South Africa

Hello again,

This was another busy week for me on the ship, and I haven’t had a chance to really sit down to write this e mail until now…..South Africa was GREAT!!
We spent about 6 days there, 4 of which I spent on a safari. I had such a great time and got to see several aspects of S. Africa, from the busy city, to the poor townships and even the savanna and wilderness during the safari.

On my first day, I went to the infamous Robben Island, a jail where political prisoners including Nelson Mandela were held during the years of the apartheid. The former S. African President spent 27 years of his life in the prison. I was able to see his prison cell and hear about life on Robben Island from a former inmate who now gives tours of the prison. The day of Nelson Mandela’s release, Feb. 11, 1990, is considered to be the day that the apartheid officially ended. Before arriving in South Africa, we discussed some of the history behind apartheid and of South Africa in general. Since the Arch Bishop is a passenger on our ship, he was able to give us very accurate information and share personal stories of his struggles with racial inequality in S. Africa. The island seemed to hold a very important piece of S. African history, and I was glad that I was able to visit.

Later on in the evening, I was able to attend a play at the Cape Town theatre called “Everybody else is F***ing Perfect”. The play itself wasn’t great, but I was glad that I was able to attend. Prior to the actual show, we were introduced to the play’s director and creator, who shared with us her inspiration behind the play. We also got some free snacks! They were pretty good-mostly finger foods and free wine!

The night consisted of going out to a local night club on Long Street. I didn’t enjoy myself very much on this night simply because I was again forced to realize my new phobia of being trapped with too many people. In the club, we couldn’t even move….it was hot and people were even climbing on top of other people to try and get out. Needless to say, I didn’t stay there for very long.

On the second day, we met up with a friend of Jazmin and Mando’s who they met during their voyage a few years ago. His name was Gerald, and he was a pretty nice guy. He took us riding through various townships giving us information about them along the way. He introduced us to some of his friends and we spent the day meeting some of the locals and drinking beer together. I don’t even like beer, but we drank a lot of it that day! There is an apple cider beer in S. Africa called Savanna Dry….it isn’t great, but it is way better than any other beer I’ve ever had! We got to taste some of the local food from this trailer in one of the townships- I think it was Cailisha (?)- the town, not the food. The food reminded me of posole kind of…..it was boiled corn mixed with beans….it was pretty good….but I was kind of scared to eat it.
Gerald also took us to this butchery called Maphindi’s and we ordered a huge cookie sheet of just meat…..lamb, beef, pork, it was sooo good! We ate it with a loaf of bread and some cokes! We had a lot of fun. Gerald also took us to a local music store so that we could purchase some S. African tunes…the music we got is called Kwaito….a S. African form of hip-hop.
On day 3 we left for our Safari in a town that I think was just outside of Swaziland. The actual game reserve was called Mthethomusha but we were headed for the Bongoni Lodge. Most of our day was spent traveling, we had a stopover in Johanasberg, but we weren’t allowed to get off of the plane. When we finally arrived at our reserve, a huge 10-seater Land Rover with no roof came and picked us up. Almost immediately I saw giraffes and Zebras. The drive to the actual lodge took about 10-15 minutes, but when we finally arrived, I was more than impressed. Each of us had our very own cabin-equipped with 2 beds, 2 bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a living room. They were very modern looking without being overdone….we still felt like we were on safari….and there were little lizards that went in and out of our cabins as they pleased-kind of scary, but kind of cool too!
On our evening game drive that day we were able to see Nala, Impala, and Kudu which are three different types of antelope…..they’re kind of like the “squirrels” of the safari- they are everywhere, but still really neat to watch. We also saw some White Rhinos. They were huge and we were able to get really, really close to them. Our guide/driver (named Nelson) and his assistant (–who we called Wonder Boy) were both really knowledgeable. They were funny and very personable and we absolutely loved them…..we had the best Land Rover group by far! Each day we took 2 game drives and the people in our car always stayed the same, so we were all able to get pretty close. On our morning drives, which began at 6am, we would take a break from our animal searching and would have some tea and biscuits before heading back for breakfast-which by the way was AMAZING. On our evening game drives, we would always end by having mixed drinks overlooking the reserve and watching the sun go down before heading back for dinner. It was always really beautiful and I was able to see the stars like I have never seen them before!
Dinner was always delicious! Each night we had a different soup and they were by far the best soups that I have ever had. Tomato Bisque, Lentil, and Corn Chowder- Soooo good!

Day 4’s morning game drive brought us to my most favorite animal of all time…(besides puppies) elephants!! I don’t think I ever really knew how much I loved them! We had to go searching for them by following their dung….Nelson and Wonder Boy lead the way. When we finally found them, we only saw one…he was huge and was grazing on different trees and grass. I got some good video footage of him….as we were getting ready to leave, someone in our car spotted some movement in the bushes. We headed over that way and all of a sudden a huge herd of elephants were right in front of us….baby elephants, and about 3 fully grown ones were literally right in front of the car! It was so neat…..I wasn’t expecting to see them and I had just put my camera away…..I tried to fumble around and get it back out but they were gone just as quickly as they appeared.
This was my most favorite experience, but I only have a mental picture to show for it….
We also saw a 2 female and 1 male lion cub, but they were older so they weren’t very small, and a huge male lion laying on a rock! We had our tea and biscuits and headed back to the lodge.
During the afternoon we were able to go on an excursion to see a nearby village. We stopped at a small shop with different arts and crafts. I bought a beautiful wooden bracelet. We also stopped by an elementary school. The children were so cute and they were really excited to see us. I took several pictures of them….they all wanted to see themselves in our cameras, so I wore out my battery showing them pictures of themselves. On the way back to the lodge we stopped at a home in the village and got to see some of the people perform traditional African dances for us.
The afternoon game hunt lead us to see zebras, giraffes, impala, kudu, and nala. We stopped to look at a traditional fruit that Elephants frequently eat, the Amarulla fruit- We picked some up right off of the ground and ate them…they were good! Nelson told us that the fruit was used to make a South African liquor called Amarulla. We also began the search for a leopard. After our evening drink stop, we were able to see a huge owl. He was really neat.

In the morning on day 5 we went to see the hippos. We had to go on a 20 minute drive until we reached a river that was known for having hippos. Also in the river we were able to see a crocodile…although it was really really far away! This river was located near a park with a playground. The equipment was all in good condition, but was the kind that we don’t see in the states anymore….sea-saw, merry go round, etc. Celina and I hopped on the sea-saw for old times sake….it was fun! In the evening Nelson drove us around really fast, just like for wheeling only we were going through trees, shrubs, and thorns really quickly with an open top. It was like a jungle roller coaster! Along the way we saw buffalo, monkeys (they liked to hang out near the lodge), a warthog, nala, impala, and kudu, a buffalo carcass and more lions who had just been feeding. This was really neat to see also!

Our last day on safari was bitter sweet. We’d had such a great time, and had grown very close to Nelson and Wonder boy. We set out for the last time-really in search of the leopard, but had no such luck…..we did see more rhinos, this time they were even bigger than before….HUGE!! as well as the “3 safari squirrels”, another lion and a huge heard of buffalo……go buffs!
Overall our safari was great! We got Nelson’s e mail address and he promised to show us around if we ever returned to S. Africa.
The plane ride home was kind of scary….lots of turbulence.
We had dinner at a restaurant called the Ocean’s Basket and made friends with the waiter. He recommended great snacks and the food was good and affordable!

On our last day in Cape Town, we just did some shopping, I visited a little market and bought a few odds and ends. I ended up buying a bottle of that Amarulla and I tried to ship it home (because we aren’t allowed to bring liquor onto the ship) but when I got to the post office they told me that they were out of both boxes and bubble wrap! So I was stuck with this huge bottle of alcohol!

We decided to have dinner at Ocean’s Basket again and got to meet up with our waiter friend Clive who is originally from Zimbabwe. I told him about my predicament and he offered to send the bottle home for me when the post office got more boxes and bubble wrap (The post office is in the mall, as is the restaurant). I agreed and gave him $ for postage and left my home address and the bottle in his care……we’ll see if it ever gets there…..I hope it will, but you never know.

Now I am waiting for our ship to arrive in Mauritius. We should be there tomorrow afternoon….well at 12:00pm exactly. I am ten hours ahead of you all in Denver so if I call, it might be at a really random time!

I miss you all very much and am thinking and praying for you every day!
See you soon! ~Valerie