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South Africa - Travel and Volunteering

a travel blog by emmarogers85

I will be travelling from Cape town to Addo Elephant park to experience the thrill of game driving in the 145,000 ha National Game Park. I will be touring the costal regions of both the western and Eastern Cape, exploring the Whale Route, Route 62, the Karoo and Garden Route all the way to Mandela Bay and Port Elizabeth.
on 17th May I will arrive at a Wildlife Project in Jeffery's bay to assist the Animal Rehabilitation Centre to feed and care for orphaned and abandoned animals including Cheetah, Serval, Lynx, Monkeys, Meerkats, Genets, Wallabies...
On 24th May I will then move to my second placement, also in Jeffreys Bay, where I will be working at Jeffreys Bay Foster Home and Safe House. This Safe House is a place of refuge for vulnerable children that have been rejected or abandoned by their own families. I will be assisting with the childrens daily needs, preparing meals, caring fro the youngsters and entertaining the children.
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Trains, Planes and a sleeping Swede

Cape Town, South Africa

Well I think it might be best to cut a long story short!
Yesterday at half eleven I got into a car, then I got onto a train, after 3 hours I got onto the tube, then I got onto another train. Then I arrived at Heathrow airport. By this point I already felt as though I had travelled long enough to at least be in another country. After 4 hours of hanging around I got onto a plane to Paris only to be told seconds after boarding that the flight would be delayed by 20 minutes. That's not so bad. We were told that the delay was due to the amount of air traffic but whilst we waited the horrific grinding noise the plane was making made me think otherwise. After an hour and twenty minutes of god awful 'on hold' music and fear of being strapped into the plane of doom we finally took off. Only a short 2 hour flight to Paris where I would be changing over to Johannesburg. As each minute passed I know my chances of arriving in Paris in time to catch my flight were getting slimmer and slimmer. We landed in Paris 20 minutes before my next plane took off, by the time I managed to get off I only had 10 minutes to spare. As I stepped of the plane a member of the 'Air France' crew ushered me down a set of stairs onto the runway bit (where the planes park?) and bundled me into the back of a van. I figured she was tring to get me to my plane on time, but she could have been kidnapping me, I couldn't understand a word she was saying. She drove like a maniac, dodging other vans, busses and luggage carts before arriving at the departure gate for my flight to Jburg. I was very grateful for her efforts, but when I arrived the flight had been delayed so it was all a bit unnecessary. I had another 45 minute wait before the flight finally boarded. It was the Airbus A380, which I later found out is the largest plane in the world. I've never been on a double decker plane before! The novelty soon wore off. I was sat next to a youngish Swedish girl, who was really sweet, but she fell asleep straight after taking off and slept for almost the entire 10 hour flight. I had the window seat and couldn't get out! The plane wasn't crowded and I wanted to move so I could get comfy and have a kip, but I couldn't. For a while it was because I didn't have the heart to waker her, but 6 hours in I did try gently rouse her from what looked like an amazingly deep and wonderful sleep (I wasn't watching her sleep, that's creepy, it's an assumption I made after one or two sideways glances in her direction!) but to no avail. She was out for the count.
Again due to delays when I finally arrived in Jburg I had about 30 minutes to get my onward flight to Cape Town. This time though, as I was changing airlines, I had to go through customs, get my visa, collect my luggage and check in all over again.
I really had no idea I could run so fast.
Bearing in mind my combined luggage weighs approx 4 stone and at this point I was 30 hours without sleep or a shower and 24 hours without a fag I'm surprised no one died.
I got on my flight to cape town. I had no one sitting next to me, we took off on time and I wasn't forced to listen to some random nobody singing Celine Dion 'My Heart Will Go On'.
Upon arrival I got the shuttle bus to the hostel, had a shower and a fistful of cigarettes. Feeling refreshed and looking forward to some shut eye, but with only the offer of Macaroni Cheese for tea if I stay here I think I'll venture out for a wander before it get's dark.

permalink written by  emmarogers85 on May 7, 2010 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: South Africa - Travel and Volunteering
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Cape Town to Jeffreys Bay

Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa

Well I've had a few days here now and completely lost track of what day/time it is and I'm bloody loving it! I managed to have a day in Cape Town after catching up on some sleep. I bumped into a couple of Aussie girls I met at the Airport, Ivy and Nadine ('Just call me Nads, Y'know, like testicles!' Australian accent please!) we had a mooch around the antique stalls and markets before going for some lunch. They were heading off to Table Mountain and asked if I wanted to go with them, I thought I was going on Sunday so I declined only to find out that I wansn't going on Sunday! A little disappointed I missed it. My experience of South Africa so far is nothing like I was expecting from what I read in my guide books. I feel completely comfortable and safe here and all the people I have met here are friendly and welcoming. I'm already planning my trip back! I am currently in Jeffreys Bay on the South Coast. Over the past 3/4 days I have been travelling with Maudicai (Moddy) my tour guide. There are 2 other people on the tour. Jana, a 23 year old German girl working in Cape Town for 5 months as an intern and Thomas (not Tom, Thomas!) a 28 year old guy who is studying Computer Science and over here for a holiday. I really like Jana, she's typically German, but fun to talk to and up for a laugh. Thomas is a bit of a wet fart. He doesn't do or say much. Occasionally I will say something he finds funny (I say funny things all the time, I'm on fire over here, but he only occasionally appreciates my gift!) and he will burst out laughing. The only thing I can compare it to is a 6 year old girl, it's actually a little disturbing!
We left Cape Town and headed south to Cape Agulhas and the Southern Most point of Africa. In the Backpackers (That's what Hostels are called over here) I met 2 guys from the UK who have been travelling for the last 11 months. They are cycling from London to Cape Town and were on the last leg of their trip. They've raised over 11,000 pounds (I cant find the pound sign on this keyboard! They're a little different over here. I'll blame any spelling mistakes on this too!) for Eye on Africa. www.eyeonafrica.co.uk. www.justgiving.com/eyeonafrica I was really inspired by their efforts and have already sponsored them. We then travelled through the Langeberg Mountains and along Route 62. We visited Cange caves, this wasn't really top of my list of things to see but I was actually really impressed! I'm running out of time so apologies this last bit is a bit rushed! We then travelled the Garden Route which is absolutely stunning! This morning we went to Tsisikamma Falls and on the way we saw baboon crossing the road! I got a little bit over excited. As I mentioned before we are now in Jeffreys Bay, this is where I will be volunteering but I am only here for a couple of hours today! The beach is beautiful. The weather has been mainly sunny but windy and occasionally really wet, but today is really hot and the sky's really clear.
I have seen Ostrich, Spring Bok and Zebra en route, but tomorrow I have to be up at 5am for my first game drive! Super excited!

permalink written by  emmarogers85 on May 12, 2010 from Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa
from the travel blog: South Africa - Travel and Volunteering
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Elephants in Addo

George, South Africa

After posting my last blog in Jeffrey's bay I headed down to the sea front, there were so many dolphins jumping out of the water, I've never seen anything like it! But unfortunatley it wasn't long before I had to leave and head to Sunday's River Valley where I would be spending the night. I'm really looking forward to returning to Jeffreys Bay. We arrived at Sundays River Valley at around 3pm, such an incredible location. The area is all citrus fruit farms and we were surrounded by orange and lemon trees. My room had a really nice balcony with incredible views, not another building for miles. I sat there until sunset just watching the monkeys playing in the trees and listening to the crickets, I could have stayed forever. After dinner I headed to bed as we had a really early start on Thursday. There was an absolutely enormous cricket in my room, I had to practically wrestle it to the ground bafore throwing it out the window! Had a great nights sleep and getting up at 5 wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! I was so excited to finally be on my way to see some Elephants!! We arrived at Addo just before 6am and had a 2 hour game drive in an open topped truck. It was really cold, but as soon as we started to see the animals I didn't notice. First we saw Kudu (Which I later has for lunch!) then Ostrich, Black Backed Jackels, Mongoose ( I don't know the plaural.... Mongeese, mongooses... or just Mongoose.... I'm giving you multiple choice!!)Meerkats, Warthogs, Zebra... It was about 45 minutes in before we saw our first Elephant. It was a huge male and I mean huge. It was so much bigger than I expected! (I have seen elephants in real life before, but not like this!) He walked straight past me and if I held out my arm (Which I wasn't aloud to do!) I would have been able to touch him. I could feel my heart beating really fast, I've never felt anything like it before. We watched him dissapear into the bush. This was by far the most incredible experience of my life. When we got back to base Moddy took us out twice more and we were lucky with the weather, as it was nice we saw so many elephants. All the females and the young at the watering hole, the females are much more social than the males, when the males reach 10-13 years old and hit puberty they are forced out to the group to avoid and inbreading. Last week the oldest male and on of the younger males had a fight. The oldest male was killed and the younger died shortly afterwards. We saw the remains, which was only bones, the rest had been eaten by the Lions and Hyenas. It was a bit sad to see, but that's nature I guess.
I had a really amazing day and thoroughly enjoyed myself. We headed to Port Elizabeth where we would be spending the night. I went into the city for a look around but felt really unsafe for the first time since I have been here, I didn't like it at all so headed back to the Backpackers where I ended up having a Birthday Eve party until the wee hours! Next Stop - Walking with Elephants!

permalink written by  emmarogers85 on May 15, 2010 from George, South Africa
from the travel blog: South Africa - Travel and Volunteering
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Snot, Crap and Cider!

Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa

I've had a couple of days in Jeffrey's Bay and I really love it here. Walking along the beach watching the Dolphins has taken up the majority of my time, as well as hanging out and getting to know everyone here. It's really chilled out and just what I needed after a pretty busy week. My birthday I woke up feeling like hell! Jana made a real effort for me and we had pink champagne and cider by the crate load! Hardly surprising that I didn't want to get up at 6.30am. Moddy had made eggs and sausage for breakfast, I could have kissed him! (I didn't tho, I juat ate it like I'd never been fed!) Luckily we had a 2 hour drive so managed to increase my 2 hours sleep to 4 and was feeling a bit better when we arrived at Craggs Elephant Sanctuary. I walked with 3 female elephants, around the watering hole, through the fields and into the forest. It was incredible. It's breathtaking being so close to them, they're such magnificent creatures!Before long the dull throbbing in my head had completely disappeared and been replaced by butterflies in my stomach. I stood infront of Manny, the largest female, and held my right hand out behind me, she took hold of my hand with her trunk and I lead her around! (I say that, I didn't really lead her anywhere, I walked really quickly infront of her to avoid being trodden on!) She has a really strong grip on my hand and it was really slimey from all the snot, it was quite overwhelming. As we were walking through the forest, Delcuse, the female elephant walking in front of me, decided she had to go and proceeded to do the biggest shit I have ever seen.... all over my feet. Let's just say 3 days on and I can still smell it on me. All part of the experience!
I did have the opportunity to ride one of the Elephants, but I'm not really into riding animals (I also passed on riding an Ostrich earlier in the week!) so I decided against it. I did get to see everything though. I had no idea that their skin is actually hairy, It's a little bizarre! They have the most beautiful eyes with the longest eyelashes I have ever seen. When they walk they only lift one leg off the ground at any one time and their back legs land in the exact same spot their front legs have already stepped on. This is as the skin on their front feet is much stronger and their back feet are much more sensitive, the front feet will flatten and thorny bushes making in more pleasant for their back feet! Elephants cry, but they don't cry from their eyes, they cry from a gland on the side of their head!
I am heading out to African Dawn Wildlife Sanctuary today where I will be volunteering for the next 7 days. I thought I would be leaving early, so I have been sat around for the last 4 hours waiting for my lift! No one here seems to know what's going on! It's a little frustrating, but I'm really excited about this part of my trip! I'm not sure what internet access is like as I will be in the middle of nowhere so it may be a week until my next post.

permalink written by  emmarogers85 on May 17, 2010 from Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa
from the travel blog: South Africa - Travel and Volunteering
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African Dawn and Skotia

Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa

The last week has just flown by. I arrived at African Dawn (Eventually!) on Monday morning. It is located about 30 minutes drive from Jeffrey's Bay and is in the middle of nowhere. I had the day to look around and settle in. The sanctuary is home to Cheetah, Lynx, Marmosets, Squirrel Monkeys, Wallaby, Spring Buck and hundreds of birds amongst other things. The location is stunning. I was staying in the wooden lodge which is a short walk from the sanctuary down a pretty steep hill. All of the other volunteers were stating in the backpackers attached to the sanctuary. I loved the lodge. Outside the window I could see Giraffe and Zebra grazing in the distance. There were also wild Leopard but I wasn't lucky enough to spot one. As it's winter here it goes dark around 5pm and after dinner there really isn't that much to do so I've been having some pretty early nights! On Tuesday morning I realised that this isn't such a bad thing as the cockerels start crowing at 4.30am and don't stop until 9. If I could catch one I would have throttled it! I start work at 7 and work consists of preparing meals for the animals, this could be seed for the birds, fruit for the monkeys or meat for the big cats. The prep room is pretty grim and a lot of the same knives and chopping boards are used for the staff/volunteers food prep which turned my stomach a little but I had to not think about it. The meat used is often off and I had to choke back a gag on more than one occasion. I got stuck in and tried to be as quick as possible when working in the prep room. Feed runs were really good fun, I had the chance to feed all of the animals (Except the crocodile and the adult cheetah as they would more than likely have had a go at eating me!) The Lynx were really friendly and I spent quite a bit of my free time in with them. I also really liked the Marmosets. They have the cutest little faces!
One of the other volunteers had mentioned Skotia, a nearby reserve they had the opportunity to go and work at. I got the contact details and managed to get accepted for a few days work. I didn't have to pay to volunteer and all transport, food and accommodation was provided. I left African Dawn on Friday morning and after about 2 hours arrived in Skotia. It was just incredible. Such a stunning location. We drove about 30 minutes into the wilderness where we stopped outside a large collection of Bush Trees. This would be my home for the next few nights. Inside the collection of trees was a small wendy house style cabin and a tiny outside shower with 2 tin walls. No electricity, no hot water and no noise whatsoever, I was excited. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Edward, a ranger who would be looking after me during my stay. We drove out to a nearby watering hole where I saw crocodile and Hippo basking in the sunshine. My first job was to dig a trench. They had a severe drought this summer and the water from the mountains was bypassing the watering hole so by digging a trench it would allow the water to run straight to the watering hole which was running desperately low. I hopped off the truck, a little nervous as we were only 20 meters from the crocs and hippos. Edward was on the truck watching out for animals which made me feel a little better as they were everywhere! I think he actually took great pleasure in telling me that Hippos kill more humans than any other 3 animals in Africa put together. He was a pretty funny guy, but I never knew if he was joking or not. He kept winding me up about lions saying that he could sense they were close. After a couple of hours I was really focused on my trench digging and started to ignore his constant attempts to scare me (I couldn't get 'The circle of life' out of my head!!). Then, in the calmest voice (I didn't even hear him at first) he said to me 'Don't turn around, don't run, don't make a sound'. I wanted to laugh but took one look at his face and I knew exactly what was behind me. My heart started to race and I actually thought I was going to faint. ' Slowly walk back to the truck. Do not run'. I did exactly as ordered and now idea how I managed not to run. I got back on the truck and then was safe to look behind me and see the biggest fuck off lion I have ever laid eyes on. Edward told me that if I had run, the lion would have killed me. They can go from 0 to 80 kilometers per hour in about a second, I wouldn't have stood a chance. Back on the safety of the truck we headed away from the Lion. To add insult to injury I was covered in pepper ticks. I counted 42 in total! Arms and legs.... not so bad, but the 4 on my eyelids 2 under my fingernails and one up my nose hurt like a mother..!
After a surprisingly good night's sleep I just about managed to pluck up the courage to get off the truck again. (I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm scared of lions!!) I spent the majority of the day chopping down dead trees for firewood. Edward convinced me that there were no Lions in this area but I spent the whole time looking out for them!
During the night I could hear the Lions roaring in the distance. It was pretty surreal but incredib;e to witness, I was just happy listening to it from the safety of my wendy house cabin! The third day made all the ticks, blisters and dicing with death worthwhile. In return for my hard work I was treated to a 6 hour game drive. I saw Hippo, Giraffe, Rhino's (These one's weren't cows!), Wilderbeast, Zebra, Spring Buck, Warthogs, Kudu, Impala, Inyala, Spring Hare and Lions, lots of Lions. We actually saw the lions catch, kill and eat a warthog as well as hunting wilderbeast which was an incredible experience. They really are beautiful and so powerful. Edward told me that a couple of months ago 3 Japanese tourists had been on a game drive without a ranger and saw the lions sleeping under a tree (They sleep between 19-22 hours per day) because the lions looked all sleepy and cute they got out of the car to get closer to them and all 3 of them were killed instantly. Bloody idiots. Yes, they are incredibly cute when they sleep but you won't catch me trying to get a closer look... ever.
After my last night in bushcamp I headed back to Jeffreys Bay where I will remain for the rest of my trip here. My next placement starts on Monday and is in a Foster Home just on the outskirts of the township in Jeffreys Bay. For the first time this trip I'm happy to hear there's no chance of me seeing a Lion in Jeffreys Bay

permalink written by  emmarogers85 on May 24, 2010 from Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa
from the travel blog: South Africa - Travel and Volunteering
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