The Dust of Africa...

2/19 – 2/24

Day 28 – This morning after Robyn and I along with a few other brave Eskimos survived an extremely cold, windy, and short night out on the deck. But to see the lights and coast of Africa rise up from the unbroken darkness of the horizon was an unforgettable experience. This was Africa! A place that until that moment had seemed a mystical and far off land worlds apart. The silhouette of Table Mountain provided the backdrop to a sparkling city by the water. Despite being exhausted a few hours later Kate, Kait, Robyn, and I stepped off the ship onto a spectacular wharf with incredible views of the mountains surrounding Cape Town. This was a much cleaner city than Salvador and we were immediately taken by it. It is heavily westernized with a wharf side shopping mall that would not have looked out of place back in the States. Moving around the city and communicating was also a breeze as everyone we talked to spoke English and signs were in English and Afrikaans.

We spent our first few hours exploring the Waterfront and the shops near there. Shopping was quite enjoyable as the dollar enjoyed a quite favorable exchange of about 1 to 7.5 rand, making everything quite inexpensive. We also grabbed lunch at a quaint little Italian restaurant where we ate streetside to the music of a band composed of a saxophone, maracas, some kind of percussive instrument, and a cello. It was one of the most relaxing mornings I’ve had! Here we were sitting beneath an umbrella on a beautiful clear day at a sidewalk café in Africa!!! After our meal we made our way to the Waterfront clock tower where we met with my CU TA’s mother Alison. She was an incredibly pleasant person and extremely welcoming. As she drove us to the Rhodes memorial, a massive statue with a surrounding monument built into the slope of Table Mountain in honor of the man who envisioned South Africa’s economy she told us of the history of the city which has been at the forefront of the turbulent years following the end of Apartheid in 1994. It was very interesting to talk to someone who had actually lived through a period we had spent so much time learning about.

After Rhodes we continued on to the Groot Constantia vineyards for a tour and wine tasting. The wines were excellent and the vineyard breathtaking with gently sloping emerald green hills nestled against the jagged piercing peaks of the mountains with a view of the Atlantic Ocean to top it all. I suppose with this wine tasting we are now all cultured adults! After the winery we went back to Alison’s house in a very upscale neighborhood where the fenced in and gated homes exhibit terraces, fountains, and swimming pools. There we met her husband Dennis and their son Gary who were both also very welcoming and cordial.

We took an early evening walk on a trail running behind their house with their very affectionate rescued dog Kitt. The walking path was very heavily forested, but interestingly contains all exotic plants from Europe and elsewhere and very few indigenous ones as they were brought by the European settlers hundreds of years ago.

For the evening we enjoyed a Bry where we were served Ostrich fillets, Springbok Biltong (a jerky like method of preparing meat that tastes much better), and some kind of sausage. We also enjoyed their different soft drinks such as Ginger Beer (my personal favorite, carbonated but with a spicy aftertaste), Appletizer, and Grapetizer. Fortunately they had internet access as well so we were able to make some contact with family and friends. I slept out on a balcony on the second floor which was effectively its own apartment where Gary lived. I found it interesting he was also on Facebook and listened to the same kind of music we hear on the radio back in the States.

Day 29 – Today we had a very relaxing morning lounging around and enjoying actually seeing live television and news before heading to Boulders Beach which is renowned for its large penguin colony. We had take out lunch and ate amongst the penguins on top of massive boulders that were strewn about as though a giant carrying a sack of rocks had simply tossed them there. Most of the penguins reminded me of college students at a lecture, standing around looking half awake and periodically dozing off. The water was quite frigid but very invigorating and the scenery was spectacular! South Africa may very well be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been!

After Boulders we took a scenic drive around the outskirts of Cape Town along a road weaving through the cliffs that when built was considered an engineering marvel. We eventually stopped and had a sunset dinner at a restaurant overlooking Camp’s Bay where there are apparently a lot of Hollywood celebrity sightings. By the time we finished dinner it was dark and time for Alison to take us back to the ship. After our heartfelt goodbyes we made our way to the ship security checkpoint where disaster struck me. Somehow over the past two days I had managed to lose my ship ID/keycard that gets us back on the ship. Add to that the fact that I had neglected to bring any other form of photo ID with me. After what seemed like forever and my future wandering around lost in South Africa had flashed before my eyes I was finally waved through and required only to sign in on paper and immediately get a new card from the purser’s desk. So apparently you can still get back on the ship even if you’re an idiot. I will not be going to bed tonight as it is going on 1 in the morning and I still need to pack for my safari tomorrow morning which leaves at 0300!

Day 30 – Sleep…Need Sleep… This morning long before sunrise 21 of us boarded buses in the darkness bound for Cape Town’s international airport for our trip to Kruger on safari! Though everyone was exhausted, excitement filled the air as we arrived at a thoroughly empty airport. We also had the opportunity to watch the complete lunar eclipse while waiting for our flight though there was still a small sliver visible when we had to go to our gate. The airline Mango was interesting because all though it was a 737 we boarded from the tarmac after being bussed to the plane. A short hour and 45 minutes later we touched down at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and stuffed into a luxury bus. 7 hours and 3 petrol stops later we finally arrived at the Skukuza lodge in Kruger where we will be spending the evening in bungalows before tomorrow moving to the Flying Lions Bush Camp in the Balule Nature Reserve. We partook in an afternoon game drive where we have already seen elephant, giraffe, warthog, springbok, kudus, and a hyena. This is going to be a spectacular trip! Though my bungalow buddy Meghan and I will have to get up at 0445 tomorrow morning to make our morning game drive! Tonight we had another excellent meal prepared by the camp chefs and ate at an incredibly long dining room table outside with other SAS students who happened to be here. Africa is spectacular!

Day 31 – Today Meghan and I got up at 0445 for a morning game drive. It was spectacular to be up for the sunrise let alone to see it rise up out of the African savanna. We spotted some hyenas, a ton of impala, and a bunch of vultures that were in a battle with a lone hyena over a hippopotamus carcass (don’t worry hippo fans, I’m sure it was just sleeping and having a party with all its vulture friends). Africa has such rugged natural beauty that one could easily spend years immersed in it. After the game drive we had another bus transfer to Balule and our camp. We have a small lodge with a kitchen and 3 bathrooms and a field with several tents and a small swimming pool overlooking a watering hole. After getting settled we departed on an evening game drive that brought us across a herd of elephants. To see these gentle creatures filled me with a great sadness that because of the amount of natural land that has been dedicated to human use the only viable option to control the population of the elephant and keep it at a level that the natural parks can support is culling the animals. Balule is situated on a parcel of land with all rough dirt roads giving each safari a thrilling feeling. The stars were incredible though were somewhat spoiled by the nearly full moon. After getting back to camp we had dinner and celebrated the day’s safari with beer and wine into the evening.

Day 32 – Today we were awakened at 0430 for another morning game drive which brought us our first glimpses of lions and wildebeests. The experience of seeing an animal as magnificent as a lion in the wild is indescribable. We were also fortunate to see a mixed herd of zebra (that’s zeh-brah, not zee-brah) and giraffe. We arrived back at 0900 for breakfast that was plagued by bees and so most everyone’s juice soon had drowned bees in it. Waking up so early makes the days seem so much longer as we had a full 8 hours to kill between our morning drive and evening excursion at 1700. This caused quite a dilemma as it caused one to have to make the difficult decision between taking a nap, dipping in the pool, or finding a nice shady spot to read. I managed to do a bit of each and before too long it was time for our night drive.

During this ride one of our guides named Edward told us about the Areola trees growing on the Savanna which his culture believes has roots which provide a place for one’s ancestors to visit. He also showed us a “magic bush” which when ground up and mixed with another plant that grows in the mountains can cause someone to forget things or make a woman fall in love with you. I have not yet been able to find the other plant from the mountains. Our other guide Andrew was a storybook perfect image of a safari guide, very much resembling Crocodile Dundee. Though for much of the drive we only saw the tracks of the animals we were seeking it was still very relaxing and cleansing to just cruise through the wilderness and the darkening sky. We did have an incredible flurry of activity at one moment where we saw a family of warthogs, a herd of giraffes, a herd of zebras, several impala, and a pair of jackals. We had a final outside dinner and shared drinks with our guides late into the night around the campfire. We sang and shared stories under the rising full moon and enjoyed every moment of our final night in Africa.

Day 33 – They say that when the dust of Africa enters your blood, you can’t get rid of it. I am completely enchanted by this place. It has truly been an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life. The majesty and sheer splendor of it all is humbling. In a poetic gesture a single bull elephant trumpeted a farewell as we left the camp this morning. We were also graced to witness a cheetah walking alongside the road during our final drive out of the camp. Though it was tame an aura of incredible power permeated the air with each of its fluid movements. This was clearly an animal built for the hunt. However the shocking smack of returning to civilization was made all the more painful by the fact that our bus that was supposed to arrive at 0730 did not arrive until 0945, meaning that the 6-7 hour drive to Johannesburg to catch our flights became a mad dash to sink a buzzer beater and make our flight.

Attempting to make up for lost time our bus driver was pushing the bus quite hard and as a result after about 30 minutes of driving an alarm noise began to sound indicating the bus was overheating. We had to stop the bus in order for it to cool on 3 separate occasions, making our tight timeframe to get back to the airport and catch a plane to the ship seem quite impossible. By some minor miracle we arrived at the airport with a bit of a cushion until our flights. However mother nature decided to make the 6 of us on that South African Airways flight (Me Shannon, Eric, Aileen, Ana, and Dan) as nervous as possible about making it back to the ship. A heavy rain caused our plane to take a 30 minute delay taking off. We landed a mere hour before our on ship time of 2100 and sprinted off the plane with an interesting waddle from our heavy packs that surely must’ve entertained the other people at the airport. We found our waiting taxi and sped off to the docks. I checked in at 20:47 , 13 minutes to spare! It was definitely a memorable experience to say the least.

Day 35 – Today back at sea, I realized that by my approximation we are currently about 10,000 miles from home. Everything there seems so distant and disconnected. Despite that I am still so excited to be here. The full weight of what we are doing has still not even slightly begun to sink in, but I think it might not until the trip is over.

Day 36 – Nothing much to report today. I did however decide to participate in the Manly Month of March competition. It is a fundraiser where I will grow out my beard for the entire month of March and not shave. I will attempt to get people to pledge to sponsor the beard and the proceeds will go to the Students of Service charity, which will in turn collect the money for a suitable charity! So far I have about 16 sponsors and $100 pledged. So let this be a warning that the weird bald bearded guy in future photos is in face yours truly!