Okay, okay! After many Skype calls, Facebook messages and emails I have finally got on here to update you on the last few exciting days I have had. I know, I know I have been slackin. Sorry:-)
This weekend we rented a car again and I drove us to a small game reserve in Port Elizabeth. We got a really nice car this time. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. Port Elizabeth is a much bigger city so there was a lot of traffic. I did pretty well driving I thought. Holly and Sean didn't complain so I think I did well. I only got mixed up on the wrong side of the road once:-) Anyway, the small game park is the same one Debbie and I went to a few weeks ago and got stuck. The roads were really rough and I would have felt more comfortable if I had a bigger 4x4 to drive, instead of a fancy Hyundai. Good news is we didn't get stuck. We drove around and got to see a ton of animals. They were so close to the car we could have touched them out the window.We even got to see a baby rhino.
Half-way through the drive we stopped at the restaurant and gift shop to buy our pass to pet the tame CHEETAH'S! The park cost $7 per person to get in and $4 to pet a cheetah for 15 minutes! So so cheap! We couldn't miss the opportunity. We did have a zoologist or a guide with us. He told us all about the cheetahs. The cheetah's were born into captivity as brothers. Their names are Monty and Mark. They were so calm. They purred and just laid around like a house cat would. One thing that surprised me is that their fur was a lot more coarse than I expected. They don't like their tails touched or their bellies rubbed. They did jump up from sleeping at one point when they saw a family of warthogs walk by. They just watched them and purred, nothing really dangerous happened towards us. The majority of the time they just laid there and slept. One did lick my arm a few times! It was so cool. You know how a house cat's tongue feels? Well, it was just like that expect a little more rough and a lot bigger.
After our cheetah time we walked around the restaurant looking for monkey's through this little trial. We didn't see any monkeys, but we did get some nice exercise and saw a few untamed cheetahs in the enclosure. They had just gotten fed so we saw them eating. It was cool. When we went back to the car there was an ostrich hanging out in the parking lot. It had been over by the picnic tables with a family trying to get their food. The girls and I just laughed and said, "You know your in Africa when there an ostrich in the parking lot." This is a true statement and can be filled in with many more things.
We finished driving the rest of the park and then drove back to Grahamstown. We stopped ate at this nice Italian restaurant and had supper. They had wonderful brick oven pizza, as do most places in SA. You pick any topping you want. Another delicious thing they have is milkshakes and smoothies. I should say they are "divine" because thats what true SA would say. After we had supper we went to Pick-n-Pay, the grocery store in town, to get food for the week. We loaded up because we realized this will be our last weekend renting a car. So the less we have to buy on our next trip is the less we have to carry walking home. Also Holly and Sean will be leaving the first week in March, so there wont be anyone to slip the cost of the car rental either. I'll be on my own then:-)
On Saturday we went to Schotia game reserve. They are famous for their wild lions. They have 18 total. We had a four hour game drive, a SA meal around a camp fire, and then a night drive to see the hippos out of the water and the lions hunting. The hippos weren't out of the water because it was so windy and they don't like being cold. We did get to see their heads a few times and them yawning. The lions were hunting. They encircled a group of impala. It was an exciting process to watch and our guide was giving us a play by play. The impala ended up getting away. I was a little disappointed because the lion is the king of the jungle. They are suppose to be the best at hunting and killing their prey, but come to find out they are only 30% successful with their hunting. After thinking about it, it makes sense that all animals have a form of defense against their prey. The way the impala jump and run makes it difficult for the lions to catch them because lions aren't that fast. Our guide said the lions would spend the rest of the night hunting until they were successful. Then tomorrow they would sleep all day as usually. Lions sleep up to 18 hours a day!
We also got to see four lion cubs! They were so precious. At one point they were playing and running with one another while the mothers slept. I recorded them, but the connection here isn't working well enough for me to upload the video. I'll have to show ya'll when I get home:-)
Our Land Rover, or Landy as they call them, consisted of a couple from Germany and two men from Amsterdam. They men were really friendly and spoke English very well. They also spoke German, as well as our female guide. The tour was lead in English, but then our guide repeated everything in German. The couple, the men, and the guide had many conversations in German. Sometimes they would tell us what they were talking about and sometimes not. It was interesting to be in a country where German wasn't an official language, but it was the dominant language used on our tour. Kind of made me feel like a foreigner when I don't understand half of whats being said. Guess it's true, I am a foreigner, makes me feel a little more sympathy to the foreigners in America. I know what they are going through and its a little tough not knowing what people are saying around you or all the cultural aspects you miss because your unaware of them.
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