21st Birthday!

I would like to start off this post by giving a shout out to my group members for making sure I had an amazing birthday eve / birthday! Last night, Kenneth made me a cake substitute out of Oreos, and he bought a table candle for me to blow out. I totally wasn't expecting anything from them, and they brought it out at midnight, right after we left the bar. They sang happy birthday to me, and made sure the candle stayed lit in the wind. 

On my actual birthday, we woke up at 6:45 to leave by 7, to make our way to Swaziland. It was awesome, because everyone was more hungover than me! It was a rough 7 hour ride for a majority of the group on the bus, but we survived, and didn't have to use the stinking toilet. The drive to the border was beautiful, because there was a nice mixture of mountains, plains, and rolling hills. I only slept for about half the ride, then was able to enjoy the views. 

When we got to the Swaziland border, we had to hop off the bus, and go into the border control building. Swaziland is known as "The land of smiling faces", so we made sure to look happy throughout the process. We got two new stamps in our passports, and we were on our way to the beehive huts in Mlilwane. 

When we got to the Mlilwane Nature Preserve, we had some free time to settle in before dinner. I chose to let Emily nap in peace, and read my book on the nearby picnic table. I had a glass of wine, watched the sunset, and updated my blog posts for awhile until some of our group members came up. 

(Picture of the sunset. Picture of water buck next to the picnic table with me & the beehive huts) 

For dinner we went to the restaurant, and had a delicious local meal. Then they brought me a piece of chocolate cake with candles, and the whole group sang me happy birthday. They bought me a South Africa card, which they all signed, and a "prevent rhino poaching" bracelet. Overall, it was one of the most relaxing birthdays I've ever had, and I couldn't have been happier to spend it with some awesome new friends! 

6/18

After Moholoholo, we went back to our accommodations for some free time activities. I chose to play play paintball, because it was absurdly cheap. It was a totally blast,  especially when we got very into it. Our green team won! 

Then we all hopped in the trucks to go on our sunset cruise on the Blyde River. We were able to see some crocodiles, and hippos. It also allowed us to get a closer look at the amazing rock formations. We took the opportunity to take some amazing pictures! 

(Can you see the crying face of nature?)

And it was my favorite little brother's 19th birthday! It is crazy how time flies! 

Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center

We woke up around 8am to drive to the moholoholo rehabilitation center, not too far away from our accommodations. Moholoholo rescues animals that have been trapped in snares, or injured out in the wild. We had an informational talk about their goals, and how they are run. They will usually get calls from farmers, or other wildlife stations in South Africa, about injured or pesky animals. They have saved many lions, leopards, hyenas, etc, from being caught in snares, or injured by humans. Snares are very common, and very deadly to the wild animals. Everytime they pull, the wire gets tighter, which can cause some very severe damage. They showed many before/after photos of the animals they have seen in snares, and the images were very disturbing. The team also catches pesky animals, such as leopards, that eat local cattle. Farmers have been taught that instead of trying to kill these animals, they can call moholoholo, and the team will relocate the animal. 

Before our tour, we had the treat of watching a cheetah get it's exercise! They had a chew toy on a string, that the cheetah would run, and chase down in front of us. Afterwards, we were all able to pet the cheetah while it finished it's snacks! Here is a photo of me playing with the cheetah tail! 

When everyone was done petting the cheetah, we started our tour of the resident animals. All the resident animals are there for different reasons. These reasons are, they are too tame to be sent back in the wild, they aren't socialized enough to go back out, or they are too permanently injured to survive on their own. We met their trouble maker honey badger, who was extremely cute. We learned that honey badgers are dirty fighters, because they will go directly to your genitals when they attack. Our guide said they can easily take down a lion. If the lion is unprepared or weak. He had escaped from his enclosure more than 10 times, in multiple different ways. 

Then we saw a few small cats, and moved onto the huge birds. We saw the largest eagle in Africa, and a bird that looked similar to a Do Do bird. The guide actually invited us into the vulture enclosure to help him feed them. Vultures are still ugly close-up, and are quite heavy birds. I'm glad I didn't wear sandals that day, because they sometimes try to eat unmoving toes. 

On the rest of the tour, we met the lions, wild dogs, leopards, and hyenas. Hyenas are a lot bigger than I expected them to be! 

Swadizi Kloofing

Last night we arrived at Swadizi Resort, in the Blyde River Canyon. We stayed in little houses that slept up to eight people, and of course Emily and I got to share a bed again! (She started to enjoy cuddling me, I swear.) Anyways, today is the day that I have been looking forward to.... kloofing! 

For anyone who doesn't know, Kloofing, also known as canyoning, is a mixture of hiking / climbing / jumping off rocks into rivers. Our first jump was right at the beginning of the hike, at about 2 feet above the water. Luckily, I jumped in first with another girl, because we didn't know the water was going to be ice cold. The rest of the group had to jump in knowing they were going to freeze. We swam a little ways to the river bed, and continued on our hike along one of the rivers in the canyon. We were able to observe the wildlife around us, and walk under one of the many waterfalls. The second jump was 10 feet, and definitely a bit more scary. The water was so blue, and clear that it made jumping in a little more appealing. (The water was still really cold) Not long after the second jump came the third, which was a daunting 14 foot drop into the water. This is when we really had to start cheering for people to jump off. I'm not going to lie, the guide had to count to three for me to go, because the drop was that far. I sucked it up and jumped, and I don't regret it! Emily took a little more convincing, but after we chanted her name enough she made the leap. 

Then we hiked for awhile before the last jump. We took a trail up the side of a nearby mountain, and had to take a rickety ladder down one of the ledges. I didn't enjoy that very much, but we were strapped to a line by the ladder. We dropped into a sand stone cave for a quick look around, and made our way to the last jump. We made a quick stop at another waterfall for some pictures, and met some locals who were doing religious rituals by the river. One man thought that all the girls in our group were married to our leader Graeme (we all lol'd), and when he said no, he thought that I was the only good choice (I told him he had good taste). Then we continued on. 

Our last jump was....... A 33 foot drop into a clear blue pool of water attached to a waterfall. I honestly looked at the jump and said hell no, but continued to give Emily a pep talk to do it. She stepped up to the ledge, swore a lot, and made the leap! That's when I knew I had to do it, or I would never live it down. So I stepped up to the ledge, knees shaking, and the guide counted to three. When he got to three, I may have told Emily that I hated her, but I made the jump. It was a crazy fall down, but it didn't hurt when I hit the water! We cheered everyone on in our group to go, and a majority of the group decided to jump again (including me and Emily!) Emily and I were going to jump off together to get a cute picture for our mothers, but when the guide said three, I jumped and she didn't. Tyler got an awesome picture of me falling with a pissed off look on my face. 

After we all finished the fun of the last jump, we had a 30 minute hike back to the trucks to take us home. Walking along the river was a beautiful way to see all the wild life up close, and see a few animals along the way. I got a few bumps and bruises from climbing (and maybe slipping) on some rocks, but overall it was an amazing, action filled day! 

(Unfortunately I didnt have a waterproof camera, but I'm waiting for the people with go pros to post their photos) 

Panoramic View

On our way to our accommodations at the Swadizi Resort, we took the long route so we could see the axing landscapes around us. (We could have taken the short 30 minute drive, but took the 6 hour one instead.) Our first stop was Wonder View, which is by the edge of the mountain range, and allows you to see all the savannah/forests below. We could see for miles and miles around us. 

The second stop on our view tour was Bourkes Luck. It was named after Mr. Bourke, who searched for gold there for many years, and never found it. He later died, and gold was found not too far away. There were also naturally formed potholes by the water falls, from rocks swirling around / eroding the river bed. (I'll post more pictures from my camera.) 

We spent an hour here to explore the rocks along the river, and reflect on our journeys thus far. It was sunny and a little warmer, so some people decided to take a swim. (The water was way too cold for me.) 

Our last stop was to see the Blye Riiver Canyon. Our stop featured honeymoon rock, which is where two honeymooners stood to take a picture, and were both blow off by the wind. We also saw the the rocks that look like the huts of the native people in the area. (I'll have to look up the name) 

It was quite a long drive, but the views were completely worth it. We all got amazing photos, and luckily no one followed to legacy of honeymoon rock. 

Happy Youth Day!

Today is National Youth Day in South Africa! The holiday started after Nelson Mandela became president, but it was started becauae of the  shooting of Hector Peterson in 1976. School children decided to protest the government because they were forced to learn Africans as a first language in school, even though they all had different native languages around the country. They started a peaceful march on June 16th to show their disagreance, and police started shooting. Along with Hector Peterson, 69 other children died that day. 

Safari Day

We woke up at 5am this morning to start our safari at Kruger National Park! It was a brisk 36* F, so we basically froze our butts off until the sun fully came up. Who knew that South Africa would get so ridiculously cold? We bundled up together in the back of the land rovers, and were on our way. We got to wear some super attractive, warm ponchos, which saved our lives. The sunrise was absolutely amazing to watch, and we were able to see the animals slowly wake up. We started off the safari with some elephants, impalas, and spring buck. Then our safari started to slow down, until we saw some baboons, hippos, crocodiles, and vultures. It finally got warm enough to take off the ponchos around 11am. The most fun part of our morning safari was watched the impalas try to find a way around the sun bathing lions to get to the water hole. The lions were about 100 yards away from us, relaxing in the sun, and didn't even seem to care about the herds of impala. There were two males & one female, which is unusual, but the guide said one is most likely a son. We watched them until the impala found a safe route, and then we were on our way back to Timbavati for lunch. On our way back, our guide pulled over to show us a huge herd of buffalo! So during our day safari we saw 3 out of the 5, Big Five animals. (The Big Five is composed of lion, elephants, buffalo, leopard, and rhino. They are the most poached animals in Africa.) 

After lunch, we left around 3:30pm to go on our sunset safari! It started off pretty slowly, but then the animals started emerging. We saw a honey badger, and our guide said was an extremely rare sight. Then one of the other groups found two cheetahs resting after their meal, so we were able to go watch them for almost 15 minutes. Their bellies were so big that we thought they were pregnant, but our guide said they must have just eaten not far away. Up next was a male lion, who was lounging, and we were able to drive right next to him. (He was 10 feet away) The best part of our night was seeing a leopard, and he cubs. I got an accidental picture of her right before they disappeared into the woods. We ended our safari by drinking a beer under the clear night sky, and watching a few jackals play nearby. 

Travel day to Timbavati

We woke up at 6am, to get a nice, early start to the day. We were picked up late from our tents again, so we rushed to eat breakfast. We ended up riding on the back of the bus again, which is absolutely terrible, especially with the winding roads through the mountains. I've taken a lot of Dramamine so far on this trip, so thank you mom for making sure I had a full bottle. On our way to Timbavati, we made a quick stop in Pretoria, which is where Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratic & black president. Pretoria is also one of the three capitals of South Africa. We took some fun pictures with his statue, and then continued our 7 hour bus ride. We were able to see all the embassies on our way out of town, and the American Embassy is obnoxiously huge compared to all the others. We saw some great scenic views, and watched the mountains turn into the beautiful plains. It finally started to look like what I expected Africa to be. 

Timbavati Lodge was a very cute accomadation. Emily and I shared a little lodge, which was located directly next to the bar. (How could we be so lucky?) It was a little hut, with two twin size beds, mosquito nets, and a spacious bathroom. 

Adventure in Magaliesburg

We woke up early today to eat breakfast, and we thought the workers forgot about us. Since we aren't allowed to walk from our tents to the breakfast area, we were stranded until they came to get us a half hour late. We rushed to eat breakfast, then hopped on the land rover to go meet the elephants!! 

When we pulled up, the three elephants were munching on some trees. There was a mother, her daughter, and then another baby that she adopted. All of them were rescued from Kruger National Park. We were able to follow them around, and pet their sides & ears. I got some awesome pictures of all of us on my camera, but you can get the general idea of our experience below. Our guide told us that if we blow into the elephant's trunk, they will remember you for 8 years. I tried to do it with one of the babies, but the mother stuck her trunk right in my face so I was able to. It was an amazing experience, and I was very sad when the hour was over. 

Our next stop was the Chameleon Village for some shopping! It was very interesting to get a chance to barter with the shop owners, but I don't need to do it again. Right when you walk in, all the shop owners try to pull you into their shops, ask you questions about yourself, and try to make you feel terrible when you pass them by. I'm a bit of a sucker, so it was very hard to walk by anyone. I ended up getting some very good prices in the end, and some awesome souvenirs! 

After we were done shopping, we headed to Lesedi Cultural Village. We had a brief introduction, then we were taken on a tour of the five major cultures in South Africa. We had another refresher lesson on the Xhosa, which made our group really miss our project weeks. They had example villages of each culture, and they explained the basic practices. It was nice to learn about all of them, and really see how different they are from each other. When we were done with our tour, we sat down for a show of the cultures' songs & dances. It was a lot of fun to see everyone really get into it, and then we joined them at the end. They also served us a delicious dinner, with sample foods from each culture. I tried ostrich, which is like a very tough beef, and crocodile, which is chewy & fatty & disgusting. 

Overall, it was an amazing day, and I loved really emersing ourselves in the local culture. We fell asleep listening to the hyenas, and lions roaring. 

Magaliesburg Mountains

We road from Jo'burg airport in our 50 passenger bus to our next location in the Magaliesburg Mountains. It was nice and spatious with our 10 people, because the other groups met us at the lodge. We were the first to arrive, so we were placed in the tents. Someone thought it was a good idea to put the 7 girls from our Community Development group in the most remote, and secluded area of the park. We stayed in platform tents, that were supposed to be 2-3 people in each. (We ended up moving more people into our tent) We were only allowed to walk from tent to tent, and had to get picked up if we wanted to get to the other groups. 

After we dropped off our bags, we get a ride back to the lodge to eat lunch. The other groups finally arrived, so we were able to meet the people we will be spending the last two weeks with. Everyone immediately went to the bar to get some beers to go with lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with our new group members until we had to go to the Brie (BBQ). 

Before the Brie started, we sat around a campfire to talk about our itinerary for the next few days and expectations. The food was amazing (big surprise right?), and we hungout to drink a few beers before we went to bed. 

One of the park rangers dropped us off at our tents around 9pm, and the reality of our situation really hit us. We started to hear the different animal noises, including the lions from their enclosure which wasn't very far away from our tents. Our bathroom was attached to the back of our tent, but the walls were made of sticks. (Which you could clearly see through while you're going to the bathroom) we had a shower which was all clear glass in the middle of the room, a bathtub, and two sinks. Basically there was no privacy, but it's not like Emily and I cared about that. We ended up helping Victoria & Emily (2) move their mattresses into our tent, because we knew we weren't going to be able to sleep with only two people in each tent. After running with the mattresses between tents, we were settled in. Emily and I shared the double bed, and the other girls slept on the floor. Luckily we had heated blankets, but they didn't seem to stay consistently warm. We made some hilarious video diaries of our reactions to the sounds we were hearing outside, But hey, we survived! (In the morning we for sure heard some mystery animals doing it behind our tent.) on our way to the tent for the first time, there were zebras grazing between our tents. 

Our finished project!

Our final project :) 

Safe in Johanessburg

Our flight went smoothly from East London to Jo'burg. Our goodbyes to Kelly were very difficult, but there weren't too many tears shed. She told me that we are always welcome to come visit her in Cape Town whenever we return to South Africa. Our new ISV guide, Graham, is hilarious and has an awesome mustache. We have a 45 passenger bus all to ourselves (our 9 person group), until we get to Magaliesburg. That is where we will meet up with the other volunteers to start our adventure tour! 

My stupid Chase card also wouldn't let me take out money, so parents if you read this before I get in contact with you for some reason, please figure it out. I'm going to have some very mean words with the employees at Chase who said they put the alert on my account saying I would be international. Luckily, I have Emily here to take care of me money wise until I figure it out. Other than that little set back, all is continuing to be beautiful in South Africa! 

6/13

We had to say goodbye to Cinsta today, which was very sad. Mila drove us to the airport, and we said our goodbyes. I don't know how much wifi I will be getting in the next two weeks, but I will post when I can! We are about to fly from East London to Johannesburg! (The plane is super tiny, I'm not a fan) here is Mila (our VA 32 leader), and our Brie (BBQ) last night 

6/11

Today was our last day of volunteering :( we finished our project though! So now the crèche (day care/orphanage) has a suitable toilet! Now the little kids won't have to continue to use training toilets behind the building every time they have to go to the bathroom. We were all reluctant to finish because we didn't want our volunteer experience to be over. It was a relief to have it finished, but very bittersweet. It was a great feeling to watch the little kids go stand on the decks and check it out! Saying goodbye to the kids, and listening to them say see you tomorrow was heart breaking. All of us would love to stay in Cinsta for another two weeks, but we know the adventure tour will be amazing. 

For dinner we had a Brie, or BBQ, with Mila, Kwezi, Thondi, and their kids. We had sausage called breehorn, chicken, pork chops, stuffed potatoes, and garlic bread. It was a great way to sit as a family one more time before our group moves on to the rest of our trip. I don't even want to think about saying our goodbyes tomorrow. I will be returning to Cinsta again in my lifetime. 

6/10

We woke up early to watch the sunrise, and it was totally worth getting less sleep. The sky was absolutely beautiful, and we also were able to watch a storm that was over the ocean. We couldn't hear the thunder, but we saw random streaks of lightening. 

Kelly, our ISV leader, set up an interview on Wild Coast FM radio to talk about what we are doing in Gwelakha. Tyler and I were the only ones in the group that wanted to join her, so we were able to be interviewed also! Wild Coast is a local radio station in Cinsta, that many people in the area listen to on their way to work. The host asked us questions about our experiences so far, what our feelings are about our constantly developing works, and how we like South Africa! It was so cool to hear him say my name on the radio, and our whole group was listening in the van outside. The host was a really nice guy, and he loved that my major is Communication Technology. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I couldn't pass up, and I'm very glad that I didn't! They are going to send Kelly a copy of the interview, and she is going to send me a copy! 

We decided to stay the whole day at the work site, instead of going on a hike, to make sure we will finish our project before we leave. We finished putting up the zinc walls, roof, and one of the toilets. Tomorrow we will be finishing the toilets, the doors, and the stairs! 

We unfortunately have to fly back to Johannesburg Friday morning. None of us are really ready to leave Cinsta, Kelly, or Mila, but we are still excited to start our adventure tour! 

6/8 Pictures

6/9

We worked hard all morning to make sure that we finish the project by the end of Thursday. We ended our day a little early so we could go to Cinsta East to have a village lunch. A few of the women from the village made us a traditional meal of Chakalaka, Fat Cakes, and stew. It was very delicious, which didn't surprise us. My favorite food so far is either the fat cakes, which are kind of like donuts, or spinach and ground up sweet corn. After we ate as much as we could, we went home to take a quick nap. 

At 3pm, we went back to Cinsta East to play games with the kids at the elementary school. The boys got a little too rowdy during soccer, so I stuck with the younger kids and girls. The little girls loved to act like models in my sunglasses, and couldn't take enough selfies on my phone. When one of the girls asked my name, I told her, then she proceeded to say, "Maggie!... Boobs!" She giggled uncontrollably, hugged me, and ran away. I didn't really know what to do except to laugh, and agree. We played with jump ropes, "hey Mr. Fox", and they taught us how to play cricket. It was so sad when we had to leave, because they wouldn't let us go. 

Before dinner, we had a discussion with Shawn about climate change effects in Cinsta. Shawn is one of the founders of Volunteer Africa 32* South. It was very interesting to learn what has been effected in the area, such as the gecko population, which has grown enormously since the area has become more humid. 

Areena Pictures

6/8

On our way to the project site we saw a rhino! It was too far away to get a good picture, but it was very cool to see a wild one on our regular route. Professionals will cut off the horns of wild rhinos to prevent them from being poached. There has been a rumor going around Africa that the rhino horn will cure the flu, so they are being killed more than ever. 

On a brighter note, we finished constructing and building the walls today! I think I finally mastered the tedious art of hammering the stupid four inch nails. Now we need to install the windows, put up the zinc side panels, and install the actual toilets! The sun was out today, so we all got a bit of a tan. The children were also able to be with us outside, and play on the playground that the previous ISV group built. 

6/8

On our way to the project site we saw a rhino! It was too far away to get a good picture, but it was very cool to see a wild one on our regular route. Professionals will cut off the horns of wild rhinos to prevent them from being poached. There has been a rumor going around Africa that the rhino horn will cure the flu, so they are being killed more than ever. 

On a brighter note, we finished constructing and building the walls today! I think I finally mastered the tedious art of hammering the stupid four inch nails. Now we need to install the windows, put up the zinc side panels, and install the actual toilets! The sun was out today, so we all got a bit of a tan. The children were also able to be with us outside, and play on the playground that the previous ISV group built. 

Areena Resort

All of the girls in the group chose to go zip lining as one of our optional activities. Mila drove us to the Areen Resort in the morning so we could get an early start to the day. We signed all of the release forms, got our harnesses on, and rode in the back of a bakkie (a pick-up truck) to the zip line location. Right when we got into the area, we saw zebras, spring bucks, and the giraffes! The giraffe that we were able to meet/play with is named Abby, which is short for "a big baby". When we drove closer, he walked right up to us, and stuck his head down to be pet and kissed. Our guide told us to.blow in his nose, because that's how giraffes say hello. After we took a few pictures, we went to the zip lines. It was a wonderful way to see the scenery, and all the different types of landscapes. We rode through trees, over caves/canyons, and between the rolling hills. It was such a great experience. 

When we returned back to the beginning, Abby was standing there waiting for us! He walked with us up to the bakkie, and posed for plenty more pictures. Unfortunately, we did have to leave, but not before the female giraffes came closer to us than they ever have, according to our guide. The first picture is of Abby following us when we were leaving, the second is of Abby playing with the guides backpack, and the third is our view from the highest point of the course. 

Momma Tofu

We went to visit Momma Tofu at her home for her to explain the culture of the Xhosa women, and have a home cooked Xhosa meal. Momma Tofu is 95 years old, and speaks to any groups of people that want to learn about the Xhosa culture. First, she had us sit and listen about the traditions of becoming adults for males and females. Then she proceeded to go in depth about how a man should propose to a woman, and what she should say to him. She said that a woman should never just give into a man because he said he loves her. She needs to find out where he lives, if he works, and if he can actually support her/their future children. My favorite thing she said was, "when a man says I love you, you say what is your love about?" She also told us that when a man wants to marry a woman, he needs to have at least 18 cows, because that means he has worked for something in his life. She also told us about how the older women check if a girl is a virgin. They will take a group of girls away from the village, and make them jump. If they don't jump high enough, or with enough energy, they are not a virgin because they were too busy the night before. When she was done explaining the different stages of marriage, and other things that women do, we got to buy some jewelry from the local women. I got two necklaces that they hand made, and a nice little bag. 

Then she fed us (in the picture below), and a bunch of little girls sang and danced for us. It was an amazing way to really experience the culture, and meet the local women.