Addo-Scotia

Good day readers,

Africa can be many things.  Typically it is romanticized as a wild savannah filled with dangerous animals that roam through the bush.  It is a continent which is believed to be the beginning of mankind.  There are movies such as The Lion King or Discovery Channel documentaries that give us a mythical image of the Africa continent.  Until Friday though, I had not seen this legendary land that has inspired so many people.  Nelson Mandela himself talks about this feeling as well in his autobiography when he leaves South Africa for the first time to go to Botswana and see the land from a different view.  He is overwhelmed with this fabled atmosphere.

Elephant eating some lunch.

As I mentioned in the last post, I took a safari on Friday.  It did not disappoint.  It was probably the best day here so far.  Our group left at eight in the morning to go to Addo Elephant Park which is about 45 minutes out of the city.  One thing that is noticeable about the landscape here are the mountains.  There seems to always be a mountain off in the distance which loams over the land.  The African handshake starts with a normal business handshake, but then the hand rotates up using the thumb as a pivot point and then back to the business shake.  The reasoning behind this is to show respect to the ancestors.  I feel part of this is due to the mountains everywhere.  There is always a reassuring feeling of being looked after from the mountains which is why I think the tribal traditions have a large focus on ancestors.  I digress.  We drove around Addo all morning watching elephants along with warthogs and kudu (basically a large antelope) along with one of the big 5 animals a water buffalo.  Elephants are massive animals and are truly a delight to watch carry out with their daily life. 

Scotia Game Park

Around 2 o’clock we went about 30 minutes to the Scotia Game Park where we took a safari through lion filled fields.  This was a rush.  We were able to see so many animals here, everything from lions to wildebeest to hippopotamus and rhinos.  Driving around in a large jeep-like vehicle with no sides was great.  While driving up to a pride of lions I could feel my heart pounding.  Lions are actually very social animals and we were able to see them interact with some young cubs.  We dropped a blanket on the ground and a lion came and snatched it up and used it as a chew toy.  I was in the back seat and the lion literally came right under me to get the blanket.  I turned to see if I could see the blanket, but found a lion instead.  It got the blood going to say the least.  The lion was too preoccupied with the blanket, so that was a relief.  After dinner we drove back in the dark to the entrance.  Dinner by the way was fantastic.  We ate ostrich along with some mashed potatoes and rice.  There were also some fresh beans and some other side dish.  To top it off there was a traditional South African dessert called malva which was delicious.  Now back to the drive after dinner.  We were able to see some hippopotamus out of the water which was pretty lucky I guess.  Hippos need to stay in the water all day because their skin can’t tolerate the heat of the sun.  They seem to disappear at night however and go anywhere.  It was just a great day all in all.

Lions using our blanket as a chew toy.

Saturday there was an activity fair on campus which a group of us checked out.  We found the basketball court where there was a pick-up basketball tourney.  My team got third, but it was fun none-the-less.  I talked to the coach and he knew Blake Elliot (St. John’s receiver on the last national championship team) from when Blake came down here.  He said he would love if I came and practiced with them, so I am going to join them on Tuesday.  I am probably too busy with everything else to commit full time, but it should be great to practice and play with some South Africans. 

Me riding on the tracker seat up front.

Thanks for reading yet again.  Also, happy birthday John.  Cheers!

Bobby

Bonus photo by request

A vervet monkey on campus