Day 2 in South Africa

(note: this is one of my pre-scheduled posts set to appear at 5:00am EST each morning I am in a port city. I will post follow-up information about each trip once I am able to get back on the computer.)

This is the trip I will be going on over the next few days...

Three-Day Safari to Kwazulu Natal (Time: Saturday at 0745 - Monday at 1730)
(I got assigned to be one of the "trip leaders" for this trip so luckily I will get event paid for in part. If you get picked to be the trip leader and the trip is under $50, you get that full amount paid for. If the trip is between $50-$100, you get up to $50 back. If the trip is over $100, a faculty member gets 50% paid for. Trip leaders essentially are responsible for acting as a liaision with the tour operator leading the trip and for keeping students on schedule. It is up to the trip leader to keep track of which students are late and, if necessary, to make the decision to leave without them if they do not follow the schedule. Students get penalized with "dock time" in the next port if they aren't back to the ship or if they cause the group to be delayed.)

Description:

Feel the pulsating rhythm of mysterious and magical Africa as you relive the excitement and romance of the days of Shaka, King of the Zulus, in this authentic recreation of the Great Kraal overlooking the Phobane Lake. Experience the assegai-wielding (Bantu spear) warriors, share the fascinating secrets of the sangomas (Zulu healers and respected elders) and witness traditional customs such as tribal dancing, spear-making and beer-drinking ceremonies.

Saturday: Transfer to Cape Town International Airport for your two-hour flight to Durban. On arrival, travel to Ubizane Tree Lodge and check into your stilted chalet. In the evening, enjoy an exhilarating game drive. (Lunch, Dinner; Ubizane Tree Lodge)

Sunday: Enjoy a quick cup of tea and biscuits before you embark on a full-day game drive. The game drive will be in open 4x4 vehicles within the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve. After the game drive, continue to the lodge for dinner and overnight. (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner; U bizane Tree Lodge)

Monday: After breakfast, take a leisurely drive to Durban. Enjoy a short city orientation before traveling to the airport for your return flight to Cape Town. (Breakfast, Lunch on flight)(PRICE: $1073.00)

Flight Information:

Saturday, March 3, 2007 from Cape Town to Durban - Depart Cape Town at 10:00, Arrive in Durban at 11:55
Monday, March 5, 2007 from Durban to Cape Town - Depart Durban at 13:30, Arrive in Cape Town at 15:35

Some links relating to today's trip...

Update:

I put notes on all 38 students' doors two nights ago telling them that they need to be in the Union by 7:20 am AT THE LATEST on the day we leave for the safari because we need to be out the door at 7:45 am. I left them these notes because originally, we were supposed to be out the door at 8:00 am and this got slightly changed since I had the meeting with the students two days ago (We had organizational meetings with all of the students going on our trip to give them all the information about what to bring and when to be in the Union).

Last night I picked up the packet of passports for all the people going on the trip with me and I got to the Union today at 7:19 am, ready to hand out passports to my group members. A good amount of them were there already so I started passing them out and having people sign the sign-in sheet. By 7:40 am, I still had three passports in my hand - all of them guys. I asked the people in the Union to quickly go call or try to find the missing three people because otherwise, we would be leaving them behind. No one had any luck locating the missing people so the field office coordinator, Lynn, said I should just leave the remaining passports with her and to head out to where the bus would be meeting us outside.

We left deck 6 (where the Union is) to go down to where the gangplank was on Deck 5. As I was about to go out the door, a guy said to me from behind "Jen, my passport?" - he was one of the missing students who apparently slept through his alarm. I told him to go find Lynn in the Union to go get it and he did so and made it to the bus with the rest of the group.

After going down the long staircase from Deck 5 to the ground, I began walking toward the exit to where the buses were waiting to meet groups to take them to the airport. I saw a kid running from the outside, flashing his ship ID to be allowed access in to the boarding area and he ran past me, stopping for a second to say "PLEASE wait for me!" I informed him he better haul ass to get his passport and his bag because we weren't waiting for him. We had a plane to catch and clearly this kid was just getting in from being out all night. I was hoping he wouldn't make it because this was the same kid who missed the meeting two days prior and left me a note on my door saying he overslept.

Unfortunately, this guy JUST made it on to the bus (as did another guy we were missing who apparently had been out all night as well). They looked like they were going to puke from having to run to get their stuff (and also, I'm sure, from having too much to drink the night before). The entire group made it on the bus and I met the guide who would be accompanying us named Inge. Another kid came up to the front of the bus to ask me if I had a bag or something for someone to throw up in (he was asking for the kid who just barely made it) and no one did. I was annoyed at that point because I felt like I was already babysitting kids who couldn't take care of themselves and were causing more problems than not. No one threw up (at least I don't think they did) and we made it to the airport about 10 minutes away.

Upon getting to the airport, Inge asked at the check-in counter if we could do a group check-in and we were told we could. This meant that Inge and I had to go around and collect everyone's passports again in order for us to do the group check-in. We did this and counted the passports, but we were one short. I went around to everyone in line and asked them "Did you give me your passport?" and they all said yes. We recounted the passports again and were still one short. Again, I went around to double check with everyone. Again, they all said they gave them to me.

This now meant that the guide and I had to go through all of the passports and compare them to the list of passengers we had. Low and behold, the missing passport was this kid named Jonathan (the kid who came running in begging me to wait for him). I called out his name and he was sitting on the floor talking to other people, completely oblivious. When I got his attention, I said "Do you have your passport?!" He responded with "Yeah, it's right here." I looked at him and growled "I NEED YOUR PASSPORT - I'VE BEEN ASKING FOR ALL THE PASSPORTS" and he just said "I didn't know." I was completely annoyed at this point and grabbed the passport from him and went back up to the counter. This kid was clearly going to be a problem.

Fortunately, we all made it to our destination ok. After doing the group check-in, the guide and I handed everyone their individual boarding pass and told them when they needed to go through security to get to the gate in time to board the plane. Everyone apparently made it and when we arrived in the Durban airport and found the next bus that was meeting us, everyone was there.

On the bus driving from Durban, South Africa to Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

The next problem occurred when the air-conditioning in this bus wasn't working. It was really hot out and the guide asked the driver if it could be fixed. The driver called someone and the repair people were going to meet us at a gas station stop where there was also a convenience store and bathrooms. We stopped there and ended up waiting about an hour for the problem to get fixed. The drive from the Durban airport to the place we were staying at was about three hours long so we still had about two more hours to drive from the gas station. We needed to get to the lodge by 5:00 pm to go on an hour long sunset game drive prior to having dinner.

approaching the Ubizane Tree Lodge in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

Long story short, we made it to the lodge by 5:30 pm and the guide had called ahead to the lodge to ask if we could leave a little bit later. We did this and drove around in 10 person vehicles to view some animals. We saw zebra, giraffe, pythons, impala and some other animals before heading back to the lodge to have dinner.

view from our safari vehicle

zebras - view from our safari vehicle

view from our safari vehicle

(click here for bigger version of the video)

view from our safari vehicle

(click here for bigger version of the video)

view from our safari vehicle

(click here for bigger version of the video)

view from our safari vehicle

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view from our safari vehicle

giraffe sighting from our safari vehicle

view from our safari vehicle

(click here for bigger version of the video)

python sighting from our safari vehicle

We all got our room keys and I headed to my room with my roommate, Merna, who is the Lifelong Learner Coordinator on the ship. We were tired at that point so we basically just went to sleep. We were told at dinner that we would have a 5:00 am wake-up call coming so that we could go on a 6:00 am game drive.

Adventures Around the World - Semester at Sea Spring 2007

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Day 2 in South Africa

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