June 29, 2008

Before leaving Johannesburg for iNgwavuma we had a chance to visit the largest African crafts market in South Africa. It was a much better experience as we managed to collectively bargain for some excellent paintings from the vendor Rebecca and Alex recommended to us. I was not as much of a sucker today and actually managed to barter (some). We left the market after only an hour, which was unfortunate because we hadn’t had the chance to see over half of it, but in the end it will be better for my wallet.

The drive in iNgwavuma was fairly uneventful. The traffic was still slightly terrifying, as cars will fly past you on blind hills and corners on a two lane highway. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I was about to witness a devastating wreck before the car (or minibus, more likely) would swerve back into its lane directly in front of another car.

We were completely packed into the Toyota Avanza rental, with Alyssa and Sue in front and Danielle, Cheri and I in the middle seat. The scenery was slightly disappointing for the first half of the drive. We might as well have been in southern Illinois. (Except for the settlement camps composed entirely of homes built from scrap sheet metal along the highways)

The second half of the drive much more than made up for the first half. It was stellar. Each hill we crested was more scenic than the last. It was bizarre to see people standing along the highway, especially considering there were no guard rails. One man was actually running head on into traffic on the road, seemingly for exercise.

We stopped at South Africa’s most popular fast food place on the way, called Steers. It was interesting because the food was actually cooked, and did not, in fact, taste like crap.

We arrived at Ann and Paul’s house in iNgwavuma around 7 o’clock. After a delicious dinner we arrived at iNgawavuma Orphan Care (IOC). We were greeted at the security gate by Sipho and Nozi who were extremely friendly and show us to our rooms. While loading our stuff into our rooms, Danielle screamed and pointed towards my window. It turned out to be the nastiest/largest spider I have ever seen. We tried to get some pictures but I doubt they turned out due to the darkness. It was like something out of Indiana Jones.

The stars are spectacular here. There’s dark and then there is Africa dark. I wish I were a better writer so I could give them a proper description but I doubt I can do them justice.

June 30, 2008

I awoke this morning to the energetic sounds of dogs barking, shouting in Zulu followed by laughter and the sounds of about a hundred different birds I couldn’t possibly recognize. Good news, the view from my room is absolutely gorgeous. It’s funny when you arrive at a place in complete darkness and have no idea about the gorgeous scenery right in front of your face.

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