October 8 2010 / Kariega Game Reserve, South Africa

We had our 5AM wake up, which I was chipper as everything for because I’d gotten a solid seven hours or so of sleep—being out and about all day makes it easy for you to sleep!  Unfortunately for me, my spider bite from hell had DOUBLED in size, making the entire area of my shoulder red and purple, and the skin around it was becoming rough.  African spiders are hopefully not dreadfully poisonous, because I really don't want to see the doctor, but this is the grossest thing I have ever seen (I'm sure I'm  going to die in some sort of horribly stupid way one day).  As expected, after the apparently raging party that had happened the night before, two students didn’t make it to the 4x4s before we took off for the boat.  We had a little game drive before getting to the boat, which was like a large platform boat that floated gently down the Kareiga River as the sun rose.  It was so incredibly beautiful—the birds were just beginning to call, and the clouds were reflected in the water and there was mountains all around us and oh man, it was just so incredible.  Even though we didn’t see too much wildlife (aside from a particularly cool looking half-collared kingfisher), I was still awestruck just looking at the natural beauty of the place.  I can’t even believe I was lucky enough to have this opportunity, to be there and to be in so many different places.  It was truly wonderful.  We sipped our hot chocolate and took a few pictures on the water, but mostly I just basked in how peaceful it was and how lucky I was to be there.

On our way back, we saw buffalo heading to a mud wallow.  Phil raced ahead of them and got there very close to the water hole.  Earlier he had discussed how buffalo were the only animals on the reserve that made him uncomfortable, as they were very unpredictable.  There were four of them at the mud wallow, three of them sipping and laying down, enjoying the shade and the mud.  One of them, however, was looking directly at us.  She would sip water, stare at us, and then lean down again.  She never broke eye contact with us, and was probably only about 20 feet away from us the entire time.  Buffalo are HUGE animals—their chests are literally the size of a barrel.  Many of the girls were practically wetting their pants, because she seemed ready to charge at any second but I’ll be honest—I yearned for a charge.  How great of a story would that be?  (I would only really be sad that the buffalo got hurt.)  After a while she drifted away and let us drive off, making everyone sigh in relief.  I thought it was the most intensely charged (hoho. I really need to stop making puns) experience of the trip.  She was facing us directly most of the time, and seemed very much inclined to take a run at us. 

We looked at birds of prey in the sky on the way back, and when we got back to our chalets to pick up our luggage the two students were still awkwardly sleeping—everyone on the 4x4 was really vindictive about it.  I think that SAS kids do love to party, and there are only few exceptions to that rule, but practically everyone still will get themselves up early, no matter how they’re feeling, to make the most of their time wherever they are.  So I think that might be where that kind of hypocrisy/vindictiveness comes from.  It was pretty amusing though.  At the reception desk we took pictures of our guides and our 4x4 group, and then finally we headed out and away.  I will miss Kariega.  I want to go on safari for my honeymoon when I’m married.  Can there be safari weddings? 

I tried to sleep on the bus back, but that was just a world of pain for my neck.  However, Kariega did provide us with awesome bag lunches, including bacon pesto chedder sandwiches.  NOM.  It was great.  We got to the airport LITERALLY twenty minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off.  I’m pretty sure we bribed the people there to let us cut in line, because we still made it (though with no time to spare).  It was pretty funny.  I wrote postcards on the way back (I’m sending out sooo many postcards from South Africa, because I’ve loved it so much <3).

When we touched down in Cape Town I could not have been happier to get back and take a nice shower.  But first, I went out into the mall and bought a really cool World Cup shirt (it’s necessary) as well as this Africa one.  After showering, I grabbed my laptop in hopes that I would be able to skype with my mom and dad or Cassy, or even retry to upload facebook pictures.  NOPE.  There was literally no way.  I was really disappointed because I really wanted to talk to mom and dad and Cassy, but at that point it was too late to get a phone card.  I will be calling at least mom and dad in Mauritius though!!

Went back to my cabin after shopping around for a while.  Was finally able to depoison the spider bite (sorry if this is grossing you out, by the way.  It was really freaking gross and I didn't let too many people see it, so I need to vent), which hurt SO MUCH I got tears in my eyes.  Hopefully it goes down and I will not have to go to the medical bay for some stupid African spider disease, where I turn into a giraffe or something. 

Our neighbors bought a vuvuzela (we knew this was coming), so we listened to that for a while.  As I personally celebrate the vuvuzela’s obnoxious nature, I let it go for the day. 

Cape Town is the only port so far that has made me want to stay weeks longer as opposed to feeling ready and okay with moving on.  It has been the most incredible port that I’ve been to so far, and has made me absolutely love and adore Africa and its people.  I really want to come back with my parents one day, because I know that it’s exotic but not TOO exotic and I know they would love it.  There are so many things I need to come back and do, and it has such rich history.  It’s incredible still seeing the ending effects of apartheid.  I’m not taking no for an answer—I’m coming back to Cape Town one day. 

My apologies with how brief these seem to be (at least they seem that way to me, but then again, I could talk about this for hours).  I just wanted to get on track before Mauritius.  Sometime tomorrow I will update about what I did this week.  Some was boring, some was crazy and awkward, some was EXCITING!  But Mauritius is TOMORROW (October 13) so that is my first priority! 

NEXT TIME ON EMECHULATION AT SEA:  Gigantic lightning storms, studying for midterms, midterms, Dungeons and Dragons, bystander to an incident that will (hopefully) end in someone's expulsion from the ship, and poetry slams.
On the edge of your seats, I'm sure. :)