Addo/Schotia
First off: I ran out of room at my webshots site, so I started a new one: http://community.webshots.com/user/afrikatie2
But check out both for my new pictures.
Isn’t it funny that when you’re an American in a foreign country, you gravitate toward other Americans? I know (and regularly see) all the other COST students in P.E. (there are 8 of us) as well as a few other random Americans studying or working here. It’s great to have someone to talk to about the frustrating things at school, the funny things they do here, and how things are back home (Bethany just got here from OU with all the new gossip for me). We all take care of each other, too: since we know how it is to be new and not know anyone or be able to go anywhere, we invite each other out on the weekends and take trips together.
Anyway, even though I love hanging out with the Sarahs and Bethany, I really love my South African friends. They give good advice, take me to the store when I need a lift, and they’re always up for a road trip or even a day trip to a game park.
This is how we ended up at Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Safaris this weekend. Addo is huge: it’s the big game park around here. You could spend 2 days driving through all the roads. We spent 3 hours and barely hit a fraction of it. We also only saw 5 elephants (at a distance) of a total of 450 in the park. On the back of our pamphlet they gave a list of animals in the park to mark off. So, in addition to elephants, we also saw: zebra, kudu (these antlered deer-like animals are MASSIVE), hartebeest, warthog (the babies are adorable), eland, bushbuck, duiker, ostrich (these things are everywhere), blue crane, and either an eagle or buzzard. It’s pretty cool being able to just drive around and see all these animals roaming the bush or sitting by the road. Also, the signs warning about lions and dangerous animals, and to exit your car at your own risk (at designated look out points) were pretty cool. Where else do you have to look for lions before exiting your vehicle? However, we saw more animals at Kragga Kamma, so it wasn’t incredibly exciting.
The most interesting thing about Addo, to me at least, was this warning on our brochure (they also had signs as you drive in): NO CITRUS FRUIT ALLOWED IN THE WILDLIFE AREA! Kind of an interesting warning, I thought. Also, I know that Addo is right next to citrus farm (this was where I stayed my first weekend in South Africa). Anyway, the brochure does an excellent job of explaining why, so I’ll let you see their warning: “In the past, elephants were fed large amounts of citrus fruit in the winter months at a certain point in the park so that tourists could see them regularly. A truck would enter the wildlife area and dump the oranges. Elephants would run behind, screaming, roaring and grabbing oranges from the truck. The vegetation around the feeding area was decimated, as elephants didn’t move out of the area for fear of missing the feeding sessions. Levels of aggressions between elephants rose, some were injured and many showed signs of severe stress when competing for oranges. Due to all these problems, the practice of feeing citrus was phased out by 1979.”
After a citrus-free picnic lunch, we packed up and drove about ½ hour to Schotia Safaris. We had booked the afternoon and evening drive, which also included dinner. Schotia advertises their tours as “Your best chance to see lions hunting.” Our ranger, Carl, immediately loaded us up into an open-sided land ranger with 4 other tourists from Europe, and we were off. The cool thing about Schotia is that it’s a private game reserve. That means you have to go with their tours, but they know where the animals are and they can go off the main trails to find them. We started out the tour in the main area of the reserve. It wasn’t anything too exciting: we saw a lot of blesbuck, hartebeest, springbuck, bushbuck, steenbok, impala, and so on (all the antlered, deer-like animals). The wildebeest were pretty exciting, though, because we saw them stampeding. They’re actually pretty dumb, and spend the whole day running around wildly. If one member of the herd swings his tail around (a sign that he saw danger), everyone begins stampeding. In this area of the reserve, there is no danger, so they’re just a pretty skittish bunch. We also saw giraffes and zebra on the way to the braai area. We stopped off for tea and coffee, and some of my favorite bread: roosterkoek, made on the braai.
After a short break, we were off again on another 2 hour drive, to find some more animals and to visit the lion area. The “landie” added to the adventure: I sat in the middle at the back, which was higher up than the seats in front, so I almost bumped my head a few times. It wasn’t as bad as the guys sitting next to me: when we went around some turns and up some hills, I thought they were about to slide right off the bench and out of the vehicle! We stopped at one of the water holes to observe the Most Dangerous Animal in Africa: the hippo. They kill more people than any other animal worldwide. They are herbivores. But they’re very territorial and nervous. They soak in the water all day, sometimes only revealing the very tip of their nose. If they’re hidden in the weeds, you might go by for a swim, not realizing that there’s a hippo about to chomp you. At night, they go out to graze, and return in the early morning. This is also the time when people in villages come out to collect their water. If the hippo returns and you’re between them and the water, you’re about to get attacked. I think it’s pretty cool how they kill people, but if you don’t want to read, skip the rest of this paragraph. They open their mouth wide to warn you, then charge and gouge your stomach with their lower teeth. When you fall forward into their mouth, they bite down. Then they stomp on you for good measure. Hippos can also run at 40 km/hr which is about 30 miles/hr, so you can’t really outrun them.
While we watched the hippos (well actually the half of the hippo heads we could see sticking out of the water), our ranger Carl regaled us with tales of his game-trapping days. To catch a hippo, you cannot just shoot them with a dart: if they’re in the water, they’ll sink and drown, and if they’re not in the water, they’ll run back there, then drown. So, you have to put some grain at the edge of the water, each night moving it further and further away. Eventually you begin to lead them into a truck. After a few months of this, you have someone waiting on top of the truck to shut the doors. Obviously, it takes a long time and a lot of grain. Giraffes are equally hard to catch: it involves a ground crew and an air crew, in a helicopter. The helicopter crew follows a giraffe and tranquilizes it, hovering around the area so the ground crew can find them. If a giraffe is laying with its head down for too long, too much blood will rush to its head, vessels will burst, and it will die (this is also why they lift their heads every few seconds while drinking: they have huge hearts, and the tight skin around their legs helps constrict the blood there, but their necks and heads don’t have that kind of protection). So the ground crew has to get there, put some harnesses around the giraffe, lift his head, and then help him stand up when he comes to. They also only capture baby giraffes, because adults are too tall to fit into a truck (and trucks must fit under bridges!)
We stopped near the white rhino, who was grazing (white rhinos graze grass, black rhinos eat leaves: it has nothing to do with color). He seemed to be pretty friendly, or at least he didn’t seem aggressive. He actually didn’t acknowledge us at all. He was pretty huge, and walked right by our landie: I think Pete could have reached out and touched him.
Finally we made it to the lion area. They keep the lions separate from the other animals because apparently lions have expensive tastes. They let the lions out for a week a few years back, and they started killing the endangered bucks as well as zebras and giraffes. Now they have 1600 acres to themselves, and the reserve buys a new herd of springbok for them to hunt each year. (This is why Schotia is “your best chance to see lions hunting”: because they don’t get fed).
The first lions we found were the males, lying along the road, taking a rest. They were about 10 feet away from our open vehicle: it was very exhilarating. The manes were huge and reminded me of a collie, and the rest of their bodies seemed kind of skinny. (The 8 lions here eat about 2 springbok each week.) When he looked up at us, his eyes were completely cold and dead. The ranger says that lions are killing machines and killing machines only: it’s what they do. If any of us had stood up and started jumping around, he probably would have attacked. As it was, he saw the landie as a single, huge beast, and was happy to let us live. When the one stood up to walk over to his brother, he stalked in a lazy, deliberate way that seemed to emphasize how fast he can go when he wants to.
We then drove around some more until we found the lioness and her three cubs. They just followed her around like cubs do. We also followed her around, which I felt slightly bad about. She didn’t seem worried or protective of her babies, but she did keep moving.
Finally, we returned to the braai area for a delicious meal of wildebeest, roosterkoek, veggies, salad, squash, chicken, and rice. We chatted with our ranger some more, and when it was very dark, headed back to the main building. One of the European boys sat in the front and shined the spotlight all around: we could see the herds of animals still grazing, or settling down to sleep.
The safari was definitely the coolest day I’ve had in Africa yet.
Friday (the day before Addo and Schotia) we had a half day of school because it’s the last day of the term. We now have a full week for school holidays before the second term begins. I spent a lot of the last week of school chatting with my classes about America. It’s pretty fun being an expert on America and answering all their questions, especially the whispered questions from my grade 8’s: “What are the clubs like?” and “What’s the drinking age?”
After school let out at 11, I caught a ride over to Summerstrand (another area of P.E., this is where the beach is) and met up with Bethany. We spent some time at Bayworld: the best tourist attraction in P.E. They have a snake park, a museum, an oceanarium (where I saw a shark!), and the dolphin show. I’m sure it was pretty typical if you’ve ever been to Seaworld or something similar, but I haven’t so it was really cool. The African penguins were my favorite: they’re little and cute. It still kind of boggles my mind that some penguins have to be kept warm.
After a nice day of dolphin watching, walking along the beach, and shopping at the boardwalk, we met up with friends to take the free African drum lessons at the boardwalk. It lasted for about an hour, after which my hands stung and my legs were a little sore from holding the drum the whole time. It was a good time though: there were maybe 25 people sitting in a circle. The instructors taught us different rhythms and then split us up into groups to play different ones at the same time, exactly like elementary school music class (I have some videos if anyone wants to see). At the end, we had to hit each other’s drums: first on the left, then our own, then on the right. It was hard, but we all had a blast.
But check out both for my new pictures.
Isn’t it funny that when you’re an American in a foreign country, you gravitate toward other Americans? I know (and regularly see) all the other COST students in P.E. (there are 8 of us) as well as a few other random Americans studying or working here. It’s great to have someone to talk to about the frustrating things at school, the funny things they do here, and how things are back home (Bethany just got here from OU with all the new gossip for me). We all take care of each other, too: since we know how it is to be new and not know anyone or be able to go anywhere, we invite each other out on the weekends and take trips together.
Anyway, even though I love hanging out with the Sarahs and Bethany, I really love my South African friends. They give good advice, take me to the store when I need a lift, and they’re always up for a road trip or even a day trip to a game park.
This is how we ended up at Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Safaris this weekend. Addo is huge: it’s the big game park around here. You could spend 2 days driving through all the roads. We spent 3 hours and barely hit a fraction of it. We also only saw 5 elephants (at a distance) of a total of 450 in the park. On the back of our pamphlet they gave a list of animals in the park to mark off. So, in addition to elephants, we also saw: zebra, kudu (these antlered deer-like animals are MASSIVE), hartebeest, warthog (the babies are adorable), eland, bushbuck, duiker, ostrich (these things are everywhere), blue crane, and either an eagle or buzzard. It’s pretty cool being able to just drive around and see all these animals roaming the bush or sitting by the road. Also, the signs warning about lions and dangerous animals, and to exit your car at your own risk (at designated look out points) were pretty cool. Where else do you have to look for lions before exiting your vehicle? However, we saw more animals at Kragga Kamma, so it wasn’t incredibly exciting.
The most interesting thing about Addo, to me at least, was this warning on our brochure (they also had signs as you drive in): NO CITRUS FRUIT ALLOWED IN THE WILDLIFE AREA! Kind of an interesting warning, I thought. Also, I know that Addo is right next to citrus farm (this was where I stayed my first weekend in South Africa). Anyway, the brochure does an excellent job of explaining why, so I’ll let you see their warning: “In the past, elephants were fed large amounts of citrus fruit in the winter months at a certain point in the park so that tourists could see them regularly. A truck would enter the wildlife area and dump the oranges. Elephants would run behind, screaming, roaring and grabbing oranges from the truck. The vegetation around the feeding area was decimated, as elephants didn’t move out of the area for fear of missing the feeding sessions. Levels of aggressions between elephants rose, some were injured and many showed signs of severe stress when competing for oranges. Due to all these problems, the practice of feeing citrus was phased out by 1979.”
After a citrus-free picnic lunch, we packed up and drove about ½ hour to Schotia Safaris. We had booked the afternoon and evening drive, which also included dinner. Schotia advertises their tours as “Your best chance to see lions hunting.” Our ranger, Carl, immediately loaded us up into an open-sided land ranger with 4 other tourists from Europe, and we were off. The cool thing about Schotia is that it’s a private game reserve. That means you have to go with their tours, but they know where the animals are and they can go off the main trails to find them. We started out the tour in the main area of the reserve. It wasn’t anything too exciting: we saw a lot of blesbuck, hartebeest, springbuck, bushbuck, steenbok, impala, and so on (all the antlered, deer-like animals). The wildebeest were pretty exciting, though, because we saw them stampeding. They’re actually pretty dumb, and spend the whole day running around wildly. If one member of the herd swings his tail around (a sign that he saw danger), everyone begins stampeding. In this area of the reserve, there is no danger, so they’re just a pretty skittish bunch. We also saw giraffes and zebra on the way to the braai area. We stopped off for tea and coffee, and some of my favorite bread: roosterkoek, made on the braai.
After a short break, we were off again on another 2 hour drive, to find some more animals and to visit the lion area. The “landie” added to the adventure: I sat in the middle at the back, which was higher up than the seats in front, so I almost bumped my head a few times. It wasn’t as bad as the guys sitting next to me: when we went around some turns and up some hills, I thought they were about to slide right off the bench and out of the vehicle! We stopped at one of the water holes to observe the Most Dangerous Animal in Africa: the hippo. They kill more people than any other animal worldwide. They are herbivores. But they’re very territorial and nervous. They soak in the water all day, sometimes only revealing the very tip of their nose. If they’re hidden in the weeds, you might go by for a swim, not realizing that there’s a hippo about to chomp you. At night, they go out to graze, and return in the early morning. This is also the time when people in villages come out to collect their water. If the hippo returns and you’re between them and the water, you’re about to get attacked. I think it’s pretty cool how they kill people, but if you don’t want to read, skip the rest of this paragraph. They open their mouth wide to warn you, then charge and gouge your stomach with their lower teeth. When you fall forward into their mouth, they bite down. Then they stomp on you for good measure. Hippos can also run at 40 km/hr which is about 30 miles/hr, so you can’t really outrun them.
While we watched the hippos (well actually the half of the hippo heads we could see sticking out of the water), our ranger Carl regaled us with tales of his game-trapping days. To catch a hippo, you cannot just shoot them with a dart: if they’re in the water, they’ll sink and drown, and if they’re not in the water, they’ll run back there, then drown. So, you have to put some grain at the edge of the water, each night moving it further and further away. Eventually you begin to lead them into a truck. After a few months of this, you have someone waiting on top of the truck to shut the doors. Obviously, it takes a long time and a lot of grain. Giraffes are equally hard to catch: it involves a ground crew and an air crew, in a helicopter. The helicopter crew follows a giraffe and tranquilizes it, hovering around the area so the ground crew can find them. If a giraffe is laying with its head down for too long, too much blood will rush to its head, vessels will burst, and it will die (this is also why they lift their heads every few seconds while drinking: they have huge hearts, and the tight skin around their legs helps constrict the blood there, but their necks and heads don’t have that kind of protection). So the ground crew has to get there, put some harnesses around the giraffe, lift his head, and then help him stand up when he comes to. They also only capture baby giraffes, because adults are too tall to fit into a truck (and trucks must fit under bridges!)
We stopped near the white rhino, who was grazing (white rhinos graze grass, black rhinos eat leaves: it has nothing to do with color). He seemed to be pretty friendly, or at least he didn’t seem aggressive. He actually didn’t acknowledge us at all. He was pretty huge, and walked right by our landie: I think Pete could have reached out and touched him.
Finally we made it to the lion area. They keep the lions separate from the other animals because apparently lions have expensive tastes. They let the lions out for a week a few years back, and they started killing the endangered bucks as well as zebras and giraffes. Now they have 1600 acres to themselves, and the reserve buys a new herd of springbok for them to hunt each year. (This is why Schotia is “your best chance to see lions hunting”: because they don’t get fed).
The first lions we found were the males, lying along the road, taking a rest. They were about 10 feet away from our open vehicle: it was very exhilarating. The manes were huge and reminded me of a collie, and the rest of their bodies seemed kind of skinny. (The 8 lions here eat about 2 springbok each week.) When he looked up at us, his eyes were completely cold and dead. The ranger says that lions are killing machines and killing machines only: it’s what they do. If any of us had stood up and started jumping around, he probably would have attacked. As it was, he saw the landie as a single, huge beast, and was happy to let us live. When the one stood up to walk over to his brother, he stalked in a lazy, deliberate way that seemed to emphasize how fast he can go when he wants to.
We then drove around some more until we found the lioness and her three cubs. They just followed her around like cubs do. We also followed her around, which I felt slightly bad about. She didn’t seem worried or protective of her babies, but she did keep moving.
Finally, we returned to the braai area for a delicious meal of wildebeest, roosterkoek, veggies, salad, squash, chicken, and rice. We chatted with our ranger some more, and when it was very dark, headed back to the main building. One of the European boys sat in the front and shined the spotlight all around: we could see the herds of animals still grazing, or settling down to sleep.
The safari was definitely the coolest day I’ve had in Africa yet.
Friday (the day before Addo and Schotia) we had a half day of school because it’s the last day of the term. We now have a full week for school holidays before the second term begins. I spent a lot of the last week of school chatting with my classes about America. It’s pretty fun being an expert on America and answering all their questions, especially the whispered questions from my grade 8’s: “What are the clubs like?” and “What’s the drinking age?”
After school let out at 11, I caught a ride over to Summerstrand (another area of P.E., this is where the beach is) and met up with Bethany. We spent some time at Bayworld: the best tourist attraction in P.E. They have a snake park, a museum, an oceanarium (where I saw a shark!), and the dolphin show. I’m sure it was pretty typical if you’ve ever been to Seaworld or something similar, but I haven’t so it was really cool. The African penguins were my favorite: they’re little and cute. It still kind of boggles my mind that some penguins have to be kept warm.
After a nice day of dolphin watching, walking along the beach, and shopping at the boardwalk, we met up with friends to take the free African drum lessons at the boardwalk. It lasted for about an hour, after which my hands stung and my legs were a little sore from holding the drum the whole time. It was a good time though: there were maybe 25 people sitting in a circle. The instructors taught us different rhythms and then split us up into groups to play different ones at the same time, exactly like elementary school music class (I have some videos if anyone wants to see). At the end, we had to hit each other’s drums: first on the left, then our own, then on the right. It was hard, but we all had a blast.
posted by Katie | 1:22 PM
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