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(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.)
- see description from previous post for today's activities
Update:
We got wake-up calls at 5:00 am and headed to the main area of the lodge by 5:30 am to get bags with breakfast foods in them. The drivers wanted to get us in the landrover vehicles by 5:45 am to drive to the bigger game park that is about a five minute drive from the lodge. I didn't care at that point if students showed up on time or not - if they missed the call time for the drive today it was their responsibility.
on the road to the larger reservation area
on the road to the larger reservation area
entrance sign to the larger reservation area
Essentially, we drove around until about 11:00 am and saw ostriches, giraffes, zebras, elephants, buffalos, hyenas, rhinos, wildebeests, warthogs, nyalas and impalas.
hyenas
some hyenas eating a wildebeest carcass
some video I took on safari in South Africa
(click here for bigger version of the video)
following some zebra
All four of the vehicles that our group was on, stopped at a lunch area where there was a barbeque set up. We stopped to eat for an hour or so and then boarded the landrovers again for another drive. Our driver was going to take us to a more flat area where he said we'd have a better chance to spot lions. Despite this, we never saw a lion or a leopard. It got to a point where you saw more giraffes and it became quite blase...I stopped taking photos at a certain point because once you've see one giraffe, you've seen them all.
our safari vehicle group with our driver
We did see an elephant quite close-up and it started to walk toward our vehicle kind of warning us to back off. Our driver put the landrover into reverse quite quickly and we watched the elephant from afar a bit more.
some video I took on safari in South Africa
(click here for bigger version of the video)
some video I took on safari in South Africa
(click here for bigger version of the video)
the elephant we got quite close to
about 30 monkeys came wandering down the road
After the afternoon game drive, we headed back to the hotel at around 4:00 pm and we were told we had until 7:00 pm for free time before we had to meet up again for dinner. Dinner was going to be out in the bush basically and that was all we knew.
Upon getting everyone in the vehicles again around 7:00 pm, Inge said to me "Jen, we just need to tell them they can't drink while at this dinner because it will be outside and we can't have anyone drinking because it is dangerous." I went around to all of the vehicles and told everyone "Ok, guys, here is the deal...no drinking at this dinner...you can drink when we get back to the lodge, but please, please, please don't overconsume alcohol (it's against Semester at Sea's rules and moreover, we are far away from medical help)." I essentially BEGGED them to be responsible and to be adult when drinking upon returning to the lodge because it was one kid's 21st birthday the next day. One girl said to me "Even if it's someone's birthday?" as a inquiry as to whether they could get drunk and I just said "No, I don't care if it's someone's birthday, sorry...please just wait until you get back to Cape Town if that's what you want to do." The students all seemed to be understanding by and large (even if some of them clearly thought it was just no fun without being able to get wasted), but everyone complied with the request to not drink at dinner.
One guy did come up to me and said "we can't even have one glass of wine?" to which I wanted to say "What part of no alcohol at dinner don't you understand?" - I told him, no, sorry, those are the rules. Immediately after he asked me this question, the mother of one of the students (one girl's parents met up with her in Cape Town and apparently signed up to go on the trip with the daughter so they were there the entire time) asked me "But can WE have something to drink?" (meaning her and her husband). I wanted to look at her and slap her telling her "what are you, an idiot? We just told the students they can't drink for their own safety and now you want to go get a drink and sit there drinking it after we just told them they couldn't?" Instead of getting the chance to do that, Inge said to her "yes, of course, YOU can." I was annoyed at this to no end. I don't care if the mother really wanted to drink something or not - she should have set an example for the students and done without. The message she essentially sends in drinking when they were told they couldn't is that she is somehow the exception to the rule and that the students are inferior to her "adult" status. It really bugged me that she didn't have the good sense to just show the students that SHE could do without and at least show some solidarity with them in not drinking at dinner.
Dinner was outside - a buffet set-up with some local Zulu people singing and them dancing a little.
dinner in the bush - watching Zulu women singing
students getting up to dance with the Zulu performers
We got back to the lodge and I just went back to my room while the students congregated at the bar area. The bar would only be open until 10:00 pm and it was already 9:00 pm by the time we arrived back to the lodge so I was hoping no one would be able to get drunk in one hour. I heard a bunch of noise since my room was near the bar area, but no one came knocking on my door and I just ignored whatever was going on, hoping everyone was being responsible.
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