South African Travels, Day 5

When I look back over how early I woke up the last two days, it makes me laugh- if only because today, I had to wake up at 3:45 to be ready to go by 4:30 AM. That hour later certainly looks pretty good right now!

We all got up, got ready, and went to breakfast. At 4:30, we loaded up the bus (minus our 3 people who went back to Lydenburg) and headed to Kruger National Park (side note: the bus was much more comfortable with the extra space!).

On the way, when it was starting to get a little lighter outside, we suddenly stopped on a bridge. I thought we were just taking in the serene view of the water and the mountains, with the electric backdrop of the houses around, in the early morning light.

So peaceful

Then, I looked over the bridge to a sandbar in the water.

I wonder if they are hungry hungry.

There were hippos. And a crocodile. And I thought the bayous in Katy were filled with scary things? (PS, they are- there are alligators and snakes).

We continued on and got into the park shortly before the sun came up, which meant that a lot of animals were out enjoying the cool morning and looking for breakfast.

Impalas hanging out

As the rainy season was going on, the vegetation was lush, which made finding critters a bit harder.

There could be anything out there...

As we drove around a corner, we were met by several impalas that seemed to be running for their lives. We stopped, watching them disappear into the brush, wondering if something was chasing them. Suddenly, Poemie, our driver, shouted "Wild dogs! Wild dogs!" and hit he accelerator, charging further down the road.

There are only about 300 wild dogs left in the wild. They are incredibly rare to see, which is the reason for his excitement. Spoiler alert: we ended up seeing about 30 today. Amazing.

There were four standing in an open space right next to the road. We parked and turned the engine off and just watched them for a while.

What do you hear with those big ears?

Beautiful

What are you looking at?

Suddenly, some invisible cue was given, and they were off on the hunt:

Oppan border collie style

We drove back to where we had seen the impalas, and we saw the dogs run by, but they disappeared back into the brush. We headed in the direction they had gone and came upon these guys:

Just some grass hanging out of my mouth, nothing to see here

These are Cape buffalo. They may look docile, but these guys are some of the meanest guys on the planet. They have been known to stalk people hunting them, even if they are injured. Go to YouTube and watch "Battle at Kruger" and you will see how persistent they are (you will also see lionesses fight over a buffalo calf with a crocodile). We wondered if we were going to see another battle at Kruger, but this time between the buffalo and the dogs.

The buffalo moved on, and we went back to where we had last seen the wild dogs. They were back, but we had missed their kill. They had gotten an impala and were enjoying being full/gnawing on the skull. And they did NOT care about all of the cars and people watching them.

Just our every day routine

Nom nom nom

Hanging out with me

 We eventually moved down the road and found our buffalo hanging out how they do:

So picturesque...

Sup.

We continued on and stumbled upon more impala (a common theme in Kruger). But suddenly, elephants!

You picked the wrong neighborhood

Back off!

The elephant above kind of circled around us, and, even in a van, I was very aware of her power should she decide she no longer wanted us so close. Fortunately, after giving us a few hard looks, she disappeared into the trees.

Throughout the trip, we stopped for many birds. I have a ton of pictures of them, which I am not going to upload here. But, there are many beautiful species living on that great continent that were certainly fun to see. During one of our many bird stops, another jeep pulled up next to us, and a girl asked what we were looking at. Someone replied, "Birds", to which she responded, "Birds?!" and then drove off. Oh well.

We saw many zebra, including this cute guy:

Mommy said don't talk to strangers...

Even more impala:

Excellent camouflage skills

 This rhino:

Hey guys, how's it going?

 Wildebeest (my favorite):

Classic livestock pose

Sleepy heads

And kudu, but I'll save them for later. We stopped at a little rest area that had shops and bathrooms, and it was there that I made a discovery. In Texas, we have pigeons and crows pilfering our picnic tables. In Africa, they have these:

Bad Zazu!

We left there and came upon giraffes:

Being one with the trees

More kudu:

My, what big ears you have!

And waterbuck (Rebecca decided these animals had no business in Africa due to the white target they have on their butts):

Pretty boy

We then arrived at a look out point in the park where you could get out and take pictures of the fantastic views:

"NAAAANTS INGONYAMAAAAA!"

 Upon leaving the look-out, we stumbled upon these fun looking vervets:

I think the middle one is considering using the top one's tail as a swing

But then, a little bit further, the decision makers of the jungle:

Terrifying

 I'm serious, a group of baboons is called a "congress". Lololol.

This guy is really cool, so I'm including him here:

So noble

And who doesn't want to see a hippo out of water? Me, unless I'm in the safety of a vehicle.

I'm like 'em chunky.

We ran into more giraffes, zebras, and elephants, but I'm starting to fear that blogger may call me on a picture limit here. So, if you would like to see more of those, just ask :)

As the day progressed and it got later, our attention was drawn to the fact that if we were not outside the park when it closed, we would be spending the night there. We decided to be a little speedier and only stop for "worthy" animals, such as these guys:

Sunning.

It was amazing to me how whenever we found crocodiles, there were usually hippos nearby, and vice versa.

But our plans to go quickly were thwarted by these jerks, who had to hang out in the middle of the road:

Just sit still while I pick bugs off you (I would be a terrible candidate)

These baboons got close- too close. One was right outside the window. I shut my window, not wanting to lose my camera/face.

It wouldn't have been a success if we had not seen any Pumbas:

Slimy yet satisfying.

We managed to get out of the park before it closed, where we pulled over and had a bathroom break at the facilities. There was a hog of some sort- either a warthog or a bush pig- hanging out by the gate, because apparently someone had thrown an apple core near the fence. His desperate squeaks and squeaks as he begged for the apple core were both hilarious and gut-wrenching. I just wanted to feed him!

We got back to the farm shortly before dinner, where we learned that the other party was just leaving Lydenburg. They did not get back until maybe 10:45 PM. Dr. Logan and I waited up for them, and when they finally arrived, they were beat. We played a little with Wallace, the resident Scottie, then went to bed, ready for another day of work tomorrow.

What do an eland baby and an adult rhino have in common? Stay tuned to find out!

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South African Travels, Day 4

Today was another early day, but, fortunately for me, I slept through the night. We met at 5:30 AM again for breakfast before heading out for Lydenburg, a city in Mpumalanga that was about an hour and a half away from our place in Nelspruit.

On the way

The country was beautiful, but the road... not so much. I'm not sure we missed many potholes, which was made much worse by the fact that we were probably driving about 60 MPH through them. The van pitched around the road as it tried to dodge holes and other vehicles... it was terrifying, to say the least. One of our vets road with Derik in his truck, and apparently they took the much better scenic road up through the mountains. Our driver had been told that the road was impassible that morning due to fog, so we were stuck being bounced everywhere. We did, however, get to stop for a quick break in a very picturesque town... no idea what it was called.

When we arrived at our destination, I could not believe my eyes. Sprawling before me was one of the most beautiful pieces of land I have ever seen. There were hay fields butting up against wild lands that climbed up to cliffs overlooking the valley. There was a river, complete with a waterfall, cutting through the middle. The main house was surrounded by these beautiful pine trees that had needles hanging down in clusters.

Pretty pine trees

Suffice it to say, I found what my little slice of heaven will look like one day. Should Heaven be divided up in slices, of course.

We unloaded from our van at the main house. It no longer has anyone living in it, nor do any of the other houses on the land, due to the South African government taking it over to turn the whole place into farm plots. So sad. Such a waste. Our purpose there was to sedate and move every animal on the property to other game farms, as the government would not take care of them.

We started with 5 Impala (2 males, 2 females, and a baby) that were enclosed in the area with the pine trees and main house. Derik, possibly the best shot in the world, would crouch down, line up his shot, and somehow manage to dart each Impala, one by one, as they ran through the trees. We did this one at a time; an Impala would be darted, we'd wait for it to go down, then we would run over, pick it up, carry it to the trailer, put protectors over its horns (to protect the other Impalas from them), reverse the sedation, and load it into the front compartment of the trailer.

Carrying Impala

At first, everything was going smoothly, although the Impala become increasingly agitated as we moved them. Unfortunately, one of the females got too flighty and ran head-first into a fence- breaking her neck. Everyone was really upset to have lost one, especially when it was discovered that she was the mother of the baby. Derik was confident that the baby was old enough to be weaned, however, so hopefully it was old enough to survive. The men at the farm (who had lived there before being moved, I think) that were watching us move the animals had the dead Impala processed so quickly that I did not even know it was done until I looked over and saw it. Nothing goes to waste.

We got the other 4 Impala loaded without incident, and then we had to move on to two different groups of Blesebok out in the hay pastures- one group of 5 and one of 3. Derik got into a helicopter with Ben (possibly the best pilot in the world) and darted them from the air while we collected them with the help of trucks. When I first saw Ben fly, I thought I was going to throw up. He would be going one way and then suddenly swing the other way while the momentum kept him going the first way for a few seconds; he would hurtle along mere feet off the ground; he would fly in directions that I did not think were possible according to the laws of physics; it was insane. And all the time, Derik was hanging out the side of the helicopter with his dart gun, not missing his targets, hanging in by a single strap.


Seriously, the world's most incredible people live in South Africa.

Derik darting from the air

Heading out to collect Blesebok

Riding with sedated Blesebok

Once we got these guys loaded, it was time to move onto the big guns. In class the day before, we learned about something called a "net boma"- basically, it is this big elaborate net system that a capture team strategically sets up so that it is invisible to the animals. A helicopter collects and drives the animals into the boma, sounds a siren, and two people run towards each other with the first set of walls, trying to get it closed before the animals can run back out. Different bomas work different ways- some are set up so that the helicopter drives the animals straight into a trailer, some have a series of walls that are closed, and some, like ours, allow the helicopter to drive animals into nets, where they are trapped until we can get to them, sedate them, and untangle them.

We originally were supposed to be capturing a herd of black wildebeest, but the helicopter pilot was having trouble cutting them away from a group of zebra that apparently wanted to go with them. The decision was made instead to capture a small herd of Blesebok first. Since there were only a few, my group did not get to participate in catching them. We waited for the black wildebeest instead. It was at this time, however, that a zebra stallion became a problem- apparently he was suffering an identity crisis and thought he belonged with the wildebeest. As it would be a horrifically bad idea to capture a zebra in a net, it was decided that Derik would dart the zebra from the air and we would ride out and pick it up to transport it by itself.

At least it was a "tamed" zebra

Once the zebra was removed, we resumed our positions waiting in the boma for the siren to sound. The helicopter took off, and we braced ourselves. But then, it came back, and it was decided that Heath, our photographer, would go up in it to take pictures and video:

Sorting animals by helicopter

My precious

The wildebeest were again not cooperating, so they decided to drive more Blesebok in, instead- which was fine with me, because I had heard many tales about the wildebeest not having the best of tempers.

We got our photographer back before, however, which was great- because for the second round we had lost several people (not tragically, they were just doing other things), so there were many opportunities for pictures to be taken that we could go back and blackmail people with later. This time, there were at least 12 Blesebok run into the nets. I remember watching them all sprint by from my hiding place and thinking "Oh ****" as I realized how many we had.

The siren went off, the runners went to close the curtain, and we were off to capture some largish animals with horns that were panicked and trapped. My partner, Pat, grabbed a huge guy and told me that he had it, I could "go catch the baby over there". I immediately agreed that perhaps a baby would be more my speed, and I went into the net to grab it. Of course, there were several other adults trapped around it that I had to dodge while I tried to get my hands on the squirming little gal. At one point, one of them was definitely breathing on the back of my neck- fortunately it had been sedated and therefore did not choose to make use of its horns or teeth.

Dr. Culp sedating mine while I watch out for Dr. Brown's

Dr. Derr helping me hold her down!

Let me tell you: I may have only had a baby, but those 5 minutes that I wrestled that baby were some of the longest moments of my life. When Dr. Culp went to sedate her, she jumped, and not very much of the sedative went in. Dr. Derr then came over to give her the rest of the injection and attempt to help me hold her so that I could untangle her from the net. She was jumping and head butting and scrambling, all things that made the process quite difficult. I somehow managed to get her out, but then she was like GAME ON I'M OUT OF HERE. And I was NOT going to be the one person who lost their grip on their animal, especially when mine was merely a baby. There were a couple of times that she slipped out of my grasp, but I was back on her faster than lightning. At one point I had my arms wrapped around her neck, holding her up against me.

I finally got a good enough grip on her to where she was standing semi-quietly, and Cobus walked over and said, "Do you have her?" At that point she chose to leap straight up in the air, taking me with her. He merely murmured "No you do not" and then walked over and grabbed her other side. Together we walked her to the trailer, where one of the helpers took over.

Looking back, I think she struggled more than any of the bigger ones. In comparison, at least, they all seemed to walk pretty quietly. Figures!

Afterwards, I was shaking from the exertion and covered in blood from the injections, so much so that one of the vets asked me if I had been performing necropsies. The gloves that Cobus had let me borrow were ruined, and my shirt and arms were coated. But it was simply awesome getting to participate in something like that.

As evening approached, the wildebeest got smart and hid from the helicopter in the trees. Cobus decided that it would soon be too dark to be able to do much else, so our group loaded up to head back home, while Derik, Ben, and a few other guys holed up in one of the abandoned houses for the night.

We took the scenic mountain road on the way back and were treated to a gorgeous storm cloud in the distance:

Not unlike Texas

Cool bands of color through the cloud

A good part of our journey home was spent under that cloud, in the storm, but the views that we could see before it got dark were awesome. I saw the most beautiful bolt of lightning from high up in the mountains looking over a city. It was like something out of National Geographic.

At one point, we did get caught in very thick fog on the way back- so thick that we could not see the road or the car in front of us- and it was quite scary. But it only lasted for a couple minutes, and then we were out of it.

I went straight to bed without dinner that night, because I was so exhausted. It had been much cooler at our location that day than it had been with the rhino the day before, but it was also a lot more physically exerting. It was decided that Rebecca, Stephen, and Kim would ride with Cobus back to Lydenburg the next day to work on capturing the remaining animals, while the rest of us went to Kruger National Park to see the wildlife. I passed out and slept straight through another storm... which is saying something, since I never sleep through storms anymore after the tornado of last year!

Tomorrow will bring some exciting sights- stay tuned!

*All pictures except the first were taken by Heath Culp of Poodledog Productions

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My South African Travels, Day Three

Day 3

Like I said in closing the last post, my group all woke up between 1 and 2 AM the first night at camp. I was fortunate enough to be on the later side of that. I wish I had known that everyone was awake, because I probably would have gone outside and partied with them. And by that, I mean lamented the fact that I was not still asleep.

It was a horrible feeling, watching the hours tick away and knowing that I had to get up at 4:45. I begged myself to go back to sleep, but it just did not happen. Around 3 AM I received a text from my roommate back home, letting me know that Chica, Sienna, and Ramses were all doing well. I texted with her for a little while (nevermind the $0.50/text thing), because it was nice to know that I wasn't the only one awake (even though it was only 8 PM her time).

At 4:45, I heard Rebecca get up, so I climbed out of bed as well. I then discovered that she had also been awake for the last several hours. We did the obligatory complaining about it being so early, but we gamely got ready, even did our make up, and went out to meet the group for breakfast at 5:30. We got to know another participant that came for the course separate from our group- Kim, from Denmark. He is the veterinarian at the Knuthenborg Safari Park, and he was a fun guy to hang out with.

Around 6 AM, we were loading up on the bus to head to the game park where the injured rhino had been sighted. We arrived much earlier than Cobus and Derik, so we got out of the bus at the entrance to the park (which is very restricted on who can enter) and walked around, taking pictures of things to keep ourselves entertained. We could see some zebras way down the road in the park, so I played with the zoom on my camera to see how the pictures would turn out:

Just out for a stroll.

The vets arrived, and we all climbed back into the van and set off down the road, pausing as we passed the same group of zebras:

Bonus wildebeest in the background.

We reached a meet-up point, where we met a bunch of guys, and a bunch of dogs. One of the groups of guys and dogs was led by Conrad, a super awesome James Bond-esque guy. Basically, he patrols for poachers, and he takes care of them when he finds them. His dog teams are trained for poacher hunting.

"Don't put your hands through the bars, they'll bite." Dually noted!

Basically, Conrad has the coolest job ever, and if we had poachers here in the USA, I would definitely want his job. He had two guys training under him (Vincent and Connor), one of which (Vincent) had a dog he was currently training, and the other of which (Connor) was getting two German Shepherd puppies that afternoon. Eeee! He was really excited but really sad because he had just gotten new, fluffy carpet. He knew it was not going to last long with little pups.

I don't know the name of the other guy who had dogs, but his dogs were trained to track wildlife. They were gorgeous, and we were allowed to pet/play with them.

Sup?

In fact, one group of vets got to ride in the back of the truck with them as we careened through the brush, trying not to fall on them.

After Cobus and Derik located the rhino, Rebecca, Kim, Connor, Vincent, Dr. Logan and I loaded up in the back of Conrad's truck, and everyone else loaded up into the pointer's truck, and we took off through the back country to find their coordinates. Eventually Conrad parked and said we would go on foot the rest of the way. At this point we met up with a bunch of other people who came out of nowhere, and I'm still not really sure who they were. One of them was a girl in a skirt and flip-flops who said that this was not part of the plan when she was dressing that morning.

We ended up trekking all through the bush trying to locate the darted and downed rhino. Rebecca and I freaked out the whole time about the ticks that were probably crawling all over us. Never mind the fact that the Black Mamba, one of the most venomous snakes, lives in the vicinity, and also never mind the fact that there were lions, leopards, and other predators out there. My #1 worry was ticks. I'm such a girl.

Some of what we crawled through.

We soon realized that not everybody had to disembark their vehicle to reach the rhino when we were passed by the other truck carrying the rest of our party. I think some fist-shaking was exchanged.

We finally found the rhino:

Conveniently blindfolded

She had been gored in her leg by an overly amorous male rhino (I just typed "whino" and it's probably the truth).

Ouch.

While some of our people cleaned out and packed the wound, I joined Conrad in pouring water on her (safer) back end to keep her cool:

Me: "SO COOL SO COOL!"

While I was minding my own business taking care of that end, Derik walked over to me and handed me a needle, syringe, and bottle of fluid.

Me, in a panic: "What do you want me to do with this?" ~to anybody who would listen~
Derik: "Give her an IM injection right here."
Me: "...um, ok, well I'm not a vet, and I've never given an injection in my life, so..."
Someone (my head was going fuzzy), either Derik, Conrad or Kim: "It's easy! You just have to jab the needle in because their skin is so tough, and then push the syringe really hard to get the contents in."
[Derik demonstrating how to jab the needle in]
Me: "Ok. Ok. Ok. So, just throw the needle in here [does so]..."
[chorus] "Good job! Just like that!"
Me: "...and then push the syringe in... [struggles even while using both hands and all of my body weight]"

Fortunately, they were all super patient with me and then very positive about my work. And the rhino didn't die, so I guess it was a success. Annnnd Conrad had me give another injection later, which was super kind of him.

Not to brag, but my first injection was on a rhinoceros.

They had to get the rhino turned over shortly afterwards to get to another leg that had an injury, which was a feat in itself. After a lot of huffing and puffing, they finally managed. I mostly stayed back and held a tree out of the way during the straining to get her turned over.

I'm not sure what I missed, but suddenly Cobus announced that he was waking the rhino up and we had 10 seconds to collect all of the equipment and get out of there. I grabbed the nearest box of stuff and ran for the truck... only to find out that I had run to the wrong truck. I then had to run for the other truck, which was in a different direction, and the entire time I ran I imagined I was about to get run over by a dazed and confused rhino, seeking revenge for my needle practice sessions. But, I made it and discovered that the rhino was still in the process of getting to her feet. We stayed and watched her get up, shake herself off, and walk off. It was just awesome.

We got back to our rendezvous point, where I drank ice cold water that was offered to me out of a random plastic bucket, not caring a) where it had come from or b) who had already had a drink of it. It was HOT, and I was dehydrated. I would have gotten a drink from Crocodile River at that point, wildebeest style, I was so thirsty.

As we are standing around talking about our experience, I turned around, and lo and behold, there was an elephant standing a short distance away, drinking from a small pond. We all excitedly loaded up and drove over nearby it so we could take a million pictures.

"What's all this then?"

"Seriously, have you never seen a guy drink?"

The elephant walked off, and we headed back for the road. On the way out, we were treated to the sight of baboons and impalas running through the grass.

 

 

Babies!

And some giraffes in the distance:

Upon our arrival back at home, we were greeted by one of the resident giraffes hanging out by the road.

Follow me to freedom!

Portrait of a Giraffe

Come at me, bro!

We finished the evening with lasagna and a trip to see a rescued baby giraffe currently staying at the camp's facilities, followed by some classroom time for the veterinarians.

I promise that she isn't a stuffed animal.

I'd like to think that she (the giraffe) and I shared a bonding moment at one point that week- she was really scared, and I managed to coax her to walk up to within about 2 feet of me- but it was ruined when I stuck my hand out in an attempt to touch her. COME BACK AND LET ME LOVE YOU!

Day 3 was an exciting start to our course week. I look back and cannot believe how much we packed into the week, let alone the fact that we got to start with a member of the Big Five (aka the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. Other members are the lion, leopard, elephant, and Cape buffalo).

Nets, wrestling, and helicopters. There's lots more to come tomorrow- we're only getting warmed up!

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My South African travels

So, as you may have gathered from previous posts, I went to South Africa for a veterinary continuing education course. And it was awesome.

 

Can't you just hear the Lion King music?

"Why did you go on a veterinary course?" you may ask. "When did you become a veterinarian?" No worries, you did not miss a life changing decision where I decided to scrap the publishing thing and go to vet school instead. I merely went on this trip as the continuing education office's liaison, to be around in case of any problems and to be the keeper of the office credit card (the power...). I decided to make the most of the opportunity and participate as much as they would let me.

Day 1

My group consisted of 11 people including myself. There were 9 veterinarians, me, and a husband of a veterinarian who went along as our personal photographer/videographer. Three vets, Jim, Linda, and Rebecca, were from the college, and the rest, John-Ed, Pat, William, Tom, Stephen, and Sue and her husband Heath, were from around Texas and Oklahoma. We all met up in the terminal at Houston Intercontinental, which was a little difficult since most of us did not know what the others looked like. I casually walked past a group of people that seemed to be introducing themselves and, upon overhearing the word "Africa", decided to dive in and see if they were part of my group. Fortunately, they were. I was also stalking a man that was dressed all in khaki, and it turned out he was with us, too. Everyone somehow congregated together before boarding, which was a relief.

If you have ever flown to Europe, you know approximately half of the suffering that was endured on the 20 hour flight. When we landed in Amsterdam, my foolish first thought was, "That flight wasn't so bad; we just have one more of those and then we're there!" On the flight to the Nederlands, I had Rebecca and Stephen to talk to, and I did not sleep at all, in spite of it being an over night flight. On the flight to Johannesburg, however, I sat next to a lady that I'm pretty sure did not speak any English, and my multiple attempts to sleep all resulted in me doing that annoying head bob where your head falls and you wake yourself up (and look around embarrassed). I will say, however, the meals (I had beef and potatoes, cheese and crackers, salad and a chocolate dessert for one meal, smoked almonds in between, a pastrami sandwich for lunch, and chicken and rice with couscous and chocolate mousse as my other dinner meal) and the free alcohol on our KLM flights were very good. We were even given fruit, rolls, muffins, and breakfast sandwiches in addition to the other food, and ice cream was served at one point as well. I highly recommend KLM for your future travel needs!

By the time we landed in Johannesburg (or Jo-burg as it is affectionately referred to by locals and frequent visitors), our group was exhausted. After exchanging our US dollars for some South African Rand, we made our way through the airport to the attached hotel, and it was at this point that I got a little nervous. It was late, there were not many people in the airport, and there were a lot of soldiers walking about. But, we made it to the hotel and checked in, and everyone was paired off to their rooms. Rebecca, Stephen and I decided we were hungry, however, so we went back into the airport to a 24 hour diner called Mugg & Bean. Pat later showed up as well. 40R (~$5) got me a slice of delicious chocolate mousse cake and a bottle of distilled water. We ate and made it back to our rooms without incident.The rooms were nice, although the two single beds were pushed together into a mega bed, which was a little funny and awkward.

I fell asleep and slept all through the South African night with no jet lag problems... bringing us to:

Day 2

Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel. A bus operated by CityBug picked us up at noon, and we headed for our home for the next week: Ngongoni Game Farm in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, about 4 hours away (more information about our destination and the work they do can be found here). About halfway to our destination, we stopped at Alzu Petrochemicals, a gas station that had a convenience store in it and pastures of cape buffalo, zebras, antelope, a rhino, and emus behind it. We fondly called it "the zoo" since that was all we could make out of the native Afrikaner bus driver's pronunciation of "Alzu". Not feeling very adventurous about the different things on the menu inside the station, I had basically a grilled cheese sandwich, as did Rebecca. Here we encountered our first language barrier: Rebecca asked the girl behind the counter what kind of cheese came on the cheese sandwich. The dialogue followed like this:

Cashier: "You want a cheese and mayo sandwich?"
Rebecca: "No, what kind of cheese is on the cheese sandwich?"
Cashier: "Ok. One tomato and cheese sandwich."
Rebecca: "No! I just want to know what kind of cheese is on it?"
Cashier: "So you want a bacon and cheese sandwich."
Rebecca: "Just a plain cheese sandwich, please."

I'm pretty sure, from the look she was given upon receiving her sandwich, that perhaps proper sanitary practices were not followed with her food.

We loaded back up in the bus and headed for our farm. However, we had to stop for road construction, and we were allowed to get out and walk around.

My first pic in Africa!

Our stop did not take as long as expected and, shortly after, we were at the gate to our game farm. I'd like to take a moment here to relay my experience with South African drivers: they are on a mission when they drive, and that mission is to get to where they are going as quickly as possible. No matter what type of vehicle they are driving, no matter how good or bad the road is, and no matter how many screams of terror elicit from the backseat. We turned onto a dirt road before reaching Ngongoni, and it didn't matter. We flew over it, jack hammering in our seats the whole way. At one point we shot around a slower vehicle in our luggage-trailer-towing van, and someone in the back yelled "Off the road, lightweight!" It was quite an experience.

Upon entering the farm, we immediately saw a monkey sitting under a tree, and then shortly afterwards, we found a giraffe off to the side eyeballing us. We had to stop and take a million pictures, as any tourist would. Unfortunately I was still messing with the settings on my camera, so the best picture I could get was this:

"What? I'm trying to eat here!"

We continued on up the long, steep driveway, and finally the brush cleared away and we could see our accommodations. We were greeted by Jan, or Poemie, as everyone called him, who showed us to our rooms. Rebecca and I roomed together in a 2 bedroom hut with a thatched roof. It had concrete walls and a concrete floor and three beds total- a queen in Rebecca's and two twins in mine. My suitcase slept on one of them the whole time. Apparently there was a lizard living in the hut as well, since every morning I found reptile poop on my made bed.

Home away from home

Walkways to other huts and to the dining/bar area... so pretty when lit up at night!

Walkway to fire pit and Sue and Heath's hut

 
After getting our stuff into our rooms, Rebecca and I, tired of being cooped up in planes and buses, decided to go for a run on the farm. If I had the ability to run out there all the time, with the mountains all around me and the possibility of coming across exotic wildlife ever present, I would run every day. It was so beautiful, and even the steepness of the slope we were running up was overlooked because of the excitement of being there. We did not see any of the resident giraffes, wildebeest, or impalas while running, which was probably for the best- I'm not sure what we would have done should one of them have decided to give chase. We did see paw prints, some of which looked pretty predatory. There was a thunderstorm rolling in in the distance over the mountains, which was just awesome to see.

We got back to our hut and cleaned up for dinner, and the people who ran the lodge, Michelle and Garan, treated us spectacularly well. They made us a traditional South African dinner called "Potjie" that was like a chicken and veggie stew- it was DELICIOUS. My only regret is that I did not eat more of it. There was also a wonderful butternut squash soup and melk tert for dessert.

We met many people at dinner- Cobus, who is a veterinarian that owns Ngongoni Game Farm and who worked with us the entire time, Derik, a veterinarian that works for Cobus and lives out at Ngongoni and who did a wonderful job teaching us as well, Michelle's adorable daughters, who were fun to hang out with, in addition to too many other people to name. I learned from talking with Poemie and Derik that baboons use part of the ranch as a pathway up and down the mountain, which, I'm not going to lie, terrified me a little. We never saw or heard them while we stayed, but how incredible!

Cobus informed us that we would be tending to an injured rhino the next morning, so we would be eating breakfast at 5:30 AM and then heading out at 6 AM. I can't say that everyone was exactly thrilled to get up so early, but since it was for a rhino, we all willingly went to bed early, excited for our new adventure. Unfortunately, every single one of us woke up between 1 and 2 AM that morning and stayed awake for the rest of the night, due to jet lag. It made it that much easier to go to bed the next night!

I'm going to end this post here, since that was already a lot for just the first two days! I don't want to leave out a single detail, however. Day 3 to come along shortly!

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