South Africa Day 4

                On the fourth day in South Africa I went on an animal Safari. This was an early start for me and Hannah. We both were going on the same Safari which was going to be awesome, but we had to be on the bus 7:15am! YUCK. Oh well, the 2 and half hour bus ride was a nice nap for us.

                On the way to Aquila Game Reserve we passed acres and acres of grapes vineyards. Right now the vineyards at peak harvest time so there were thousands of grapes just hanging from the vines waiting to be picked. The tour guide on the bus was telling us all the different types of grapes there are and what they are all specifically used for. I think the thing that shocked me the most was: the grapes that are grown for export go through a rigorous check list and any grapes that don’t make it are sold to the locals. I think that is crazy. I know that it is this way because the softer grapes would never make it to places like America, but I still could not believe it.

                We finally arrived at the game reserve and we were greeted with local grape wine or grape juice served chilled. Since I’m not a drinker I tried the sparkling grape juice and wow it was delicious. I think it was the best tasting grape juice I had ever tried. I guess our tour guide wasn’t kidding when she told us that South African’s take their grapes very seriously. We all signed a wavier and then piled into a Safari Jeep. There was about 15 or so of us in each Jeep. Our tour guide for the reserve gave us a brief over view of the history of Aquila, and basic rules. Then we set off to see some wild animals.

                Our first stop was the Hippos, I think we counted 5. It is so strange they literally lay in the water completely covered with just their eyes and ears sticking out just like you see on TV. Our guide told us that if they are not moving they can stay underwater for up to 5 minutes, but only 2 or 3 if they are moving. Even though we did see a whole hippo out of the water they are huge! One of the hippos even yawned and burped at us. It was quite entertaining.

                Then we saw zebras, I lost count at almost 20. They are so beautiful in person. All of the zebras stripes were different just like people’s finger prints. While watching the zebras graze we came across a mom and her 1 year old baby. The baby was adorable, always looking for its mom and staying super close to her. We also saw a zebra that was pregnant. It was interesting to see how big a pregnant zebra can get. As we were leaving some of the zebras tried to follow us, but were quickly distracted by a pretty tree full of green leaves.

                Then we went and saw the rhinos. These 4 rhinos were white rhinos. Our guide was telling us that just 5 months ago some poachers snuck onto the reserve premises and killed their 2 male rhinos. Now they have 4 females and no one to mate them with. He also told us that they are searching desperately to find a male white rhino, but they are extremely rare. Here’s hoping that they do find one a quick. The 4 that we saw were gigantic. I could not believe how large rhinos actually are. There was a baby rhino who was a little over a year old and even she was huge! The baby actually stood up for us so we got to see how tall at least a baby rhino is, and it was about half the size of our jeep. The tour guide was telling us that to stay cool rhinos roll in dirt and boy were these rhinos covered in dirt.

                Our next animal was the elephant, my favorite. Here the currently only have 2 elephants and they are both male. So again, the guide was telling us how they are looking for a female elephant to mate the males with. These elephants were young, only 12 and 15. Did you know that elephants can live up into their 40’s? I just think that is so unique. I also learned that elephants can eat up to 2 tons a day. WOW! I think the final thing I learned about elephants was why they flap their ears. This is how elephants control their body temperature. So, if you see an elephant flapping its ears a lot then you will know that the elephant is hot.

                After a short water break we got back into the jeeps and headed over to see the lions. In the lion reserve we only saw one female lion even though they have 7 lions total. It was noon, and the hottest part of the day so it was difficult to spot the lions. The one we did see though was right by the road. She was just sleeping under a large green bush. She was so majestic looking. I could not believe I was really that close to a wild lion. I was close enough that I could count her teeth. I swear her teeth were almost as long as my pinky finger. I think my favorite part about her though were her eyes. Her eyes were sun kissed yellow with flecks of green in them. They showed her exhaustion, and comfort under this bush. Her eyes were only open for a brief time, but I have a picture of her eyes to try to capture the beauty I saw in them in person. Finally, her paws were humongous! I mean I thought my dad’s feet were big, but oh my goodness. Her paw was almost as big as my face in all seriousness. I couldn’t help but think how useful they were to her when she is hunting for food or climbing up the steep mountains in the reserve.

                After searching for the other lions and just could not find any, we decided to go look at some other lions that had just been rescued. On the way though, we ran into a group of wild ostrich and springbok. The ostrich tried to race our jeep which was very entertaining. If you can imagine a giant black and white bird running in front of your jeep going about 40 mph and it doesn’t seem the least bit worried you might hit it. That is kind of what this was like. Needless to say it was hilarious. Everyone in my jeep just sat there and laughed while taking video and pictures. We also ran into a rather large group of Springbok. Springbok is the national animal of South Africa. They get there name simply because when they run they actually spring in the air. It is so entertaining to watch these creatures spring all over the place!

                The last few things we saw were all new to the reserve. I saw cheetahs, giraffes, baboons, warthogs, and lions. All of these animals are new to the reserve so they are still being integrated. They were beautiful! I only hope that these animals can be reintroduced to the reserve soon to start reproducing and maintaining their wild characteristics.

                     When we got back Hannah and I got a little dressed up for dinner. We had decided that we had been wearing jeans a t-shirts for too long. So put on our Sunday best ( or something similar) and went out to dinner. We went to a restaurant called Hildebrand. It was so good. Now some of you know I am a little squeamish on trying new foods. However, on this day I tried Springbok which is a delicacy here in South Africa. It was one of the best red meats I have ever had. It was served with some vegetable that I don’t know what they were and mashed potatoes. Hannah and I both had it, and we both agree that it was a great success in the attempt to try a native food.

                We spent the evening outside listening to music and checking up on our email. Tomorrow would be a great day for me! Our last full day without ship time to do whatever it was we wanted to do.