Returning home

We are currently sitting in the Johannesburg airport.  Our trip had gone smoothly up to this point.  South Africa Airways, apparently because too many passengers had heavy bags, did not load all of the luggage in Richard's Bay.  So, we are hoping that our luggage comes on the next flight in 3 hours.  It is cutting it close to our connecting flight, but we have no choice but to wait and see.  

To wrap up our trip, we had an incredible final two days.  On Sunday, we visited Tembe Elephant Park.  It is on the Mozambique border, and it was built to protect the over 200 elephants who were injured by the 17 year civil war in Mozambique.  We literally sat in a hide (viewing spot) that overlooked a watering hole for three and half hours.  We saw over 35 or so elephants - 23 at one time!  Most of them were the solitary bulls, and it was awe-inspiring to see these 5 ton creatures establish their ranking order as a new bull approached the watering hole.  We also saw a breeding herd come in.  We saw some fights, but most of all we saw harmony.  Elephants next to zebras, nyala, impala, warthogs, etc. drinking and just truly living the circle of life.  The lions won't get near the elephants, so in my opinion, it is such a misnomer to call the lion the "king of the jungle."  The elephants truly are.  We then drove around the park for another hour, just viewing the animals. 

We were awakened a little after midnight early Monday morning by a family of zebra who seem to particularly enjoy the grass outside our tent.  We watched them for awhile, and just as we went back to sleep, a bellowing male impala awoke us again.  What can we say about the call of the wild?  We loved it!   

Monday was very interesting.  We started the day with a visit to the Zulu village of Nompondo.  We visited a primary school there, and we got to interact with a classroom of 6th graders.  This classroom was average for Zululand - 60 students to a class!  I will never complain about 30 again (come August do not quote me on this, however).  The area, which is home to 8000 residents, has no electricity still.  The school just got toilets within the last year.  There are 497 students in the school (grades K through 7).  If anyone reading this is interested, we do have a contact at the lodge who is more than willing to help with the buying of needed supplies and resources for this school.  The kids are amazing.  They love getting their picture taken and immediately want to see their image.  We heard them sing songs.  It is now a government-run school.  The school saw a population burst when the government provides one free meal at lunchtime.  The meal consists only of vegetables, no meat.  For many of the students, this is the only meal they eat the entire day.  The parents have to buy a uniform (so social class is not a factor), but some of these kids didn't even have shoes.  The 6th graders swore to me they loved social studies :-).  After our visit to the school, we visited a traditional Zulu homestead.  It is the home of a grandmother whose daughter and her husband died of AIDS, and she now raises her 6 grandchildren by herself.  This village has a 70% unemployment rate and very limited access to healthcare.  Yet, the people were friendly, smiling, and so warm and open with us visitors.  

Monday afternoon, we visited a cheetah breeding center.  There are 36 species of cat in the world, and South Africa is home to 7 of them.  Of the 7, four of the species are endangered.  This center specifically breeds the four endangered species.  We actually got to hold a serval kitten and enter the serval enclosure to pet the main male.  He, by the way, became a father within two hours of our arrival.  They had to remove the new kittens, though, because he eats them.  We got there for feeding time.  After they gave the male cheetah his food, we got to enter his enclosure and stand about 10 feet from him as he ate!  No lie- I recorded it.  70% of male cheetahs in the wild are infertile due to excessive inbreeding.  Due to this inbreeding, many cheetahs have been born with what looks like stripes rather than spots.  We also got to pet an African wildcat named Rusty.  The African wildcat was domesticated by the Egyptians and thus became the predecessor to our domesticated house cat.  They look, sound like, and act just like my cats at home.  

Because the wireless was not working at the lodge, we had to use their computer (when it was working).  Thus, we have been unable to post more pictures.  We're going to try now, though.  We will see you all soon - hopefully with our luggage of goodies!

Close Encounters of the Rhino Kind

There are few things I have seen in this world more beautiful than an African sunset. So, there we were Friday evening, enjoying the view, when we came across the white rhino bull marking his territory. Werner, our ranger, loves to give us the most bang for our buck. The rhino wanted nothing to do with us; we got charged 4 times! I documented three of the times. The scary time, though, when he was rapidly approaching my seat, I did not record a thing. Rather, the rest of the group that held onto their cameras were gleefully picking up my accompanying audio- my screams as I basically jumped into Sandy's lap. Have you ever seen a rhino horn up close? It was actually really exhilirating!

The sunsets truly are beautiful. The palettes of oranges, purples, reds are a most serene backdrop to the umbrella and marula trees. We went on our last two game drives yesterday. Although we will not see any lion, we have had a truly amazing experience.

Today, we traveled to St. Lucia. St. Lucia is a World Heritage site, which means its 700,000 acres are protected by UNESCA, an organization of the UN. We went on a boat cruise of the estuary, which flows from the Indian Ocean. This area is home to 1000 hippos, 3000 crocodiles, 5 different shark species, turtles, whales, and over 400 different species of birds (29 of which live only in St. Lucia). It is also home to the second highest sand dune in the world - over 600 feet tall! After our boat ride, we were able to do a bit of shopping andthen we spent an hour a the beach. The Indian Ocean is a bit rough this time of year, but it was breathtaking.

I will blog again, most likely, on Monday night. We leave on Tuesday, so I will wrap up the trip then. We miss you all!!
then

The safari

We arrived at the Zulu Nyala reserve on Wednesday. It is in the KwaZulu Natal province, the only place in the world where the nyala, a type of antelope, live. It is home to four of the Big Five, otherwise known as leopard, elephant, rhino, buffalo, and lion. A reserve has to have at least 8000 acres to have lion, and since this reserve is only 5000 acres, it does not have any. Besides, apparently the owner, Trevor, does not believe in the circle of life and doesn't want big predators here.

We went on a game drive right away. The first time out we saw the three elephants, five of the rhinos, warthogs, giraffes, nyala, impala, hippos, and kingfishers. The giraffes are gorgeously graceful (how is that for alliteration?), and the warthogs are nowhere close to being as cute as Pumbaa in the Lion King. The animals are amazing, though!

Did I mention that we walk by a crocodile pond back and forth from the lodge to our tent? Our tent is fun! I know of nowhere in Illinois where you can see zebras and nyala grazing on your lawn each evening and morning.

We are appointed a ranger, Werner, whom we stay with for the duration of our trip. We are also with two couples from Michigan and a mother and son from near Seattle. They are a fun group. Werner is so humorous and very knowledgeable. It is obvious he loves his job.

Today we went out on two game drives. This morning, Werner took us on a walk in the bush to get closer to two rhinos. It is cool,even when they started to charge at us. We hunkered together behind a bush and stayed very, very quiet. Rhinos have superb hearing, but their eyesight is very poor. Then, this afternoon, the matriarch elephant let us know we needed to keep our distance. She approached our Land Cruiser (yes - Toyota!) with ears flared and trunk up. Werner quickly reversed because if he had not done so, she would have moved us herself. It was awesome!

We also saw two cheetahs today. The cheetahs actually live on the neighboring reserve- the 45000 acre one that celebrities frequent on holiday. It costs $1000 a night to stay there. Cheetahs are the only cats that hunt during the day. They were stunning to watch - especially when the giraffes kept taunting them from our side of the fence!

Well, to say the least we have learned more about wild animals the last two days than I can remember in a long time. We have more game drives tomorrow. Then, we will be visiting an elephant park, a reserve with lions, and possibly a cheetah rehabilitation (breeding) center. This has trulybeen an experience of a lifetime. Peace out!

Soweto and greater Johannesburg

Today we traveled first to Soweto.  Soweto is an acronym for Southwestern Township.  The townships differ from the cities because under apartheid the cities were inhabited by whites only and the townships by blacks.  Soweto has become the most visited tourist location in South Africa.  It is most notably known because two Nobel Laureates, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu, lived on the same street - Vilakazi St.- and both were active in the anti-apartheid movement.  Soweto is still a generally poorer area, but the people are very proud of their heritage and as Joe, our driver, said, "It's in our blood.  We were born here and we will die here."  

We started our visit in Soweto by traveling to the Hector Pieterson Museum.  This museum is dedicated to the peaceful movement of the youth in 1976 who were protesting against their substandard segregated educational system and the mandate of teaching in Afrikaans, the language they associate with white supremacy.  The peaceful protest turned into violence on the side of the police.  The museum was absolutely touching, and it was an amazing remembrance and honor of the youth that died that day but also all those who continued to struggle and protest against the government for what was rightfully theirs.  For example, in 1975, the South African government spent about 644 Rand per white student but only 42 Rand per black.  Also, white students were given their textbooks for free, but black students had to buy theirs - and even after requesting, they may never have received them.  Mandela mandated June 16 as Youth Day, a national holiday.  Our driver had been a student leader in the protest.  He said he taught his followers to do three things - "Be assertive, be self-confident, and be proud of who you are."  We got to see Mandela and Tutu's houses.  

After Soweto, we went to the apartheid museum.  Wow!  I cannot even begin to put into words the touching place this is.  As the brochure reads, "Now apartheid is where it belongs - in a museum."  The videos, the photos, the documentation of the apartheid was hard to see and fathom that this system existed less than twenty years ago.  As you leave the museum, you gather a stone from a pile (a stone from a concentration camp) and place it in another pile if you believe you were touched by the message of the museum.  The exhibits start out very dark, and the last exhibits are full of windows and light to symbolize the new age for the "Rainbow Nation."  The new South African flag is white for peace, yellow for gold, blue for skies and seas, green for vegetation and farming, and red for the blood that was shed for unity.  They converge together in the middle to show the unity and diversity of the races.  

Lastly, we went to Gold Reef City.  Johannesburg began as a mining town when gold was discovered in 1886 at a farm here.   A reef is a stretch of rock below the earth which contains the metals such as gold.  The reef here in South Africa has produced 35% of the gold ever mined in the world.  We went down into the mine.  We only went down 226 meters, which is level 2 of a 57 level mine (the lowest level being over 10,000 feet below the surface!).  They still have the elevators that have been in use for over 100 years.  It was not a place for the claustrophobic, that's for sure.  It definitely gave us a better appreciation for miners.   

It was surely a day neither of us will forget for a long time to come.  Not to mention meeting our drivers Joe and Ben.  Joe has driven Forrest Whitaker around, and just yesterday he had the current President of Liberia on tour with him.  Ben was excited when we told him we were from Illinois because he was Barack Obama's guide during his 2006 visit.  Both of them, residents of Soweto, had lived through the protest movements and could tell us firsthand stories of apartheid, Mandela, and what the democracy means to them.  

Well, that's it for now.  We leave tomorrow for KwaZulu-Natal for our safari!!  

Peace out!