Helloooooo!
We are so sorry for our silence! Between the many trips this past week and working on our portfolio we've neglected the blog! No worries, I'll fill you in on the past couple days now, though!
So, the last thing we mentioned was that we were going to Great Fish River Nature Reserve and staying the night. We left PE and drove the 2 and a half hours to the reserve only stopping for a picnic lunch. Great Fish is actually 3 reserves amalgamated (one of my GRE words, go me!!) into one and it's huge. We got to our accommodation, a big house called Grassland that we would all be staying in. The house was cool and it sat up on a hill and overlooked most of the reserve. We were told that rhino (!!!!) lived on the reserve so naturally it became our goal to see one. Im not sure if I've mentioned that I have a vendetta out to see an aardvark?? Well, I do. They are nocturnal and they look so cute, but they are very elusive. There were huge termite mounds all over the reserve that had holes in the from where they had stopped for a snack so I was pretty excited.
Once we got situated we decided to go on a game drive through the reserve looking for the rhino. We have now concluded that hoping to see an animal gets you nowhere. We always see the animals we don't really care to see any more of, like springbok. We drove around for over an hour with an impressive tally of sprinkboks sighted, some impala, and a couple ostriches. When we got back we were all pretty hungry so we had a pre-dinner snack. The house didn't have electricity or running water when we arrived, but there was a lady that seemed to not be able to speak any english waiting for us and somehow we were able to communicate and get the water turned on. We asked about electricity and she mentioned a generator and our professor, Steve, thought he asked her to turn it on, but when we got back it was getting dark quickly and nothing was happening as we flipped the switches. Addison, Steve, and our NMMU chaperone, and I set out to find this generator, and Addison and I found it! We got it turned on and just as night fell we had lights. We didn't have heaters either, but there were tons of blankets on our beds so that was nice. I went and expected the bathrooms and the showers that were outside the house and was so thankful that I had taken a shower before leaving PE. It would of taken a lot of negotiating to get me in that shower.
Addison and I bought stuff to make smores because while we were at the farm in the Karoo we had a fire to warm us up in the dining hall and we all started wishing we had a smore to go along with our dinner. Steve grilled some kind of sausage for dinner and we had it with beans and hot dog buns. We can't remember what it's called. He couldn't explain what it was to us, which is generally a bad sign in my book. We asked if it was like a hot dog and he said no. Was it like sausage? No. I swear he said something about it being like mince meat taken from the intestines or something, but no one else heard that. Anyways, I tried it smothered in mustard and it wasn't that bad. Addison liked it too!
After dinner we went outside and had our smores. They don't have graham crackers here and there marshmellows are flavored so we got the closest things to the original ingredients and it ended up being great. While Addison and I were in Belize his professor taught me how to find the Southern Cross in the sky when you're in the southern hemisphere, but I couldn't remember how to find it. While we were at Ganora I found what I thought was the cross from what I could remember him telling me. I asked Steve and I was right! We ended up staying around the fire for awhile and we talked with Steve about all sorts of topics and it was great! He talked to us about everything from the apartheid to cool wildlife. Addison told me yesterday that he is a biologist for Save the Elephants. He told us he works at Addo (a national elephant park that also houses other big game) so I figured he was into elephants, but I didn't know he was that big of a deal or else I would of begged him to be my mentor.
We all got into bed and Steve told us it was time for lights out. I didn't realize that meant time to turn off the generator. I slept in like ten layers of clothing and was under about 5 blankets. When he turned the lights off you couldn't even see in front of your face. Of course, my brain decided to remind me at such an appropriate time like this that we were veeeery far from any other people and I was in complete darkness. The windows were all closed so there was literally no light. I don't know how I fell asleep. I literally went into superhuman mode and was trying to rely on my hearing in case any intruders came in.
We woke up at 6 in the morning to go on another game drive. I was hoping that since it was still kind of dark we might see an aardvark! Unfortunately, we didn't, but we did see more ostriches and some kudo. The guy who manages the reserve was counting his animals by flying above the reserve on a helicopter. We were in the area he was counting that day so we figured the animals were all scared which is why we didn't see any. We continued on to PE after stopping in random spots on the reserve to do some experiment that Steve thought would teach us about species in different types of land, but it didn't work. We stopped at a farm stall that sells biltong. It's kind of like beef jerk, but a little juicier and great!
On Wednesday we went to St. Francis Bay which is an hour west of PE. We were going to learn about coastal development because many people have buit mansions on the sand and they are now falling into the ocean because of erosion. It was really cool and the town is very pretty. It's a rule that if you build a house there it has to be a white building with a black roof. The houses were very very pretty and not as pricey as you would think when you converted them to USD. On our way back we stopped underneath a massive bridge and I needed to go to the bathroom. I went into the bush and as I was walking I kicked a leaf and exposed a gun on the side of the road!!! It really scared me so I ran back to Addison and told him. I used the bathroom elsewhere and we tried to find it again, but couldn't. We stopped at a flower reserve and saw some really pretty flowers too. We also got to see an African Penguin rehabilitation reserve that was super cool. They were feeding them when we got there and they are precious.
On Thursday we went around PE and studied urban conservation with two of the PhD students at NMMU. It was pretty interesting! They showed us a lot of areas that are home to certain plants that can only be found in South Africa and sometimes PE. The municipality is trying to conserve these areas, but they have to deal with social aspects and lack of funding. They showed us a park that stretches throughout PE, but that people have been too afraid to use because muggers used to hang out there.
It's been pouring here all weekend. It was a little disappointing because Addison and I were hoping to go to an elephant sanctuary. Yesterday we were working on our portfolio on campus and tried to call a cab to get home. They told us t would be an hour at least before they got to us so we walked the 20 minutes to the lodge IN THE RAIN. The only positive part of our walk was that I saw two frogs.
We leave for Addo Elephant park and Samara Nature Reserve tomorrow, but we are only doing a game drive in Addo :( :( :( This rain has brought a cold front, and Steve told us that when it's cold elephants hide in the brush so you can't really see them :( :( I'm crossing my fingers and toes that I get to FINALLY see an elephant face-to-face and not behind a cage... or else I may just go rogue and live the rest of my life in the brush of Addo.
We miss you guys! We have 6 more days in Africa and then it's back in the USA! Speaking of USA, I am so excited for the olympics!
Love Love LOVE, Natalia & Addison
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