Day Four: Departure from Kruger

I didn’t sleep very well last night and neither did anyone else. At one point Matt just got up and went outside. Everytime he opened and closed the door the cigar smoke from his cigar earlier wafted in. At one point I sat up and I couldn’t really see out of my right eye. I could see the light from the window with my left eye, but only a grey haze with my right. I put my glasses on to see if it would make a difference and I still couldn’t see well with my right. I turned on the lights and could see, but as soon as the lights were off again, the right eye went hazy again. It is weird and freaking me out just a little. I fell asleep pretty soon after though, but it wasn’t a fitful sleep.

We again woke up at 5:00 am for our morning safari. We were a little late getting down to the camp from our bungalows, so we rushed through tea and biscuits, and everyone else was already gone in their safari vehicles. We went with Sibongylie and Elton again and it was just the four of us late bungalow arrivals. One of the very first things we saw this morning was a lion! It was pretty far back in the bushes and could really only see it when it moved, but for a few minutes it walked straight out in a clearing and it was beautiful. I was simply stunned and just watched it and watched it walk back into the bushes. It had the mane around its face and the hair was the color of caramel. The fur kind of blew back as it walked and it is just so hard to describe the awe I felt at seeing it. To put my awe in perspective for those of you that know me…I didn’t even take a picture. It was kind of nice though…I know I certainly judge many things on this trip based on how nice of a picture it would be, and for once, I wasn’t worried at all about how a photograph would turn out.

We sat around for awhile talking and writing as we waited for our transport to the airport. Our van didn’t come until 12:30 and our flight was leaving at 6 from the JoBurg airport. We had to drop an Australian woman off at the airport and then we went to the Siyabona offices once again for lunch. We were rejoined by Blake, Victor, Jayme and Catie and the couple from Boston. After we filled out evaluation forms and ate, we were on our way to JoBurg.

The ride was long and boring…we stopped at a store and all got loads of food for the rest of the way, and at that point it became incredibly obvious that we were going to miss our flight. It was just too late and there was no way we were going to make it. Everyone else in my little group was fine with if we missed our flight, because if they charged extra, they could afford to pay for a flight change, but I am kind of doing this trip on a budget and couldn’t.

A really scarring part of the trip came when we happened upon an accident. There were ambulances all over and police cars and when we went by we saw a lot of blood. I am incredibly sensitive to violence…I can’t watch movies with violence, and I have good friends that tell me when to look away in most movies. It just gives me nightmares. There was one body on a gurney being lifted into the ambulance, and then another body laying on the ground. They were pulling up a sheet on that body and I was on the opposite side of the van from where the accident was and so I asked if he was dead. I guess I knew the answer, because my eyes were prickling with tears as I asked, but one of the guys in the back of my van answered yes. I’ve never been around a dying person at the time of death or a recently perished body, so this was a crazy thing.

We arrived at the JoBurg airport 15 minutes after our plane took off…I was so nervous so Regina handled talking to the airport agents, and we were able to get on the 1900 flight. We just made it to the tram before it left for the plane and we got on our plane! Another SAS group was on the plane to Cape Town including Elise, Bryan, Ashley and Cristie. I went and sat with Elise and Bryan, and then Cristie told us that liquor was free on the plane. So, we each got a drink and then a glass of wine with dinner. Part of it is nice because it’s just socially acceptable. We can get a drink and not have it be completely taboo just because we are 2 months under 21 or whatever nonsense.

When we arrived back in Cape Town we all piled into taxis and then headed back to the ship. I was in a taxi of about 15 people and at one point “A Whole New World” from Aladdin came on, and we all burst into song…it was great. I captured the impromptu sing a long on video. The poor taxi driver kept yelling at us to shut up…maybe we should have listened but we were all so excited to get back to the ship!

A bunch of people were heading out, but as soon as I got back to my room and saw my mail, my initial idea of staying in seemed even better! And…I had a note saying I had a package!!! I ran upstairs to the Purser’s Desk and claimed my package: it was from St. Luke’s!!! I had letters from Addie and Helen, Heather, Lori and many of the youth group kids!!! They were all asking me questions, so I soon have to respond to them. I also had things from all the people mentioned in the two previous posts…Lyss and Kristen sent me articles from the campus newspaper, pictures, and crazy letters…Gayle sent me her sermon..oy vey! Basically…all of my mail is on my wall…I feel kind of bad because my roommate doesn’t get much mail and mine is all over, but it just reminds me of home. In any case..that was the end of the return to Cape Town!

Day Five: Khayelitsha and Camps Bay

We gathered at 8:15 in the morning and headed out to Khayelitsha Township. It is one of the newer townships, being created in the 1970s because they were running out of space in the other townships. The first place we went to was the Information Center which also doubles as a national athletic center. It was built when Cape Town was vying for the 2004 Olympic games. There is a quote above the entrance from Danny Glover that reads in part, “ [Khayelitsha] helps us understand and appreciate our collective humanity.” And I would find that to be true as I went through my day in Khayelitsha.

Our next stop was Vicky’s B & B…Vicky got sick of people always coming through the townships but never spending time there so she converted part of her home into a bed and breakfast. It is beautiful and quite remarkable. One of her neighbors was selling things he and is community had made and they had this beautiful table-like thing. The base looks like three pieces of wood interwoven, but in truth it is carved from one piece of wood to receive the desired effect. Then, a bowl rests in the grooves on top and will make an awesome little decoration in my room next year.
For awhile we went to Masakhenifox EduCare Centre, where the motto on the sign is, “We will build and brighten this nation!” This was my first interaction with the children of the township. We taught them how to do high-fives and then they sang and danced for us. I have a lot of it on video, but then I just put the damn camera down and sang and danced along with them, and that is so much more rewarding. I did tape one particular song called, “Telephone to Jesus Every Day” and I want to teach it to the little kids back home. I taught them how to make the monkey face too..ahaha spreading it around the world. At one point I was taking a picture and trying to get one girl to smile and so then I put two of my fingers at the corners of my mouth as an example…well they thought this was how I wanted the picture so I have some of them smiling with their fingers in the picture too!!

The next place we went was the Philani Centre. It is a place that distributes information about nutrition to families and also employs women to do weaving. They make beautiful tapestries and bags and I bought one of their smaller bags. I shouldn’t have spent more money, but I look around me at the township, and if I was going to buy one more souvenir in South Africa, I would rather it be from them than one of the touristy markets. We wandered into another school and they sang for us, and then Jenna and I taught them the hokey pokey! Dr. Steffel kept getting so mad at us, as our trip leader, because we would never leave the kids.

Finally, we went to the Khayletisha Market..I only had ten rand left, which made not buying anything easy, but there was a great marimba band playing and I gave them my last rand because they were excellent. There was also a school and church across the street and we were allowed to go over there for their recess time. At all of these places, these kids just want to see what they look like on the camera…at this particular school, they were obsessed with my sunglasses too, so they all got pictures wearing my sunglasses! There was one girl who just curled up in my lap for most of the time too…it is simply incredible to hang out with these kids. When it came time to leave, one kid tried to grab my camera and the tour guide came over and strictly reprimanded him, but that was the only encounter I have had this far, and I could have taken the little 4th grder down ;)

To end the day we went to Kopanong B and B and met a women with a very similar story to Vicky from the other B and B. I cannot for the life of me remember this woman’s name. She was given a grant to study entrepreneurship at Pitt back in the 90s and then came home, turned her home into a B and B, and then has helped other women do the same and employs women from her community. It was wonderful. We had great food too! Fried dough balls and little meat pockets…we all chowed down! One of her workers showed up around the neighborhood…we saw sheep’s being cooked and cleaned, which is a South African delicacy apparently. We were invited into a man’s house where he had homemade township liquor and some of the brave guys drank some. I chose to sit in the corner and play with a little boy who couldn’t have been older than about 18 months. So cute.

We came back to the ship and the goal at that point was a picnic on Table Mountain…well, it was way too windy to go up the mountain, so Aja, Elise and I took a cab to Camps Bay which is in the resort area of Cape Town, but the beach is beautiful. We brought some food with us to eat on the beach, but didn’t get very far because the wind was blowing so hard that the sand was hurting us. We ended up going to a restaurant and getting an appetizer of fried camembert and some drinks and watched the sun set. The camembert was amazing and we had some champagne cocktails that were delightful. It was absolutely amazing to see the sun go down over the ocean! Stunning is one of the only words that would do Camp’s Bay justice. I ended up staying in and sleeping the rest of the night because I had another FDP the next morning.

Day Six: Amy Biehl and Out on the Town!

Amy Biehl was a young American who went to work against apartheid in South Africa after she graduated from college. In 1994 she went to a township with some of her friends and they were caught up in a rally. She ended up dying because she was stoned to death by the people who were protesting the oppressive government. Her family was the first to go through the Truth And Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu, and her parents ended up forgiving the people who were accused of murdering her. As a result, they began the Amy Biehl Foundation which provides in school and after school programs in township schools. Two of the men who took part in Amy’s death now work for the foundation, and one of them, Tobeko, was our tour guide for the day. Talk about a unique perspective to have from a tour guide. Our trip leader for the day was Jane Wisney. Jane is the wife of the Assistant Dean and runs the dependent student program, where I work with the children of the faculty and staff. I always get in trouble when helping the students because I laugh so much and sometimes get the kids in trouble, and before we even left on the bus she said to me, “I have my eyes on you LeeAnne! I am going to turn around and see you getting the township children in trouble!”

The first place we went was John Pama Primary School. We first saw the garden that they have in the back of the school. Parents without jobs will come and tend the garden and the kids, during free time, go to the garden and pick up the trash. We arrived just before lunch time, so when we went into the classrooms they were preparing to go to the shed in front of the school, where lunch is prepared by neighborhood women, and sponsored by the Amy Biehl Foundation. In our first classroom they sang us a song in English, and then we had a few minutes to play with the children, and then we were herded to the next classroom. When they began to sing the same song, I snuck outside where other children were eating their lunch. They had rice with a chicken stew over top and they were all eating it up, so it must have been good. All the kids wanted to do was share their lunch. We would point to their bowl and make a thumbs up or thumbs down with a questioning face, and they would smile and give a thumbs up and try to give us some. It was simply awesome, that they wanted to share their food, when Tobeko said it was probably the best meal they would have all day.

We left that school and headed for the next school which none us can remember the name of. We have a ton of pictures of the kids from there and none of know the name! We all keep saying, “Yeah, the school with the red uniforms…” I am going to talk to Jane, the trip leader, and see if she has it. There was a vendor on school grounds selling chicken feet, which is something the kids like. At first we were kind of surprised to see someone there selling them, but we have vending machines all over schools and our college campuses, so it is just another vendor in a sense. One of the girls on our trip, Jenny, told the vendor she would buy as many chicken feet as the kids wanted, so they lined up and each got a chicken foot. Even after 35 kids got them, she still only paid ten rand, which is just over a dollar.

Our next stop was another bed and breakfast. This one was at the outskirts of a township, and pretty darn close to being a suburb. It was an amazing meal and it only cost us 85 rand, which is just over ten dollars. We had this amazing beef stew, rice, a bean and apple salad (which we expected to be gross, but was actually pretty good!), chicken, rice…It was everything wonderful! This B & B was close to the township, Gugulethu, and we drove by the Gugulethu Seven memorial after we left lunch. There were a series of incidents in the 80s and 90s which resulted in the particularly violent deaths of seven people in the township. I believe they were all men, but I could be wrong. We also stopped by the site of Amy Biehl’s murder. It is just outside of a gas station now. There is still the steel gate standing in the air that was there when she died, and there is a cross in front of it as a memorial. If it had not been pointed out to us, it was something we simply would have just driven by.

After this stop we went to Qinqa Mntwana school. Those Q’s are some of the clicks of the Xhosa language, and so it was impossible for us Americans to say the name of the school properly. We sure did try in vain! At this school our entire time was spent watching the after school programs put on by the Amy Biehl Foundation. The first classroom we entered was where students were learning how to play recorder. The first song they played for us was “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic! I mean, I barely got past Hot Cross Buns in 3rd grade! These kids were incredible! We also saw kids learning how to play trumpet from an older man wearing a beret, and others learning how to sing opera music properly…you music ed kids at BW would have simply been in your own personal heaven watching these kids!

We saw a modern dance class practicing and a realistic moment came when suddenly the music turned off because the power went out at the school. Apparently this is a pretty frequent thing, and it didn’t faze any of the people from the school. The kids just kept on dancing and moving. Some of these kids were good, and would give some American reality show contestants a run for their money! A different group also performed a series of native African dances and were again simply spectacular. I have so many pictures and videos and you are all just going to have to see it to believe it!

The final school we visited for the day was Nomlinganiselo Primary School. This school has a putting green in the front and side yards for the children to learn how to play golf and these kids love it! We had a girl in our group who plays golf for her college team, so she had a lot of fun playing with them for the short time we had. The first classroom we visited was full of high school students learning about HIV/AIDS. The SAS students sat down next to the high school students and we began to talk with them. This was one of their first meetings and they were writing letters about why they were there are at the program. I sat next to an 18 year old named Bulelwa. I asked if I could read his letter, and from there on out, Bulelwa’s name and face will always be in my mind. Both of his birth parents died from AIDS when he was in primary school, and now his adopted parents and adopted sister have all been diagnosed with HIV. Bulelwa said he was at the program because he wanted to learn how to take care of them. My heart cracked as I read that. I looked up at him after I read the letter, and he said, “It’s okay. I’m going to change the world.” He broke my heart and then mended it a little in a period of 20 minutes. We also sat in on more recorder and dance classes and I have plenty of those pictures too!

We arrived back at around 5:30, and then Elise, Jeff, Jen, Bryan, Anna and I went to dinner. We tried to go to the African Café, but they were booked, so we walked across a few streets to Marco’s African Café. It was amazing! I had a plate of fries (or CHIPS!) and filets of kudu, ostrich, and springbok. It was in a great sauce and was simply awesome! I think kudu was my favorite.

After dinner we went out to a bar at the mall and we had a great South African beer called Savanna Dry. On our way back to the boat around ten we had to go past the tequila restaurant where all of the SAS kids were getting fishbowls. Fishbowls are enormous bowls filled with juice and liquor, and between 6 and 10 people share them. Some people were only sharing them between two people, and I don’t know how they lasted the night. Sharing with about 10 people still gave me a little buzz, but nothing bad. I went back to the ship pretty early because I had an FDP the next day, and it was to the winelands!

Day Seven: Winelands

Well, this was quite the day in the winelands! I woke up, had breakfast, and then we climbed into our busses outside of the ship! Our first stop was the factory of J.C. Le Roux and they make sparkling wine. They cannot call it champagne because only sparkling wine made in France can be called champagne. We had a tour of the factory and then we sat down to sample some of the wine. It was good for the most part. I enjoyed the first ones we had much better than the fruitier sweeter ones at the end. After the first two, we went outside and our guide did the thing with the sword where you run it up the seam and then it pops the top off…it was awesome! The champagne started bubbling out and we all put our cups underneath. The lifelong learners with us were simply hilarious!

We next went to lunch at the Goatshed Restaurant. We had this absolutely amazing quiche. It was so incredibly cheesy and had mushrooms and some vegetables. This same stop had Fairview wine and cheese, so we had wine tasting, and I wasn’t really a huge fan. I had 4 glasses, when we had the opportunity for 6, but since I dumped out most of the first three, I decided to simply move on to the cheese. Alyssa: you would have been in heaven here! We had some amazing Camembert and this great goat cheese with peppadew, whatever that is. I ended up buying some of the goat cheese stuff because it was so excellent.

Our final stop was at a brandy factory, and I am now fully aware that I hate brandy. However, I did eat the chocolates that came with the brandy. Haaha we headed back to the ship and then I went grocery shopping and that was it. We did not pull out of port that night because of the wind: it was not safe for the pilot to get us out of there. We had to bunker over night for fuel anyways, so it was okay.

Day Eight: Bunkered

This entire day of classes was spent bunkered while taking on fuel. It was ridiculous. Good food was just in the wharf a second away!

Boat to Mauritius: I don’t have a lot to say except I hate Global Studies with a passion, I was putting together the spelling bee for my study buddy kids and the seas were so incredibly rough. I have never been so seasick. BLAH.

Mauritius was great, update coming soon. Classes till India..my spelling bee for the kids is on Tuesday!

Mauritius update coming soon!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

South Africa: Cape Town to JoBurg

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to go up to 7^th deck and see the sunrise over Table Mountain. When I got up there, the dawn sky was just breaking and it was incredible to see the entire sunrise process. Jeff, Danielle and the rest of the gang stayed up there until breakfast and then we made the trek to the incredibly busy dining rooms – so we waited and waited in the lines and got our mediocre food. After that we all went our separate ways until the consular briefing. The tag team of senior diplomats managed to not absolutely terrify us like the lady from Salvador. These guys were pretty upbeat and kept showing random pictures that only college students and their wacky professors would find enjoyable. Plus…the first guy waddled like a penguin for us. Haha

The consular general also spoke and then the Premier of the Western Cape came into the Union to speak. This is the equivalent to a governor coming on board, and he was great. He is a Muslim, and he spent a lot of his time speaking about the religious unity and disunity in Cape Town. At one point he pointed to Desmond Tutu and said that he has more in common with the archbishop than with Islamic fundamentalists. He meant well, but the way he said it kind of seemed like he was puffing himself up a little bit, but overall, he was an excellent speaker and I can certainly see him winning political office!

At that point we were cleared to get off the ship. Jeff, Brianne, Ashley, Janet, Jika, Cristie, Jen and I took off for Robben Island hoping to get tickets for the day. However, they were all sold out. Jeff then remembered that an SAS trip was leaving the ship for Robben Island at 12:15 and we decided to try to crash it. People kept trickling into the Union and then two other people showed up trying to crash the trip. In the end, more people showed up with tickets than who were even supposed to be on the trip, so we definitely did not get in!

The five of us packed up our bags and headed off ship. Jeff and Jen went and climbed Table Mountain and I didn’t go because I wouldn’t have made it back in time to meet my group for my safari. Evan from Penn State and Kristen from Texas and I headed out to find lunch and some drinks. We found a group of people going skydiving and the RD Drew was one of them. He pulled me aside and asked me what I was doing on Sunday. I told him I was going on my safari and then he said if I was in town he was going to invite me to go to the Archbishop’s church with him. WHAT THE HECK! I was crazy upset!

We then went to this great little restaurant and got sandwiches and a couple drinks…the panini was excellent. We went wandering in the enormous mall right in the Victoria and Alfred Wharf and we came upon a bar where there were a lot of SASers wandering around and Evan wanted to go in. We got what is called a “Jam Jar” which is a mason jar with fruit juice and rum…I was expecting it to pack a punch, but it was incredibly weak and was like drinking pineapple juice by itself. It was close to time for me to head back to the ship, so we wandered through the parking garage encountered a brick wall and then a metal fence. We finally found the opening to the road and they dropped me off at the ship and went to drink some more.

We were meeting up at 4:30 and Regina didn’t come until 4:50…We were honestly about to go, because we weren’t going to risk missing our flights if she didn’t show up at 5. The taxi to the airport took about 45 minutes, but our driver explained a lot about the differences between the townships and about where he lived. We arrived at the airport and headed to check in…we got that done and then hoofed it to our gate to make sure it wasn’t boarding yet. It wasn’t, so we grabbed some chocolate milkshakes which were different, but quite good. We had to board a tram to take us to our plane, and then boarded it…but it wasn’t quite as fancy as the Magic Flying Carpet in Brazil! I had the window seat in my row and no one was in either of the seats in my row, which was nice because I could spread out a little bit. The flight was uneventful and included wine and decent food. When we arrived in JoBurg we asked the baggage claim guy to call our hostel for us and he arranged for us to be picked up.

Then…we saw our new home for the night. At first it was very nice, but then when we moved the one towel, a rather large bug scurried out…all of you at home should know how much this excited me! We tried to use the internet but it was not working, so we sat down with girly magazines and watched television. It was so nice to relax and drink some hot tea. You would think it wouldn’t be a huge deal to watch TV since we do have some movies playing on the ship, but it was just nice to see real shows, even if they were South African shows that we didn’t know…we did watch part of Armageddon..haha

After I sat on the couch, I noticed the ants. And then they were on my bed. And in the bathroom. And on my bed. And everywhere. You will all know how much I loved that too… Before we fell asleep we heard that Victor and Jayme’s group was staying in the same hostel but they were in the dormitory area and we had one set of bunk beds and a king size. The sleep was not very fitful, mostly because the bugs caused nightmares of scorpions and huge bugs…haha but I slept a little.

Day Two: Safari at Kruger!

This morning we woke up at the hostel at around 730 and ate breakfast with the other group and we had Nutella! Matt came into our room after breakfast and said that we owed 288 rand…I booked the hostel with my debit card at Hostel World, and it said the rest of the money would just be charged to my card after our stay…well this guy said no when I brought my card in to him. I felt so stupid! Luckily, Regina had a lot, so all of us put together what we had and paid the bill. We all got on the hostel’s bus that took us to the airport, and then we waited close to 45 minutes for the Siyabona bus to arrive..we were supposed to leave at 9:00 and didn’t pull out until around 10.

We were all packed in like sardines in the bus and we had an insane French woman in the front seat. The drive was about five hours, but I slept for most of it. We stopped one for toilets, ATM stop and snacks. I got Salt and Vinegar chips, and it was incredible. I haven’t had those in about 8 weeks, and they were fabulous. 45 minutes before reaching the gates of Kruger we stopped for lunch at the Siyabona offices. We had an amazing fruit salad and best of all? IT WAS NOT SHIP FOOD! South African sandwiches all have butter on them instead of mayo or mustard or anything, and it reminds me so much of Ireland!

We arrived at the Pretoriuskop camp around 3:00 PM and were shown to our bungalows. They are simply fabulous! We have air conditioning, hotel like showers and amazingly comfortable and fluffy beds. Regina and Liz are staying in #14, (the bigger one!!) and Matt and I are here in #15. Regina has two beds put together and she is quite excited haha We relaxed for a short time, but we soon had to go on our first safari drive! We met a couple from Boston on a vacation and then the other huge group of SAS kids showed up – it was Princess and Carl’s group of about 20.

Regina, Liz and I sat up front and had a great view of everything. We saw baboons everywhere, a group of rhinos, some impalas, some kudu, and the top of a hippo bathing in water. Toward the very end we saw a giraffe! It wasn’t very close though, so none of us got a very good picture of it. It was exciting to be seeing these animals up close. At some points it just seemed unreal. Every port so far has contained some moments when I had to pinch myself to make sure it was actually happening.

The gate to Pertoriuskop closed at 6:00 pm, and we did not arrive back until 6:10, so our guides had to pay a small fine to get back in, but luckily we were only 10 minutes late because the fines are more depending on how late you are returning home. Dinner was not until 7 so we stopped by our bungalows and then went to the gift shop. There is so much in there I want to buy for my friends and family back home! Every time I see an elephant, I want to get it for Kimi! Don’t worry x-roomie doomie: you have got a special African surprise! I am really considering buying a great coffee table book they have with pictures of the animals of Kruger. I did buy some chocolate though because I am craving it! I bought “elephant droppings” which are chocolate covered marshmallows.

Dinner tonight was with the whole gang of SASers and the couple from Boston and the meal was authentic and delicious. We had salad, mashed something, minced meat stew, corn in squash and this amazing garlic bread made in Kruger. Now I am back in my bungalow about to go to bed! We have to be at our game drive location at 5:15 tomorrow morning!

Day Three: The Early Rise

I slept like a baby last in my comfortable, fluffy bed last night. We had the air conditioning on high and we were all cuddled up in our comforters. Part of me feels like I am not fully living into the safari life, but then I see the other people sweating their brains out in their tents and I fall in love with my bungalow all over again. I woke up at 5:00 am this morning and headed down to the camp at 5:15 for tea and biscuits before our morning safari drive. We saw so many animals this morning! It was probably the best drive we had the whole time!

We began with the usual kudu and impala and we saw the most amazing moon! There was a lunar eclipse last night that we didn’t know about, but this morning it was still this dark orange red and we got a few good pictures. I heard that one of the other people got a great picture of the eclipse, so hopefully I can steal it from the intranet!

We saw a rhino at the side of the road and then an elephant was right in the middle! It danced backwards a little at the sight of our vehicles, but I didn’t care because I was taking a zillion pictures hoping one would be good enough to blow up and frame for the x-roomie. Haha Kimi: I basically thought of you the entire time I was on safari!

***GOOD PART!*** After a little more driving, three safari vehicles happening upon a sleeping momma and baby rhino at the same time. We began taking pictures and then they woke up…never good! They were not very happy! They began to stamp their feet and start to charge forward a little bit. I was in the front left seat in the vehicle and they were just in front of our vehicle on the left. I would have been the first to be impaled! Haha They crossed the road several times and kept stamping their feet…definitely a tense moment…even the safari drivers were talking to each other about how to get out, because one vehicle was blocked in! That said…it was impressive to see their huge horn…it is beautiful and literally awe-some. They can do some serious damage with that thing. My first thought when they began to stamp was: Please don’t impale me!!

The next big excitement came when we saw a lone zebra surrounded by a large family of giraffes. They were so elegant…perhaps the better word in graceful. As they lumber on, they seemed to walk in a perfect harmony, and delicately reached their heads up into the trees for a bite. We proceeded on to a little lake where the excitement was supposed to be the rhino bathing in the water, but the REAL excitement turned out to be the crocodile and two ducks heading on a collision course for each other. We’ve all been really wanting to see something get eaten, but every time the croc would get close enough to make the kill, the two ducks would scatter. I videotaped it, but the croc just wasn’t skilled enough! As much as I hate everything bloody and violent, it would have been unique. We saw another family of giraffes and then another highlight came with a family of zebras and there was a baby! It was snow white and jet black and just a little skittish, but curious enough to try to come closer to our vehicle.

We arrived back at our camp around 9 and ate a breakfast of cereal, fruit, eggs, sausage and just about everyone except me had the beans! Please don’t make any of us return back to ship food! There was nothing to do until lunch at two so the four of us headed back to our bungalows. I showered and man did it feel good! The water pressure was fabulous! Then…we all went to sleep! At around 1:00 pm I went to see if Liz wanted to go to the shop like we planned, but she was still sleeping, so I went back to bed and she came and got me at 1:30.

I am basically done souvenir shopping after the safari shop for people back home…granted, I find something to buy my mom at nearly every place I go. I did buy myself that coffee table book, and then I got the grandparental units something as well. Lunch was sandwiches and I am getting a little sick of the butter on the sandwiches, as much as it does remind me of Ireland…I scraped it off there, and I am starting to scrape it off here!

Before our afternoon drive, I made a “Thank You Mom For The World” sign, hoping that we would see something great where I could get a picture of me holding that sign. Well…it was perhaps the most boring drive of our stay. Haha Regina busted out her camera and we all took silly pictures, and Lamer, Zeke and Shawn fell asleep. We all ended up talking about life which was fun, but animals would have been preferential!

Before dinner we went back to the shop and I bought some kudu beef jerky which is pretty good…dinner was also amazing! These people know how to cook over an open fire! It was sausage, chicken, salad and a glass of wine! One of our guides, Elton, sat with us tonight and we were all trying to ask him questions for our classes…I asked him about religion and I found out that his church is Christian, but still has a lot of African influences in every area, which is pretty cool. He didn’t seem to really want to talk about it though, so I will have to find some other people to talk to for class! Tomorrow is our last day…I can’t believe it! Then it’s just praying that we make it to our flight on time!

more to come as i finish typing!

and thanks to anna and wayne! they were the last card i forgot yesterday!

South Africa was amazing, and I am still writing my blog and reflection for the time here...we are still waiting in Cape Town for the bunkering to be done! Good food was in the wharf just a second away!

I will try to post soon!
Here is a picture to tide you over!!



And from all the letters I got in South Africa, I know many of you read this, so comment and make me feel loved! hahaha Thank you to Mom, Steph, Alyssa, Kristen, Abby, Joanna, Gayle, all of St. Luke's for the huge package of letters, and I know I am missing someone right now, but my list is in my room! Just know how much I appreciate every letter!