Kruger 3 day Safari

One of the SAS trips I was most looking forward to was the 3-day safari. Our group of 40 couldn’t all get on the same flight so we were split between a 6:30am departure and an 8:30am departure. I was pleased that I was on the 8:30 flight until I got a call from our field office coordinator at 6:29 telling me that the travel agent made a mistake and I was only the early flight and that I needed to be on the bus in 3 minuets. Seriously! I had packed before going to the bar the evening prior but some of the other 5 students who got the same early call were not so lucky. One student on my jeep ended up only have shorts and t-shirts- and it got pretty cool at times. I think he learned to pack the night before.

After my heart rate returned to normal and I was on the bus to the airport I was excited for our adventure to begin. We had a short layover in Johannesburg before making our way to Nelspruit, in northeastern South Africa. Our layover in J-burg allowed the late group on a direct flight to arrive in Nelsrpuit just moments before us. We all got on the bus and made way to our hotel, the Sabi River Sun Resort which was amazing. After getting situated we climbed into our safari jeeps and made the short drive to the Kruger National Park for our sunset safari

Kruger is the largest game reserve in South Africa covering 7,332 sq miles from north to south and 37 miles from east to west. All the Big Five game animals are found at Kruger National Park, which has more species of mammals than any other African Game Reserve.
As of 2009, the park has counted approximately:
27,000 African Buffalo
350 African Hunting Dogs
350 Black Rhinoceros
4,509 White Rhinoceros
17,797 Burchell's Zebras
500 Bushbucks
200 Cheetahs
300 Common Eland
5,114 Giraffes
5,798 Greater Kudus
3,000 Hippopotamus
1,500 Lions
1,000 Leopards
2,000 Spotted Hyenas
11,672 Elephants
5,000 Waterbuck
9,612 Blue Wildebeest
90,000 Impalas

While I can’t say that I saw all of the animals I am pretty sure I saw all 90,000 impalas. When we began our driver joked that he couldn’t guarantee that we’ll see any animals besides the impalas and we quickly figured out why. They were everywhere. They were the first animal we saw and appropriately so we were very excited but by the end of the three days the impala received no love from my jeep.

The first sunset safari was great and we saw most of the big 5, including a lioness sitting on a rock in the sun. One of the ship psychologists was in my jeep with me and the students were a good bunch. We had a great time and laughed a lot along the way. Getting back to our hotel for dinner we were spoiled with an amazing BBQ and complementary drinks. Some of the students and I watched the soccer games and enjoyed some South African beer before calling it a night. I took a few moments to go outside look up at the clear sky and full moon and as I tried to soak in the experience that I may never have again. Like many times already on this journey I asked ‘what is my life? How fortunate am I?!” I went back to my room and made a few brief phone calls to folks back in the states and fell asleep after an incredible day.

While not trying to disregard the great experience the next day and a half were more of the same, driving through the park, seeing amazing animals and beautiful vistas. One of the highlights of day two was seeing a pack of lions feeding on something they had just killed. While it was rather gruesome as we could hear the lioness ripping the muscle and hide and the breaking of bones of her lunch it was truly intriguing to see animals surviving, as they only know how. Sad to leave but excited to further explore Cape Town we left the hotel and made our way back to the airport for our flight back. I took over 200 photos so i'll share a few of them here with any more on facebook.





The early morning proved to be a challenge for our group so we took turns sleeping between animal sightings


While the impala is a pretty animal, they were everywhere and we lost interest in them just as much as they did of us.
Hi monkey!

South Africa: Octo-beard and Day 1

Before I begin my story of South Africa, I must first welcome you all to October. With October upon us I have decided not to shave for the month and in doing such I am growing an Octo-beard. I’ll be giving updates all month long. (As if I didn’t say enough in my blogs already)

Ok- down to the business at hand:

Amazing, beautiful, wonderful, what else can I say about our arrival to South Africa. If you have been reading along by now you know the drill: wake up early, meet A and E and wait for the sun to rise and our arrival into XYZ port. This time we had a lot of students join us and to be honest I was a little bitter, as if the three of us owned the sun rise experience and the rest of the people joining us are only doing it because they heard how amazing the arrival into Cape Town was. (I’m working with our shipboard psychologist to get over my issues but I am not there yet.)



Anyway, like I said it was beautiful. With a cheer from the students the sun quickly rose and South Africa began its day. We passed Robben Island where Nelson Mandela served his jail sentence; we could see Table Mountain and the soccer stadium, which will hold the World Cup next year. Our arrival into the V&A Waterfront Port was great. No more shuttles or mile walks to the port gates, no more cargo ships next to us. We were literally docked outside a mall and I have the credit card bill to prove it.

The first day I walked the waterfront with A, E, and G checking out the mall, listening to street musicians, buying souvenirs and researching the great South African wine we would enjoy over the next few days and weeks. Now, we have reached the point in the journey where I have begun to miss some things and all week I had been saying how I wanted nachos, so imagine my joy when a group of us went to dinner and they had nachos on the menu! It was a magical experience. The group of us had a great time as usual, loving our first dinner off the ship after a long voyage from Ghana.

After dinner E, G, and I went out to a hookah bar and sure enough our ‘grown ups’ evening was crashed by a group of students as we heard our names screamed from across the bar. Remember the feelings of seeing your third grade teacher outside of school for the first time. It’s like that the first time students see us off the ship in every port. We said ‘Hello’ then tried our best to ignore them and carry on with our conversation and hookah. A while later the students left and we soon did as well, heading for another bar a few blocks away.

The second bar was fun but it didn’t take long to realize that this time, we had come across our students. At that point we threw caution to the wind and knew that we couldn’t win. We danced with them a bit and enjoyed our drinks responsibly while encouraging them to do the same. E, G, and I made our rounds checking out the different levels of the bar and chatted with some locals up on the rooftop patio before I had to surrender for the evening because, you guessed it, I had an early start the next morning.

A Military Escort

For our last day in Ghana I went back into town for lunch and shopping with Ana. The street vendors figured us out very quickly and asked Ana and I if we were from the ship. They told us that many students had purchased things from them and that they would even give us ‘last day deals.’ I bought a few small items but was saying ‘No, thank you’ much more than ‘Yes, please.’ While we had stopped for lunch the sky opened up and a short but heavy rain storm passed through prompting Ana and I to enjoy our spicy chicken sandwich and cokes at a very slow and casual pace.

The rain passed and we continued with our shopping before getting in a cab to take us to the grocery store and post office. The drive was another exercise in faith and fear; a number of the roads had turned into rivers and at best were dotted with small lakes. The cab driver was great and while he did have to ask where the grocery store was multiple times he was patient as I ran in to purchase my two bottles of wine. Going into the grocery store alone was a neat experience and being the only white person in there made it even more so.

Upon reaching the port gate the cab driver could go no further. So Ana and I got out walked through the gates and proceeded to look for the SAS shuttle from the gate to dock 11 where the ship was. Realizing that we had come in a different gate than normal I was prepared to walk but Ana started to ask around as to where we got the shuttle. Various gentlemen in military uniform said they didn’t know anything about a shuttle. Ana explained that we were on the Semester At Sea ship and that we had a shuttle from the gate to the ship. We were passed off to a few different people. "Oh, the tourist vessel" we heard in reply.

We were told to stay where we were and some time later a cab was brought in for us. We told the guy that we were not going to pay a cab and asked if we could just walk to the ship. After a slight hesitation he finally gave us the 'okay' and we began the mile walk to dock 11. While we received many inquiring glances as we did not have a reflective vest on and clearly didn't belong there we just kept walking making way for semi trucks and other equipment. Along the way we were happy to find a duty fee shop and used the opportunity to spend the rest of our cedi. Ana got some chocolate and I got a case of coke. Feeling inspired by the culture and more so my weak arms, I chose to carry my soda on my head.

Overall I was pleasently surprised by my time in Ghana. I really didn't know what to expect so maybe that helped. As our interport student told us, the Ghanaians are very friendly. From tour guides and children, to street vendors and waiters everyone had a wonderful smile on their face and was happy to help. Of the three ports so far I think Ghana would be for first place that I would return to.

The next day we crossed the equator and had a big ceremony to mark to occasion but I'll save that story for next time.

Cape Town here we come!
Cheers,
P

Vlota Eco-Adventure Part 2

Following a day of hiking and waterfalls we went to Tafi Atome, a village that has created a tourist attraction and thus economic support for itself thanks to the monkeys that live there. Before we went on our monkey hike we walked to a school just across a small field where with the help of Sam our amazing guide we sang our Ewe song for the students and after the first time through the song the students joined us. Not so surprisingly this was one of the greatest moments of the tip for me and even writing about it gives me goose bumps.

We went on our way allowing the students to get back to class. With just a short walk into the forest monkeys came right to us and took bananas out of our hands. If we held on tight enough the monkey would just peal the banana and take a chunk of it before climbing back up in the tree and enjoying the snack. It was a lot of fun and the students got some great pictures.

Walking out of the forest we went through the village where we saw two men making kente cloth. It was interesting to watch and the long strings come together to make beautiful patterns. Back where we started we once again came to the school allowing for great interactions with the young people of the community. We learned that school age girls all must shave their head and keep their hair short, a way to level the economic playing field in the school via hair care methods. Additionally the students wore uniforms. With that it was back on the bus to begin the journey back to the ship. We stopped for a nice lunch and made it home problem free.


That evening I went into town with Shira, one of the psychologists on the ship. We had a great time walking around town looking at the shops, having a drink and dinner. While having drinks a man in a wheel chair approached us trying to sell jewelry. We spoke for some time and told him about the ship and that he should go to our shuttle point where students were being dropped off every hour. I saw him the next day and he remembered me and thanked me for the suggestion saying that he sold a lot of items to the students.

Accra is not a normal cruise ship destination but SAS is not a normal cruise ship. I heard that the arrival of our ship brought the largest number of white people that Accra had ever seen at any one time . While I don’t know the validity of that nugget of information it is interesting to consider.

Volta Eco-adventure part 1: A crappy situation.

Wednesday morning was another early start as we boarded our bus heading to the Volta Region for an eco-adventure tour. While the bus ride was longer than anticipated I was on the small 15-passenger van as opposed to the other 50-passenger bus and our guide Sam was amazing. He taught us a handful of words in Ewe (one of the many different languages of Ghana, although English is the national language, a result of being colonized by the British) as well as a traditional song. On our way to Mount Afagjato, we stopped at a small village while the large bus stopped someplace to pick up our boxed lunches. The village was exactly what I felt I had missed out on in Morocco, a genuine cultural interaction. Curious children walked up the hill to greet us and slowly the adults joined as well inviting us down to see their small fishing village along side the river. Children ran around and some almost jumping into our arms along the way. The children loved having their pictures taken and seeing it after.

A short time later we were back on the bus approaching the location of our hike. The rainy season has just ended in Ghana and the dirt roads show the damage of the season. While our driver Moufaw was excellent we got stuck in the mud at one point so we all had to jump out and help push. The large bus behind us seemed to unload as well with fellow SASers taking pictures and offering their pushing power. With a few strong “Heave Ho’s’ we were out and without any damage besides one very muddy shoe (not my own). The situation was a fun part of the adventure and actually served as a nice team builder for us (Yea, I said it)

Not long after we arrived to Mount Afadjato we realized that the hike was more strenuous than we were anticipating. The field guide description only said “climb to the highest point of Ghana, without the need for climbing gear.” Ok, so maybe gear was not need but rope handrails were provided in multiple locations. A number of our students struggled and I heard one student who was not wearing appropriate shoes say that she didn’t even know we were hiking. I wanted to punch her in the face, but more on her later. At that point I was very thankful for the fact that we did not have any life long learners on our trip. It was pretty hot and most of us worked up a very good sweat by the end of it. Taking my time to support the students who were struggling along the way I had to check my ego as I finally reached the summit and students were congratulating us for finally making it up and some already on their way back down.

The view was nice and in the distance we could see the waterfall that we would soon be standing under. On the way down I had some nice conversation with Bridget and MacGarret, two other LLCs about our next job opportunities and our experience so far on the voyage. The student who wore the bad shoes had some trouble as her body fought back against the lunch she had eaten. While we hiked a bit down the mountain to give her space to take care of things she yelled down to us “Can we keep this a secret?” As didn’t respond to her request I don’t feel guilty sharing this story but don’t tell anyone I told you.

When I thought the hike could not get anymore amusing the guide’s cell phone began to ring. His ring tone, My Heart Will Go On, and no it was not just cheap digital ringtone, it was the Celine Dion Oscar winning, downloaded ring tone. 1- I was amazed that he has service in the middle of nowhere Ghana and 2 – this huge Ghanaian brick house of a guy actually had My Heart Will Go On for his ring tone! MacGarret and I were fighting back the laughs so much so that we almost faced the same ugly fate as our previously mentioned student.

Back on the bus and after a short drive to the waterfall we had another 45min walk through the Agumatsa Forest Reserve to the Wli Waterfalls. Bridget and I again found our way at the back of our group and took our time taking photos and having great conversations along the way. When we finally made it to the falls the students were already making the most of it, climbing the rocks and standing under the 1,600 foot falls. It was a wild experience walking backwards into a waterfall while shielding my eyes trying to keep any visibility I could. The spray was hitting me with quite a bit of force and felt like I was being sand blasted. Some compared it to being in a hurricane or a monsoon but it seemed that everyone agreed that it was a great way to cool down after the hot and exhausting hike.

Back to the bus one last time on our way to the hotel, day quickly turned to night as being so close to the equator they don’t have any day light savings time business. The sun rises around 6am and sets around 6pm, no ifs and or buts about it. Without fail I existed someplace between asleep and barely coherent on the bus ride. We finally arrived to our hotel and had dinner much later than expected but it was a great meal. I spent sometime journaling and watching BBC world news before falling asleep after a great day.

Ghana, who knew?!

After leaving Morocco a week prior and sailing down the coast of Africa the MV Explorer approached Ghana Tuesday morning. As per usual Ana, Eddie and I met in the faculty lounge to welcome the sunrise as we approached our new city. Similar to Morocco the weather was not on our side. When we stepped outside at 5:40am we were met with a wall of fog, we could not even see the water in front on the ship. We went back inside and waited for the morning coffee and tea service as a few other staff members joined us.Slowly the fog burned off and we could see the sun already making its way overhead although we could not yet see the city.

As the ship made progress and land came into view the number of students, faculty and staff increased. Our inter-port student Nii was with us and as we approached, he was looking at his home country from the sea for the first time and he had tears in his eyes. Captain Jeremy worked his way through a mess of cargo ships and fishing boats when suddenly we took a sharp turn and went back out to sea. We actually circled three times and I said that Captain Jeremy was just doing donuts in the parking lot. Over breakfast many jokes were heard about what a great time we had in Ghana, how time seemed to go by so quickly and that we had forgotten to let our student and faculty guests from Ghana get off the ship. Finally almost two hours late we finally made it to the port. It was another industrial port, similar to Morocco and it was less than welcoming.

That afternoon I took a SAS city tour and enjoyed myself quite a bit. We saw a lot of the big landmarks in Accra including the memorial for Ghana’s first president and the one time home and now museum for W.E.B. Dubois, the founder of the NAACP.
President Obama visited Accra not too long ago and a handful of welcome billboards were still up around town. We saw the outdoor venue where Obama spoke at which is not far from the football (soccer) stadium. The memorial for the first president Nkrumah is pretty impressive. His grave is in a structure that represents a tree trunk symbolizing the life of Nkrymah that was cut short. The W.E.B. Dubois home featured a number of his artifacts and mementos of his wide array of accomplishments.

Traffic in Accra while not quite as challenging as I found Casablanca’s was still a sight to see. Unlike the scooters, bikes, and occasional horse carriages of Casablanca, Accra was much more vehicle heavy. Cabs seemed to rule the city. Marked with yellow corner panels, they didn’t seem concerned with traffic lanes or leaving a safe space between cars. It was do what ever you needed to do to get where you were going. I would never survive driving there. Before returning to the ship we made a short visit to a market area to allow for some shopping. Upon my return to the ship I joined some of my colleagues for a very amusing dinner where we processed our first day in Ghana and then it was off to bed early preparing for a long two days ahead.

Cheers,
P

We'll always have Marrakech: Part 3

As the students arrived to the camp and dismounted their camels a group of nomads dressed in white went out to welcome them with Moroccan music. It was immediately reminiscent of our experience at Chez Ali the evening prior but these people looked far more interested in being there in comparison. Some Berber tribe/nomadic people set up the camp. This camp was a mixture of 3 large dining tents and 30 smaller tents each sleeping 6 people. It was literally a small village for about 200 people. They even set up a bathroom/shower area right outside the camp.

As the sun began to set many of us went to the hill just outside of our camp to take photos and enjoy the experience of a true Saharan sunset. The crew broke their daily fast and had their dinner before we were served a fantastic meal seemingly made out of nowhere.

Following dinner we again found our way on to the carpets in the center of the camp and continued to enjoy each others company while the nomads performed and eventually encouraging us to join them in dancing. When it was time to get some sleep many of the students decided to pull the mats from the tents into the center of the camp or sleep in the large tents on the couches. It almost seems strange to me that I can say I slept under the stars in the Sahara but it was truly beautiful. While I can’t say that I had a peaceful nights sleep it was all a part of the experience and sooner that I would have liked it was time to get up for sunrise.

After a simple breakfast of bread and honey the students got back on their camels while Ana, Eddie and I stayed back to make sure that things were taken care of at camp. With the all clear we got in the crew jeep and were driven back to the buses to await the pack of students. Fortunately my dear Louaine also had the same idea and took the jeep back with us. Back on the bus it was another 9-hour drive back to Marrakech with a few pit stops and a lunch break.

I was excited to get back to Marrakech and check into our hotel for a hot shower that turned out to be a fair bit less than hot but at least I was clean. It wasn’t long before Eddie, Steven and I got a call from Ana and our faculty trip leader Cindy who were down stairs ready for dinner. We found this restaurant that looked pretty simple on the outside but inside looked like the Garden of Babylon. It was beautiful. We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed the local red wine, of which I purchased two bottles of the next day. I ate duck for the first time and I am proud to say that I cleared plate. After a long diner and great conversation we headed back to our hotel feeling exhausted but at the same time energized by our experience in Marrakech.

It all seemed strange that just a few days prior I was in Spain enjoying all the sangria I could and then I had just spent a night in the Sahara after riding camel back. Having our first two ports back to back was a bit disorienting in some ways. Perhaps as we continue we will ‘rebound’ faster but after 4 days in Spain, 1 on the ship then in jumping right into Morocco it was daunting. Many of us were still processing our experience when we were thrust into a new one. I guess that is just part of the journey.