iSimangalios Wetland Park

Hello Everyone,
Today we went to St. Lucia for an exciting boat ride. While we rode the boat down an esturary we saw so many animals including, hippos, crocodiles, eagles, king fishers, goliath herons, egrets, scared ibis, too many to list here! The town of St. Lucia is in the middle of a 1 million acre national park. Residents can awake to hippos in their pool or eating their lawn. The park is home to many leopards, elephants, buffalo, and others. After our boat ride we drove through the park looking at the changing landscape. At times we seemed to be in thick jungle. We also saw vervet monkeys, bushbuck, baboons, and red duiker. Here in Africa the sun is so bright! It seems so close to us. We saw a beautiful sunset and then watched the stars come out. From here you can see the plant Venus and the Milkyway. Amazing isn't it!

Wild Cats, School and Game Drive

Yesterday afternoon we went to a wild cat rehabilitation center. It was a good time to go as a rain came through. The center cares for cheetah, Africa wild cats, African lynx,and serval. If the cats are able they are released back into the wild. We got caught in the rain, but it did'nt matter. This morning we went to the village in Nampondo. Two guides walked us through the village to the school. The village has about 8,000 people in it. There is 70% unemployment in the village and 43% of the villagers have AIDS. There are four primary schools which feed into 1 highschool. The school we went to was a R-7th grade primary school. The 1st grade class has 50 students the 2nd grade class has 80. We visited a 4th grade classroom. The students practiced their English on us. We dropped off some of the supplies we brought and met with the head teacher. The principal was gonedue to a teacher's death. Once again a very sad situation. This school gets many visitors from Zulu Nyala. People are encouraged to stop at the local market to buy supplies or food for cooks to use for lunch. After visiting the school we stopped by a home belonging to a grandmother in the village. She cares for all of her grandchildren, as all of her children have died from AIDS. We learned about many traditions of the Zulu people.

Later in the day we went on our evening game drive. Our guide Kyle managed to find a mother cheetah and her 7 week old cubs (4). So cool! We sat and watched them for quite a while. We also went to a water hole and saw a white rhino and her 6 week old baby. So cute! The mother was trying to find a good place to drink from without getting stuck in the mud. A male rhino came along and made the mother nervous.. he was also thirsty. We then went on to see if we could see one of the leopards. We saw a male from a distance and a young one running into the bush.

Tomorrow we will be traveling to St. Lucia. We are having a great time! Everyone has been very friendly and helpful. We will write again tomorrow if possible. TTFN

Elephants

Now at Zulu Nyala!

Hello Everyone,
We went on our first safari ride this morning. Our guide Kyle is quite funny and knowlegable about the variety of plants and animals. We saw several animals including, warthogs, impala, nyalas, zebras, birds, two cheetah brothers, and three elepants! Kyle does not hesitate to get us up close and personal! We spent quite a bit of time with the elephants, very close! They smelled us, they were so close we could have touched them,but we didn't! Our room has a beautiful view overlooking the game perserve. Later today we are going to a cheetah recovery center and tomorrow morning (Friday) we will visit a zulu village and school. We are sure to have a great time here! TTFN Mary Jo and Karen

Last Day in Cape Town

We have had a lovely stay here in Cape Town. Today we will walk down into the city center. We plan on visiting some museums and the Castle of Good Hope. We also plan to see several govermental buildings and as much of the city as we can. We leave early tomorrow for our flight to Zulu Nayla. I am not sure when we will be able to blog again.

More about Yesterday

After our visit to the primary school we went to the town of Stellenbosh. Stellenbosh is a college town, very cute. The buildings were very European. We wandered around, had coffee and shopped. On our way back to Cape Town we stopped at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The gardens are in the shadow of Table Mountain. This is quite a large garden. We imagine that you could spend all day here and not see everything. Last night we took a taxi down to Mama Africas a local restaurant. We were brave and had a crocodile appetizer. Wehad traditional African meals and listened to a lively band.

Today We Went to School

Monday, July 26th. Today our guide Alfred took us to the town of Klapmuts to visit a school. The Klapmust Primary school is a R-8th grade school. R grade is a primary grade for students 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 years old. School is year round with a large break in December. We were able to visit with the principal and a first grade teacher. The principal has great vision for his school. He was very excited to meet with us and to talk about his learners. We spent time visiting a first grade teacher. She had 33 learners, plus 7 more from a class that was split up because their teacher was sick. The upper grade may have more than 40 students. The differences in our schools was amazing. Their school had been torn down and a new one is being built. We hope to keep connected with the teacher we met. The kids were excited to see us and have their picture taken. The first grade class sang the South Africa national anthem. We both felt humbled by this experience. We are very lucky.

Cape of Good Hope

We drove through the Cape Peninsula National Park to the top of Cape Point. We could see the Indian Ocean meeting the Atlantic Ocean. The views were incredible! We also went down to the Cape of Good Hope. You could see for miles in every direction. The weather has been great and the sun and stayed with us!

Animals, Animals, Animals,

On our way to the Cape of Good Hope we saw a variety of animal life. Our fist sighting were the penguins. The southern right whales are here to give birth, we saw some in Chapman's Bay. We also saw a troop of baboons and some bontebuck.

Hello Again

After we rested from our trip here we headed out to explore Cape Town. On Sunday Alfred our guide took us to Table Mountain. We rode a tramp up to the top of the mountain. What an amazing view from the top! We walked on a path that took us on loop around the top. After coming down from the mountain we were taken to Hout Bay. A small fishing town along the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped in Simon's Town for lunch on our way to a penguin Colony. The penguins are here year round. We also saw a southern right whale swimming in one of the bays along our way to the Cape of Good Hope.

We've Made It!

Hello Everyone,
Here we are in Cape Town. We arrived late last night. It is now 8:45 in the morning on the 25th. We are still a little confused with the time change. Our plane went from Dullus to Dakar, Africa for refueling then on to Johannesburg. By the time we reached Cape Town we had been up for about 31 hours with maybe 5 hours of sleep. We decided that it would be more comfortable sleeping in a box! It is beautiful here, we watched the sun come up and have a view of the world cup stadium. Our guide, Alfred will be picking up about 9:00 and take us to the cape to see the penguins. He will be our guide for the day. The weather is nice and sunny. We have some travel tips for you. #1 On international flights, you will need to scan your passport at check in. Note, it is not the slot in front of you but rather the clearly marked flat scanner. One of us who shall remain nameless needed help getting the passport out of the slot. Apparently we are not the first ones to have done this. #2 You really shouldn't dress identical unless you're on the Amazing Race! #3 In Johannesburg, beware of the guys in uniform trying to "help" you! All is good here and we are excited to get our day started. I will try to download pictures later. Karen and Mary Jo

Twenty-four Hours to Go!

We leave tomorrow morning and arrive in Cape Town at 9:10 on the 24th of July. Seems like we will be spening quite a bit of time on the plane! The weather is looking good. If computer technology is not working for us in Africa, I will post when we return on the 8th of August.

One Week from Today!

Hello Everyone,
One week from today we will leave for Africa! I have been checking the weather and so far for Cape Town, it looks to be in the high 50's low 60's with rain at the tip. At Zulu Nayla our second stop the weather has been in the low 70's. Zambia/Botswana our last stop is the warmest with weather currently in the low 80's. How does one pack for the variety of temperatures? We packed our educational supplies and have about 55 pounds between us. Most of the supplies will be delivered to the school in Zambia, so we will be carrying the supplies with us most of the way! We found large baggies at Target. I used them for my trip to China and found packing my clothes in baggies was ideal!

Supplies for Africa

We went shopping today for supplies to give to the schools we visit while on our trip. We stopped at Target and Learning World and had planned to go to Staples, as they had a back to school ad already, but we decided that we probably were going to have trouble with getting everything we got into our luggage! We got a variety of supplies including, educational posters, drawing paper, pencils, markers, world maps, crayons,colored pencils, sharpeners, soccer balls and pumps! We also have several story books to bring along. The photo I am posting is only for about 1/2 of the supplies. I reminded Mary Jo several times that we still needed room for clothes! It was fun to shop and can't want to see the kids and classrooms.

Twenty-one Days and Counting

We met with our trip planner last week. We have our tickets! All I need to do is pack. We are picking up supplies for the schools we go to next week. We have gotten a lot of good advice from our traveler friends. This week I went to Northwest Trek with my niece and got some practice taking photos of animals from a tram. I traded up and got a Nikon D90. I will be practicing a lot before our departure! So exciting!