Elephants, giraffes, lions, oh my!

The days are speeding by. There’s been little chance to record what we’ve done. During our stay at the Phinda game reserve, we spent our mornings and evenings on game drives, often taking four hours or more out on dirt roads in a 4x4 scanning for animals. In an attempt to get up to speed, rather than reciting every single story (talk to me in person if you want to get pummeled with them), I’ll just list the major animals we’ve seen:

• giraffes
• zebras
• wildebeests
• nyala
• white rhino
• elephants
• lions
• impala
• cheetah
• warthogs
• crocodiles
• baboons
• red duiker
• suni (apparently a very lucky sighting, since the suni is an endangered species and the third smallest antelope in the world
  

These sightings are thanks to our amazing guides, Ross and Nicky. We went on five game drives total in a period of four days. I have a few unique stories, however:

Lions. Everyone goes on safaris in Africa with the burning hope that they will see lions. Not only did we see lions, we were, at points, only five feet away from them. Plus, we were in an open air vehicle, which makes everything seem a lot closer and more real… plus, going 80 km/hour down a road in one is beyond exhilarating. We started towards the lions when we heard about a sighting over the radio. We rushed over, and there they were, a male lion, four lionesses, and two cubs lounging in the sun. We watched them for quite a time and were rewarded with the sight of the male lion (Mufasa, we called him), sitting up, stretching, and walking over to an open area where we could drive up and watch him. After we left, to top it off, we saw the reason they were so lethargic: a giraffe kill with its body literally a hollow shell and its intestines lining the road. Call me morbid, but I thought it was pretty cool.

We also found many, many elephants. We first sighted a small herd of about fifteen, according to Nicky. The elephants started moving our way, so we backed off. When they began to move off, Nicky thought she knew where they were headed, so we took a large loop to try to intercept them. As darkness fell, we were arriving at the watering hole when I shined the spotlight on a large object up ahead. It was, in fact, an elephant drinking, but not the same herd as we’d just seen. The crackling noise of branches breaking sounded out to our left, and to our initial excitement, and Nicky’s dismay, we discovered we were surrounded. When she told us not to panic and started hastily backing up into a bush to turn around, we began to figure out that maybe it was a little more dangerous than we’d previously thought. Fortunately, we made it out safely. When asked later, Nicky responded she’d rather be surrounded by lions than elephants. Lions are predictable but elephants are not and are massive as well.

The time at Phinda was phenomenal. We were very lucky to be there, since the camp we were at was not even commercially available. The food was delicious, the accommodations were surprisingly comfortable, the game drives were eye-opening, and our staff was a mix of some of the most dedicated and upbeat people I’ve met. Actually, there are at least three people on this trip who mentioned, with varying degrees of seriousness, that they now want to work as rangers at Phinda. I know I’d return in a heartbeat, if I had the chance.

Before we retook the seven hour drive back to Johannesburg, we dropped off a flip camera to the Dev Centre. The head of the Dev Centre and the head of the health clinic were both extremely excited to receive it, the latter especially. He was wearing his Obama shirt that day as well. I explained the simple basics of loading the video onto the computer to the Dev Center head. Jenny asked if I needed to go over the basics again, when the Dev Centre head mentioned that it was a lot like the digital cameras she’d used. I felt a little bit stupid for acting as if she’d never seen a digital camera before—she was the head of a tech center, after all. On the other hand, it didn’t hurt to make sure she understood it before we left. I got a little jump of happiness as I watched them smiling and using the camera as we left the Dev Centre. Hopefully they’ll be able to create film and send it over to YouthGive in the future. For now, it’s enough to know they’ll use it in the community for education.

Lastly, a few Zulu words I’ve learned throughout the trip (spelled phoenetically because I have no idea what the actual spelling is):

• sahn-ee-bon-ah = hello to multiple people
• sahn-wu-bon-ah = hello to a single person
• yeh-boh = yes (or a greeting in passing)
• gaya-bong-ah = thank you
• sal-ah-gat-ay = bye

The beauty of reality

Today, once again, has been packed down to the hour. This has been my first chance to sit down with free time since we arrived here in the Phinda Game Reserve. We woke up at 5:50 this morning to go on a morning game drive, otherwise known as a safari. It was this morning that the surrealism of Africa hit. Driving out into the early morning into the surrounding of endless trees and mist was indescribable.

Less than five minutes into the drive, we came across two giraffes, munching on the treetops. Our guide explained to us the little facts about the giraffes, like how the horns on their heads are calcified lumps that increase the weight for fighting. After awhile, we moved on and spotted zebras and wildebeest grazing together. She told us that they are friendly because there is safety in numbers, and they don’t compete because zebras and the tall grass and wildebeests eat the short. We also saw male and female nyala and then came back to Phina Bayete (pronounced pin-dah bye-et-ay), our camp, so we could visit the community.

Let me say now that I’m trying to transcribe all these facts because of the vast quantity of them. Our guides know astonishingly much about the Phinda reserve, like why the animals do what they do, where they like to rest, about tracking, about park management… it’s awesome, in the sense it is worthy of awe. I’ve had three game drives so far, and I have been extremely impressed.

I’ve seen a good number of images of rural African villages. It was strange on many levels to actually be in one. For instance, it was bizarre how it was similar to the images I’ve seen, yet it was completely different in how it felt to be there. It was similar to what I’d imagined, like the sight of people walking down the roads carrying loads on their heads or in school clothes, or the laundry drying on lines in the yard. The schools were similar as well. The first preschool we visited was a small building with only two rooms. All the tiny children clustered in a single room with the teacher. We entered and they began to sing.

The singing that day was one of the most touching experiences so far on this trip. In both schools we visited, the children sang for us. The preschool kids were shy, but like most children that are as tall as your knee, they were adorable. They sang a slightly different version of “If you’re happy and you know it”. The grade school kids were slightly more bold, and they came up running when we arrived. We played with both groups—we played catch with the preschool kids and shook hands with a lot of the grade school kids. Matt even taught them to pound it by the end of our tour, and they all held their hands outside the fence. They brightened everyone’s day.

The schools themselves were quite interesting. While not as well off as the average school in the U.S., they were making do with what they had. All the rooms had pictures or diagrams up on the wall. One of the teachers, a man from Ghana, told us that the rooms for younger students had more pictures, and the older students’ rooms had more text, because that was a better teaching method for them.

The other project we visited was the Dev Centre, which stands for Digital Eco-Village Centre (not development centre). It is designed to bridge the technological gap between the developed and developing worlds. They set up a center with copy machines, computers for classes and general use, and meeting rooms for community groups. It was situated in the center of the village and available to everyone. Their Introduction to Computers class was very similar to ours, though they had to pay about a hundred dollars for it. A class was actually running while we visited. They were learning Microsoft Excel, which was a slight bit of a surprise. When I used to think of developing communities learning to use computers, I didn’t actually visualize their curriculum. This was a small detail that made their lives seem a lot more real and a lot more connected with ours.

Another part of the Dev Centre included the health clinic. A very passionate and cheerful older man met us and talked about it. What was interesting was that rather than teaching about expensive U.S. medication, they showed effective home remedies using common items or cheap medication such as aspirin, to treat diseases such as those aggravated by AIDS. The health clinic also conducted health workshops, which was mostly attended by women. The man also mentioned how many people in South Africa were excited about Obama. He emphasized that it was not about race, but about Obama’s ideas and mindset. In response, Jenny and Dan decided to gift him one of the Obama shirts they had brought on the trip, though they gave it as friends rather than as a nonprofit, since YouthGive is non-partisan.

It’s crazy how I’ve heard about these types of projects, and how I’ve actually been able to see them in action. I understood it conceptually, but to actually experience it and talk with the people who worked there is completely different. Little details, like Excel or home remedies makes it infinitely more real.

These were my first interactions with groups that weren’t representatives from non-profits or involved in the tourist industry. One of the biggest challenges and purposes of this trip is to make these ideas we’ve heard about into reality in our minds. Meeting with these people helped bring humanity into these projects. As much as I had clichés, and especially ending with a cliché… people are people everywhere, and understanding that is key to understanding the world.