BungEEEEEE

        I’m sorry to say that this blog is probably not going to be as exciting as my sleeping with the lions story- but it is filled with adrenaline none the least!! Today at 9:30 am I jumped off a bridge that was 216 meters high.  The entire time before the jump I was feeling nothing but excitement and couldn’t wait to do it!! The only time I felt any nervousness was when they scooted me to the edge of the jump and my body involuntarily started shaking.  It was more of a physical reaction than an emotional one.  I made a conscious effort to be aware of what was happening as I fell and I am so happy to report that I was!! It was an 8 second free fall and I remember the entire experience.  My mind was screaming WOOOO HOOOOO but my body was rushing with adrenaline and wanting to go backwards as I was falling forwards.  It was weird!  I have a bunch of pictures to show and a desire to keep on jumping J.  I recommend to anyone who wants to bungee jump to PLEASE do it and not really think about it.  They can’t keep you up there too long because two many people change their minds. You get up there, wait for your turn, and by the time they strap you up- yell “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BUNGEE!” and you jump, it’s maybe three minutes maximum.  It was great great good fun. 

            Tomorrow guess what I get to do also?  SKYDIVE! We are scheduled to go at 9am and as long as it’s not too windy I should be jumping out of a plane and free falling for 35 seconds by 10am.  I CAN’T WAIT! I’m so glad to get this opportunity since it didn’t happen at CROW.  We met some guys here from London who were supposed to skydive this afternoon but got cancelled due to the wind- if ours gets canceled we are all going to do it together in Cape Town as they are heading that way too.

            Our stay here in Plettenberg’s Bay has been short- we are here a total of two days but in those two days I got to go to a cat sanctuary, bungee jump, skydive, and hit the beach.  I forgot to mention the cat sanctuary!! I will now….Um it was great! Got to touch and be friendly with all the felines Africa has to offer (cheetahs, carcals, servets, etc) except lions and Leopards. It was nice to be able to see how a different sanctuary works and I got the name and number of the owner to possibly volunteer there.  It would be an awesome experience- just not sure if it’ll work. 

            I am in the process of trying to find transportat from Mozambique to Port Elizabeth in order to travel and still be able to work back at Schotia for a month.  I need to also see about changing my ticket so I can stay here in SA for another month.  Hopefully it will work out, as I love it here.

            I hope everyone had a memorable and loving Christmas.  I will try and blog soon as let ya’ll know about my skydive!  Keep healthy- I’m battling a sore throat and flu-like symptoms at the moment.  I think they came from sleeping outside the night of the lions- oh well still worth it!!!  Take Care hey…..Cheers!!

Sleeping with the Lions

              Two days ago I had an experience that I have only dreamed about.  I witnessed firsthand a chase, kill and devour of a wildebeest from a pack of lions.  It was absolutely incredible.  We were at Schotia (the game reserve) and it was our last night there so we got the idea of sleeping outside in Justin’s tent to watch the lions.  He had this suped up Land Rover that you could practically live out of and it includes this small tent on the roof.  It’s about 9 at night and we are driving back from dinner to the homestead.  As we go down a road we see a pair of eyes glowing at us- low and behold it’s the big male lion just casually walking towards us.  We stop the car, roll down the windows and pull out our cameras.  He stopped and laid down next to our car maybe 10 feet away from us.  My body was shaking with adrenaline- he was massive and so close.  My window was down and I bet he could have been inside the car in less than .001 second if he felt like it.  Justin wasn’t worried however and said we really didn’t bother the lion in the slightest.   We sit there with this lion for a while and then decide to pack up our bags and find them again.  Justin figured they were going to hunt tonight and we wanted to be there to watch.  We get a call on the radio letting us know where one of the lioness is currently located and we head off in that direction.  We found her relatively quickly and weren’t there for 10 minutes before the big male and smaller male came over.  We stopped the car and watched patiently for maybe an hour and half with nothing really happening besides us taking thousands of pictures and rolling the video cameras.  We also did our best impersonations of growls and roars to try and get the males to move J- it didn’t really work.  So anyways- Justin climbs up to bed around 12ish and says to wake him if something exciting happens.  He’s up there maybe 15 minutes when we see the lioness take off into the night- we bang on the roof and yell like mad for Justin to get his butt down here to drive us off in that direction- we knew there was wildebeest that way.  He practically falls down into the Land Rover and we take off just in time to see her leap and grab onto the neck of a wildebeest.  It was indescribable. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t watching TV and it was right in front of me- wasn’t staged or planned or anything like that.  As soon as the lioness downed the wildebeest the big male came over and took hold of the neck.  He didn’t let go for a good 20 minutes- he was the only one with the power in his jaws to hold a tight grip for so long.  By now Whitney, Kelleigh and I are just screaming and jumping up and down with excitement and just trying to believe what’s in front of our eyes.  It only gets better from here! Justin backs the Land Rover within 20 feet of the kill; we get out, climb up top and lay down to watch the feeding to our hearts content.  I have no idea what time it is by now, but we probably lie there and watch them feeding and tearing into the wildebeest for a couple hours.  We were so close you could smell it and hear the flies- It was a dream come true for me.  I have video that will knock your socks off and I can’t wait to share it with everyone!!!  Okay so the feeding goes on and on and eventually they sort of just stop and walk a bit away to lay down.  We try to get some sleep ourselves but we are smushing four people in a tent that is four feet wide.  Needless to say we spent the night spooning and every 15 minutes saying switch and we would all flip to the other side.  It wasn’t possible to lie on our backs or stomachs without half covering your neighbor.  With so many of us shoved into this small tent you can imagine we got hot.  Justin opened the front flap in order to let a breeze in and we all laid back down to cool off and try and get some sleep when all of a sudden he goes “I think the lioness is on the front of the land rover.”  Uhhhhh needless to say we were freaking out a bit until he looked and it’s not a lion but Whitney’s shoe.  He wanted to go down and get it because he knew the lions would grab it and have fun chewing it to pieces – well he started to climb down and we get the biggest fright because he immediately starts yelling “GET BACK! SHOO! GO! GET! AHHH! GET BACK!” at the top of his lungs and banging on the roof.  As it turns out the younger male (when I say younger I mean he was the son of the big male- he still had a full mane, was a good 8 feel long with 8 in paws.. in other words not really any smaller) was coming over to investigate what had fallen out of our tent.  He was maybe 10 feet away as Justin was going to jump down.  Us girls immediately start telling Justin to come back here and not to be silly it’s only a shoe and yada yada because honestly- what are we supposed to do if something happened to him??????   Justin just calmly tells us to keep an eye on the lion as he starts up a firestarter and throws it at him in order to scare and distract it as he jumps down and retrieves the shoe.  It was a scary experience; we hit him and acted like mother hens when he got back into the tent J.  After the shoe incident- I’m guessing it’s a little before 4am at this point, we try to get some sleep but the male lions decide to have a roar off.  It was awesome hearing them roar back and forth trying to out do each other, but I was constantly on edge.  They might have moved about 30 yards away by now, but the sound made them seem as though they were directly outside the Land Rover.  I can confidently say that I did not sleep one wink that night but that it was worth it a thousand times over.       

Merry Christmas!!!!

 

            I am currently sitting on the Baz Bus in my santa hat and doing my best not to feel sick as we swerve back and forth to miss potholes on the road.  I hope everyone who reads this is having a great Christmas and is taking every opportunity to be with their friends and family.  I apologize ahead of time for the many mistakes that may be in this blog because it’s hard to see the computer screen with the sun and it’s so bumpy that my fingers keep on sliding around on the keyboard.  Our stay at Bomvu was good but I think both of us were ready to move on and go stay somewhere else.  While we were there we did every single tour that klwas available except for horsekback riding.  We got to hike to a cave, Whit visited a village and saw the sacred pools, we did a cliff jump into the river- I got video of it and it was awesome!!- We saw hole in the wall, went surfing, did the drum workshop and saw the native girls from the village dance, we went to a masqurade party and had our faces painted, we went to a trance dance, bummed around and layed out on the beach.  We found a really good resturant and ate there yesterday for our Christams celebration since we knew we’d be on the road for a good 7 hours today. 

            We have some very good interesting memories including me getting stalked by a guy and a guy basically proposing to whitney to by wanting to give her a dowry of 11 cows.  J  It was a good experience to say the least.  We’ve made several friends with people who are also heading down to cape town for New Years- well actually every single person we’ve met is going to cape town for new years.  I thought being in New York was hectic but I have a feeling I’m in for something even bigger and I can’t wait!

            I haven’t really got anything to say but I will let ya’ll know how the game reserve goes.  Unfortunately since we had to stay in Coffee Bay an extra day that means we are only going to be working at the reserve for two full days but alas that’s how it works sometimes hey.  I’ve got some wonderful pictures to share from this place and just wish I could get somewhere with wireless so I can show you!

            That’s all for the moment.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Surfer Gal

       I must say I am proud of myself to give ya’ll so much reading material at one time!! Whatever shall you do? I am sitting here in my bright neon yellow dress and strappy sandals feeling cool for the first time all day.  I have just enjoyed a cold shower and my hair is drying into a messy mess.

         Today we went to Coffee Beach around 9:30 and stayed only till about 11 because we felt our skin frying- literally.  And mom you’d be proud- I put SPF 40 on about 3 times today! The rest of the day we hung out and tried to stay cool.  It was one of those days where you sweat just as you sit there.  We ended up going down to the river mouth and just sitting on the rocks in the water.  It gave us a little relief. 

         As I sit here typing I feel as though I am swaying back and forth from the sea. It’s a very odd feeling but not unusual considering I think I spent about 4 hours in the water today because today was our surfing lessons.  Not to toot Whit and I’s horn at all, but we both got up on the first wave that we tried! It was so much fun and I really want to try and surf everywhere I go now that I can surf.  Our instructor fit the beach bum surfer dude to a T.  He had dirty blond long dreadlocks, a killer tan body and could be a model for the perfect male physique, baby blue eyes and perfect straight white teeth.  He was Afrikant and so had the South African accent, which makes me go all gooey inside..haha.  Let’s just say it was a great few hours for many reasons!! (John don’t be jealous J, you are still the one I love!)

         I have no idea how many waves I actually caught but I do know that most of the ones I did I actually rode them all the way to shore.  The instructor’s name was Rainer (how fitting hey?) and he would hold the board for the first few times and tell you when to paddle and then yell UP when you’re supposed to jump to your feet and surf.  It was the most fun I have had in a long time.  Tonight I know I will sleep well because my arms and legs got quite the workout.  When I get home hopefully I will be recognizable because I believe I’m about 20 shades darker than when I left.  We’ll see how long that lasts!           

         I think I am going to go to bed now though.  I am drinking a Savannah Cider and that in combination with the sun and surf is putting me to sleep. Ciao for now!

Bomvu Paradise

       Whitney has made it safely and we have started our adventure about 5 days ago.  It has been a good mix of chilling and traveling and actually doing some fun things.  We stayed in Durban from Wed-Sat morning at Nomads Backpackers, which was a very chill place that included its own pool- a big plus! (even though we never actually used it)  We hit up Victoria Street Market (Victoria we thought of you!!), Suncoast Beach/Casino, The Bluff/Anesty Beach and Eighties night club.  We got in from Eighties around 4 am and got up to be ready to leave on the Baz Bus at 6:45.  Then we were traveling for a good 10 hours before we actually got into our hostel in Coffee Bay.  It was a looooong day and the bus is not really conducive to sleeping as we thought it would be. 

         We just chilled the first day we got here, but yesterday we took a hike to Hole in the Wall.  Please look this up on Google (Hole in the Wall, Coffee Bay, South Africa) and see how beautiful it is!!  It was a 9K hike that took us about 3 ½ hours of climbing up and up and then flat and more up and more up.  It was quite strenuous and my body could tell that I haven’t had a proper for going on three months now J.  Whit and I took many pictures and I was hoping to get some up while staying in these hostels, but we have yet to encounter wireless.  The views as we hiked along the coast were just beautiful and the water is that lovely shade of turquoise that you always see in pictures but I had never experienced in real life.  After we made it to the Hole in the Wall, after passing Baby Hole in the Wall- which I thought was also impressive- we got to go swimming in this calm bay that reminded me of the lake back home.  I haven’t been to any part of the ocean where you aren’t constantly jumping over and getting knocked down by waves.  I thoroughly enjoyed some lazy floating and swimming. 

         We got back from the hike around 5 and chilled for dinner before joining in the Drum workshop at 8pm.  John you would be proud of my conga playing skills!! (I thought of you often and wished you were there) It was a lot of fun and a good mental workout trying to keep the rhythms separate…and we only learned four!!

         Today we have an appointment at 3:30 for surfing… WOO HOO…I am beyond thrilled.  Supposedly this guy teaching us is some sort of professional, which he better be to be able to turn me into a surfer!  I was a little worried that my legs would be sore from the hike but alas I am in luck as I feel fine.  I think we are going to spend the first part of the day exploring the coast and finding a private beach to sunbathe.  Tomorrow we have a trip to the Mapuzti Caves that includes abseiling and cliff jumping.  I think there’s a place where we can choose to jump 30m into the water that will sweep us into the caves. You better believe I’m ready for that!! 

         We were planning on staying here at Coffee Bay til the 23^rd and taking the baz bus on the morning of the 24^th in order to be at Scotia Reserve for Christmas day, but the bus ended up being full.  Our plans have changed so that we are staying here an extra day and then traveling ALL day on Christmas.  So please everyone enjoy your day sitting in your comfortable chairs and eating really good food because I will be on a bus from 10am-9pm.  It’s okay though, Whit and I plan to make the most of it- not quite sure how but we will!! Then we get to Scotia and work really hard and party even harder J til the 28^th.  After that it’s off to Plettensberg Bay where we do the biggest bungee jump IN THE WORLD!!  It’s a free fall of 10 seconds.  Believe me I will be getting the DVD of me falling and am prepared to show it off to anyone who wants to watch hehe..  We arrive in Cape Town on Dec 30^th and are hopefully staying with Kelleigh as she’s staying with this guy and his roommates who is a cousin of someone she met on the plane coming here.  Yes that’s the way to travel!! The only thing we’ve got set up for sure in Cape Town is visiting Robbins Island on January 10^th, but I want to get scuba certified and we want to take a boat out to sea and go snorkeling, hike up table mountain, go whale watching, club hopping, and visit some botanical gardens and possibly museums.  Whatever we end up doing we’ve got 13 full days there and we promise to use them well!!

         I think I’m going to end this blog and get some breakfast.  I’ve been up since 6am- there was a police raid in the backpackers this morning, that was interesting! It’s now 7:30 and I think the kitchen just opened so I’m off for some muesli with yogurt and a BIG cup of coffee. 

         I hope everyone has a great few days til Christmas- enjoy friends and family!!  Love.

 

No More CROW

         I sit here in the messy living room drinking my tea and eating a scone (that I baked earlier) and have mixed feelings about leaving CROW tomorrow.  I am super excited to see Whitney and do our travels and to meet up with my sister, but sad to be leaving certain parts of CROW.  I am saddened to leave my Dassies (Huey, Duey, and Luey) because I have been bottle feeding them 4 times a day since the very first day I got here.  I have only just taken over the pigs in the last 3 weeks or so but I will also miss them.  Wally is sort of touch and go at the moment because the teat he was drinking from went missing on Saturday and therefore he hasn’t been drinking as much as he used to, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be okay.  We have had two zebras come in now and both have passed away.  The wildebeest is doing good and makes the most unique noises.  There are some birds that I have gotten fond of that I will probably think of from time to time, but other than that- I have nothing to miss here.  The volunteers have all been great and I will no doubt miss them, but will luckily be traveling with one of them for a bit and will see the other one when I come back to Durban in February.    

          I will not miss the flea bites from my bed or the fleas jumping off the couches or the piles of dishes in the sink and counters nor will I miss the kitchen floor being covered in maggots or the bathroom ceiling actually moving with some sort of mold or having my bed feel wet with damp.  Other than that- it’s been a decent place to stay.  J

         I will be leaving here tomorrow around 12 to pick Whitney and I’m not sure what are plans are till we leave Durban on Saturday morning for Coffee Bay.  Then we are there for 6 days and 5 nights before we head to Scotia to work at the game reserve where Kelleigh (other volunteer at CROW) will join us for 4 days and then we are spending 2 days at the place where the worlds biggest bungee jump is located and then off to Cape Town for 13 days!! Woo Hoo! I am excited for Cape Town because I have a couple of contacts with people that I’ve met here in Durban to show us around and take us out at night.  

 

Walley

I regret to inform everyone that as I went to sit down to type this blog- I sat on a baby gecko and smushed it.  It was about an inch long and quite cute before I flattened it like a pancake!! Oh well, I’m pretty sure there were three other ones in my wardrobe this morning.  It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged again and again I can’t quite remember what I said last time.  Now I could be smart and reread my last blog, but where’s the fun in that?

         First thing- I believe to tell of my trip to Drakensburg.  It was good. I’m not sure if I liked the trip or if I liked getting away from CROW for two whole days better…hmmm it’s a toss up! Anyways, we started our day getting picked up in a minivan at 5:15am and driving 3 hours to the mountains.  The Drakensburg mountains are quite possibly the most beautiful mountains I have seen in my lifetime (so far)- hopefully pictures will follow shortly! Day one started with a hike through the mountains to a cave where we saw bushmen paintings that predate about 8,000 years.  I haven’t had much exercise since I’ve been here and I’m pretty sure the guide was getting annoyed with me tripping on his heels as I followed so close behind him trying to get him to basically run up the side of the mountain J.  I loved it! After the hike we went horseback riding- it was supposed to be a two-hour sunny trail ride through the beautiful mountains but ended up being a miserable hour ride through fog and torrential downpours.  I say I’m cold an awful lot, but I honestly don’t think I have ever been as cold as I was on that horse.  The wind was blowing the rain sideways and I was gripping the reins with frozen fingers trying not to slip out of the saddle as my horse tottered along the edge of a cliff that I’m sure had a fantastic view- I, however, could barely make out my horse’s head in the fog.  Also I was only clothed in my skinny jeans and tan tank top.  Towards the end of our ride it started to downpour just like it does in the movies- you know the rain that comes down in sheets and drips in your eyes and mouth so you have to keep them closed- part of me enjoyed it and part of me just wanted to cry.  I was hoping my knight in shining armor would come and rescue me with a big kiss -much like what happens in the notebook J.  No such luck however…..

         The next day was spent traveling up the Sani Pass to Lesotho and eating at the highest pub in Africa.  AGAIN I think I saw the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life and again I hope pictures will follow shortly!  It took us about 3 hours to drive up this road that had potholes every 4 feet that was about as big as me.  It was crazy and fun at first but by the time we came back down I just wanted my body to stop bouncing around.  When we were in Lesotho, we visited a rural village and tasted the homemade bread and beer.  I am not a beer fan by any means, but I have to admit it wasn’t too bad! It was quite thick and tasted like mushy corn…yum.  After we got down the pass, three of us decided to go back to the horse ranch and get our second hour in that we missed the day before.  Again it was raining but this time we asked to borrow rain boots and slickers- it was 1,000 times more comfortable!! Since it was just three of us our guide decided to just sort of let us do what we wanted--- so off we went at a trot or gallop for most of the ride!!!!! I had never galloped or cantered before and I am quite proud that I was able to stay on the horse the entire time however, I have not been that sore in a loooooong time.  I clearly don’t know how to ride and my knees and inner thighs were shaky for at least 2 days.  That was most unpleasant. 

         Okay on to something else…guess what new babies we have gotten in at CROW????? A wildebeest that is 2 weeks old and a zebra that is about 4 weeks old!!! J.  They are extremely cute and loveable but unfortunately I get nothing to do with them so I must just take pictures and watch from afar.           Today was my day off and I spent it sitting in the back of the buggie for three hours sunbathing as we went to pick up a baby warthog.  Needless to say I am stupidly fried as I type this and regretting my decision to lay in the back, hike up my shorts as high as they’d go and bare my stomach.   As soon as I laid eyes on this little guy I was hooked.  I held him in my arms and he slept contently for the entire three hours back.  Proud to say I am his new mama and we have put him in the pen with my other three baby bushpigs.  It is such a joy to watch them play and romp around.  The warthog (Walley) is the ugliest (therefore thee cutest) thing I have ever seen- his poor ears and top of his head are burnt from a fire (horrible people did this) and he has these skinny skinny legs and hooves that look like high heels.  His eyes bug out the side of his head and his lips are curled to allow for when the tusks grow in.  I Love him!!! I’m sure I will take many pictures and will share them with you all soon. 

         I don’t think the sky diving is going to happen- I am quite bummed but know it will be something I will do eventually.  Other than that I am out of news I think.  Time is going by extremely fast as I am leaving CROW next Wednesday!!!! WOO HOO…not that I’m excited or anything? J

         Enough for now, goodbye to all and Much Love!  

Ya Ya

I’m sitting here drinking a cup of hot coco and nespray. Nespray is the powdered milk that we feed to our babies when we bottle feed them, but I find it quite tasty! It just makes the coco thick and creamy…yummm. So much has happened since I’ve blogged last that I don’t really even know where to begin and therefore this blog will probably be random and such.
Our house cat has been put to sleep. Ellen and Jakki have left. We’ve gotten two new volunteers and will get another today and 2 more on Saturday. I went to the vet and saw a bush baby get put down-it had been bit by a dog and completely skinned from the neck to the hips. Helped cut a bird’s head off today. Made a mud bath for my bushpigs and had fun playing in it with them- Amy and I were much dirtier than any of the pigs! Went to the beach twice this week- it was lovely!! My tan has a pretty good head start for when Whit and I start our travels.
For those of you who don’t know- I am leaving CROW Dec 17th. I was here two months and have decided to move on for my next two. My college roommate (Whitney) is coming here for her x-mas break and we are traveling from Durban down the coast to Cape Town for two weeks with the Baz Bus and then we are staying in Cape Town for about two weeks. I am getting unbelievably excited!!! Along the way we plan to hike, scuba dive, bungee jump, sit on the ocean, ride an ostrich, work at a game reserve, and do many many other things which just happen to be along the way. After that I will be meeting my sister at some point and going to Kruger National Park and then on to Swaziland. After that I will probably be going back to work at the game reserve or possibly coming to CROW again for the remaining two weeks. It is really odd to think I can now plan out the rest of my time left in Africa. I’m not quite ready for that!
The sky dive is still on but we can’t move forward until we hear back from the newspapers and radio about letting the business that give us money have free advertisement. So I will keep you all informed on that issue- I really hope it is a go before I leave because I am really looking forward to that experience.
Tomorrow Holly, Evelyn, and myself are going to the Drakensburg mountains for two days. We are doing this tour thing that takes us up the Sani Pass in a 4x4 and then into Lesotho. We are staying at a horse farm B&B and will go riding the next day up the mountains to a waterhole and enjoy swimming. This will be the first time since I’ve been here where I haven’t gotten up by 6 to go feed something! We leave tomorrow morning at 5:15am and will return wed night around 8pm or so. I will hopefully feel ambitious enough to blog quickly so that I can let everyone know all about it. I’m charging up my camera as I type this. Then on Friday, Amy, Evelyn, and myself are going to Valley of 1000 Hills for the night and then on Saturday we’re hitting up the beach again because it’s the woman’s national surfing competition. Sat night it’s also the men’s lifeguarding competition and we’ve met a guy, Tambur, who is in it and has invited us to come watch him and then go to the party afterwards- lets just say we are very excited!!!
After this week is over I’ve only got one more full week of work and then I am done. It’s really crazy to think that I was supposed to be here for the full 4 months, but I think if I had to do that I would probably just go home. The way things are done here are just different (to say the least) and there really isn’t anything more to get out of this place once you’ve fed a few animals and been on a couple of rescues and releases. I have enjoyed getting to know a few of the staff members and I have had good experience raising and bottle feeding animals that we don’t have in America- but you can only do the same thing every day for so long. My “normal” day consists of the following:

-Wake up at 6am and make bottles
-Feed 3 Dassies and 3 pigs by 6:30
-Start cleaning the clinic birdcages and feeding them (usually takes from about 7-8)
-Do morning feed, which takes from about 8-11
-Refeed the pigs at 11
-Lunch from 11-12
-Refeed the birds in the clinic
-Do the afternoon feed from 1-2:30
-Gather pondweed and grass for the geese
-Refeed the pigs at 3pm
-Done with work at 3:30
-Do whatever until 7pm when I go and feed the Dassies and Pigs again

That is my day and it is pretty much the same thing day after day after day. I don’t mind it too much but I really couldn’t handle doing it for much longer- I am more and more looking forward to my days off.
I think that’s all I’ve got at the moment- sorry this is boring and random but hey, I’m trying eh? ☺