So as one of the final long weekends of the semester (yay for public holidays) me and my friend Kelly decided to go see a little more of the province that we have been living in all semester, Kwa-Zulu Natal. In our handy dandy backpackers guide we found out about this cool little town called St. Lucia next to this World Heritage Site of a wetlands reserve. We also found out that coincidentally there were three other kids from New York going there that weekend.
We rented a car and listened to our amazing mix cds left over from spring break. 4 hours up the coast we came to this cute little beachy town with one main street and some shops and restaurants. It looked very similar to Northern Michigan and very wet. I went straight to the beach and hung out there for the afternoon. We made dinner and roasted marshmallows over the barbecue and relaxed. The next day the five of us drove into the nature reserve and went on all these little dirt paths to see all types of animals. Many of them looked a lot like
deer, but were called Bush bock, and a bunch of other deer like things with horns. They were everywhere. We saw a ton of Zebras, monkeys and we watched hippos with their little eyes peaking out for hours. We drove to this cool beach called Cape Vidal and took naps in the sun. Then drove back and saw some rhinos and even more animals. It was like our own little self guided safari with a lot of picture taking and screaming "look here" "look there". It was really fun and exciting because every animal we saw we felt that we were the only people who had ever seen them. The lion king soundtrack played continuously in my head the whole day. Everyone was starting to get a little annoyed "from the day we arrived on this planet..."
We came back and me and Kelly went on a date to an Italian restaurant in town and wondered around. It was
one of the safest places i have been in since we got here. Lot of people out and cool things to look at. We searched for a pay phone for about an hour to call Josh on his birthday, but no luck. I guess it is the thought that counts.
The last day, Sunday, was the craziest. We woke up early and went kayaking with crocodiles and hippos. It was the scariest thing EVER! We were about 10 feet from some crocidiles and they would slide creapily into the water and then you couldn't see them anymore. They were huge and their little beady eyes would sit on the top of the water and stare at me and i almost pooped my pants. I kept telling the guide there was a crocidile right there and he was like "calm down" but serisouly... they were RIGHT there. I couldn't believe it. Then there was two "pods" of hippos. which i guess are extremely territorial. There was a mom and a baby that we had to wait for a really long time for them to move a couple feet so we could get around them. It is hard to tell how many there are because they are mostly underwater, but we were right next to a pod of about 15 hippos. In the water with them! It was wayy to scary. Then we went to the other area of the lake which mostly just had birds, but he did mention there were sharks in that area. I don't know what is wrong with me and why i thought it was a good idea to go on this tour. I guess i was thinking kayaking with crocidiles sounds cool... my heart rate was certainly up around 20,000. When we finally finished i started to break normally. It was living life on the edge, thats for sure, something i have been doing a lot lately...
The final activity of the weekend was snorkeling out at the cape. We drove about 2 hours through the nature reserve again and saw some more really cool animals. I am really bummed i can't upload my pictures because they are absolutely spectacular. When i get home i will have to do some major uploading. Sweet pictures, really really sweet. We snorkely and saw tons of really pretty yellow and irridesant fish on these rocks. It was pretty rough water but i felt like i was in my own little world floating on top of the water. It was really relaxing. The su
n went down around 5.30 or 6 there so we headed back. On the way back we saw a white and a black rhino. It was seriously the most insane drive. We also almost ran into a big herd of zebras. Only in Africa right?
We rented a car and listened to our amazing mix cds left over from spring break. 4 hours up the coast we came to this cute little beachy town with one main street and some shops and restaurants. It looked very similar to Northern Michigan and very wet. I went straight to the beach and hung out there for the afternoon. We made dinner and roasted marshmallows over the barbecue and relaxed. The next day the five of us drove into the nature reserve and went on all these little dirt paths to see all types of animals. Many of them looked a lot like
deer, but were called Bush bock, and a bunch of other deer like things with horns. They were everywhere. We saw a ton of Zebras, monkeys and we watched hippos with their little eyes peaking out for hours. We drove to this cool beach called Cape Vidal and took naps in the sun. Then drove back and saw some rhinos and even more animals. It was like our own little self guided safari with a lot of picture taking and screaming "look here" "look there". It was really fun and exciting because every animal we saw we felt that we were the only people who had ever seen them. The lion king soundtrack played continuously in my head the whole day. Everyone was starting to get a little annoyed "from the day we arrived on this planet..."We came back and me and Kelly went on a date to an Italian restaurant in town and wondered around. It was
one of the safest places i have been in since we got here. Lot of people out and cool things to look at. We searched for a pay phone for about an hour to call Josh on his birthday, but no luck. I guess it is the thought that counts.The last day, Sunday, was the craziest. We woke up early and went kayaking with crocodiles and hippos. It was the scariest thing EVER! We were about 10 feet from some crocidiles and they would slide creapily into the water and then you couldn't see them anymore. They were huge and their little beady eyes would sit on the top of the water and stare at me and i almost pooped my pants. I kept telling the guide there was a crocidile right there and he was like "calm down" but serisouly... they were RIGHT there. I couldn't believe it. Then there was two "pods" of hippos. which i guess are extremely territorial. There was a mom and a baby that we had to wait for a really long time for them to move a couple feet so we could get around them. It is hard to tell how many there are because they are mostly underwater, but we were right next to a pod of about 15 hippos. In the water with them! It was wayy to scary. Then we went to the other area of the lake which mostly just had birds, but he did mention there were sharks in that area. I don't know what is wrong with me and why i thought it was a good idea to go on this tour. I guess i was thinking kayaking with crocidiles sounds cool... my heart rate was certainly up around 20,000. When we finally finished i started to break normally. It was living life on the edge, thats for sure, something i have been doing a lot lately...
The final activity of the weekend was snorkeling out at the cape. We drove about 2 hours through the nature reserve again and saw some more really cool animals. I am really bummed i can't upload my pictures because they are absolutely spectacular. When i get home i will have to do some major uploading. Sweet pictures, really really sweet. We snorkely and saw tons of really pretty yellow and irridesant fish on these rocks. It was pretty rough water but i felt like i was in my own little world floating on top of the water. It was really relaxing. The su
n went down around 5.30 or 6 there so we headed back. On the way back we saw a white and a black rhino. It was seriously the most insane drive. We also almost ran into a big herd of zebras. Only in Africa right?
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