Have you ever really looked at the words to the wonderful song “Circle of Life?” Look at the lyrics. They are great. I think this song really fits with my semester abroad in South Africa. There is so much more to see and do than could ever be done in one semester. In this semester we will probably experience despair, hope, faith and love.
My day felt like it was right out of the “Lion King.” We had a very long day (8:30 am – 10 pm), for a lot of it we were out in the hot African sun….but it was one of the best days of my life. We started the morning off by getting on a bus to go to Addo Elephant National Park. We drove through the park on the bus, getting a tour by Bradley. While we were there we spotted over 100 elephants (and some baby ones which were super cute…we realized today that baby anything is almost always adorable). When we got into the park Bradley told us to look for shapes and colors that stand out from the green brush and trees. It was very hard to spot the elephants. Then I saw this brown thing. I thought it was a rock but it started to move…ahhh it was an elephant. I was one of the first ones to spot our first elephant of the day. Bradley said you must have “good African eyes” to spot the elephants and other animals.
After spending a few hours in the elephant park, we stopped for lunch in a picnic area. We were told that a light lunch was provided. Expecting bag lunches or something similar, we were surprised when Bradley pulled out glass plates and real forks and knives (not the plastic ones you use at a BBQ). He then pulled out a potato salad, 3-bean salad, and a pasta salad. There was also some bread and fried chicken. It was soooo good.
When lunch was finished we headed off to Schotia Game Reserve to go on a safari and see some more animals. We got to go on a game drive riding on a land rover…it was exactly like what I pictured a safari would be like. We got there at about 3pm. They told us we would stop for biscuits and tea at 5pm and then dinner at 7pm and then we would go out for a night ride. We thought that sounded like an awful long time, but the time passed really quickly. It was a perfect day. The sun was bright and shining. The air was warm, but there was also a light cool breeze. All the vegetation was green. Ahhh…it was so beautiful. Not to mention the fact that we got to see over 20 types of animals.
Here is a list of most of what we saw (this list is combing the animals we saw at both parks, not just Schotia): Elephants, lions, zebra, white rhino, warthog, bushbuck, eland, kudu, yellow mongoose, vervet monkeys, tortoise, giraffe, blue wildebeest, hippo, oxen, horse, impala, nyala, Egyptian goose, red bishop, secretary bird, ostrich, blue crane, and the flightless dung beetle (which is protected in the parks haha).
We got to hear lots of stories about the animals from our tour guide/ land rover driver, Barbara. It was so much fun. The entire time we were sitting there thinking how awesome this was and how we could not believe it was real. There were 9 of us on the top of the land rover (Heather, Taylor, Lindsay, Katie, me, Steph, Joey, Christine, Breanne). We opted for one without a roof. That was a good idea. We got to see so much and feel the sun…and later at night we could see the stars.
We stopped for dinner (which was amazing). It was in an open-air pavilion type place that had lots of tiki-lights and a few bonfires. I definitely felt like I was on Survivor. For dinner there was rice, carrots, peas, potatoes, biscuits, a meat stew with kudu and impala (it was actually really good!) and a mushroom sauce. They also had a homemade vanilla ice cream with a mint chocolate sauce for dessert. Yum!!!!
After dinner we got to go out for a night ride. It was quite dark out. We had this big flashlight that someone was holding. We got to see some of the nocturnal animals. We also got to see the hippos out of the water and grazing on some grass. Towards the end of the night ride, we saw the head lion eating a bushbuck that had been injured earlier in the day. While riding on the open land rover, I looked up at the sky. It was indescribable. The moon was huge and gorgeous. Stars were everywhere twinkling in the sky. We were in Africa. On a safari. Feet away from the King of the Jungle and his meal. With amazing people. It was one of the best moments ever! I remember saying a prayer, thanking God for this one of a kind experience.
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