A F
R I C A
5 countries 2 months
Flying through the air at 1000 km/h and it still takes long. Then when the airplane finally lands in The
Cape of Good Hope I realized it was really worth it. Once I got all of my bags, I had a moment of
relief knowing I have finally made it. Walking
down to the busy airport and not knowing a soul was almost frightening at
first. But when I saw my name on card
someone is holding, I started to relax.
She had a baby, a boy, and he looks about 3 years old. Cute I thought. She introduces herself as Jessica and her
little boy as Noah. She seems quite nice. I walked down to her car with her and loaded
it up with all my bags. It was a tight
fit, considering there was also a car seat for Noah. We drove home in the dark and I suddenly felt
very tired. Flying all night takes a lot
out of you. Jessica is talking about
some mountain in the distance but I hadn’t had a clue about what it looked
like. She said it was shaped like a
table and they called it Table Mountain. Jessica also said that her house is
right at the base. We finally pulled up
her driveway and I heard music playing inside.
She said that her husband, Jason, is the youth pastor at their church
and that they were having a party. I
walked inside and it was a very nice house.
I put my bags down and started to introduce myself. Everybody was really nice and they offered me
chips and pop. How could I resist? We watched a movie and then they started to
leave. Before I knew it, I was saying
goodbye to the last person and I got back in the car and we drove for about
another ten minutes. We came to a really nice house and I got so exited to
know that I was staying in this house.
Jessica gave us a tour and it was a 3 bed, 2 baths, fully furnished and
an amazing kitchen. And if that wasn’t
good enough, the house was on a nice little canal and I had my own Paddleboat! I
was so happy that I unpacked my suitcase right away and hung all my clothes in
my huge closet. I decided that tomorrow
I would explore and then I fell asleep…
I
didn’t wake till 12:30 in the afternoon! I guess there really are time differences. I ate breakfast and went for a Paddleboat
ride. It was amazing. The view of Table Mountain was incredible. All along the shore of the canal were houses;
all of them cloud white, like mine. When
I finished I tied the boat back up, and waited for Jessica, Jason and Noah to
pick me up. Today we arranged to go to
Cape Point; the furthest point of the African continent, and the only place the
Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. As we
were driving up, all along the road were Baboons! There was everything from
little tiny babies clinging onto their mothers, to the huge dominant males with
a muscular body and big hands. How
strangely similar they are to humans! We
finally got to the Point and read the sign saying:
“340
21’ 24” South Latitude; 180 29’ 51” East Longitude
Cape Point,
South Africa”
We hiked a little bit until
we came to a lighthouse that was at the furthest point south of Africa. It was very cool to see.
All through the week we went
to different sites, peoples houses and drove around Cape Town. Jessica is very nice and her son Noah is the
cutest thing ever! One weekend, I went
to their church. It was a very big
church and there was a rock band that played great songs. I got to go to the youth group during the
sermon, and Jason was leading the whole thing. We played games and together we
made analogies on how to think of The Holy Trinity and how they are all one God
but in three different forms. It is very
confusing and I know our human brains can’t understand it yet. But overall it was probably the best youth
group I have ever been to. But it was
the last day that I would be in The Cape Of Good Hope.
Driving, driving, driving and
more driving. I ended up driving all the
way to Durban. It was 1900 km trip, but
it was worth it by the time I got there.
Big waves and sun was what I was looking forward to and I got them. Staying at The Far Light Inn was a great
pick, since it was right on the beach. I
rented a surfboard and hit the water.
The water was freezing but I surfed it anyway. I then had a nice hot shower, and went to
bed.
Another airport. They
are really becoming part of my life now.
I can manage through them so easily and I wondered why I got so confused
before? When I got onto the plane and then remembered where I was going:
Zimbabwe. Going to Zimbabwe has been my
dream, and now I was only a plane ride away.
I felt excitement sweep through my body like a wave when we finally touched
down. I met with Debbie, a volunteer
like me who was with 14 other people from Vernon. We stayed at a wonderful manor, owned by a
British lady named Ann. She was
wonderful. Our meals were amazing! For breakfast we had toast, bacon, eggs and
oatmeal. When we went out to work at
villages she would pack us a nice lunch, including sandwiches, fruit and
freshly baked muffins. They were
delicious! Out in the field was a lot of
hard work. We had about 5 different
locations that we helped, 4 of them orphanages and 1 of them a school. We were dealing with over 100 kids at a time,
all of them very energetic and exited.
It got a bit crazy when I had to blow up over 100 balloons with a hand
pump, and even though we tried to get every kid at least one, some kids got
none at all while others had five. When
we went to the school, they were having their grand opening of their new
library. The pupils performed skits,
songs and speeches about how thankful and happy they were to have a new
library. After all the performances, I
got up and donated my book Spirit Wolf that I wrote when I was in 5th
grade, and told all the 5th graders at this school that they could
write stories too. It was a very
interesting experience. We then had our
last week at Ann’s, and then went to the bus station…
On the double decker bus was
really cool. We got to watch movies,
have food and beverages and we even had a recess half way through the
trip. After a long time, we finally
arrived just outside of Victoria Falls!
It was late at night, and I kind of drifted in and out of sleep in the safari
4x4 that picked us up from the bus stop to our hotel. When we arrived at The Hide, we all got our
separate home like safari tents and went right to sleep.
In the morning I went down to
have breakfast, looking out across the wild African plains. For the buffet breakfast, I had eggs, bacon,
toast and beans. It was really
good. After breakfast I jumped into the
pool. IT WAS FREEZING!!! I actually thought I would turn into an ice
cube. When I got out I heard that we
were going to go on a safari!!! I was so
excited and was the first to jump back onto the truck. The guides said that a train that was close
by had hit an elephant. He said that
there would defiantly be lions there. I was so excited! This was going to be the first time I would
ever see an actual wild lion! I knew
when we were approaching. The smell was
horrible! It took every inch of my
concentration not to gag. And then I saw
it. It was a female lion, and she came
out of the bushes a couple minutes after we cut our engines. She went near the elephant and started
eating. Her cubs then came out and
joined her. Our photographer, Amber, was
going crazy to get as many pictures as she could get. We then moved closer toward the railroad
tracks, and who might be lying right in the middle only 30 ft. away from
us? A male lion! A huge male lion! It was amazing to see, but it surprised me
how lazy lions are. I guess they save
their energy for hunting. We then moved
on with the safari and saw a lot of birds, zebras, wilder beasts, a giraffe,
elephants, and warthogs. Everything was
so surreal. It felt has though I had
entered another world. It felt like I was in the movie The Lion King…
We then went to a watering
hole where all the animals take turns drinking.
And it was the lion’s turn when we got there. There were at least six male lions and a few
females. There were also some cubs too. Again, they were all lying around lazily,
sleeping most of the day. Then I saw the
biggest lion of all. I assumed he was
the alpha of the pride, considering he was the only one standing tall, with his
chest out and head held high. I
remembered the evil zoo we visited in Peru, and saw how there were lions in
little cages and looked totally defeated and his eyes lost its colors. When I looked at this wild lion, I could see
how happy he was. His eyes screamed with
power and majesty. He stood tall and let
no one do any harm to him or his pride.
He was the king of the jungle.
And he knew it.
When we arrived back at the
hide, we ate another wonderful meal and then looked back out to the
plains. It was beautiful. With the water whole 30 ft. away, the huge
African sun in the back ground, birds flying over the water and zebras, wilder
beasts and wart hogs grooming the ground, it was something that could be on a
post card. Or a movie! And then I wished I could be part of it. Then I remembered. I could!
It’s the reason this luxury tent hotel got its name! The Hide!
Near the watering hole, there is a hidden shelter inside a near by
rock. It reminded me of a bomb
shelter. When we climbed in, there was a
little couch with pillows looking out to a small opening in the metal wall. You could see everything. Warthogs and zebras ate the grass and a
parliament of baboons played across the plain.
It was heaven. I loved The Hide
so much but sadly we had to leave. It
was time to go to Vic Falls!
In the bus we watched a
really funny movie called “Rat race” Then
we arrived at The Sprayview Hotel! It
was amazing! We got to our rooms and saw a plate of tea sitting there waiting
for me. After tea, I went straight to
bed.
In the morning, I walked down
the hill to explore. I noticed the large
pool, and made a mental note to go swimming after breakfast. It was another buffet breakfast and it very
good. Of course we had eggs, bacon beans
and toast. The I went swimming in the
pool and was surprised it wasn’t too cold.
With nothing else to do, I
decide I should go see the legendary,
Victoria Falls.
The spray of the falls were
incredible! I could not believe how
much water there is here and
only a short distance away there are all these people with no drinking water!
The rest of the week we pretty much stayed at The Spray View. Then one night we went to a “Boma” dinner. It was all African food buffets that were DELICIOUS! I ate so much I thought I was about to blow up! There was even a desert table with lots and lots of cakes and puddings and pies! I ate has much has I could from that table.
The rest of the week we pretty much stayed at The Spray View. Then one night we went to a “Boma” dinner. It was all African food buffets that were DELICIOUS! I ate so much I thought I was about to blow up! There was even a desert table with lots and lots of cakes and puddings and pies! I ate has much has I could from that table.
Flying in the tiny 12-seated
airplane was really cool. We ended up
actually being on the same flight as the people we were going to stay
with! Her name was Delmaza and she has 3 daughters and a son. The plane landed and their dad gave us a ride to their house. It was a nice home that had a lot of guitars,
a keyboard and a violin. They even had a
trampoline! It was so cool to stay
there. In the morning, I got up early
and very excited. Today I was going to
school. The dad happens to be the
Principal at the High School 5 minutes down the road. Paschwa and me walked there and she told me
all about her school.
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