here a young girl in the village crochets a bag with the inside of a bit of biro. She was extremely kind and friendly and wanted me to take digital photos of her that she could then see on the screen. We shared a chair together during the MicroLoan charity presentation.

Beach stage at lake Of Stars

As I said before, Lake Of Stars has three different live stages - all of which are in the sand here on the edge of Lake Malawi. This here is the "beach stage" however, with punters sitting on the floor watching acoustic performances. Last night I saw an African pop diva on here with accompanying dancers - was awesome!

Village vist

This morning I went and visited a local village to see how international charity work has impacted their daily lives. Was an amazing experience. Full update blog to come when I have more signal x

Lake of stars main stage

YEY! Lucinda!

My friend Lucinda is out in Malawi working at an Orphanage - she's taken a few days out to come to the festival. So good to see her!

Sweaty and shiney hellos from Malawi!

From me and Cy... Just waiting for the minister of tourism to SKYDIVE onto the beach. ?!

Wow

I can't stop looking at this view. My eyes can't soak it up enough. This is so insanely beautiful and moving and incredible. Thank you Trident for sending us here. Xx

Amazing setting...

Nathan and Cy

Nathan and Cy are being interviewed by a documentary company about how they won their Trident Competition! They've explained all about the pack of gum they bought and just how lucky they feel! (that isnt really nathans umbrella)

Winners Cy and Nathan

Good morning visitors!

Hi there camels.

Wow! We have arrived at Lake Of Stars!

This is the view that we have arrived to at Lake Of Stars in Malawi. The festival is set on the edge of Lake Malawi - in the grounds of a hotel resort - and has three stages - Main Stage, Beach Stage and Band Stand - where various artists and DJs will be performing across the weekend. People are swimming in the lake (and washing their clothes and bodies) and generally soaking up the intense heat. Awesome.

Arrived in Malawi!

Hoorary! After two flights and a four hour drive (through the most incredible landscape, mud-hut villages, past meandering cows and goats and in incredible heat) we arrived at our place of rest! It was an amazing journey, and we have already seen so many incredible eye-opening experiences, amazing people and moving vistas. I am joined this week by a new set of winners - brothers Cy and Nathan - and all seems to be going well!! We arrived at our hotel/rooms/huts around 5pm and we able to have a quick splash in the pool and walk along the edge of Lake Malawi before having a spot of dinner.. and passing out. I was asleep by 8pm (Lame Katie!) and slept right through till 7am (not surprisingly given the 4am wake-up call!). I was under a large mosquito net and covered in mosi-guard. and i am on Malaria tablets too. DETERMINED TO NOT DO A CHERYL COLE!! ;) We will head off to the festival in an hour or so. Keep checking www.twitter.com/katieparsons for up to date texted-updates. xx

Ps: have 'attempted' to put some more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/PerpetualFestival

Ps. Saw this yesterday.

Sadly don't think it would fit my family dog Bob back in England. Shame, as I'm sure he'd have loved an out of date World Cup Spain bandana.

Well, goodbye actually...

Week 19 of the Perpetual Festival is over and I'm now at the airport leaving SA and heading off to Malawi. Any South African i speak to looks (worryingly) shocked when I tell them where I am heading. "Wow, that's real Africa" they say. Well good! I can't wait to get there.. meet week 20 winners (brothers Cy and Nathan).. and see and experience real Africa. Two ladies at the festival told me Malawi is the "heart" of africa - not geographically, but emotionally. Happy, friendly people. Should be amazing.

Robben island

I just took a tour around Robben island - the infamous location of the high security prison that held former South African president Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners until the early 1990s. The prison and island are now open to view by the public - and I walked around the cells and was given an amazing presentation from a former political prisoner of the jail who shared some fascinating personal insights into daily life on the island. This photo is the view from the island back over to Cape Town. A few prisoners died trying to escape by swimming to the mainland...

Cake!

Here is Danielle and our nice slab of cake that we shared earlier. Now feel sick! I feel so lucky that every week the winners have been such lovely people and it's been such a pleasure hanging out with them all. Danielle and Daniel are really nice, and it's been wonderful exploring the city with them today. Dinner later - hooray! Happy Kp x

Fishy fishy

I'm actually pretty scared of large fish, I don't know why. I squealed when I saw this lot! Haha

Singing fish!

La la laaaaa

Spider crab!

The aquarium here has some pretty scary looking residents!

Camps Bay

This avo we jumped on a tour bus to see a bit more of Cape Town. One of the most beautiful places we saw was Camps Bay - stunning even in today's blustery wind!

Kp, Dan and Dan!

Check out the free photo service snap of us hanging up at Table mountain! Nice!

Katie and Danielle way up high!

Brrr! Chilly up here on top of the mountain! Daniel snapped this pic of D and I standing on the edge overlooking the bays of Cape Town. Pretty spectacular stuff huh?!

Table mountain views...

Table mountain views...

Heading up the mountain!

We are heading up Table Mountain to see what the view is like from over 1000 metres up. Cable car is currently winding it's way up the rock face!

Monday fun

Hey blog readers, so yesterday was a calm day here in Cape Town. Myself and winners Daniel and Danielle were recovering from the festival and decided to avoid the rain and head to the local massssive shopping centre called Canal Walk. With over 400 shops there was plenty to see and we ended the trip with a cinema visit. Here is Daniel grabbing a coffee!

Me and Danielle

Enjoying the sights and sounds of South Africa!

New Young Pony Club

It was New Young Pony Club's first visit to South Africa, and the London-based band held a short press conference to chat to journalists before heading off to play the main stage..

Oh and this is Papa Smurf

The first person I met at the festival was this chap. Shorter than me, completely loco and cheery as anything - his name is Papa Smurf. He even gave me his email address.. sweet!

Rocking The Daisies - All The Photos

Check out all the pics from the awesome Rocking The Daisies festival in South Africa by CLICKING HERE!

The fans at Rocking The Daisies

So, armed with NO voice and a few notes on bits of paper, I headed out into the festival to find out why the fans of this event love it so very much. Thanks to the patience and friendliness of the people at the fest, they actually were very willing to talk to a mute me!

Mmmmm... Biltong!

What is Biltong? What does it taste like. Everyone at the festival told me I had to try it... so here is why and how..

Mr Fuzzy Slipperz

While I was at the festival on Saturday, I met a lovely young chap called Mr Fuzzy Slipperz - or just Fuzzy. He is a 21-year old performer (musician and artist), who was at the festival doing some on-stage work as well as off-stage painting at the Art Jamming tent. He was brought in to do a piece while Closet Snare played on the main stage. See our little chat below!

Rocking The Daisies - the video report!

Check out my little video report from Rocking The Daisies - including a chat with this week's winners Danielle and Daniel. Amazing place!

Goodbye Rocking the Daisies!

Righty ho... The music is over and the weather is too insanely blustery.. So everyone is leaving the festival. It's been an amazing weekend of great music and wonderful people, and I'm gutted to be leaving. Next stop is Cape Town for a few days of sightseeing with Daniel and Danielle. Hooray!

Is there a doctor on site?

No? Ok then. Honey and lemon tea it is, and a self-imposed (have no choice in the matter) vow of silence.

Boo! (the band) on stage at RTD

Oh dear...

Breaking news from the campsite here in south Africa - I've totally lost my voice. I had a bit of a sore throat before I came out here, but the air conditioning on the flight plus camping in the cold and the insane amounts of dust here have rather worsened the situation. I washed my hair this morning and the water ran dark brown! Haha. I even thought I had a bit of a tan and it turned out to be dirt. :)
Anyways.. It's our final day at the festival and I had so many people I still wanted to talk to - so I've got a marker pen, and some bits of card - and we are going to see how far I can get!