Leaving ZA and Africa.

Alexa woke me up in the morning on the 6th because I slept through my alarm. I laced up my shoes and we hurried out the door just in time for our safari at Aquila Game Reserve. I fell asleep immediately upon hitting my seat on the bus.
I think it was about two hours later that Alexa shook me awake, telling me we'd arrived. I donned my shades and we exited the bus to step onto the lush grounds of the game reserve. The base is a resort, and it was beautiful. We walked through a lobby with slate floors and through a grassy green courtyard (I haven't seen grass in a long time!). There was a large restaurant with excessive amounts of food where we filled ourselves up for the safari. I was just moving into my hangover from celebrating my birthday so well.
Full and happy, we all left the building to climb into huge trucks, which would drive us through the reserve. Alexa and I hopped in the last truck with just 2 other people, our trip leader and a guy named Ryan, and our guide, Daniel, took off through the gates. There were buffalo immediately to our right, which is one of the BIG 5 that African regions like to boast about. South Africa has one of these animals on each of their currency notes. We were told that buffalo cause the biggest problems because they are extremely aggressive and give no warning before they charge, whereas other animals (like rhinos) give false charge movements or grunt, etc. Next we saw Springbock, which I had eaten for dinner several nights earlier! They were so beautiful, and I immediately felt guilty for eating one. :( Oh well, it was tasty.
We saw some hippos sleeping and swimming. They are incredibly lazy animals, and very cute when they yawn. They remind me of icebergs because only a very small part of them shows above water, and they can be very aggressive and territorial if you get too close. We drove by several rhinos some of which were babies but you wouldn’t be able to tell by their size. They were white rhinos and had really wide, square mouths. Their tusks were exceedingly intimidating. One of them gave motions that he was about to charge at us, so we took off. We then came across two juvenile elephants, and drove around on the path that went right next to them! They're SO great. I love how they feed themselves with their noses.. what a strange concept!
We moved on to a human watering hole that the reserve had set up with green-clothed tables and bottles of champagne. There was no water anywhere, but champagne galore. I refrained, as it did not sound appealing under the hot, hot sun.
When we got back into our truck, we drove around a watering hole that the elephants had moved to so they could cover themselves in mud and cool down. Daniel told us that they might lay down in the mud to cover their bodies, and minutes later, one of the elephants dropped to his knees in the water. SO awkward. He kind of rolled around, and waved his legs helplessly until his friend elephant came to help him get up. Once this happened, they got aggressive with each other and charged head to head! What a show. One of them trumpeted, and their trunks intertwined. They backed up behind another truck so we lost sight of them and carried on. But I got videos! Phew. There were a lot of Wildebeasts, which shamefully reminded me of The Lion King and arcade games. We sang some hakunah matata in the truck on our way to the lion sanctuary.
The lions have their own special section so Aquila can regulate the presence of other species in the reserve. When we went into this sanctuary, it felt like going into Jurassic Park with wires and cameras everywhere at the entrance. We passed a giraffe on the way in, and he was surprisingly really camel-like and short. Our guide said "it is a type of giraffe that has adapted to bending over into the brush to eat, but they can only bend over a few seconds at a time because all the blood will rush to their heads and their heads will explode." I kid you not. The lions were VERY far away, and we could see them with the zoom lens of a camera but barely with the naked eye.
We saw some different types of antelope, and headed back to the base. They had lions and a leopard in a caged area as they were in recovery from having been rescued, and will soon be released into the park. Thus concluding my sightings of the BIG 5! We were well fed once more with views of an infinity pool and roaming ostriches, and sent back to the bus. On the way, I stopped to use the restroom.. and when I looked in the mirror, realized I'd gone through the entire day with a full face of make up from the night before. Red lipstick and all. I'm still not quite sure why nobody told me about that.. but I guess it must not have looked that weird? We got back to the ship and napped, and Alexa and I later met up with our group of friends at a jazz restaurant called "The Green Dolphin" in the wharf area. A nice, relaxing night and early bedtime was just what we needed.
In the morning, I boarded a bus at 7 am to dive with sharks at Ganbaai! We drove for an hour, and were told that the seas were too rough so they couldn't take us out, so we turned around. What a let down. I spent the rest of the day in the mall catching up on some internet things and doing some shopping for necessities. My friends and I went out that night to dinner for 2 more birthdays. The restaurant we went to was called Cubaña, and was UNreal. Hands down THE best steak I've ever eaten in my entire life (better than Hyde Park, and L'Ami Louis in Paris). Unreal. Man. We went to a club called Fez later, and because they played house and most of our friends weren't feeling it, we left early. Unfortunately, I was too focused on getting the birthday girl home safely to realize I'd left my little digital camera in the taxi. :( I'll have to pick a new one up in Hong Kong.
At 8:15, I met up with some other kids from my floor to catch the 9 am ferry to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years before elected as president after apartheid, and to which we'd purchased tickets a week earlier. Because the seas hadn't calmed down, all ferry rides were canceled, and my second day in a row was botched. I spent the day writing postcards and running last minute errands, and got lots of jewelry at the local market in the center of town.
All in all, South Africa was really neat. It was nice to be in an area where communication was easy and technology was new. I also got to eat a Subway sandwich! On the downside, I am pretty sad that I did not get to see a township or have authentic Braai (barbeque) food. I would have done these things on the last days once they freed up, but most of my friends had already made other plans and there was no way I could go into a township alone. I have unfinished business in Cape Town, and have to go back for Robben Island, the sharks and the townships. There’s also tons of great rock climbing in the area that I missed out on. I’d like to see more of the country... I stayed pretty local and really just saw one city (except during the rafting expedition) which in retrospect is a bit unfullfilling (sp?).
Mauritius is still technically Africa, but extremely influenced by the French so I've decided that I've left Africa. In some areas, women would tell me their children were scared of me because of the color of my skin, and when I tried to wave to them they'd bury their faces in their mothers' clothing. In other areas, I would be called "my sister" by the locals. Africa was diverse and full of history, and I loved every minute I spent there.
One day, I'll be back.