Africa Part I

South Africa hit me with a bang. A big bang. Day one I woke up quite early again for the sunrise. As our ship pulled into Cape Town the sun rose directly over Table Mountain, a huge rock formation/mountain that lines Cape Town. This was beautiful. Following our sunrise watching a bunch of us wandered around town just checking everything out, talking to everyone and anyone who would talk with us. This was great fun. That night I left for my safari in Kruger National Park. What a way to start off my visit to South Africa. I visited Kruger, specifically Skukuza in the southwest end of the park and a private game reserve 2 hrs from Skukuza, for a 3 day safari. This experience included staying one night in a bungalow and one night in a tent (yes, that’s right…I camped in the Bush with lions and other fun creatures). Not only was I blessed to see zebra, wildebeests, impalas, giraffes, kudus, hippopotamus, baboons, jackals, crocodiles, eagles, buffalo, rhinos, elephants, and other various creatures while on safari, but I was also fortunate enough to see a lion. Most kids who went on safari did not get to see one. ☹ for them. ☺ for me. Ok, so not only did we see a lion, but we saw a lion from about 3 feet away. As you can imagine, I was glued to my seat, jaw open wide, not believing what was sitting directly across from our vehicle. And this was no baby Simba (for those of you Lion King fans, you know what I am talking about). He was more like grown up Simba, or a Muffasa. You get the point. So to me the safari was a success.

Day 2 in Cape Town began with a visit to the Khayelitsha Township. This is quite possibly the most amazing thing that I have done so far on this trip. I have never seen anything like it. Millions of tiny shacks stacked right on top of one another. I was in awe. I had seen pictures of the townships numerous times before, but actually being inside of one was a completely different story. You were walking past and interacting with people who actually lived there. Once inside the township we were allowed to walk around for a bit and see the famous Vicky’s Bed and Breakfast. At the same time when everyone was checking out Vicky’s, a few girls and I went behind her B and B and found a childcare center. We asked if we could come in and the ladies working there said that it would be ok. And let me tell you, these kids were absolutely remarkable. They sang songs like “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” with possibly the biggest smiles on their faces I have ever seen, and other educational songs about the days of the week and the seasons. And they loved when we would take pictures of them. We would take their picture and then they would tug on our shirts and point to the camera in hopes that we would show them the pictures of themselves. As our exploration of the township continued we managed to go to two other childcare centers. Our trip leader had an impossible time trying to get us to leave the children when we had to get going back to the ship. The kids were glued to us and we were glued to the kids. We just could not stop playing with them. Along with the kids, I was thoroughly impressed by some of the women of the township and their desire to make a living. We stopped by a weaving center (I guess you could call it that) where numerous women of the township worked, weaving mats, bags, tapestries, and other crafts. This “employment project” is just one of the many that have been developed in the townships to provide jobs for those living there. I was, and am completely amazed at the effort put forth by these women to improve their and their family’s lives. This was a great day.