First Day Back at Work...

Today was our first day back to work, and our first day in the office since we have been out documenting the crèches and senior centers in the townships. Matt and I had a really productive meeting with Helen Liberman and Ishrene to discuss where we currently stand and where we see ourselves being at the end of our project. After that meeting, we had some stuff to do in the office to progress our project. It’s kind of nice to be in the office for once, things are slower and not as hectic as when we are out in the townships.

We had a guest today at lunch; Michael decided to join us at The Kitchen, as he had a slow day and was bored. If you remember, The Kitchen is where Matt and I used to eat everyday when we were in the office more (they make the amazing sandwiches with the tomato and basil pesto on them). We haven’t been to The Kitchen in awhile, but I am proud to note that the food there is still just as good. Michael is now also a fan.

We also made some headway today with the Microsoft Access database that we had constructed. Matt and I spoke with David Blake, the IT consultant, over the phone and he walked us through how to use the database that he made. Now that we know what all of the fields and terminology he uses means, we feel confident in our ability to use the database going forward as we continue our work here. Aside from that, it was a pretty slow day, just the type of day you need after a long break.

It is also worth nothing that the weather outside is beautiful today. It would be, on the one day we are in the office all day, haha. The last few days we were in the field were really wet and cold, and today it is warm and beautiful. That’s Cape Town for you.

Tonight, we are going to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There will be a review of that later, as well as a review of Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps. Stay tuned everyone!

More Pictures...

Hey everyone, I added two new albums (Senior Centers 6/24, and Elephant Reserve), as well as added new photos to Tisika Animal Preserve, Robberg National Park, and Kwandwe Game Drive and Melton Manor. You can all thank Matt Kernan for his help in documenting the trip here, as he is responsible for photographing these new pictures. Later!

Drive home...

The only bad part about a vacation, is when it ends. Before we started our way back to Cape Town, we drove back to the area that Tisika Game Preserve was, to see an Elephant reserve. While we were there, I got to walk with an elephant, holding its nose in my hand, as well as being able to pet it. We also learned some things about the elephants, but we all know that is boring once you’ve gotten to do something cool like walk with one.

After we left, we tried to make our way to Cango Caves. We hoped to be able to go on a tour of the caverns, but realized as the drive went on that we wouldn’t make it before 3:30pm, when the last tour left. We have decided to make a weekend event of it and go back later on in July.

After realizing this, we changed our course and got back onto the N2/The Garden Route, and made our way back to Cape Town. Michael, Tara, Matt and I were in one car, and had some adventures of our own along the way. For instance, we apparently degraded a national monument. On our drive, we turned off down a side road because we saw a sign that said something in Afrikaans on a plaque. We decided to get out of the car here and have a photo shoot. Needless to say, some of our photos are quite interesting, if not slightly stupid, but hey, we’ve been crammed together in a car for the past four days, we’ve reached that level of comfort.

In the process of taking some pictures, a car pulled up to us and the people inside got out to talk to us. Their names were Roy and Daphne Hill. The proceeded to tell us that the monument was in place to remember all of the blacks and coloreds who had been oppressed and died while under apartheid rule. As we were “whites”, they thought we were making fun of the monument; Roy and Daphne are considered “colored” under South Africa’s laws. We quickly informed them that we were American and that we don’t understand Afrikaans, and that we meant no harm, and then proceeded to have a chat with them. After 15-20 minutes of said chat, we were getting a bit antsy and hightailed it out of there as fast as we could.

A bit further on down the road, we passed an ostrich farm. We pulled off to get a closer look at the birds, and nearly got attacked. When we first got there, the birds ran away, frightened by our walking towards them. After they ran away, we looked away ourselves and had a little chat about what to do next. When turned around, the ostriches were creepily walking toward us in formation, wings outstretched and heads bobbing up and down. We then noticed the ostrich tracks on our side of the fence and realized that these guys could easily hop over. We got a quick picture of them, and left.

After leaving the ostriches, we got on the road and made our way back to Cape Town. After being on the road for almost eight hours, we were excited to get home. It was a bit weird getting back into town, almost as if we had never left. I’m not sure now if the whole weekend adventure I had was a dream or not. Oh well, it was a good dream regardless. Now it is time for bed, as I have to start working again tomorrow. G’night everyone!

Tisika Animal Preserve and a Soccer Match...

I pet cheetahs. There, I said it. On Sunday, our group went to the Titsika Animal Preserve, near the Tsala Treetops area. Their big attraction is allowing people to pet big cats, which we did. While there, I got to pet two young and two adolescent cheetahs, as well as some caracals. I’ll post pictures of these events as soon as I can.

Petting the cheetahs was awesome. I’m not going to lie, seeing the picture of Brianna doing it really made me want to pet a big cat, and now I have. It’s such a sweet experience, being next to something that is so elegant and lethal, and then getting to pet it like it’s a house cat; a house cat that can kill you whenever it wants. That said, once you get over the fear, its pretty amazing to be able to say you pet one.

I’m sure people are wondering what a caracal is. Well, if you look at my pictures, they are the animals with the brown coat and long pointed black ears, and they also have stubby tails. They are pretty sweet cats. They are not endangered, but are being hunted by famers because, as the cats’ natural habitat is being replaced by farmland, they are hunting the farmers’ sheep and livestock. It is interesting to note that farmers will accept having a leopard in the area, because it will keep caracals away. They, apparently, are more of a nuisance than their larger relatives.

We also saw a baby leopard. It was really cute. At one point, it climbed up into a tree; broke the branches because it was too heavy; fell onto the ground with a thud; and then ran away, embarrassed. Later, when they were taking the leopard inside (it is apparently too young to stay outside in the rain at night), the leopard “attacked” the attendant, and then, as they were walking inside, he jumped up on a trash can and just lay down (you can see the picture in the album).

After we left the reserve, we drove to Knysna to check into the hotel. After we checked in, we walked down to this local pub called Olde’s to watch the USA/Brazil Confederation Cup Championship match. Michael, Collin, Mike and I all got ribs (which were excellent). We also struck up a deal with our waiter to bring us a round of Jeiger-bombs whenever a goal was scored. That’s right: a goal. Not when the US scored, whenever anyone did. It was, unfortunately, a high-scoring match, haha. After four rounds of Jeiger-bombs, we did our last round with SoCo and lime.

When we were done, Matt and Dag went back, while Michael, Suvrat, Luke, Tara, Collin and I stayed behind to hang out for a bit. After a bit, Michael, Collin, Tara and I decided to leave. On our way back to the hotel, Mike thought it would be funny to play a prank on us. He went “Solid Snake” on us, and hid. I saw where he hid, and we approached this person lying on a picnic table bench. We shook his leg and said, “c’mon Mike,” at which point he responded, “I’m not Mike!” After this revelation, we ran back to Olde’s to tell Suvrat and Luke that Mike was missing.

We went back outside, and Mike was now walking towards us. He later revealed to us that he had been squatting next to the homeless man. Have I mentioned that Michael is the craziest person on this trip? Oh, then, he is. Well, that’s all for now everyone. Later!

Robberg National Park

Today, after we left Tsala Treetops, we drove along the N2 heading to Knysna. While Suvrat, Collin, Luke, and Dag went to go do the World’s Tallest Bungee Jump; Michael, Tara, Matt and I went to Robberg National Park. We hike around the peninsula for a bit. When we got to the beach, we saw a lot of “nature” (inside joke).

Mike and I climbed out onto some rocks that lead out into the Indian Ocean, and saw some pretty cool things. In some of the pools on top of the rocks, we found some corals and some anemones. Once we pressed on a little further, we found some rocks that were covered (and I mean covered) in clams. The rocks were black with them.

After being amazed by this, we continued our trek around the island, hiking up some rocks. Mike and I had some issues with this part of the trip, as the path was winding around the mountain, and was probably only two to three feet wide, and the fall to our left was incredibly far and steep. After a ways, we turned around and made our way back down the mountain and to the car. It was an amazing time all-in-all, as just about everything on this safari has been.

PIctures

Hey everyone. I just uploaded pictures of our stop at the World's Tallest Bungee Jump, and some pictures from Tsala Tree Tops. Dag, Collin and Luke are going to attempt the bungee jump today, while Matt, Tara, Suvrat, Michael, and I are going to explore the area around TTT. We are planning on going to an elephant reserve that is nearby, and also to do some hiking. Enjoy the pictures!

Tsala Treetops

Today, we drove from Kwandwe to the Tsala Tree Top Lodge. It’s a beautiful place; it’s really eclectic and posh. I have seriously never stayed at anywhere as nice as these hotels in my life. The fact that I’m getting to stay at all of these, for a huge discount, is even better. I’m not sure when the last time I had this fun, maybe when I went to Disneyworld when I was little, or when I went to my first Notre Dame football game.

So, anyway, Tree Top is awesome. We’re not actually on top of a tree (false advertising), but we’re in bungalows that have private fences around them, and each one has a private pool. There are two rooms in each bungalow, and the bathrooms are awesome. Each has a massive tub, as well as a walk in shower, which is also attached to an outdoor shower. As it’s dark, this is pretty much the only items of note that we can see.

We just watched Braveheart, and are now going to go to bed. I’ll probably stay up a bit and read Blood Mist, one of the South African fiction books I bought. I finished Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps, so expect that review up soon. I also uploaded all of my safari pictures online, so you can see everything I’ve been up to. G’night my friends!