June 28

I'm at the Backpackers' Ritz in Johannesburg on a shared computer so I'll have to be brief.

The plane ride was very long but we're finally here. The ride would have been more enjoyable, but I ate some less than enjoyable food on the plane. They said it was beef, but I remain skeptical. Once we arrived, Alex and Rebecca met us at the airport and drove us to the Backpacker's Ritz, which is an awesome hostel. There's a small bar and everything.

Our first day in South Africa was spent at the De Wilt Cheetah rescue which was absolutely amazing. Our leaders have connections with the place so we were able to get a private tour on a day they were normally closed. I have some incredible pictures and videos of Painted Wolves (wild dogs), Vultures, honey badgers and of course, the cheetahs.

One of my favorite parts was hearing how the badgers were the most feared animals in the wild. They are extremely aggressive and even elephants will move out of their way. Apparently they will rip out the intestines of a wildebeast for stepping on them. The lesson, of course, is don't mess with Bucky.

One of the honey badgers was a completely white, nearly blind albino. He ran in small circles over and over until his food came. It was hilarious.

I can't wait to show upload them all. We even went inside the paddocks with the animals on our bus and were able to come within touching distance, which was crazy. Inside the Painted Wolf paddock they actually "hunted" our bus since they knew the food was on it which was a spectacular and intense sight. We then got a chance to pet Shaka, the ambassador cheetah. He was a king cheetah, which made it even better. Putting your hand on his back was like putting it on the hood of a car when he breathed. It was unreal.


After that we went to the Lion Park where we were able to pet lion cubs. They were extremely playful but surprisingly strong. We then drove through the lion paddocks which was unbelievable. We were within 5 feet of them with our windows down taking about 1,000 pictures.


The rest of the park was filled with zebras, ostriges and basically everything you can imagine. Some of the pictures I took turned out incredible so I really hope I don't lose them and they translate well on the computer when I upload them.


Today we went shopping at the mall in Joburg which was not quire as exciting but still necessary for the camp. We then went into the marketplace where I must have the look of a natural born sucker (I am) because everyone seemed to love me. Let's just say I made a lot of (costly) friends.
We leave for Ingwavuma tomorrow and I cannot wait. Although the driving around here is insane, I'm sure we'll be fine. Hopefully I'll have some photos up before too long!

-Ken