unexpected adventures

Wow, it has been one heck of a week! We left for our safari and Zulu experience bright and early at 5:30am on Monday morning. We loaded the vans then started the five and a half hour drive to the game reserve. Our group of 52 split into two groups: the first group went to the safari from Mon-Wed and the second group went to the Zulu village during that time. On Wednesday we switched locations. Our group's safari vehicles were not ready for us at such an early hour on Monday so we got to drive through another game reserve,Umfolozi, in our busses. It was a great start to our adventures! We saw many zebra, giraffe, rhino, elephant, impala, and inyala. We got really close to many of the animals so I was able to get some great shots! After a few hours there we drove another hour and a half to our official game reserve, Mkuze. (Fun fact: My Zulu professor grew up on this game reserve). Here we rode in open air safari vehicles and splashed through the mud puddles down the bumpy dirt roads. It was a total blast! I think it was the first time this semester I have truly allowed myself to fully relax, I even fell asleep on some of the treks. Here we saw buffalo, wildabeast, tons of inyala and impala, giraffes, scorpions, hippo, zebra, warthog (pumba!), baboon, jackel, female kudu, tortoise, and dung beetle. Our truck also passed by a tree where we spotted the kill of a leopard hanging and possibly the leopard eating it. It was quite far away and difficult to distinguish but most of us would like to believe we saw a leopard! On Wednesday morning we left at 5am for another park that is known for its lions. Unfortunately we didn't see any lions but riding around in the vehicles with no roofs, no windows, was a total blast! We also saw three cheetah there. We got within 25 feet of two brothers and their sister who were stalking some impala to eat for breakfast. It was such a cool experience.

At Mkuze we lived in the middle of the game reserve in an unfenced campground. We stayed in wood bungalow's with metal mesh as window's to keep out the bugs. These three days we spent in great company filled with good conversation, laughter, games, and adventures. It was one of my favorite times so far in South Africa.

Wednesday afternoon we were supposed to have lunch with the other group and exchange experiences before we switched vans. Unfortunately, many of the people in the other group had gotten really sick from something at the Zulu tribe. Five people were hospitalized and by the end of the week 20 out of their group of 27 had gotten sick. Our group was a little leery to go to the tribe but nonetheless we headed out to buy bottled water and snacks and drove on the narrow roads to the village. We arrived to our little village, complete with a family hug made out of brick, a kitchen, and six mud huts for us to live in. I lived with five other girls and we had a gorgeous view of the rolling hills and turquoise huts spotting the hills. Our hut was made of mud bricks and the floor of cow dung. Luckily we slept on bunk beds that were quite comfortable.

The showers were made up of a metal bucket with a nozzle inside of a wooden frame with a tarp flap dividing the entire valley from you. During my shower I had a great view of the green hills! In order to shower it was quite the process. First you heated up water over the fire, then mixed that water with cooler water, then filled the metal bucket, hoisted the bucket over your head with a pulley system, secured the rope, and then let the tiny trickle attempt to wash you clean! Let's just say I wasn't the cleanest I've ever been during that week. The bathrooms were another adventure. To simply put it, there was a slab of concrete with a hole cut out of it with cinder blocks creating steps up to the hole. It was nasty. This was all in a wooden frame with two stalls and tarp flaps acting as doors. It was so weird being able to carry on a conversation with my male friends while squatting over a hole. Definitely an experience I will never forget, and would probably never like to experience again.

Anyways, the first night we were greeted with dinner and some Zulu dancing. A group of dancers came to show us their great voices and high kicks. They even pulled a few of us up to practice our kicks. For some reason mine weren't as high and powerful as theirs. That night I fell fast asleep by 10pm since we had woken up at 4:30am! The next morning we woke for tea and breakfast by the fire before a long hike over one of the neighboring mountains. We trekked through the forest and met the local medicine man who uses nature to create remedies for illness and wounds. It was interesting but to be honest the heat and exhaustion was setting in so my interest level was decreasing. After the medicine man we met a group of women who had created some beadwork to sell. They also showed some of us how to create some of the patterns. After spending time there we began our journey back down the mountain in time for lunch. That afternoon we learned how to throw spears, shoot slingshots, and stick fight. It was fun to learn their defense techniques. That was all we had planned until dinner so many of us napped and sat around the fire in discussion. That night was my favorite out of the two. I sat with beautiful stars falling into my lap (I saw the Southern cross!), listening to children sing Zulu praise songs, with the glow of the fire as our only source of light. It was such a beautiful moment. I have been trying to soak up as many once-in-a-lifetime moments as possible since my time here is quickly dwindling. I will never forget the feeling of warmth I experienced and the smile that grew across my face as I sat there.

Friday morning we worked on mudding a hut and just relaxed until it was time to head back to AE. It had been a long and exhausting week but a total blast with great memories. Last night I started feeling ill and when I went to bed I was sure I would wake up sick. Of course my prediction came true and I woke up severely sick and had to go to the hospital for an IV and some antibiotics. I had caught whatever it was that had infected the other group. We tried to figure out what the cause was but haven't been able to narrow it down. I talked with my Zulu professor tonight at our farewell dinner and she mentioned that you can get sick just from absorbing dirty water into your skin. I thought that was very interesting since all of us had taken showers and washed our hands in their unsuitable water. Anyways, I rested all day today besides slowly packing up my room and have been feeling better. We load the bus tomorrow morning at 7am though and I am not sure my body's ready to handle nine and a half hours of driving tomorrow. I am praying I can sleep for the majority of it. People also keep getting sick so I'm praying the illness will stop for our weeklong roadtrip to Capetown!

This week was quite the adventure and I'm sure next week will be filled with just as many, just maybe fewer unexpected adventures that end in hospital visits! I will hopefully be able to blog next weekend when we arrive in Capetown but the internet is unreliable there, so my updates will be a bit more sporadic! Until then....Sala Kahle.