Game Drive in the Eastern Cape

On Friday March 15^th we had the opportunity to go on a game drive at a local animal reserve! We had been vocalizing our desire to go on safari since day one in Joburg, so we were all really excited that Stewart and Tabesa were able to make our collective dream a reality. Around 8:45 am our group of twenty-seven plus Stewart was picked up in three safari trucks and driven to the park down the road from the backpackers’ lodge where we were staying. After signing some paperwork, Lara and I were off with Rodger, our driver/guide, and the other six members of our group to tour the reserve and look for some animals! The park was very hilly and the dirt paths we drove on were rocky and often times nonexistent. I would describe the experience to off-roading or a rollercoaster with animals. You would have enjoyed it, Dad! We drove around for about three hours and saw ostriches, giraffes, impala, zebras (the correct pronunciation is zeb-rah… like Debra but with a Z), rhinos, and a pride of lions! Stumbling upon the pride of lions was definitely the highlight of the day for me. The group we stumbled upon while riding around the lion enclosure included the alpha male (who happens to be a white lion) and female, three tawny cubs and a white cub, and a couple of young females. Roger offered me 10R to touch one of the lions on the nose. If he offered me a little more cash I might have accepted his offer; I wasn't really willing to risk the feat for $1 USD and change.

A young male lion hiding in the bush

The Alpha Male - a white lion! There are only 400 in the world and 11 live in this game reserve 

The Alpha Female and some of her cubs

A safari truck

The rhinos have their horns removed to protect them from poachers.

After our ride around the park we headed off to a separate area to meet a young male elephant! The elephant was much smaller than I expected, though as a teenager he still had some growing left to do. His handlers talked to us about elephants and explained the difference between African and Asian or India elephants. One thing I remember is that African elephants have ears shaped like Africa and Asian elephants have ears shaped like India, so you can tell apart based on their ears. We also got the opportunity to feed the elephant which was quite fun. He was very greedy and would stick his trunk out in your direction and steal the pellets right out of your hand! Apparently elephants can eat up to 40% of their body weight, but because they only have one stomach they need to eat constantly throughout the day. Even though all twenty-eight of us plus his two handlers gave him ample amounts of food, the young elephant was still very hungry when we left him to go back to his enclosure in the park!

Going on a game reserve in South Africa was such an amazing experience, and one I'll treasure for the rest of my life. If anyone has the opportunity to go on one, I definitely recommend it! 

My Tshabo Family

Emishle, me, a friend, Lisa

oosisi: Emishle, me, Anita, and Lisa

oosisi: Becky and I

Lisa and Anita

My precious little Anita!

me, Mama, and Becky

Anita and Lisa goofing around at the homestay party

Emishle with sisi wam Becky's purse

Anita and Lisa

Tshabo: Rural Village Homestay

From March 7^th- March 14^th my friend Becky and I lived with a family in Tshabo, a rural village twenty minutes outside King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape. In order to get to the Eastern Cape from Cape Town in the Western Cape we took a grueling 17-hour bus ride on an Intercape bus. The running joke of the voyage was that it would have been faster to fly non-stop from Cape Town to New York City then it took us to drive across the bottom coast of South Africa! Luckily most of our journey took place at night and there were stops along the way for bathroom and snack breaks, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The only small hiccup of the trip was that the aircon was blasting all night and when Jenna approached the driver to ask if it could be turned down, she was told that there was a “chemical leakage” and the aircon was on full blast so we wouldn't smell it… ummm what?! That couldn't be good! Around 5 am we were allowed to get off the bus while the crew cleaned up the spill. Based on the amount of blue liquid being cleared away, we determined that it was probably the detergent that was used in the bus’s toilet that had leaked or spilled, not carbon monoxide like Lara feared.

The rest of the voyage was thankfully uneventful, as was our stay in Tshabo. Living in the rural village was much harder for me than I had anticipated. After living in Cape Town for the past four weeks I was unprepared for the slow-paced lifestyle of the village, along with the lack of reliable electricity and running water. I also had technology withdrawals as I didn't have internet access and didn't feel comfortable pulling out my laptop and ipod in front of my parents and siblings to do work or listen to music. The stay in the village was also emotionally hard for me. Even though I had my cell phone, I had to conserve my airtime as there wasn't anywhere to buy airtime in the village, and as a result I felt very disconnected. I also didn't have room in my bag for my letters from home so I couldn't pull them out of my bag and read them when I was missing my family and friends. The biggest difficulty however, was the language barrier. My family spoke very limited English and Becky and I combined spoke even less Xhosa, so the week was full of broken English and Xhosa and lots and lots of hand gestures. While stressful at first, I was able to adjust over time as we all found a way to communicate with one another.

Even though the week in Tshabo was tough for me, I still did my best to stay positive! Here’s my list of high points from the week:

-Being greeted by our mamas at the high school. When our taxis pulled up all the mamas were lined up along the drive singing and dancing, welcoming us into their homes. As soon as we jumped out of our transports they were there to greet us with handshakes and hugs!

-Food. So much food all the time. Two breakfasts every day. And bread. So much homemade bread.

-Taking in the beautiful view of the village and surrounding area from my backyard

-Free time! We didn't have classes and only had a few planned activities, including an excursion to the Steve Biko Center, so we got to explore the village, socialize, and just plain relax after a few stressful weeks

-Getting to talk on the phone with someone special from back home

-The village dogs! I actually got to pet them unlike the dogs in Langa

-Learning how to bead and teaching mama how to make friendship bracelets in return

-Playing with my siblings, (mama’s grandkids) Lisa, Emishle, Lakanye, and Anita, and the rest of the neighborhood children

-Becoming friends with Anita! Anita is five and up until our last full day didn't want to have anything to do with Becky and I because she was so terrified of us. Everything changed at the homestay party however, when she decided to try to tickle Becky and I. By the end of the day the three of us were the best of friends!

-Mama’s excitement when Becky and I gave her our thank you gifts for the family: a new broom, dish towels from Vermont, and maple syrup from Massachusetts. I’ve never seen her so happy! She started jumping up and down when she opened the packages and had the biggest smile on her face

-Our siblings’ excitement when we gave them their gifts: noise makers and kaleidoscoops. It was a good thing we saved the noise makers for the last night because boy they were loud!

-Getting to spend time with Becky. We were good friends before Tshabo, but living (and bathing!) together has definitely brought us closer.

-My Tshabo Family. Though we couldn't always communicate, there was still a lot of kindness and love. While I might not miss living in the village, I will miss my family and look back fondly on the time we spent together over the course of the week.

our house

our chickens + the outhouse

Simon's Town and Cape Point

Here our some pictures from our excursions in Simon's Town and Cape Point, the southernmost point of the African continent!
Simon's Town: March 4th-6th

Allie and Lara in front of the Boulders Beach sign

swimming with penguins

Cape Point: March 6th

view up the continent from the lighthouse

path leading to the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope sign (in Afrikaans) 

A Day in the Life/Last weekend in Langa

Here’s what a typical day has looked like for me over the past three weeks:

6:00 – wake up and get ready for the day ahead

7:15/20 – picked up for school by Martin

7:45/50 – dropped off in Rondebosch

7:45/50-9:30 – exercise and shower at Zone Fitness, walk to classroom

9:30-11 – Xhosa lessons with Sandile

11-11:30 – first break

11:30-13 – lecture or excursion

13-14 – lunch break

14-15:30– lecture

15:30-17 – MWF Xhosa tutorials, TuTh lecture or excursion

17-17:30 – clean classroom, pack-up for the day, run errands

17:30 – transport back to Langa

This weekend was my last weekend at my homestay in Langa. I spent Saturday morning in Woodstock at the Old Biscuit Mill with friends and then headed into town to go to Mr. Price - the South African version of Forever 21! I got a floral pemplum t-shirt and a floral maxi skirt for my rural homestay. I'm so glad South Africa is able to feed my pemplum and floral addiction! On Sunday I woke up early to write a 5-page paper due Monday (worth 50% of my grade in one of my classes - yikes!) and then went to the homestay party at the Langa Sports Center with my makhulu, Yoli. It was so fun! Us students sang (mangled) two songs in Xhosa and "Build Me Up Buttercup", Kelsey Rae and Katie recited a poem, and Juan gave a speech in Xhosa thanking our families for welcoming us into their homes. Then the mamas and sisis stood up and sang songs in Xhosa for us. They were MUCH better performers then us! Afterwards the students served our families food and we all sat down and ate together. After the party I spent the rest of the evening watching TV with Yoli, my sisi Naso, and the baby. Naso and the baby left after a couple of hours of TV, but Yoli and I stayed up until 10:30 pm chatting. I've grown to love my family and home in Langa Township over the past three weeks so it was hard to say goodbye to Yoli, Mama, and the baby this morning, especially since my baby sisi held my finger and smiled at me for the first time today! Usually she just cries whenever I'm around and try to hold her. I left my family my address in the States so we can keep in touch and Mama said she'd find me on Facebook (LOL).

Mama Yoli and I at the homestay party

Today we're off to Simon's Town for two days to hang out with PENGUINS at the beach! Then Wednesday night we're boarding a bus for a 16-hour drive to Tshabo, a rural village in the Eastern Cape where we'll be staying with families for a week. Starting Wednesday we won't have internet for 10 days, so no new blog posts for a week and a half! Don't worry - I'll fill y'all in on my adventures when I get internet back!