We just recently had our very last all AIFS excursion. ‘Twas
sad, but that trip was ridiculous, so that made up for it. We ventured into the
wild unknown that is the Kalahari Desert. The part of the Kalahari where we
were was right at the border between Namibia, South Africa, and Botswana. Here
is a brief rundown of what all we did.
Day 1
- We left Stellenbosch at around
9pm on a huge safari truck. I’m not really sure what exactly it was, so I’m
going to go with “safari truck.
- It took us about 14 hours to get
there, so we all slept for the vast majority of the ride.
- Once we got there, we had a
walking tour of part of the desert with a few of the San people, an indigenous
people of Africa. They showed us some of the edible plants, and their meaning
and such. It would have been more fun if it wasn’t so freaking hot outside, but
I mean, I am in Africa.
Day 2
-
Game Drive Day!
-
We left our camp site bright and early (or
rather, dark and early) the next morning to go on our game drive!
-
Pretty much our whole day consisted of driving
around looking for animals, and I’d say we were pretty successful!
-
Here are some of the animals we saw:
o Leopard!
(apparently very rarely seen, so we were lucky)
o Cheetahs!
(we watched them kill a springbok and drag him under a tree and nom on him for
a bit)
o Giraffes!
(They cam every close to us, which also apparently pretty rare)
o Springbok!
o Gemsbok!
o Steenbok!
o Red
Hartebeest!
o Blue
Wildebeest!
-
We tried our very hardest to find a lion, but to
no avail.
Day 3
-
We packed up out tents to head to our new
campsite, but made a few stops on the way.
-
First stop: the weirdest boat ride ever
o We
hopped on what seemed to be a wannabe booze cruise. They played a combination
of Afrikaans pop and things that one might hear on radio Disney. The “captain”
kept spinning the boat around in circles despite the cries of despair from the
passengers. The whole thing was super weird.
-
Next was the Augrabies Falls. We walked up to
the falls and saw many a dassie on the way. For those of you who don’t know,
the dassie is probably the greatest animal in the world. It is the closest
living relative to the elephant, though you wouldn’t know by looking at it, and
they are hella cute. We got to the falls right at sunset and it was perfect. We
could even see the Namibian border! All was well until Corie dropped one of her
crutches down the cliff and into the falls, then we figured it was time to head
back to camp.
-
At night, we did a fun little activity called
“Fines Night.” It was fantastic. Essentially, people write fines for you for
saying something stupid, or doing something silly. All of our fines were read
out loud, and then we funneled from a vuvuzela. A few of my fines included:
o Taking
motion sickness to a whole new level
o Not
knowing how to ride a bicycle
o Telling
an inappropriate story without realizing our guide was right behind me.
Day 4
-
White Water Rafting!
o First
thing in the morning we donned our swimsuits and headed down to the Orange
River for some rafting!
o Bernie
was my partner and we were with Julie and Kristen in the guide’s boat, so we
were the first to go down every rapid and we didn’t capsize once! The weather
was perfect and the water was cool, it was perfect for a quick dip. It was my
first time ever rafting and I loved it.
o After
we got back to camp, we backed up and got on the road back to Stellenbosch
Overall, I’d say it was a very successful safari. Dare I say
we bonded even more? This trip was just one more reminder of how much I love
the people I’m here with, and how much I’m going to miss them when we get home.
Although it will be much easier to visit them than my South African friends
since we’re in the same, y’know, hemisphere.
-
G
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