Spring Break: SO much room for activities!

Kruger National Park
The first activity of the week was a 2-day safari at Kruger National Park. We started both mornings very early because we wanted to get to the park when the gates first opened and get a head start on the competition. Wake up time was 4:30 am the first day and 5:00 am the second day *sighs*. Needless to say, I was not excited about seeing any animals this early, especially since it was freezing cold outside. We loaded into the window-less safari trucks and started our long day of animal hunting. Well, for most of the day, only our tour guide was doing the hunting; everyone else in the truck was sleeping lol. We stayed on the safari ALL day. Literally. We only stopped to get off the truck twice, once to use the bathroom and a second time to eat lunch. Needless to say, it was an extremely long day. There was a lot of driving around and waiting for some action to happen, a lot of freezing because of the wind coming through the doors, a lot of dozing off, But we saw A LOT of animals!!!

In South Africa, there is what is known as THE BIG 5, and everyone hopes to see these particular animals while they are in the country. The BIG 5 consists of: Lions, Leopards, Buffalo, Elephants, and Rhinos. And guess what? We saw all 5 on the first day! (They say this is a rare accomplishment). Additionally, we saw antelopes, impalas, zebras, monkeys, baboons, hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, and even more. My favorite animal of the expedition, however, was the giraffe! I absolutely loved the giraffes. They are just so beautiful and elegant to me. If I could be any animal I would choose to be a giraffe (Yeah, it’s that serious lol).

Despite all the riding around aimlessly waiting for some action to happen, there was a lot of exciting moments during our journey. We saw the results of a lion killing (RIP to that poor buffalo), rode past a herd of buffalo (which was actually quite scary), saw a tribe of elephants taking a mud bath, and I learned a lot of interesting facts from our tour guide along the way.

After 2 days of being on the safari I was absolutely pooped. I really enjoyed the experience and loved seeing all of the animals that South Africa is known for, but would I do it again? ………….

Apartheid Museum
Whenever someone hears "South Africa", he or she immediately thinks of Nelson Mandela or Apartheid, but there is so much about Apartheid and South African history that is unknown.During our trip to Johannesburg we were awarded the opportunity to visit the Apartheid museum and be immersed in South African history. When we first arrived at the museum we received tickets that told us whether we were “white” or “non-white.” My ticket said “white,” so that is the entrance I had to use to enter the museum. The museum was filled with historical facts and information about Apartheid, and of course there was an entire section dedicated to Mr. Nelson Mandela. As you walk through the museum you travel through time from the inception of Apartheid in the 1940s to the rise of democracy in the 1990s. The museum had numerous artifacts that required a lot of reading, but I skipped around to the information that was interesting to me. Overall, the Apartheid museum held a sombre atmosphere. It was depressing to learn about the different ways racism was institutionalized in South Africa. For instance, there were laws that stated where you could live, where you could shop/work/etc, who you could marry, who you could have relations with, and what type of education you could receive.. all on the basis of racial classification. I couldn’t fathom living during apartheid and being blatantly ostracized and marginalized because of the color of my skin, and the fact that this situation is fairly recent made it even more hard to swallow. One of my colleagues, Teddy, told me that the museum made him angry, and I could definitely see how.

The image to the left is one of the many artifacts in the Apartheid Museum that really caught my attention. Although this quote is from 1950, I am not convinced that this popular belief has changed since then. Having been in South Africa for over 2 months now, I have learned that there is still racism and inequality in this country. Although nobody wants to say it, the white man is STILL considered the master in South Africa today. This image reminds me that racism is deeply rooted in South Africa's history and it is going to take much longer to repair the damage done under the Apartheid regime.

Soweto: South Africa’s Largest Township

One of my favorite activities of spring break was our visit to Soweto. So far I have visited two townships in Cape Town (Langa and Gugulethu), but Soweto is the most infamous township in South Africa because of the Soweto Uprising in 1976 (mass protests erupted over the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than English). I was excited to learn more about its history and interact with some of the residents of the neighborhood. When we arrived in Soweto, we met our host for the day, Lebo. He was really nice and energetic, so I knew we were going to have a wonderful time spending the day/night at his house. Additionally, I knew immediately that he was passionate about where he is from because the first thing I noticed was a huge “SOWETO” tattoo on his forearm.

While in Soweto, Lebo and some of his friends from the neighborhood took us on a bike tour through the township! I thought this was going to be a typical tour where the tour guides just talk about the history of the area blah blah blah, but I was definitely surprised to learn that it was nothing like what I expected. The tour was very interactive and we made a lot of fun pit stops along the way, which helped me to catch my breath. We visited Nelson Mandela’s former home, visited the memorial for the children who were killed by police officers on what is now known as Youth Day in S. Africa, made a stop at a local tavern to learn some Zulu African dances and drink some homemade JoBurg beer *yuck*, and last but not least we ate more sheep’s head! My favorite part of the tour was having the opportunity to play with some of the children and speak to the residents in the township.



Maropeng Museum: Cradle of Humankind

On our last day in Johannesburg we began our morning with a stop to the

Nelson Mandela's handprints

Cradle of Humankind. This museum was about the evolution of the world and people overtime, the four elements (water/air/fire/earth), human anatomy, protecting our environment.. EVERYTHING, basically! There were a lot of things I found interesting and equally as many things that I found quite boring. The best part of the museum was a short boat ride that allowed us to experience each of the 4 elements first hand. It almost felt like a ride at an amusement park. There was also tunnel that you had to walk through that made you dizzy and everyone got a kick out of it! The rest of the museum was pretty generic and had different exhibits with statistics about humans and life. I took pictures of all the things I thought were interesting! (More pics coming soon)




Riding Dirty: Segwati Ranch Quad biking

Chantal on the quad bike

The last activity of our spring break trip was a visit to the middle of nowhere, literally. We pulled up at Segwati Ranch and they told us we were going to go quad biking. I had never done it before, but it sounded pretty exciting to me. I was in the 3^rd group, so I had to wait 2 hours until it was my turn to go. After the first group got done they came back to the group completely dirty from head to toe. Oh Lawd, I definitely was not prepared for this! I had to quickly layer up in some clothes that I didn’t mind getting dirty and change my shoes. Okay, now I’m ready! When it was my group’s turn to go, the instructor gave us a quick tutorial on how to drive the bikes and we ready to hit the trail. We rode the quad bikes around the ranch for about an hour, but it felt like only 15 minutes (I guess time flies when you’re having fun). It was soo exhilarating! Going over bumps, dips, driving through rocks.. I felt like a bandit lol. This was definitely a great way to end the trip.

Table Mountain 

After hiking up Lions Head Mountain last month, I decided that was the last time I was going to hike up a mountain. Ever! Lol. Nevertheless, I could not pass up the opportunity to climb one of South Africa’s most notorious mountains, Table Mountain. I mean, You only live once, right? Well this was yet another great experience! On Saturday, September 08, 2012, 7 members of my study abroad group and I decided to take a hike to Table Mountain. Hearing so many great reviews about the view of Cape Town from the top of the mountain made me anxious to complete this task and for a second I forget about the actual strenuous activity required to reach the top. It was such a beautiful day, and we definitely were not the only ones who had this idea. We began our hike early in the afternoon and soon our group of 8 became four groups of 2. My partner for the hike was Teddy, and I’m glad because he really motivated me to keep going until I reached the top. I wanted to stop every 5 minutes. Literally! Lol but he would not let me give up. Overall, the hike was definitely a test of my endurance, but every drop of sweat was worth it once I reached the top!! We did it!! Not to mention, the view from up there was absolutely amazing! We were so high I could look down and see clouds below us. After hiking all the way up the mountain, we were pretty tired so we decided to take the easy way down. We bought a ticket to take the cable cars back to land and enjoyed the scenery as we were easily lowered back down to the ground.

Spring Break in South Africa has been wonderful! Now it's time to get back to the books and stay focused for the remainder of the semester.