Adventures in South Africa: Safari Weekend in Africa

Three weekends ago I went on a mini weekend trip with the group that I came to South Africa with, ISA. Early Saturday morning we traveled to a township called Tow's River where we played with children at a school. A township is essentially an underdeveloped living area here in South Africa. These are the areas where the houses are made of metal and wood slabs and what we would call shacks. At this school, we assembled bouncy houses for the children to play on, colored, face painted, played cricket, etc. The children LOVED the bouncy houses. The children also loved us. They were crawling all over us and jumping on us in the bouncy house. When I was in the bouncy house at one point, there was a group of girls that made it their goal to tackle me to the ground. The children live in extreme poverty, yet all have a smile on their faces and play like there is no tomorrow. At lunch we gave the all of the children hotdogs. There was one mother that was there that was saving the left overs of the children's buns. She said she had other small children at home that needed to be fed. It was sad to see her walking around picking up these leftovers. When it came time to leave, we all received the biggest bear hugs from the kids. I think all of us left with smiles on our faces.

The first two pictures is what the school looked like inside

Tanner (a guy in my group) playing with the kiddies in the bouncy house.

Tanner showing off his hula hoop skills (or lack there-of).

Mama Rachel and all her kiddies>

Beauty Salon in the bouncy house.

I literally had 5 girls braiding my hair at once.

Do not mess with this girl. She has a crazy arm on her. She pitches for the boy's cricket team.

This girl was definitely my favorite! She fell asleep in my arms for a good half an hour while her older brother played in the bouncy house.

After the school, we went to the Aquila Private Game Reserve, which was near by. We stayed over night here and Rachel, Ali, and I had our own villa in very luxurious accommodations. I had my own King sized bed for the night! This place was gorgeous and people such as Paris Hilton and MC Hammer have stopped by here to partake in the activities. We arrived Saturday afternoon and we started our stay here with margaritas and a refreshing dip in the infinity pool. After cleaning up in our private outdoor rock shower, we went on a sunset safari and saw the tons of animals. Over the period of two safaris, we saw the Big 5 which includes Rhinos, Leopards, Elephants, Buffalo, and Lions. These are called the Big 5 because they are some of the most dangerous animals in the world. Other animals we saw include zebras, springbok, giraffes, wildebeest, ostriches, eland, and cheetahs. It was basically a live version of the Lion King. Dream come true. During the safari, we stopped for some dried meat and nuts accompanied by sparkling wine. This was cool because around us we could see wildebeest and giraffes. When we got back, there was a feast of traditional South African cuisine waiting for us. The next morning, we woke at 5 for a sunrise safari. The sun was not even up when we began, but we quickly saw it and anticipated its arrival to warm us up from the extremely crisp morning air. Following a huge breakfast, we laid by the pool for several hours, had another huge meal, and then loaded back on the bus to come home. I think everyone was sleeping on the bus way home. It was a very successful weekend indeed.