Jarae here....here are my enteries from the last couple days. I still have have a couple of more days to write about, but here is what I have so far.



July 24th,

My first 24hours in South Africa:

As I write this it has been 24 hours since we touched ground in Johannesburg. I have a mixture of experiences and emotions so far. Some expected some are not. Here is my past 24 hours.

After a little over a 10hour flight, which included crossing over and seeing a little of the Alps, and crossing over the Equator, we landed in South Africa. I’m not sure which country is easier to get into Holland or South Africa. I did have to fill out a form for SA, but no questions were asked when we entered, and I have a 3 month temporary residence pass in my passport. So if I wished to stay longer, I guess I could.

Once we, or I guess that would be Kyle (I like traveling w/ a guy…I will add this to my pro marriage list) retrieved the luggage, we went to go seek out the shuttle to the hotel. I was informed we would meet the shuttle in the arrival hall. So no one was standing around w/ a sign so I assumed they were outside. That is when a guy asked if we needed a shuttle. I pulled out my voucher w/ the info, and he said follow me. So w/ a little hesitation we did. He led us outside the hotel, and then in a very quite voice pointed to the other side and said we needed to go over there. We con’t to follow, and then he grabbed a guy in a suit, who I assumed was a shuttle driver. This suited guy took over driving the trolley, and raced across the street. Once he gets to other side of the airport, he continues to go on up the street. Kyle walks w/ the luggage and the suited guy, I stroll behind w/ my new friend Shay. At this point I have no idea where I am going, and unsure if the men we are following know where we are going, but we already goin with it. Too late to turn back now. We finally turn a corner, where we see a bunch of vans w/ little uhauls behind them. They find the shuttle guy for our hotel, and then proceed to ask for a big tip. I have no SA Rand, just Euros and $$$. I hadn’t really expected for this and not quite prepared. The only thing I had for the dynamic duo was 5 bucks. So I gave it to one of them and told them to split. I assumed they had some operation going on. They went on to say, that I needed to give more to the other guy. I said that is all I have, and then they looked at Kyle. Kyle literally had no money, so they got nothing from him. Finally I was whisked into the van by the driver. He grabbed my arm tightly and would not let go until I was in the van.

Whether you are at the airport or hotel, there is always someone to carry your bag…of course for a price. The next AM, I rounded up all the $1 bills I had and gave a few to Kyle to hand out as needed for tipping. This way I didn’t have to pull out my wallet. We get a porter at the airport he takes us all the way to the checkin counter, Kyle gives him 1 dollar. Kyle made the mistake of asking him where we can exchange $$$. Once he gets the $ he gives it back to him and says that he can’t do anything w/ that. He then gives him another $ and he says ok. We then head downstairs to the exchange office where he the same porter comes up to Kyle, and gives back his $2 and says give me something once you exchange, After about half an hour we head back upstairs w/ Rands in wallet. The same porter comes up to Kyle and asks for something. Kyle informs him he has no small Rand, he just has the $2, they guy accepts it again.

The ride to Hluhhluwe:
Jo-burg is more industrious then I would imagine. However, it didn’t get very far from the airport. They are big into nuclear power. One plenty was less than 5 miles from the airport, and we saw at least 2 more flying to Richards Bay. When we reach Richards Bay, we are greeted by Wilson, our driver. He is very sweet, bit a low talker. Could not understand him. I was just nod when he spoke, and then followed him wherever he went. It took a little over an hour to get to our destination. During this drive, I have never seen more people sitting, lying, or walking down the side of a freeway. By the crazy way I see people drive in this country, not sure I would want to be doing anything by the freeway. I saw small little houses w/ walled fences and barb wired above the fence, to what I guess you would call Shanty Towns. Some people that were sitting on the side of the road were trying to sell things, but there would be 5 in a row, and they were all selling the same thing. Apparently, they do not watch The Apprentice or know anything about entrepreneurship. I saw some men either tending to or lying next to Brahma bulls/cows.

Finally we arrive at Zula Nyla….Yeah!! We are greeted w/ a glass of guava juice. This stuff is good. We are then are escorted to our room. Which is facing the pool, and has this great view of the park. It has rolling hills covered w/ green trees. It absolutely breath taking. So we did not end up in the pseudo tents like I expected, but I am perfectly fine w/ where we are at.

We go for a stroll around the property, and we are greeted by monkeys. Quite a few are just up to no good. One was trying to get into the laundry room. Then later there was wart hog. Every time I tried to take his pic, he would move, and I would end up getting a pic of his butt.

At 3:30 we met or tour guide for the trip, Sandile. It means “many” in the Zulu language. He has 7 brothers and 1 sister. He is a very cool guy, He is funny, and likes to joke around. His motto is what happens in the jeep, stays in the jeep. They are not supposed to go off-roading! LOL!! I have seen more bushes been ran over then road. It’s cool.

There are 6 other people in our group. 4 are from CA, and 2 from TX. The woman from TX is a trip. She is never happy w/ anything. Her husband hardly speaks. Everyone else in the group says that he is too scared to talk.

The first animal we see is a Nyala (pronounced nee-ya-la). From what understand it is local to this area. This is why the resort is called Zulu (we are in Zulu land) Nyala. We then stumble across about 5 or 6 giraffes. They were so close, and so tall. You can tell the male by the hair on his horns, and he also the tallest. He was also making his moves on one the lady giraffes in the area. Men are no different no matter what species.

We then moved on and saw a crocodile (apparently showed up one day after the heavy rains) hippos (they were in the water) zebras, and rhinos to mention a few. Sandile located the largest rhino in the mark. He was in the process of marking his territory, by peeing and pooping all over the place. Which I have to say is not a pleasant smell. I had the great fortune of sitting up front next to Sandile. I was an honorary trekker. So as we are slowly approaching this humongous animal, Sandile states if he charges the truck do not yell. I thought he was kidding, so paid no attention. He starts teasing him by starting the truck and heading toward him, and the stopping. He did this several times. So the last time he shuts off the engine and is slightly angled so that he is just about face to face w/ me, and less than a couple of feet. This pisses him off, and he starts charging towards the jeep. I scream HOLY CR@P!!! Then Sandile says don’t yell. The rhino stops about a foot from the truck, and then turns away and starts marking his territory again. Then Sandile laughs at me, and says that was my tracker. OOPS!!

At night after dinner there is not much to do. No TV in the room, so we just sit out by the pool, and listen the noises and hope nothing is coming towards us.

July 25th – 2nd day

We went on 2 rides today, morning ride from 8:30 – noon, and then an afternoon ride 3:30 – 6. Today we saw the 3 elephants. One set is a mother and her baby. They were munchin on trees. You could hear the snap crackle of the tree limbs. They were kind of hidden in the brush, so it was a little difficult to see them. They were slowly making there way to the watering hole. So we drove around the hole and quite a few of the animals were making there way there too for an afternoon drink. As the day gets warmer the animals tend to lie low, and don’t do much. My charging rhino friend was quite docile today when we found him. He was just laying around without a care in the world. At one point he put his 2 front feet in front of him, kind of like a puppy dog. He looked rather cute at that point.

We also saw George the Giraffe. I find this a little ironic since today would have been grandpa’s 86th birthday, and his name is George. J George is the oldest giraffe at the park, and only has 1 horn. Apparently, George is quite the lady’s man. He is always hitten on the ladies, and hit on the wrong one nite. A brawl occurred between George and the ladies companion at the moment, and George lost his horn!!! I hear that has not stopped him from still hitting on the ladies.

July 26th – 3rd Day

We drove to a local village/town today. We drove about 30 minutes from Zulu Nyala to the village in the open safari truck. It is quite an adventure in itself to drive in this down the freeway going about 60km and semi trucks passing you by.

It is possible to visit these villages due to a project that was put together to work w/ the local resorts in the area to allow visitors to come into their village and experience their culture. We first learned a few Zulu words on how to greet people. To greet someone you say “Say-bone” and they would reply back and say “E-book” We walk to towards what I guess would the town center which really consisted of two stores and small building where the kids could hang out listen to music and play pool. There are 8,000 people that live in this town, but it was hard to believe. All the houses are spread out amongst the hills. Most everyone spoke English, so we would greet them in Zulu and they would just say Hello back. So there went all our practicing. There are tons of kids that live here. I think I only saws 3 adults and the rest were kids or teenagers.

We walked into both stores. Neither one had any lights on in them. We had a guide, and as we were walking he was giving us info about the town, but it was a little difficult to here him at times, so I am unclear why they did not have lights. However, I do think it is to conserve it so that they can use it at night, but not positive about that. Both stress had a variety of items from food, blankets, finger nail polish, to sweets. I felt kind of weird walking into them. I felt like a voyeur or an intruder. By now there were probably about 20 kids standing outside the store. Then loud music started out coming out of the little building attached to the store. A few members of our group started dancing w/ the kids. Everyone was having a good time. We then moved up to the school. The school holds K-7th grade. There are 2 building with about 5 or 6 classrooms in each building. There are 500 students, 13 teachers, and 1 computer. We got to go into 2 of the classes of some of the younger students. One class sang us a song, which I could not understand, but it was nice. The younger class, probably 5 or 6, sand the ABC song. They are still few kinks with the song, but I am sure they will have it down soon. They all very exited and interested in us. We were able to introduce ourselves in front of the class, and when we did, they would reply, ‘Nice to meet you”. It was so cute. I was at the end of the line by the entrance and there were about 7 or 8 kids sharing what looked to be 2 big desks. They would keep staring and smiling at us. Then one of they boys told me he wanted hi picture taken. So I did. They then wanted to see their picture on the screen. They loved to look at themselves. Every kid I took a pic of, I then had to show them the picture. As we walked outside the building next to the classrooms the kids would stick their arms out so that you would hake their hands. Some if gave high 5’s. As we walked to the back of the school, there was this wooden shack . This was the kitchen. There were 2 woman in the kitchen and a small camp fire cooking beans and rice. It was quite disturbing. They fix the students one meal, and this in the morning when they arrive at school. She pointed to the houses that lined the hills that stretched miles away, and said the kids walk from these houses to the school on empty stomach, because there families cannot afford to feed them. However depressing the situation seemed the kids seemed very happy, and excited to learn. I guess they do not know any different. We were able to donate money to the school. Our guide told us later that since this project started and people have been giving donations, that there have been a lot of improvements, which was nice to hear.