Here is my next installment of all things random.
1. Run in with a Baboon: So the other day I was walking down the steps from the library and I had just received a text message. My concentration was on my phone and all the sudden I looked up and I was literally 5ft 
away from a pretty large grey baboon (the same one as in the picture but this photo was at a different sighting where I didn't almost run into him). I froze and sort of side shuffled out of the way much to delight of the people watching me from a safe distance. I think they would have thought it quite hilarious had I actually run into it.
Anyways, we have a resident baboon on campus. He (I think) walks around campus and is sighted more and more regularly as of late. He likes to eat the garbage out the trashcans but really no one is going to stop him. Baboons can be quite dangerous and let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to get in their way. Most of the time there is a crowd of people a safe distance away. They watch pedestrians who are unaware come into the vicinity of the baboon and then laugh at the pedestrians jump as they realize that a 125-pound and semi-dangerous animal is front of them. I must say that it is a pretty funny site. Though, now maybe my opinion is changed having been a victim of such amusement. Regardless I think that it is hilarious that I can say that we have a baboon on our campus. Beat that US universities! All you’ve got are squirrels!
2. Academia: I have been thinking about this one for a long time. I don’t think that I realized how much different school could be somewhere else. Some of it I think has to do with the fact that this is a much larger university than I am used to but I also recognize that maybe some of the differences are because of being in Africa.
So far, I have noticed a very stringent plagiarism accountability. When we take tests, the whole process is very formal. There are proctors in large lectures. Everyone is several desks apart and bags are located in a separate part of the room. It is a different venue than the lecture venue and at a separate time. Before the test starts, you have to fill out an attendance slip and present your student card to the proctor. Then you aren’t allowed to leave until a designated time in the test. It was a very novel concept to me where tests are difficult but there isn’t as much process involved. At PLU, the prof will hand out a test and you will complete it and then hand it in. Your test is an indicator that you were there so you don’t need to have an attendance slip. It was just different to me I suppose.
I have multiple lecturers per class rather than one or two professors who are intimately engaged in the material of the entire class. I think that it sort of brings a disconnect between the material and also makes the lecturers less involved in the content that they share with the class. It seems like they just want to present their week of material and then be on their merry way again. It is interesting as it sort of promotes a disconnect and sterile environment between the students and their teachers.
Then I have also noticed that many of my lecturers are really bad teachers. I think that they are excellent in their fields as researchers but they don’t really care about teaching too much. This I feel is more of a small school large school thing. But it is weird. Prof’s want limited dealings with their students and most present the material and then go on their merry way. I think that these two notions have their upsides in the fact that students are able to create excellent peer networks and learn from one another. However, I also feel that people have a hard time learning things for certain if they are never allowed the opportunity to ask questions and get definitive answers but knowledgeable people. It is an interesting experience.
I find that this educational experience has allowed me a lot of independence in my own learning. I am accountable for my own learning and finding the answer. I may not be able to get the answer from the teacher and thus have to be inventive in order to sustain my curiosity. That being said, I don’t have the time required to delve through all the material necessary to find the answer at times which is a shame.
I also have been hard on the lecturers. I have also had lecturers that are very involved with their students and that is a welcome happening. One professor even knows my name and is interested in my success. It is a nice feeling.
3. Is it?: This little idiom took me a lot of time to understand. I have come to find out that it means loosely “really?!” or some sort of astonishment. Though I find it to be really poor grammar because you could say “that was a really hard test” and the person would exclaim “is it” and all I can think after that is that yes it was and so your correct response would be “was it” but alas that is the culture. I am not sure how it came about but maybe it is just the same as any American idiom that is poor grammar. Like “how are you” the correct and grammatically correct response is “well” however most people say “good.” After a little time to adjust to the pain in my ears from ringing poor grammar I digress and sometimes even find myself saying the term. Ahh, the wonders of language.
4. Hike to Campus: Lane and I walk to campus every morning. It is funny because when I signed up to be in a dorm, I thought of my current living situation and any other dorm experience I have seen. So, I of course thought that the dorms would be close to campus. I, however, found out that close is a relative term. Liesbeek is one of the closer dorms and it is at least a mile away from campus, probably more. There is a shuttle called the Jammie that runs to all the dorms and to some of the small towns around but they are largely unreliable and crowded. It really is a bummer to have to stand when you are on the bus because the drivers largely like to stop and go as if their life depended on being at their destination as quickly as possible. Thus, the riders are sloshed around. Therefore, I try to avoid riding the bus and opt for walking. The time that it takes to wait for an unreliable Jammie and ride to campus is very close to the amount of time that it takes to walk the long trek so if it is better for my health, I may as well walk. Though,
the first couple of times you walk to campus you realize how your romanticized version of the walk is crushed and it is actually much harder than anticipated. Lane and I counted the number of stairs one morning and the route contained 323 from the bottom of campus to my first class. There can be more or less stairs depending on your route and where your first class is located but I imagine that throughout the day I go up at least 500 stairs. These stairs also do not include the elevation change without stairs. There are many hills that don’t require stairs and so onward and upward. I plan to go home and look at my trek in order to find out exactly how much the elevation change is and how long it is. The picture to the left is of the view when you finally get to the top. All you can think is WOW I came all that way...those little building at the bottom were where we started.In all, it takes us about 35 min to get to the top and I am always really sweaty and gross. At first my legs were pretty sore from the trip but I am getting used to it and with the muscle I have gained, I think running hills at home won’t be a problem.
Well that is all for now. If anyone has any ideas for topics or questions about my experiences, I would love ideas for my blog. I would love to write about things that my readers want to hear, otherwise I can be boring and go on and on about something trivial to anyone reading. So let me know!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Hodge Podge #2
Friday, September 18, 2009
Ethnocentrism
In my CIEE seminar the other week we talked about intensity factors. Basically these are stress factors experienced when you are in a culture or situation that isn’t normal. I was thinking about these risk factors for an assignment and I came across ethnocentrism. This can either mean that you are so used to something at home that new ideas and cultures are very stressful, or that the culture that you are in is not accepting of your particular culture and thus there are intensity factors associated with that as well. The following is my reflection about my experiences with ethnocentrism while in Africa.
I have never considered myself an “American” because in today’s day and age, claiming patriotism to America is like committing social suicide. It inherently means that somehow if you are an American you also agree with everything that the government has done within the last 8 years. However, like most Americans, I am trying to forget policies and happenings on a national stage starting a long while back. However, coming to Africa has changed my mind about patriotism and America as a whole.
I have had many encounters recently with South Africans in the Microbiology Computer Lab. This space is really a hang out space because the internet is sporadic and half the computers don’t work. Regardless, people who are Microbiology majors tend to hang out in this area. I use it as a place to eavesdrop and get some homework done while I am at school. Needless to say, the more I have been there, the more that people have noticed that I am new and the fact that I haven’t gone away yet. I return everyday at the same time, and even appear in some of their classes. Thus, this has led some people to approach me and have conversations. One such fellow is Yoonus. He is an interesting fellow. He is smart but opinionated. Anyways, he tries to orient me to Africa sometimes when weird things happen and gives me a lot of the gossip on teachers and policies within UCT. Though, the other day, somehow we got on the conversation of 911 conspiracies. I actually found myself defending the American government and our intelligence agencies. Somehow, he thought that we were so corrupt in our government that he thought that the government was at least partially to blame for 911. This is not something that I personally believe and that is fine. But what I found interesting was that I was actually defending the namesake of my own country to other people.
Yoonus isn’t the only one who bad mouths western culture. It seems that it is engrained in the heads of people due to colonialism that they can’t be western and that all western ideas are inherently bad for Africans. I understand the basis for this sentiment because Africa has been “helped” by westerners for a really long time. It is time for Africa to make themselves anew and into their own identity. It is good for Africans to make their own identity separate from western identities, however, in order to create their own identity people are completely discounting others. It is not to say that all western ideas are bad, but it is to say that at least some of them are good in my opinion. People don’t seem to recognize those here. Thus, comes the idea of American nationalism. I feel the need to show people that America isn’t all bad. The media portrays some of the bad ideas but most of the people are good people just like anywhere. It is an uphill battle and unfortunately, even international students here are not the best examples of good Americans so my struggle continues.
I have never considered myself an “American” because in today’s day and age, claiming patriotism to America is like committing social suicide. It inherently means that somehow if you are an American you also agree with everything that the government has done within the last 8 years. However, like most Americans, I am trying to forget policies and happenings on a national stage starting a long while back. However, coming to Africa has changed my mind about patriotism and America as a whole.
I have had many encounters recently with South Africans in the Microbiology Computer Lab. This space is really a hang out space because the internet is sporadic and half the computers don’t work. Regardless, people who are Microbiology majors tend to hang out in this area. I use it as a place to eavesdrop and get some homework done while I am at school. Needless to say, the more I have been there, the more that people have noticed that I am new and the fact that I haven’t gone away yet. I return everyday at the same time, and even appear in some of their classes. Thus, this has led some people to approach me and have conversations. One such fellow is Yoonus. He is an interesting fellow. He is smart but opinionated. Anyways, he tries to orient me to Africa sometimes when weird things happen and gives me a lot of the gossip on teachers and policies within UCT. Though, the other day, somehow we got on the conversation of 911 conspiracies. I actually found myself defending the American government and our intelligence agencies. Somehow, he thought that we were so corrupt in our government that he thought that the government was at least partially to blame for 911. This is not something that I personally believe and that is fine. But what I found interesting was that I was actually defending the namesake of my own country to other people.
Yoonus isn’t the only one who bad mouths western culture. It seems that it is engrained in the heads of people due to colonialism that they can’t be western and that all western ideas are inherently bad for Africans. I understand the basis for this sentiment because Africa has been “helped” by westerners for a really long time. It is time for Africa to make themselves anew and into their own identity. It is good for Africans to make their own identity separate from western identities, however, in order to create their own identity people are completely discounting others. It is not to say that all western ideas are bad, but it is to say that at least some of them are good in my opinion. People don’t seem to recognize those here. Thus, comes the idea of American nationalism. I feel the need to show people that America isn’t all bad. The media portrays some of the bad ideas but most of the people are good people just like anywhere. It is an uphill battle and unfortunately, even international students here are not the best examples of good Americans so my struggle continues.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Pictures of Spring Vacation
I decided to just put the pictures in a separate post so that I could comment on them. So for the whole story you have to read the previous post but here I am going to put some pictures from the trip.
Our journey began boarding a Boeing 737-800 from the tarmac of Cape Town International Airport!
Soweto is a township outside of Johannesburg. It is especially known for its pride. This bumper sticker was on the back of a truck and we saw it as we were traveling through the town. I think that it is really representative of the town. People are proud and excited. World Cup is coming and they get to show off their city.
This picture was taken from the bus window on our trip through the countryside to Phalaborwa. Personally, I think the ray of sunshine through the shot is really cool...but maybe that is just me.
An elephant took a bath right outside our bungalow in Mopani Rest Camp in Kruger. We just sat and watched for what seemed like an eternity. Actually, I learned that elephants take short 2-3 min naps while they are standing so it is fun to watch. They move really slow and then will stop for a couple minutes which is when they sleep.
This picture was taken especially for Brenna (Lane's sister)She said that she wanted a giraffe but this was as good as we could get. I think that it is a great picture. This female was right on the side of the road when we were driving through Kruger, quite content and munching away at the foliage.
Haney stopped at this trail on our transfer to Mozambique, which I assumed was a walking trail but he actually informed us that this was an elephant trail. Despite their huge size, they walk with one foot in front of the other. Also they use the same trails. They are really smart animals. Amazing!
I was being a goof and the open game vehicle was really windy! Lane's hair was all over the place but I saved him embarassment by not publishing the picture here.
Our tent and view out on the river. Our tent was called Ngyenya which means crocodile in Shangan. We apparently had the best view of the crocodiles from our tent. There were at least four in the pool. We saw them a few times.
Peterson took a picture of us from the main area where we ate.
A picture of the green mamba, a really deadly snake that we saw in the camp!
I wish I had the time to show you all the pictures that we took. There are still some really amazing ones but I guess that will have to wait for the time being. I have to give you reason to want me to come home :P
Our journey began boarding a Boeing 737-800 from the tarmac of Cape Town International Airport!
Soweto is a township outside of Johannesburg. It is especially known for its pride. This bumper sticker was on the back of a truck and we saw it as we were traveling through the town. I think that it is really representative of the town. People are proud and excited. World Cup is coming and they get to show off their city.
This picture was taken from the bus window on our trip through the countryside to Phalaborwa. Personally, I think the ray of sunshine through the shot is really cool...but maybe that is just me.
An elephant took a bath right outside our bungalow in Mopani Rest Camp in Kruger. We just sat and watched for what seemed like an eternity. Actually, I learned that elephants take short 2-3 min naps while they are standing so it is fun to watch. They move really slow and then will stop for a couple minutes which is when they sleep.
This picture was taken especially for Brenna (Lane's sister)She said that she wanted a giraffe but this was as good as we could get. I think that it is a great picture. This female was right on the side of the road when we were driving through Kruger, quite content and munching away at the foliage.
Haney stopped at this trail on our transfer to Mozambique, which I assumed was a walking trail but he actually informed us that this was an elephant trail. Despite their huge size, they walk with one foot in front of the other. Also they use the same trails. They are really smart animals. Amazing!
I was being a goof and the open game vehicle was really windy! Lane's hair was all over the place but I saved him embarassment by not publishing the picture here.
Our tent and view out on the river. Our tent was called Ngyenya which means crocodile in Shangan. We apparently had the best view of the crocodiles from our tent. There were at least four in the pool. We saw them a few times.
Peterson took a picture of us from the main area where we ate.
A picture of the green mamba, a really deadly snake that we saw in the camp!
I wish I had the time to show you all the pictures that we took. There are still some really amazing ones but I guess that will have to wait for the time being. I have to give you reason to want me to come home :P
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Spring Vacation
Last week was my spring vacation. I was lucky enough to have two springs this year. I love spring so really it is a blessing. It reminds me of growth and renewal and I feel like being in Africa has given me the opportunity to grow and be broadened and renewed in life.
Anyways, Lane and I decided to go to Kruger National Park on spring vacation. We planned to fly into Johannesburg and then rent a car and drive to Kruger. We would then go for a few days across the border to a tented camp right in Mozambique. It was an 8 day trip and proved to be eventful, fun and an opportunity for great life lessons.
We left early on Saturday morning for our trip to Johannesburg. Everything went to plan. The airport in Cape Town is under construction right now in order to improve the facilities for the world cup. As a result, it was interesting because the domestic terminal was literally a tent with doors. We had to board a bus and board the plane on the Tarmac. The flight was about two hours and they actually fed us real food, which was a big plus.
In Johannesburg we went to go rent the car. However, we learned that car rental companies are real jerks. They wanted to charge us about $150 more than they quoted us and it was going to be expensive so we declined taking the car and were going to arrange our own transportation. It was a little bit of a risky move but we figured we weren’t leaving until the next day anyways so if we couldn’t figure out transportation we could always go and pay the amount for the car. But, the clerk didn’t tell us the total amount for the car until after he had already swiped Lane’s credit card. He didn’t ask for any permission and as a result he placed a hold on Lane’s account for about $1000. Being college students, we of course don’t have a huge credit limit or enough money to cover an extraneous $1000 to be missing. Especially since, I lost my debit card a couple weeks ago and am still waiting on the replacement from the states. Anyways, so we asked when the hold would be removed and they said 7-14 days. Lane and I were so frustrated because they didn’t even ask for permission and now we were going to be stuck literally without money at the beginning of our trip and it wouldn’t be returned for one, maybe two weeks. In effect, it all worked out after an expensive call to the states to Bank of America where we asked them to remove the hold because apparently the car company didn’t have the authority to do that. But it all worked out.
We stayed in a Backpacker’s in Johannesburg . Our room was a little cabin out in the backyard. It was quite eccentric but I found out that all hostels are a little eccentric. The manager was really kind and helpful. He arranged to pick us up from the airport after we told him what had happened and then gave us suggestions for how to get to Kruger. We booked a bus that left the next day and the manager arranged for our transport to the bus station. Things were beginning to look up.
We took the bus from Johannesburg to a town called Phalaborwa (pronounced pal-a-bor-a….don’t ask me why). It is a little town right outside one of the gates of Kruger. If we had driven, the trip would have taken about 6 hours but the bus made many stops and it seemed that each time we stopped it was for about 30 min so our trip became a 9 hour trip. It was nice way to travel though because we were on a double decker bus and Lane and I had the very front seats with a great panoramic view. We saw the landscape of the countryside and visited many cities. In addition, the long ride gave us a chance to get at least a little school work done ( I had a test on Tuesday and Lane had a paper due on Monday).
In Phalaborwa, we stayed at another Backpacker’s. They had so many dogs. I think there were 6 running around the property. Anyways, we had gotten to Phalaborwa but there is not a transport system within Kruger so we weren’t really sure how we were going to get around in Kruger. We already had a night reserved in Mopani, which is a rest camp in Kruger and then the day after we had to be in Letaba so somehow we had to arrange transport. We got into Phalaborwa around 7pm and we immediately asked how we might be able to get transport. They gave us a number for a transport company. I called them and by some miracle they had a vehicle and a driver to take us everywhere we needed to go.
The next day, Monday, Cornelius, with Africa Unlimited picked us up from the Backpacker’s and drove us to Mopani. Cornelius was from Holland. He really loved Kruger and all the wildlife. When they came to pick us up, we were very surprised. I was envisioning a transport vehicle and that many people would be on these vehicles. However, the vehicle that showed up was a twelve person van and Lane and I had actually reserved the whole thing. In effect, we had a private tour of Kruger National Park. The journey was supposed to take about 90 min but Cornelius drove very slowly through the park so that he could show us as many animals and interesting tidbits as possible. The journey ended up lasting 3 hours and we had hundreds of pictures. It was great. If we had driven ourselves, I am confident that we wouldn’t have learned half of that stuff about Kruger, so really it turned out to be one of our better and cheaper decisions not to rent the car. Anyways, he dropped us off at Mopani . He was going to come back the next morning to take us to Letaba where we already had transport into Mozambique.
Mopani was beautiful. We had a little bungalow with a view of a river. While we were eating a snack outside, an elephant actually came to visit the river and gave himself/herself a shower. It was great fun to watch. Additionally, the night sky was full of more stars than I have ever seen in my life. It was absolutely beautiful. Actually after we ate dinner we had to find our way back to the bungalow, but it was so dark that we had to use the flash on the camera to find our way and scare away any pending animals. Thus, we have some really....awesome picutres of abosultely nothing but they serve as a reminder of a really funny event.
The next day was more of the same. We drove the two-hour trip to Letaba stopping along the way to take pictures of the wildlife. We saw many prey but no predators…but maybe that is a good thing. At Letaba , we were picked up by Haney. We found out that he was the camp manager at Machampane Tented Camp, where we would be staying. He had an open game drive vehicle, which is basically a pick-up truck with a compartment of seats mounted on the bed of the truck. We got an awesome panoramic view of everything around. On the way to Mozambique, we stopped to look at a dead buffalo and the vultures eating it…it was a little awkward but pretty cool nonetheless. The whole landscape looks pretty dry in the winter. I had seen pictures of the camp and it looked green and lush and I didn’t know how everything could change so dramatically but after three hours of driving on dusty, bumpy roads we came down a hill and out of nothing, emerged a river and the camp sitting pretty and green amongst the dry, dry surroundings.
Machampane was everything that it promised. Five platform tents lined a pool of water (when it rains, it becomes the Machampane river). However, the platform tents were really luxurious because theyhad their own bathroom attached with running water. In addition, the beds were made up with fluffy linens. Really it was like any hotel room in the states minus the fact that the wall were made of canvas and you got in through a zippered opening. Lighting was a little different though it wasn’t really an issue. The camp only ran a generator 4 hours out of the day and this was mainly to charge batteries. Our tent had four 12V lights and that was all we needed. During the day, when the generator was running he said that we could charge our camera batteries in part of the main camp.
When we arrived we noticed that no other visitors were introduced to us, and so quickly we found out that we were actually the only people in the camp that week. At first I was a little disturbed by that fact because the workers at the camp wanted to serve us but I felt awkward because we were the only people being served and I didn’t like that position of privilege. However, this fact, despite its awkwardness, also allowed us to be really candid with the staff and they could cater the walks to our needs and interests.
Most of the staff, minus Haney, were local hires. For some, English was difficult and we weren’t able to communicate well with them. The native languages of the area were Portuguese and Shangan neither of which I remotely know at all. But as always language isn’t necessarily important to communication.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, at this camp, they take the guests on walks through the African bush with an armed ranger so the staff that we interacted with were mostly our guide (Haney), guide in training (Peterson), and the park ranger (Julius) who wielded the AK47 in our defense against the wildlife. We did find out that Julius has never had to use his weapon while on a walk and that was a very comforting notion. We walked twice a day. In the morning, we would leave at 6:30am and walk for 3-4 hours. In the middle, we enjoyed a little pause to watch animals and eat some snacks. The pace was leisurely and we stopped many places to learn about plants, animals, tracks, and everything else you can imagine on the trail. However, I wouldn’t really call them trails because most of the time we were tromping through the African bush. I was so fortunate to have guides who knew where everything was because I could have been lost in one millisecond.
On our walks we tried to go to watering holes because in the winter that is essentially the only place to see wildlife. We found out that this park in Mozambique was very new. Before hand, it had essentially been devoid of wildlife due to Mozambique’s civil war, etc. Anyways, a few years ago, Kruger donated many of their animals to Limpopo National Park and the fence between the two parks was in the works to be removed so that animals could freely move from one side to the other. As a result, there were far fewer animals in the Limpopo Park and they were much less domesticated. In Kruger, if you drove up to an animal, they wouldn’t budge because they see cars and people on a daily basis. However, I felt that these animals were much more wild and this gave us an authentic viewing of the wildlife.
Something exciting happened on the return of our first walk. In camp there is a tree overlooking the river. In that tree, a green mamba snake was spotted. I am not a huge fan of snakes or really things that can kill me in general. Well green mamba snakes are very deadly and if bitten by one, you could die within a half hour from paralysis. Fortunately we also learned that they are shy and don’t like to bite. Later that day, the snake was gone and the next day was out of our minds as well.
One other exciting event was the last night at dinner. We were peacefully enjoying our meal (the food was awesome…cooked by local women and featured Mozambiquan flavors) and a low growl emerged from what seemed like just across the river. Then we heard an elephant trumpet in response. According to our guides, if the lion didn’t back off, it would be dead by the morning. It was very exciting to hear.
We left Machampane and Mozambique with many memories and stories which are too numerous to repeat here and so as not to drone on I won’t.
The return trip was much like way in, though Haney was able to take us all the way to Phalaborwa because he had to go there anyways. It was a stroke of good luck that saved us lots of money. We left Phalaborwa the next day, Saturday, got to Johannesburg that evening and took a flight back to Cape Town that night. Nothing was really too exciting about the journey.
We were actually really looking forward to being back in Cape Town because as much fun as our trip was, it was going to be nice not to have to think and adapt at every moment. It was an interesting thought to me because I realized in that moment how much I had adapted to living life in Cape Town and going to the university there. In fact, it has become home in many respects. I mostly know what is happening around me and can navigate through the matrix of everyday life with ease. I realize now how much I have already learned on my trip and how much more I can learn with the remaining portion. Spring vacation was an eye opening adventure that I will remember forever.
Anyways, Lane and I decided to go to Kruger National Park on spring vacation. We planned to fly into Johannesburg and then rent a car and drive to Kruger. We would then go for a few days across the border to a tented camp right in Mozambique. It was an 8 day trip and proved to be eventful, fun and an opportunity for great life lessons.
We left early on Saturday morning for our trip to Johannesburg. Everything went to plan. The airport in Cape Town is under construction right now in order to improve the facilities for the world cup. As a result, it was interesting because the domestic terminal was literally a tent with doors. We had to board a bus and board the plane on the Tarmac. The flight was about two hours and they actually fed us real food, which was a big plus.
In Johannesburg we went to go rent the car. However, we learned that car rental companies are real jerks. They wanted to charge us about $150 more than they quoted us and it was going to be expensive so we declined taking the car and were going to arrange our own transportation. It was a little bit of a risky move but we figured we weren’t leaving until the next day anyways so if we couldn’t figure out transportation we could always go and pay the amount for the car. But, the clerk didn’t tell us the total amount for the car until after he had already swiped Lane’s credit card. He didn’t ask for any permission and as a result he placed a hold on Lane’s account for about $1000. Being college students, we of course don’t have a huge credit limit or enough money to cover an extraneous $1000 to be missing. Especially since, I lost my debit card a couple weeks ago and am still waiting on the replacement from the states. Anyways, so we asked when the hold would be removed and they said 7-14 days. Lane and I were so frustrated because they didn’t even ask for permission and now we were going to be stuck literally without money at the beginning of our trip and it wouldn’t be returned for one, maybe two weeks. In effect, it all worked out after an expensive call to the states to Bank of America where we asked them to remove the hold because apparently the car company didn’t have the authority to do that. But it all worked out.
We stayed in a Backpacker’s in Johannesburg . Our room was a little cabin out in the backyard. It was quite eccentric but I found out that all hostels are a little eccentric. The manager was really kind and helpful. He arranged to pick us up from the airport after we told him what had happened and then gave us suggestions for how to get to Kruger. We booked a bus that left the next day and the manager arranged for our transport to the bus station. Things were beginning to look up.
We took the bus from Johannesburg to a town called Phalaborwa (pronounced pal-a-bor-a….don’t ask me why). It is a little town right outside one of the gates of Kruger. If we had driven, the trip would have taken about 6 hours but the bus made many stops and it seemed that each time we stopped it was for about 30 min so our trip became a 9 hour trip. It was nice way to travel though because we were on a double decker bus and Lane and I had the very front seats with a great panoramic view. We saw the landscape of the countryside and visited many cities. In addition, the long ride gave us a chance to get at least a little school work done ( I had a test on Tuesday and Lane had a paper due on Monday).
In Phalaborwa, we stayed at another Backpacker’s. They had so many dogs. I think there were 6 running around the property. Anyways, we had gotten to Phalaborwa but there is not a transport system within Kruger so we weren’t really sure how we were going to get around in Kruger. We already had a night reserved in Mopani, which is a rest camp in Kruger and then the day after we had to be in Letaba so somehow we had to arrange transport. We got into Phalaborwa around 7pm and we immediately asked how we might be able to get transport. They gave us a number for a transport company. I called them and by some miracle they had a vehicle and a driver to take us everywhere we needed to go.
The next day, Monday, Cornelius, with Africa Unlimited picked us up from the Backpacker’s and drove us to Mopani. Cornelius was from Holland. He really loved Kruger and all the wildlife. When they came to pick us up, we were very surprised. I was envisioning a transport vehicle and that many people would be on these vehicles. However, the vehicle that showed up was a twelve person van and Lane and I had actually reserved the whole thing. In effect, we had a private tour of Kruger National Park. The journey was supposed to take about 90 min but Cornelius drove very slowly through the park so that he could show us as many animals and interesting tidbits as possible. The journey ended up lasting 3 hours and we had hundreds of pictures. It was great. If we had driven ourselves, I am confident that we wouldn’t have learned half of that stuff about Kruger, so really it turned out to be one of our better and cheaper decisions not to rent the car. Anyways, he dropped us off at Mopani . He was going to come back the next morning to take us to Letaba where we already had transport into Mozambique.
Mopani was beautiful. We had a little bungalow with a view of a river. While we were eating a snack outside, an elephant actually came to visit the river and gave himself/herself a shower. It was great fun to watch. Additionally, the night sky was full of more stars than I have ever seen in my life. It was absolutely beautiful. Actually after we ate dinner we had to find our way back to the bungalow, but it was so dark that we had to use the flash on the camera to find our way and scare away any pending animals. Thus, we have some really....awesome picutres of abosultely nothing but they serve as a reminder of a really funny event.
The next day was more of the same. We drove the two-hour trip to Letaba stopping along the way to take pictures of the wildlife. We saw many prey but no predators…but maybe that is a good thing. At Letaba , we were picked up by Haney. We found out that he was the camp manager at Machampane Tented Camp, where we would be staying. He had an open game drive vehicle, which is basically a pick-up truck with a compartment of seats mounted on the bed of the truck. We got an awesome panoramic view of everything around. On the way to Mozambique, we stopped to look at a dead buffalo and the vultures eating it…it was a little awkward but pretty cool nonetheless. The whole landscape looks pretty dry in the winter. I had seen pictures of the camp and it looked green and lush and I didn’t know how everything could change so dramatically but after three hours of driving on dusty, bumpy roads we came down a hill and out of nothing, emerged a river and the camp sitting pretty and green amongst the dry, dry surroundings.
Machampane was everything that it promised. Five platform tents lined a pool of water (when it rains, it becomes the Machampane river). However, the platform tents were really luxurious because theyhad their own bathroom attached with running water. In addition, the beds were made up with fluffy linens. Really it was like any hotel room in the states minus the fact that the wall were made of canvas and you got in through a zippered opening. Lighting was a little different though it wasn’t really an issue. The camp only ran a generator 4 hours out of the day and this was mainly to charge batteries. Our tent had four 12V lights and that was all we needed. During the day, when the generator was running he said that we could charge our camera batteries in part of the main camp.
When we arrived we noticed that no other visitors were introduced to us, and so quickly we found out that we were actually the only people in the camp that week. At first I was a little disturbed by that fact because the workers at the camp wanted to serve us but I felt awkward because we were the only people being served and I didn’t like that position of privilege. However, this fact, despite its awkwardness, also allowed us to be really candid with the staff and they could cater the walks to our needs and interests.
Most of the staff, minus Haney, were local hires. For some, English was difficult and we weren’t able to communicate well with them. The native languages of the area were Portuguese and Shangan neither of which I remotely know at all. But as always language isn’t necessarily important to communication.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, at this camp, they take the guests on walks through the African bush with an armed ranger so the staff that we interacted with were mostly our guide (Haney), guide in training (Peterson), and the park ranger (Julius) who wielded the AK47 in our defense against the wildlife. We did find out that Julius has never had to use his weapon while on a walk and that was a very comforting notion. We walked twice a day. In the morning, we would leave at 6:30am and walk for 3-4 hours. In the middle, we enjoyed a little pause to watch animals and eat some snacks. The pace was leisurely and we stopped many places to learn about plants, animals, tracks, and everything else you can imagine on the trail. However, I wouldn’t really call them trails because most of the time we were tromping through the African bush. I was so fortunate to have guides who knew where everything was because I could have been lost in one millisecond.
On our walks we tried to go to watering holes because in the winter that is essentially the only place to see wildlife. We found out that this park in Mozambique was very new. Before hand, it had essentially been devoid of wildlife due to Mozambique’s civil war, etc. Anyways, a few years ago, Kruger donated many of their animals to Limpopo National Park and the fence between the two parks was in the works to be removed so that animals could freely move from one side to the other. As a result, there were far fewer animals in the Limpopo Park and they were much less domesticated. In Kruger, if you drove up to an animal, they wouldn’t budge because they see cars and people on a daily basis. However, I felt that these animals were much more wild and this gave us an authentic viewing of the wildlife.
Something exciting happened on the return of our first walk. In camp there is a tree overlooking the river. In that tree, a green mamba snake was spotted. I am not a huge fan of snakes or really things that can kill me in general. Well green mamba snakes are very deadly and if bitten by one, you could die within a half hour from paralysis. Fortunately we also learned that they are shy and don’t like to bite. Later that day, the snake was gone and the next day was out of our minds as well.
One other exciting event was the last night at dinner. We were peacefully enjoying our meal (the food was awesome…cooked by local women and featured Mozambiquan flavors) and a low growl emerged from what seemed like just across the river. Then we heard an elephant trumpet in response. According to our guides, if the lion didn’t back off, it would be dead by the morning. It was very exciting to hear.
We left Machampane and Mozambique with many memories and stories which are too numerous to repeat here and so as not to drone on I won’t.
The return trip was much like way in, though Haney was able to take us all the way to Phalaborwa because he had to go there anyways. It was a stroke of good luck that saved us lots of money. We left Phalaborwa the next day, Saturday, got to Johannesburg that evening and took a flight back to Cape Town that night. Nothing was really too exciting about the journey.
We were actually really looking forward to being back in Cape Town because as much fun as our trip was, it was going to be nice not to have to think and adapt at every moment. It was an interesting thought to me because I realized in that moment how much I had adapted to living life in Cape Town and going to the university there. In fact, it has become home in many respects. I mostly know what is happening around me and can navigate through the matrix of everyday life with ease. I realize now how much I have already learned on my trip and how much more I can learn with the remaining portion. Spring vacation was an eye opening adventure that I will remember forever.
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