South Africa Baby!

SOUTH AFRICA BABY! This entry will definitely be long so make sure you have enough time set aside to read this ☺ The day we were supposed to arrive in Cape Town the winds were too strong to go into port which was extremely frustrating. You can’t even imagine how many antsy people were on the ship that day. Everyone wanted to get off the ship so badly and there was nothing Semester at Sea could do because it was the pot authorities of South Africa that wouldn’t let us come in. Thankfully the next day the wind died down and we were able to dock in the late morning time. As soon as we arrived the ship rushed through the customs process and getting the boat approved for us all to get off. We arrived later than when my safari was scheduled to leave so our plane had already left, I can’t even imagine how flustered the excursions people were that day. My friend Margo and I were on the same safari and we were told that we had to wait until later that evening to find out if they could reschedule our trip. During our newly freed day we went shopping in the HUGE mall right off the ship! It had over 400 stores, which obviously excited me!!! Cape Town was very developed and converged to the western ways. We talk about these concepts in consumer behavior and Cape Town really showed us the extreme opposite of Ghana with the ideas of convergence and divergence. When we went back to the boat from shopping we found out that our trip had been successfully rescheduled to the next day leaving at 4 am!!!! Early as hell, but I was so excited it was still happening. That night Olivia was able to meet up for a night out in Cape Town. It was great to see someone from home!!! It felt comfortable and I definitely miss all of my friends and family, so it was good to see her and help me get past my homesickness a little bit.

SAFARI DAY 1

I didn’t sleep at all that night because I got back from going out at 3:30, so I had 30 minutes to get my stuff together and meet my group. The day was filled with travel and sleep while traveling. When we finally reached our hotel located right next to Kruger national park I was shocked to see how absolutely beautiful it was. The hotel had an 18-hole golf course, 3 tennis courts, 6 pools, a hippo pond, and a spectacular view. Immediately after arriving at the hotel we were told to get into safari vehicles for our first safari! There were 7 of us in the car with our guide Ben and our tour guide Graham. Ben was an older man with only one real leg, the other was a peg leg, we never ended up asking him how he lost his leg but I’m going to guess a wild animal took it. He seemed pretty badass! The first animal we saw was an elephant, it was massive and beautiful. Being so close to a wild animal was just so amazing and crazy at the same time. It was eating whole branches from a tree right in front of us. The sound of the breaking branch on the teeth of the elephant showed just how strong of an animal they are. I was AMAZED!!! Next we saw water buffalo’s (Ugly but apparently the most dangerous animal in the park), Rhino’s (which made me feel right at home, one actually had a bird on its head for a second and it was like dad and Larry were there with me haahah!), deer like things, birds, turtles, baboons, and spiders (HUGE ONES).

The last thing we saw was another elephant, but this time it was a mom and her two babies. Mother elephants are very protective of their young, naturally. It just so happened that there were 5 other cars surrounding the family of elephants, which made the mother elephant extremely worried and riled up. We the closet car to the elephant and we also trapped in by the other vehicles. All of a sudden the elephant got closer to our car and was hitting its trunk against the ground kicking up dust and shaking its head at us. Ben (our guide) told us to stay still and don’t make any noise so it knows that we aren’t a threat. At this point I was starting to freak out! The elephant did not seem to be taking the situation well and neither was I. It kept making dust fly up and was getting obviously mad and perturbed. It would start charging one car and then turning back to us and then repeating the same thing. By the time elephant started to make scary elephant noises I was a MESS. I was in my friend Margo’s lap crying and shaking, that big of an animal coming straight for you with no protection was the scariest thing I have ever been through. As soon as my guide saw me freaking out he did his best to get us the hell out of the situation but the elephant started to charge our car as we were leaving so naturally I was crying more and shaking like a crazy person. The elephant eventually stopped chasing us; our guide called it a fake charge for a scare tactic. WELL THAT WORKED ON ME FOR SURE! I thought I was going to die, that is how scared I was.

Someone on our safari got a video of it so I plan to find them and copy it onto my computer for people at home to see what it was like. We went straight back to the hotel after that because I couldn’t stop shaking, I was in complete shock and fright of the situation. I was convinced that I wasn’t going on the safari the next morning. I had had enough of Kruger National Park, but my guide reassured me that he would keep me safe, and would leave faster tomorrow if something like that happened again. That night I skyped with my parents and even after 3 hours I was still shooken up, I cant tell you how scary it was to be put in that situation… ELEPHANTS ARE BIG AND NOTTTTT NICE WHEN THEIR BABIES ARE INVOLVED LET ME TELL YOU! Everyone agreed that I should go out on the safari though the next day and not miss anything. So I slept on it.

SAFARI DAY 2

When I woke up I decided that going on the safari again was important and that I would miss out if I didn’t go. I also thought that if I didn’t go that I would be “that girl” that was too scared to go out again and I just couldn’t have that! Well it happened to be worth it because I got BEAUTIFUL pictures of sunrise with LIONS!!!! They were majestic animals just like everyone says!!! I saw a pack of 5 of them and I can’t imagine how upset I would have been if I had missed that. I am glad I decided to face the park again because the day was totally worth it. We also saw more elephants, buffalos, and we additionally saw GIRAFFES!!!! They were bigger and taller than I could have ever imagined. I mean I obviously knew from books and pictures that they were tall but seeing them in person was UNREAL! The day was very calm, unlike the day before and I really bonded with the people in my car, which was really nice!

SAFARI DAY 3

This day we had three options, visit an elephant sanctuary, golf, or go on a morning safari ride. I obviously was NOT going to golf, that’s a given. And although I was scared of the elephants from the other day I thought I should “get back on the horse” per say. Well let me tell you, I made the RIGHT decision. Elephant whispers was the name of the place where we got to see trained elephants. They said they train them just like dogs, with reward and repetition! How cool is that!!!! The elephants knew at least 150 commands, wayyy smarter than dogs. We were able to pet them, feed them, and give them commands. It was surreal! THEN WE GOT TO RIDE THEM!!!!! I was scared as hell getting on one of the things that had just scared the shit out of me a couple days prior but it was an amazing experience and I will never ever forget it!

Right after elephant riding we had to fly back to Cape Town. We got back an hour before sunset so a couple friends and I decided to take the lift up to the top of Table Mountain. It is a tourist spot in Cape Town at the top of this mountain overlooking the city. It was a beautiful view and I snapped some amazing pictures at sunset. I’m really glad I did it even though I was beyond tired!!!

LAST DAY

I’m not going to bore you with the details of my last day in Cape Town because all I did was shop and go on the ferris wheel in town overlooking the city. I also had lunch with Olivia and Samantha on Olivia’s lunch break, which was really nice. We got to catch up and I loved seeing her one last time before we set sail out of South Africa. We are now on our way to Mauritius… but it is lateeee here and I need to go to sleep since I have a full day of classes tomorrow. Love you all!!!!
Xoxo
-me-