South Africa

Day 1:

Arriving in South Africa was truly a dream come true. I sang songs from Lion King as the sun rose illuminating Table Mountain, which was much more in your face than I had anticipated. It was a tad unusual stepping off the ship into an area clearly designed for tourists. Not only were there restaurants up the wazoo, but there was a huge, metropolitan-esk mall. I had heard Cape Town was urbanized, but I wasn’t expecting such a tourist hub. However, I was still able to enjoy a beautiful morning. A few friends and I explored near the port finding a tiny market where I was unable to buy anything because I had only brought with me 70 rand which is less than 10 dollars…I guess I was still stuck in Brazilian real exchange. Oops. I had an FDP that afternoon, so I only had time to grab some lunch and head back to the ship.

My FDP was for my HIV and AIDS class – we visited Bush Radio, a community radio station discussing issues anywhere from violence in schools to AIDS. We received a tour of the station, met the people working there, then proceeded to a room where we watched drawn-out, home-made documentaries about their radio station for THREE hours!!!! Let’s just say this was not how I anticipated spending my first day in South Africa. I was extremely disappointed in the practicum. I thought there would have been many other ways for us to learn more about the HIV and AIDS pandemic in South Africa than at this radio station. Bummer…

That evening I went out to Long Street (the happenin’ street in Cape Town) with some friends and retired early to leave on my safari at 4:30 a.m.!

Day 2:

I signed up for a four day safari at Kapama Buffalo Camp thinking that no one was going to want to spend a four days on a safari and I would be guaranteed a spot, so I wasn’t really surprised when I saw it listed as one of my confirmed trips. Turns out I won the biggest lottery out there! SAS had made a mistake in assuming the Buffalo Camp could accommodate 40 people, but later found out it could only take 10 – by this time it was too late to remove the trip as a choice. I turned out to be one of THREE students picked in the lottery. The rest of the group was made up of my philosophy professor, his wife, the assistant dean, his wife and two kids. We stayed in “tents” on stilts that had actual beds, furniture, and a bathroom in them. They were pretty luxurious. The rest of the Camp was gorgeous and pretty much indescribable, so I won’t even try. It was amazing to say the very least! Our group got very close over the four days. There was another group of 65 that went to Kapama and stayed in the Lodge about ten minutes away from our camp. I was so thankful to be in the small group…I later heard a lot of stories of SASers in the Lodge drinking all night long, being extremely obnoxious and rude to other guests.

Enough about that…let’s talk about the animals! We weren’t scheduled for a game drive until 4:30 p.m., but immediately after we had settled into the camp and put our things away, our ranger, Natalie, got a call that there were two lions right outside our camp. So the first animals we saw were a female and male lion lying under a tree! The male was super relaxed, but the female was definitely staring us down. Since this was our first animal I was a little scared for my life…I later got used to that feeling. On our actual safari that evening we saw giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, impala, warthogs, and HIPPOS! We stopped by a large waterhole for snacks on our game drive and watched the hippos pop their heads in and out of the water and witnessed the renowned, spectacular African sunset first hand. We came across those two lions one more time as we drove back to camp.

We came back from our first game drive to a scrumptious dinner with the most amazing dessert I have ever had in my entire life!! It was a super moist chocolate cake bathed in a delectable pudding-like vanilla sauce. Wow. After dinner “the kids” went in the pool until I discovered the leaf floating next to me was no leaf at all, it was indeed a scorpion! That was the first and last time we went in the pool. We spent the rest of the evening playing card games.

Day 3:

We woke at 5 a.m. for tea at coffee before our game drive at 6:00 a.m.. We had an outstanding morning! The first animals we encountered were two huge White Rhinos! I thought they were elephants at first because of their size, but quickly realized the lack of giant floppy ears was not just a genetic defect. I was blown away at how close we were able to get to them – they weren’t fazed at all by our presence. We then came across the rescue lions chillin’ out by the fence; they’re separated because they have not yet become acclimated to the surrounding area. There was a gorgeous male with three females. It felt a little as if I was in a zoo watching them through a fence… We drove down the road and came upon a very photogenic elephant. He was literally five feet away from me – I could have reached my hand out and touched his trunk. He posed for quite a bit of pictures. After the elephant, was saw a ton of buffalo hanging out at a waterhole. It was surreal.

Our evening game drive was just as exciting! We came upon a gigantic gang of giraffes! I counted 8, but someone else counted 10. There was absolutely beautiful and majestic. I got some incredible pictures. Natalie then informed us that she needed to “show us something”, so we took off on our “Ferrari Safari”! On our way to the surprise, we saw two Rhinos who apparently weren’t too happy - they had their tales curled up indicating uneasiness. The surprise turned out to be a pride of four lions – one large male, two male cubs, and a female. They were, not kidding, right next to our jeep. The young male was very skeptical of our vehicle and began circling around…a little nerve racking. They were super intimidating. We spent a good amount of time with the lions, so by the time we were done we had to speed back to camp for dinner.


Day 4:

The highlight of our fourth game drive was the herd of elephants passing right by our jeeps. There was probably about 15 of them, including four babies. Adorable. Between our morning and evening game drive, we went to visit the Kapama Lodge. It was a lot more beautiful than I had imagined. When you think of a lodge, you think of a building…this was no building. They had an insane pool that looked too good to be true – we ended up jumping in with all of our clothes on! It was so hot that was dried off in an instant. Our evening game drive was another adventure! (I could never get tired of game drives J) We pulled up right next to a handsome male with a full mane! I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be watching a gigantic lion five feet away from me and not feel like I was going to die. I cannot describe to you how happy I was throughout these four days. That evening we were able to watch the sunset and eat our snacks with a herd of zebra and wildebeests. *STUNNING* Could life get any better?

Day 5:

We woke a tad bit earlier to go on an elephant safari! Essentially an elephant safari is the same as a regular safari…but on an elephant. Mine was named Setombe and she had a little baby who toddled right along side of us. We strolled through the brush watching the sunrise surrounded by impala, wildebeests, zebras, giraffes, and warthogs. It was a gorgeous morning and a perfect way to say goodbye to Kapama. We came back for breakfast, packed up our things, and said our goodbyes to the Buffalo Camp, Natalie, and Charles.

The previous night I had asked Natalie all sorts of question of how she became a Safari Guide…because that seems like possibly the coolest job out there. She went to school for three years studying Nature Conservation at a tech school in Jo’Berg. She works a ton, though. The guides have to work 21 days in a row from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., then they will get seven days off. Not only did she drive us on our game drives, but she would wake us up in the morning, serve us, clear our plates, get us drink…she did pretty much everything. I was very surprised at all of her responsibilities.

We left Kapama at around noon and didn’t get to Cape Town until 8:30 p.m. (our plane was delayed), causing me to miss all of my friends, so I spent the remainder of my evening uploading my pictures and getting some sleep.

Day 6:

Seeing as my first day in Cape Town was a bust, I had to fit EVERYTHING into one day. My friends and I got a van with a driver to take us around all day in order to jam in as much as possible. We hit up the Greenpoint Market first where I bargained my way into Funky town. We then drove along the coast around Table Mountain out to Boulder Beach where they have a random, massive population of penguins. We got to sit right next to them…but no touching because apparently they can bite a chunk out of your arm. We then hiked Table Mountain…and when I say hike, I mean we took the cable car up…but no one needs to know that. I would have loved to hike it, but we just didn’t have enough time. It was a spectacular view. I also got the chance to go to a grocery store to stock up for the next couple of weeks. It was a lovely, squishy day. In order to say farewell to Cape Town, Semester at Sea invited a youth choir from a township to perform on the ship. The first note coming out of their mouths blew me off of my chair! I have never heard anything like that…ever. My cheeks hurt by the end from smiling so much. It was the perfect way to end our stay in South Africa.

Now, my friends, it’s just a hop and a skip to Mauritius!