First Week

Hey,

I decided to make a blog so that it is easier for me to connect with everybody back home about my experiences in South Africa. This is kind of long, so you don't have to read this...just skim through if you want to, or don't read it at all...it's really up to you.

So the first week in South Africa started in Johannesburg after a 20+ hour flight via London. One note about the airports in london, they are very strict...everybody has to take off their shoes! Anyways, the first things that stuck out in Jo'berg were the barbed wires and electric fences on A LOT of the houses and also, I saw perhaps 1 white person walking around on the streets, in a good area too, majority of those travelling by foot were black..(Just a note: in South Africa, when the terms black, coloured or white are used, it is not done racially). We met 2 other girls from Denmark and Norway and we all decided to go for lunch at a near mall and then later decided to head to the supposed flea market. We thought it was only 10 min away but turned out to be a 45 min walk into Jo'berg. Some would call us crazy...but it was a 'safe' neighborhood from the looks of it. We couldn't find the flea market so instead we browsed Rose Banks Mall.

One of the girls with us, Andrea, was pretty interesting. One thing i found quite insightful was the way she told her story..Her and a friend were travelling in Europe and had stopped at a tourist site. They were taking pictures and enjoying the scenery when a tourist bus of chinese people pulled up and they started taking pictures of her and her friend. The way she put it was that they were taking pictures of the 'local tribe.' The inhabitants of Europe. Anyways, she was going on a 14 day safari by herself, of course, joining a group. The other girl, Eva, was going to volunteer with vervet monkey rehabilitation.

This trip has allowed me to meet some interesting people, like the man who was in the same row as us on the airplane. He was originally from Kenya and had moved to Canada. He showed us the bullet marks and knife scars on his hands from Kenya. That definitely made us look forward to Africa...

But I have got to say Kruger National Park is absolutely beautiful. We were with Bundu safaris and their campsite was amazing. We were in a wilderness setting. No city noises. Clear skies. 2 person tents with beds! The showers and toilets were even better than the place in Jo'berg. Oh and also electric fences surrounding the campsite. Which are moreso to keep the humans contained, I think. The guides reassured us that any animal that wants to make its way in to the campsite, will do so. Such as the leopard that was spotted near the tents a few nights ago. Along with its dung spotted near one of the tents. Or if you have an enraged Elephant or lions, no way you can keep them out. So with that piece in mind, we carried on with the safari. That night we went to watch the sunset from what i call, Pride rock and also a night safari drive.

The sunset was absolutely amazing. I will upload some pictures on to here later. I will miss the large open skies of Kruger NP. We even saw some sable antelopes from there, which are very rare. In our group, Harlene and I were travelling together, Sarah and Carly who were from the US and Elliot from England. Anyways, every so often we would check our backs, just to make sure a pride of lions hadn't popped out of nowhere. It was just surreal knowing that these animals are roaming around freely. So bizzare that it was normal. I didn't really feel out of my element, but more connected with nature. That night we saw a few other animals. It was SO unexpectedly cold on the night safari. It's Africa!!! Why is it cold!? My hands and face felt frozen, especially with the open jeep allowing the wind to blow directly into your face.

The next morning, we were up bright and early at 5:15am, it was still dark as we made our ways to the bathrooms with our flashlights. It was so cold in the mornings that I did not want to get out of the warmth of my bed and venture outside of my tent into the cold and dark. Anyways, I forgot to tell you about what happened the first day we arrived at the campsite. It was quite interesting experience to start ones safari with. We got to the campsite around 3pm? It was reaaally hot, around 33 degrees C. We were lazing around in the lounge area when one of the local workers came and got Justin, one of the guides. He asked us if we wanted to come along and see him get out a snake out of one of the tents!!!! Of course we were up for it. So we head over and Justin is looking around in the tent and is having a lot of difficulty because its a smaller snake. He asked for a pair of sunglasses because he suspects its a spitting cobra. After moving out a shelf from the tent and realizing that the snake was in it, he caught the baby Mozambique Spitting Cobra. It was pretty cute, but I imagine not so much, when you are handling a snake that can cause you to go blind with its venom. That night...we checked under our beds and always looked where we were stepping. Justin told us that usually when there is one, there are usually more, especially if it is a baby snake...

This safari has been full of information. Like, the mother leaves her baby eggs and doesn't stay there to guard her eggs, aside from pythons. So when the baby snakes are born, they are left to fend for themselves. They can actually be much more dangerous than their adult counterparts because they are nervous and will often release more venom than is needed. Very comforting...

Anyways, the full day safari was very cool. Malosie (i know i spelt it wrong) was our tour guide. He was very informative and would often tell us about the cultural importance of certain plants. We were able to see lots of giraffes, zebras, rhinos, buffalos, hippos(not too close though), impalas(w/ English Accent), Water Bucks, Wart Hogs, Guinea Fowl ( i think) and lots of other birds. Unfortunately we missed the lions twice! As well, cheetahs were apparently spotted, but we couldn't see any. So we did get to see 3 of the 5 Big Five; not leopards or lions though. I have to say I preferred the dirt roads to the tarred ones. The open jeep ride on dirt roads is wikked. It reminded me of Disney Land's ride, Indiana Jones. Too cool.

That night we were able to chill before the Braai, which means barbeque. The cook made us something special since we were vegetarian. He was really nice and made delicious food, even though it was 'camping.' After dinner, we sat around the campfire watching the beautifully stunning stars and listening to the sounds of the night. Pierre, one of the head guides, motioned for us to become silent and looked at Justin and said, "Did you hear that?" All of us just sat there thinking you have got to be joking. But no, Pierre said he heard lions growl!! After listening to them for awhile, they judged that there were about 3 lions about 3-5 km away from our campsite! Crazy! I was happy to hear them, almost better than seeing them. Justin looked really excited and asked Pierre if he could go look for them. And so he took 10 of us, 2 of which were guides, out looking for lions. So, to explain the situation, we are in an open jeep with no windows, it is pitch dark, we have 2 spot lights, 11 pairs of human eyes, and some scared girls. We drove around somewhat carefully and at one point someone thought they saw some eyes. We stopped in that area and tried to see if we could find them.

At this time, Justin thought it would be a good idea to shut the engine and spotlights and just try and listen to the lions. Everybody was really quiet and tense, when Elliot, in his English accent said, "this is like one of those times that when you turn on the lights, you have are surrounded.." Nervous laughter from everyone and quick checks to our back sides. We were waiting for Justin to que something, let us know that there are or are not any lions in the area. Instead, he begins to tell us the story of Power Line Pride of Lions. I had heard about the general idea, but this time he went into a lot of detail. As we sat in the pitch dark, he began to tell us of these lions that had developed a taste and skill for hunting humans. Since Kruger national park borders Mozambique, many of the desperate habitants from there will go through Kruger because it is not well patrolled and easier than crossing borders. And they will follow the power lines because that means that they are getting closer to civilization. Kruger is 2 million hectares, so getting lost would not be that great. Anyways, since the roads are used in the day and security will be around, these people will travel at night, with only the light of the moon. The lions noticing this trend began to stalk them for prey. It is estimated that 75% of all lions at Kruger have tasted human blood. We were shocked sitting in that open jeep at 11pm waiting to hear the growl of the lions.

He went on to tell us of one of the stories of a Mozambique survivor. He said that they all knew that lions, along with other wildlife, are a threat. That just tells you of their desperation and the hope that they carry that South Africa will be a better place, a place of jobs. But some people just don't understand this, one of the British girls said, "stupid prats, of course they will get eaten if you do that." Most of us were shocked. Justin, the guide, was so shocked that he laughed. We attempted to explain to her that look, if they are willing to risk their lives to do this, what must they have gone through back home. She was adamant about her views. Hopefully one day she realizes that she is very lucky and not everyone has the wealth to sit in the safety of a jeep while trying to find lions. These people, humans, mothers, fathers, sons are trying to survive, trying not to get in the way of these animals that we pay the guides to take us to. Anyways, the Mozambique survivor said all you could do when the lions attacked one of your people was to cover your head and walk away quickly with the sounds of the attacked screams and the bones crunching. Everybody was quiet and most of us did not want to meet these lions, especially up close.

The next morning, we went on a bush walk with an armed guide, Pierre, and Justin. This was one of my favorite parts of the safari because you could walk the natural trails created by the animals and also learn about passed down uses of the plants. Again, we heard lions growl on the bush walk. We were an excited nervous, but unfortunately did not have the pleasure of coming across a pride of lions...The walk was about 2.5 hours, but felt much shorter than that. After taking off the tick on my glove and getting into the jeep with our wet clothes from the morning dew, we headed to the campsite to leave for the Scenic tour. We got to see a place called God's Window, which had stunning sceneries and later we went to another place with amazing views and then to Blyde River Canyon, which is the 3rd largest canyon, the only one that is green. I will try and upload some photos, it was absolutely beautiful. Later we went and saw potholes and were able to walk around right to the edge of the cliffs to watch the waterfalls. After lunch we headed down to the 5-star lodge near the Jane Goodall Institute. It was the nicest place I will be staying this entire trip, for sure. It was serene and calming. There was the 3 of us and another person from Zimbabwe in the entire lodge, so we could walk around the entire premises, played some tennis, enjoyed the sunset, comfy beds and just the entire atmosphere. The next day we got to learn about what JGI does with Chimpanzees and other monkeys. It was extremely informative, but not hands-on at all.

Anyways, that was my first week in South Africa and it really didn't feel like i was in Africa, just a natural and beautiful place-Kruger anyways. Johannesburg, the city, was more modern than i expected.