February 20th, 2009

This morning we woke up at 5:30 to be ready for a 6 am game drive. Alexis and I got to the meeting spot early to get a good seat. I sat right behind Shawn (by the way is from George, South Africa) and was ready for another exciting day. 

 

The first thing we did was take a quick drive to the river for our boat ride. On our way to the boat we saw buffalo, springbok, and baboons. Actually when we got to the river the tree we parked under had baboons in it which was neat. We walked down a small path to get to the boat it reminded me of the Jungle Cruise. It was fun and relaxing for the early morning but there wasn’t much to see animal wise besides birds. After the boat tour we were back in our cars on the search for Rhino.

 

Shawn knew exactly where they were so we drove straight over. The rhino looked like a dinosaur to me they were very slow moving and just moved along grazing along the grass. Near the rhino were some zebra we got to get closer too and take some pictures. I even got a picture that looks like I could touch the zebra. We continued to drive around finding ostrich, kudu, wildebeest and all kinds of animals.

 

On our drive I had been talking to Shawn about how the other night I had eaten crocodile, ostrich and all of that. So he asked me if I liked to eat different and interesting things I said sure and the next thing I know it Shawn is stopped at a termite mound. He breaks a piece off and is holding termites in his hand and tells me to eat one. I make him and Alexis do it first then I dove in. Almost everyone in our car did it except for two people I think. I found that the termites just tasted like grass. Oh ya and I forgot to mention this really cool girl Ashley was in my car the entire time and was like our own personal radio singing a new song about every few minutes, it was nice. She also watches Summer Heights High so we had a good few laughs from that.

 

After eating the termite we went back for some breakfast and then had free time until our afternoon game drive at 4. Some people were going on a hike, other on a bike ride, to the pool, or canoeing down the river we had been on earlier. Alexis and I wanted to go canoeing so we went to change into our bathing suits and got ready. Shawn and another driver Juan (and he isn’t Hispanic) were the ones who took us down to the river and went canoeing with us. Alex, Leah, Nick, Ashley, Laura, and Kristy all came too. Although on our way to the river Shawn and Juan kinda freaked out and sped off down a hill and seemed panicked I didn’t really know what was going on until we got closer. What had happened was Thomas and Robby two boys on the trip who went mountain bike riding for their activitiy didn’t follow the signs and ended up riding down a hill that was extremely close the rhino and all the other animals. It was very dangerous but luckily nothing happened and they just went back up to their trail. So after the phiasco we continued down to the river Alex, Kristy and I in the front seat cracking jokes with Shawn and Juan. Shawn was 25 and Juan was 22 I think it was nice for them to have some people close to their age on the safari because I feel they mostly get families or older people. 

 

We finally got down to the river and did a little canoeing relaxing and enjoying the scenery. After going up river a while most of us came back to the meeting spot but Alex and Kristy were nowhere to be found, so to waste time we went for a swim in the river. Which was super cool I was swimming in a river in AFRICA!!!! We waited a long time and Juan eventually went out the find them as the rest of us kept swimming. He didn’t seem too pleased about it but he also didn’t smile very often so I made it my goal to make him laugh by the end of the trip. The girls finally made it back and we all went back to the lodge for lunch. My clothes were now completely wet and salty so I went to the pool to rinse off then took a shower and quick nap before our night time game drive. The lack of sleep was finally starting to get to me.

 

 I woke up for the night drive and hoped in the front seat of the car ready to find some hippos and the lions again that was our big plan for the night. We first went out looking for the lions since everyone else was looking for the hippo and we found two of the males lions and one of the females. Total the park has two males, two females, and four cubs. We got even closer today then we had yesterday. We even got to see the male lion sprint at something in attempt to kill it but Shawn quote said “He was a pussy”hahahah okay lame I know but I thought it was funny.  We sat watching them for a while and they didn’t do much but did get up and walk around the cars as if we weren’t even there it was pretty crazy. We went up and found more Kudu and other such animals and finally drove out to a point to have drinks again before heading back for dinner. The spot we stopped at was amazing and when we looked out over the green valley full of animals there was a double rainbow over the next hill. It was so pretty I didn’t want the day to end. But we did still need to find the hippo before the night was over. So we drove in that direction and as I looked back I witness one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life. Shawn was nice enough to pull over and stop so we could watch and get some pictures. 

 

At this point our car seemed to be getting a long with Shawn really well and he started to play tricks on us. For example, on our way to find the hippos we saw a couple giraffes and Shawn asked us if we knew how they slept? We said no and so he told us this story. He said that giraffes find a tree about the same height as their chin and they go rest their head in the tree and then pull their legs up and hang. I swear the entire car was like what and freaked out?? I just looked at him and everyone and said don’t you think you would have seen a picture of that before if it was true?? Then Shawn started cracking up laughing with the rest of the car, everyone was pretty gullible. 

 

We were almost back to the lodge for our Burma (an outside bbq where there would be singing and dancing) when someone spotted the hippo. It was pitch black but we went over and the guides put spot lights on the hippo and we were able to seem him. There was only one and he was really slow moving but I was really glad we got to see it. So before we made it back for dinner Shawn was able to get one more prank off on the car. He pulled up under a tree and mind you its pitch black. He put his spot light on the tree and said do you guys see anything up there?? We said no and he told us to watch out for snakes falling cause they love hanging out in this tree. We all shuffled in our seats and told him he could keep driving. But oh wait his car stalled three times and then he said we had to give it time cool. We all shifted in our seats a little more and had worried looks on our faces and then Shawn turned the car on and sped off. I will say he got me on that one and it was pretty funny. Also on the way back he asked me if I wore lipstick and liked spiders and I said no to both, but he would tell me why he asked and only said I would find out tomorrow. 

 

We finally made it back for dinner which was beautiful and amazing like always. Alexis and I sat at a table with the professors and it was interesting to hear all of their life stories. That is why this program is so great because of the interaction you get to have you’re your professors. It makes them real people and you see them on a real level. After dinner we sat around a bonfire while some workers from the park sang and did some dances for us. A few of us include Dean Garret, and myself joined in on the dancing. It was really fun! After all the fun we decided to head back to shower and sleep cause we had another early wake up call for our last drive before leaving Kariega and heading back to Cape Town. This night we didn’t have any problems with the lights which was nice and I also didn’t have any spiders under my pillow.