by Mary Middlebrook | Jan 7, 2018 | South Africa
Today we went to Cheetah Experience Ashia. It’s about an hour and a half drive from Simon’s Town through some really beautiful country! And we had to be there before 7 to begin our full day of volunteering, which means we woke up at 4:30! How Brian is hanging in there with me, I don’t know…
Cheetah Experience Ashia is literally a brand new sanctuary. I did some research on it, and it seemed to be a really good one. Their primary goal is increasing and strengthening the genetic diversity of cheetahs through captive breeding programs, with an ultimate goal of being able to release cheetahs back into the wild in protected areas. Did you know that the world cheetah population is at less than 7,000 individuals?! And they are confined to tiny pockets of habitat, with fences blocking their freedom of movement between these pockets. That means that the few cheetahs that are left are forced to interbreed, which weakens the genetic diversity and strength of the species. Game reserves have to do cheetah swaps with each other to get new genes into their cheetah populations to keep them strong. The sanctuary is also heavily involved in education and research. The director of Cheetah Experience Ashia owns Cheetah Experience Bloemfontein, about a 10 hour drive away, and is seriously dedicated to these animals! So that’s the background- now, let’s get to our adventure!
The sanctuary is also a working farm. There are vineyards (they send their grapes out to be made into their own private label wine), olive trees (they send their olives out to be pressed into their own private label olive oil), and guava trees (they sell those to a juice company). It’s a spectacular piece of land! As we pulled into the driveway, a cheetah came running out to greet us, and followed his fence along the driveway with our car. As we walked back to the volunteer house, he walked along the fenceline with us. So cool!! Our first job was to go grab bowls of prepared raw meats and head back to the cheetah camps- the HUGE enclosures where the cheetahs are. I got to feed Xena by walking into her enclosure and setting her bowl down on her feeding platform. Xena was supposed to be a breeder, but she decided she wasn’t really that into mating (we’ve all been there!), so she now stays alone in a huge enclosure. In the wild, female cheetahs live alone. Brian fed Abby. Abby was also in the breeding program. She was into mating (we’ve all been there!), and got pregnant with 5 cubs! However, when it was time to give birth, the first cub got stuck- requiring Abby to have an emergency C-section. Fortunately, all of the cubs were saved and Abby as well. However, due to these complications she was removed from the breeding program and lives alone in her huge enclosure.
Entering the cheetah camps.
Breakfast time! I think this is Abby, but could be mistaken.
Next up was clean up duty. I have never in my life been to ANY animal facility as clean and regimented as this one, and having been in the pet industry for 25 years, I pay attention to these things. There were some long term volunteers there as well. They started scrubbing down the feeding platforms, sleeping platforms, and water troughs. Brian was put on poop patrol with one of the long term volunteers, and I followed him. Apparently not only do I possess ostrich eye and tortoise eye, but cheetah poop eye as well. Life skills. Resume builders. 🙂 First we went into the camp with the “A cubs”- Alpha, Ava, and Anya. Alpha is the biggest cheetah at the sanctuary, and he’s intimidating looking as hell. These aren’t lions or tigers, but they’re still big. And they may be the weakest of the big predators, but they are still predators. With big teeth. And there’s not just one in this camp to keep an eye on, but three. We’re walking the huge camp, looking for poop, when Alpha decides to come and check us out. And by check us out, I mean he took on this kind of stalker stance and was looking straight at us. IN-TIM-I-DATING. Especially when the workers who were outside the camp were saying, “Be still.” UM, WHY?! Eek. He didn’t approach us, but in that moment my healthy respect for these animals got even healthier. I was ready to get out of that camp, as I didn’t feel very comfortable. Brian, aka Dr. Doolittle, was fine. Then we poop patrolled Abby’s camp. She just sat on her hill watching us. Next was Jesse and Pepsi’s camp. They’re both females, but grew up together so still live together. Jesse is the mother of Abby, and also Libby and Zeus (who we’ll meet later). Pepsi had labor complications with her first litter (the cub was saved), but she’s since been removed from the breeding program because of this. Next we cleaned Xena’s camp. And that left just one camp- Liberty (nicknamed Libby). Libby is a unique cat. By the time she was 7 weeks old, she was still very tiny and wasn’t gaining any weight. The vet found that she had been born with a cleft palette, and was shocked she had survived this long, because with that abnormality she wasn’t able to create a strong enough suction to nurse properly. She’s now almost 2 years old and has had 4 surgeries. The vet has done all they can do, and there is still a small hole in the roof of her mouth. She has to be fed bite sized pieces of boneless meat to prevent the food from entering her nasal cavity. She also has a special dining table that allows her to eat with her head completely up, further preventing food from going the wrong way. After all of the sedations and operations, performed by men, she doesn’t like men anymore (we’ve all been there!). So we didn’t go into her camp. Let me tell you something about poop patrol. First, cheetahs don’t bury their poop like a house cat. It’s just out on the ground. And some of them prefer to poop in high places. And as a testament to how clean this place is, there was practically no poop at all to be found. These camps are cleaned methodically every day. It really left me with a good feeling about this place, and that the care of the animals is priority number one. In fact, they don’t even allow children under 1.5 meters tall to see the cats. Small potential prey items children agitate the cats. Would they make more money by letting families in? Yep. But it’s not in the cat’s best interest.
Poop patrol with Abby
Jesse and Pepsi, enjoying watching their minions clean their home
Xena, chilling on her hill
What do you do after breakfast? Wash the dishes!! Again, everything is meticulously cleaned with anti-bacterial soap. The sink was in the room with the freezer where they prepare the food. There was a chart on the wall showing all of the different kinds of meat they feed the cheetahs for variety and nutrition. Each is color coded in the freezer. Chicken, Cow, Eland, Oryx, Rabbit, Sable, Antelope, Zebra, Calf, Donkey, Horse, Ostrich, Rainbow Chicken, Springbok, and Wildebeest.
Brian has now cleaned up animal poop in the yard and washed dishes. #WhenVacationIsJustLikeHome
We were now told it was time to babysit the Servals. There were 3 of them (I can’t remember their names) and they were AWESOME!! No where near as big as a cheetah, so I wasn’t intimidated at all. They were just like big old housecats, and they LOVED to hang out and play in the tall grass. We hung out with them by ourselves for about an hour, interacting with them and keeping them entertained. Honestly, we thought it was more of a “Let the servals babysit the day volunteers so we can get some work done” kind of thing! But it was really cool either way! 🙂
We had now met all of the cats at the sanctuary except for three. First up was Zeus. He was the cheetah that originally greeted us when we drove in. Much smaller than the adults in the back camps, but still plenty big! Zeus has a much shorter tail than he should, so his genetics won’t allow him to be in the breeding program. He’s also very dark colored- much darker than the rest of the cheetahs, and his eyes are very dark orangy/brown. He’s only 10 months old- a kitten. And what do we know about kittens? They like to play. Zeus normally doesn’t like men, and Brian was warned that he probably wouldn’t approach him. Of course, Zeus heads straight for Brian for a pet. Then, he comes around to me, goes behind me, and jumps up on me! I FROZE!!!! That was a little too much for me, so I was thankful when the cheetah next door, Noah, had grabbed my backpack and we had to go wrestle it away from him! Noah is 5 months old, smaller than Zeus, but all kitten!! The long term volunteer got my backpack away (not a hole or scratch on it- a testament to my awesome pack!!). Then, we played with Noah. Noah decided my ankles were a chew toy and went straight for them. At this point, I was pretty sure these kittens had sensed my fear and were taking full advantage of it! They did the same things a house cat would do- chew on you. Except my entire ankle would fit in this cat’s mouth! Unnerving… We met another cat in Noah’s camp (which surrounds the home of the director). This is the oldest cat here, and the cat that started it all. Her name is Fiela and she’s 12 years old. She’s never had cubs of her own, but has a serious maternal instinct with Noah, so they live together. We (Brian) played with Noah for a while. Brian is so damn at ease around every animal. I swear.
Brian with Zeus- the cheetah who doesn’t like men
Noah happy with his new toy- my pack!
Brian throwing a stuffed animal around with Noah
Within 20 minutes, Noah was in Brian’s lap! I’m not sure which of them was happier (I’m guessing Brian).
Because Brian’s cheetah volunteering was basically turning into exactly what he does at home (cleaning poop, washing dishes), he was now recruited to go help build A-frame shade barriers in Xena’s camp.
Brian building an A frame
While he did that (I do NOT do manual labor, much less pay to do it, thank you very much!), I went on a tour with about 8 tourists. Lize-Marie (super passionate about cheetahs and a permanent employee there), led the tour, and she’s just GREAT! I learned a lot about the animals- some that I did know, but a bunch that I didn’t.
1. Cheetahs are the fastest land animal- but they can only maintain their speed of 110kph (70 mph) for about 30 seconds. It takes them about 3 seconds from stop to full tilt!
2. Their front claws aren’t very sharp. They’re for traction when running. Only the dew claw (back claw) is sharp, and they use it to slice the legs of antelope. This means they can’t climb trees like leopards.
3. Cheetahs use their tails as a rudder when they are running- that’s why it’s so long. It allows them to change direction in an instant.
4. Of the big cats, cheetahs are the weakest predator. Other predators like lions, leopards, and hyenas often steal their catches. When only about 1/2 of their chases result in a kill, that can be a big problem, and lead to starvation of adult cheetahs (and the cubs that are depending on mom to hunt for them).
5. Cheetah cub mortality is about 90% (!!) in the wild. Another reason populations are declining so quickly. They just don’t reproduce quickly enough to sustain the current pressures. Part of the reason for high mortality is predation. The other part is weak genetics- again due to inbreeding from living in such small areas together.
6. Cheetahs hunt during the day (leopards at night). Those dark lines under their eyes are to help them see better in the sunlight.
7. They don’t roar. They purr. Really loud! 🙂
I learned a bunch more, but those are some of the cooler things. When the tour was over and Brian was done building, it was time for lunch. It was provided with our package, and was lamb, a variety of roasted veggies, and some of that African peppermint dessert like I had for Christmas. After that, Lize Marie asked if we wanted to go sit with the big cats with her. She’s a wealth of knowledge and super passionate, so I was in! We went and sat with Xena on her shady platform. Just hung out talking while this huge cat laid there and purred. Her coat was just so beautiful… Lize Marie told us about how she decided she wanted to work with cheetahs and worked hard to make her dream come true! Her love and respect for them is so apparent, and I’m really drawn to that. She’s really excited that they’ve finally found proper predator-free land for them to start reintroducing some cheetahs into the wild soon. None of the cats currently at the sanctuary will be released- they are too habituated to humans. But probably some of these cats grandchildren will be wild. Amazing. After Xena, we went to visit Abby. Same thing, just hung out talking on her platform, while she purred away.
Xena’s coat
An hour passed really quickly and it was time to head back to the main house. First, we were going to hang with Noah again. Honestly, I’m more comfortable with the adults. They’re more predictable. These big kittens were just a little too playful for me! We sat with Noah for a long time, and he basically ignored us. Typical cat behavior! Then, all of a sudden, he walks over and just gets in my lap! I was a little shocked, but he behaved himself. Then, he went over to Brian and jumped down on the ground. That’s when he promptly went after my ankles again! Oy, that little bugger!!
This was a few seconds after he got in my lap. The look on my face shows my uncertainty!!
He just wanted to be held and loved- until he wanted to chew my ankle!
Then we went back into Zeus’ cage (the one who had jumped on me before). He really makes me nervous, because he’s bigger than Noah. We went and sat down in the grass with him and two of the other long term people. Remember, Zeus is the cat that doesn’t like men. In fact, it took one male volunteer FOUR WEEKS to be able to get in the enclosure with him, and Chris (the volunteer that we poop scooped with) still can’t go in. I think he’s been there a week or two. Well, Zeus walks right over to Dr. Doolittle Brian, lays down, and proceeds to lick him for about 2 minutes straight. Brian said it was like really rough sandpaper, and if his hands weren’t so tough it would have hurt! That damn cat just laid there letting Brian pet it like they were best friends! If Chris saw, I bet he would have been jealous! 🙂 I don’t like the looks Zeus gives me. And after he got up and started walking around, he gave me one of those looks. He promptly walked around behind me and gave me a nip on my shoulder blade. It kinda hurt- not like I’m going to die from it or anything, and frankly I’ve gotten worse from my cat at home. But something about big huge cheetah teeth behind you….shudder. I was ready to get the heck out of Zeus’ enclosure. Brian would have lived there.
Sandpaper kisses
Brian and his favorite, Zeus
All in all, we had a great day at Cheetah Experience Ashia! The grounds were gorgeous, the facility was state of the art, the animals were so well taken care of, the mission was admirable, the people were really nice, and the experience of being able to interact with these cats was just amazing!
by Mary Middlebrook | Jan 12, 2018 | South Africa
Today we headed up the western coast to learn more about something very near and dear to my heart. Something that I seek out on all of my travels around the world- indigenous people. I wanted to learn about the original people of Southern Africa- the San people. So I booked a tour at the !Khwa Ttu educational center. The ! isn’t a punctuation mark- it’s a symbol that denotes a certain type of click that is used in their language. It was about a 1.5 hour drive through some pretty desolate land! Lots of sand dunes and fields. Soon we were turning off the main road onto a dirt road that led to !Khwa Ttu. The center itself is very nice and modern- there’s a little gift shop, a restaurant, and a mini-museum of sorts where there is a lot of written information about the Sans people. Apparently they are going to be opening a big museum soon. And this is where I have some devastating news. My SD card on my camera indicated that it was full about half way through our tour. I had forgotten to clear out all of the pictures and videos from our day with the cheetahs! I was outside, in the sun, and frantically trying to listen to the guide and delete pictures and videos as quickly as I could. When we got back to the house, I realized that I had accidentally deleted a lot of the pictures I took of the informational signs so I could read all of it. I’m so sick about this…gawd. Especially because there’s just so little information about these people online. That said, I’ll do my best to piece together our tour for you, but I’m not going to be able to share much of the history of the San people since that information was deleted. 🙁
We sat in the informational room and listened while our guide told us what to expect. There was a male guide from one tribe of San people, and a female guide from a different tribe. The San people are designated based on their language type, but not all tribes speak the same language. He taught us about the 5 different clicks that are in the language and how to do them. It was so interesting! The San come from many countries in Southern Africa, and have been moved around due to European settlers and wars for centuries. They were originally hunters and gatherers, moving from place to place based on the seasons to follow the animals they hunted and to find land for their cattle to graze on. They had no concept of land ownership. Of course, the Europeans did, and as they claimed all of the land that was originally San land, there was no place left for the San people to continue their culture. As with most indigenous people, they were completely marginalized, forced to abandon their ways and assimilate into white culture, and given little to no opportunities. Same story, different indigenous peoples. Sickening.
We boarded a tractor driven covered wagon sort of thing for a ride across the farm, where a typical Sans village had been set up. The male guide drove us down, and we took a short hike through the bush. He taught us about different antelope tracks- Elan (the biggest), Springbok, Bontebok, and two others I can’t remember because the video was deleted. 🙁 How his people would track and hunt the animals through the bush. We saw poisonous plants that were used to coat the spearheads. Soon we met up with the lady guide. There were a few little huts in a circle, which would be typical. The fire would be in the middle of the village, and only men were allowed to start fires. In fact, to get married, men had to prove they could start a fire and hunt. Their first kill they were not allowed to eat- it was for the village.
The female guide explained in her native language (not many people speak it anymore) many of the items the Sans used. The male guide would then translate for us. Here are some of the items we learned about.
Flip flop made from the neck flap skin of an Elan (large antelope)
This is a tiny spear that would be coated with poison. The long end actually detaches so it doesn’t get caught in the bush and ripped out as the animal runs away
Making a fire
An ostrich egg water bottle!
I’m nomadic, but not sure I have the constitution to be a hunter and gatherer…
We then jumped back in the tractor thingy and took a ride around the farm to see the animals. And I got to see TWO new ones!! Zebras and Springbok!! Also saw some ostriches, and my tortoise eye saw another tortoise as well.
After the tour was over, we tried some AMAZING Rooibos tea flavored with lemon, mint, and honey. I could have drank a gallon! We then wandered out into the herbal garden for a look at the plants, had our picnic lunch, and hit the open road to go to the West Coast Fossil Park! It was just a short drive further north from !Khwa Ttu, and looked really interesting. Google maps showed that it was north of Vredenberg, but we saw a sign that pointed down another road. Followed the sign and that is exactly where it was. DON’T TRUST GOOGLE MAPS ON THIS ONE!! However, the gate was closed. We pulled up and the guard said the park had closed at 1pm. It was 1:20. Ugh. My fault for assuming such a thing would naturally be open all day on a Saturday. Note to self: ALWAYS check the hours- don’t assume!
We chose to go back along a different route, through the West Coast National Park. And on the road behind a fence, we saw zebras and a brand new antelope!! Research says it’s a gemsbok, and the horns were CRAZY long! There’s something not nearly as exciting when you see something behind a fence, but it was still really cool.
We drove into the town of Langebaan. Super pretty little town overlooking a SPECTACULAR bay!! The blue of the water was unreal! Our original goal was to make it back to Hout Bay by 3pm to go to the market and visit Xoma Aob (my Khoi Khoi friend) to arrange a tour. It was going to be a tight schedule. We passed by a church that had a “craft fair” sign outside. Looked at each other and said what the heck and stopped. Everyone here was speaking what I’m pretty sure was Dutch. It ended up being kind of a froo-froo craft market- the kind little old church ladies would attend and sell things at. But we did manage to find a couple of trinkets and some Kudu and Springbok biltong, which is basically South African jerky. Headed back down the road and entered the West Coast National Park. 80 rand per person ($6.50US), which wasn’t too bad of a price. When I saw it on the map, I didn’t really realize what it was exactly. I just thought it was a road along the coast. We pulled into a little area that had a “bird hide” you could hike to. The hike was basically down a boardwalk that was across the marshlands. It was a really cool little building with a slit all the way around so you could sit on the benches inside and birdwatch. It was actually pretty fun!! And I saw flamingos IN THE WILD!!!!! That was a crazy cool experience!! On the way back up the boardwalk, something in the bushes caught my eye. It was a mouse like thing!! I had to be very still and very stalkerish because he was really skittish. He was behind a mass of branches and I couldn’t get focused on him. Then, all of a sudden, he popped out, posed, and looked straight at me. ADORBS!!!!!!!!! Oh, soooo cute!! My favorite shot of the day.
This shot does not do the color of this water justice- not by a long shot. It was like turquoise Caribbean water.
Flamingos…IN THE WILD!!! They were really far away and I was zoomed all the way in. Got lucky with this shot!
Four Striped Grass Mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio). I am seriously in love with him.
We get back in the car and decide to head down some random dirt road. I screamed “STOP!!!!! BACK UP!!!!!!” Brian shouted “Tortoise?!” I said, “NO! BETTER!” (cuz I’ve already seen a tortoise). He says “Snake?!”. I say no. I jump out of the car with Brian behind me, and there he was. A huge dung beetle IN THE WILD!! It was FAST, and it was impossible for me to get focused on it. I told Brian to pick it up. He asked, “Does it bite?”. This is a man who has no qualms about hanging out with cheetahs who have massive teeth and claws… Here’s a good place for me to clarify my earlier remark: I was pretty sure it was a dung beetle. And dung beetles don’t bite. So I told him of course not, and added my typical smart mouth comment of “Let your girlfriend pick up the dung beetle so you can hold your purse.” He picked it up. 🙂 It was wiggly and fast as hell. When he went to put it down, he kind of dropped it and it fell on its back. It froze. I flipped him back over and gave him a little nudge. Nothing. Holy fuck, we killed the dung beetle!!! This thing had been frantically running and thwarting us at every turn. Now he was still. I was about to puke from the guilt. We moved to walk back to the car, and the beetle took off running. WHEW! That was the longest 30 seconds of my life! Dung beetles playing possum. Who knew?? Got back to the car and I was joking around with Brian about him asking me if it would bite. He said he didn’t know anything about dung beetles!! So I admitted that neither did I, I wasn’t even sure it WAS a dung beetle, and for all I really knew it could be some wackadoodle venomous African spitting beetle. Fortunately, my instincts were correct and research confirmed dung beetle. 🙂
We drove along the practically empty roads. I love seeing exotic wildlife signs! We stopped at a place called Atlantic Overlook that wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as Langebaan Lagoon. Brian laid down on a picnic table to rest his back from driving and take a quick cat nap. I had to pee, which was a huge issue because there was no bathroom anywhere. The idea of squatting on a cobra almost made me just pee in the middle of the road, and I contemplated the situation for several minutes, but modesty won out. Yes, I’m blogging about pissing in the weeds in the middle of the western coast of South Africa. Life experiences, baby!! I’m happy to report no snake bites on my tushy. Guys have it so easy. Sigh. We weren’t back on the road for 3 minutes when I screamed “STOP!!!!” again. Fortunately no one was behind us and Brian could back up. My tortoise eye spotted another tortoise on the side of the road. What a little beauty! And at least he sat still and posed instead of trying to run away like the tortoise at Cape Point.
I won’t lie- I was disappointed when the fossil park was closed. But the unexpected beauty and fun of Langebaan Bay and West Coast National Park made it all better!! Being able to switch gears and overcome those little bumps and disappointments in order to keep the adventure going is what traveling is all about.
by Mary Middlebrook | Jan 14, 2018 | South Africa
Today was going to be kind of a “down” day. Meaning not driving so much! The plan was to head up the cable car to Table Mountain, then come down to the Hout Bay market and go see Xoma Aob to arrange a tour. Nice, easy day in Cape Town. I woke up at 5:30am and worked while Brian slept, and slept, and slept….I thought he was dead! He’s usually up at the crack of dawn, and heaven forbid I move an inch or he’s completely awake. I let him sleep. Poor guy. The shutters were closed, but I listened- NO WIND!! That’s important because the cable car wouldn’t be running if it was windy. Actually, since Brian got here there’s been practically no wind. Nothing like the insanity I experienced the first couple of weeks. Finally he woke up at 7:30 (half the day is gone!!). I opened the shutters and saw this:
Completely socked in with fog and rain!!
Hmmmmmm. The supposedly spectacular views from Table Mountain wouldn’t be quite so spectacular today… No worries, we’ll just go downtown to the Pan African market, eat at Mama Africa’s (a restaurant the housesitters I met up with suggested), maybe hit the slave museum, then off to Hout Bay. Still a full day. I jumped online to see when everything opened (no more fossil park scenarios for me!). Pan African market: CLOSED ON SUNDAY. Mama Africa’s: CLOSED ON SUNDAY. Slave Museum: CLOSED ON SUNDAY. Remember yesterday when I said little bumps and disappointments are a part of the journey? Yeah, well, SCREW THAT!!!!! I started going in to full blown freak out mode. What in the hell were we going to do? Cape Town had a huge “CLOSED” sign stamped on it. We couldn’t change plans and go to the other 2 adventures outside of Cape Town we had planned, because they had already been booked and paid for for other days. The thought of wasting an entire day was freaking me out. I jumped online and started searching. The only things open were things I had already done or had no interest in doing. Brian cooked his breakfast and then came over and calmly got on his computer. Everything was either too far away or closed. I found something called a township tour by Siviwe Tours– and they had 5 stars. The townships are those “shanty town” looking areas that I saw the day I flew in. It sounded really interesting! I went online to book. No availability. UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! Maybe I could plead my case, or maybe someone had cancelled due to the rain and we could take their spot. I called. No answer. I called back a little bit later. No answer. It’s after 9am at this point, and freak out mode is bleeding into panic mode. By 9am we are usually out the door and well on our way to (or have already started) the day’s adventure! I emailed. I kept searching and searching. Brian was searching. Nothing. And then, a ding- new email! It was Siviwe Tours!!! They had space available at noon or 2!! I said we’d take the noon tour!! WOO-HOO! Then….cash only. We didn’t have enough cash (I haven’t changed money once since I’ve been here because everywhere takes a credit card). We started searching for every money changer in town. And guess what? DEEE-NIED. Every where was closed. I emailed back sheepishly about the situation, and they agreed to let us pay in US dollars. (Can you imagine going somewhere in the US and asking to pay in South African rand?? See previous DEE-NIED notation…)
The tour started at noon, and we got there at about 11. We drove into the neighborhood and eeeeeep…it was….interesting. And by interesting I mean really run down and scary (as defined by our prejudices and preconceptions) to the point that we decided we would go find a mall and get an umbrella rather than sit in the parking lot in broad daylight on a Sunday morning. There was a mall about a mile away, and we were the only white people in it. And we were FINE. And the car was FINE. And we got an umbrella at Woolworth’s and were FINE. I hate that we’re taught how people who are “different” (are they, really?) are something to be feared…
Went back to the meeting place and a young black man walked up to our car. I rolled down the window- part way. He said “Hi, you must be…” and hesitated. Brian offered up “Mary and Brian.” The young man said, “Ah, yes, Mary. Wait right here, we’re waiting on two more people.” I rolled up the window and told Brian you NEVER give them your name- make them say your name so you know it’s really the tour guide. Ok, that is probably wise information, but honestly, would I have done that if there was a meeting point outside of the cheetah sanctuary or the San center? I have to admit I wouldn’t. Sigh. Honestly though, this neighborhood was the epitome of being somewhere where my gut said “GET OUT!”. The neighborhood (Township) is Langa.
Another car of slow moving, deer-in-the-headlights, hesitant-to-turn-in white people arrived. Our guide, Loyiso, greeted them and then got in our car to drive to where we would park- just outside of the community center. The couple was from Toronto, and nice enough. I had seriously considered booking a private tour for 4 times the cost because that’s how much I hate tour groups. But as I suspected, the rain kept pretty much everyone away. Four was a good number. Before we start the tour, let me give you a little history of this place so you understand what it is and what it represents. The township is named after King Langalibalele- an activist for black rights who was one of the first people to be imprisoned on Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held). Langa means “sun” in the native Xhosa language- which is still widely spoken in Langa. Xhosa are indigenous people of the East Cape, and their language also has the clicks that I learned about from the San center. In the 1920’s, the whites wanted the blacks out of their areas. Far away so they didn’t have to live near them, but close enough that they could use them for workers. A law was put into place to create special areas for the blacks. Langa was the first planned township created for the purpose of containing blacks to specific areas where they were forced to live. When you have all of what you consider to be “problem people” in one location, it’s easier to control them. In fact, control was so strict that family and friends couldn’t even come and visit the people who were in Langa. At one point, there were areas where only men could live- they had to leave their wives and children behind. Certain traditions, such as the brewing of the cultural beer that was so important in many rituals, was banned. Over the years, tensions both within the community (different tribes) and with the government (especially over housing and living conditions) have ebbed and flowed. It is now a fairly strong and cohesive community of people who are proud, but are still waiting to receive basic human rights from the government.
We started our tour at the Guga S’thebe community center, which is the hub of culture within the community. It offers several educational programs, classes such as dance and art, and provides a place for artists to work and sell their crafts. I was immediately fascinated with an artist named Odom and his sand art work. It was GORGEOUS!! Odom dropped out of school very early, but has been working at his craft for the last 18 years. It is a form of art that I know my students are just going to LOVE!! Brian and I like to support individuals as much as we can- I really don’t like buying mass produced trinkets. We bought a sand art piece that depicted the Langa township from Odom (definitely the most expensive souvenir I’ve ever purchased, but I felt good about it), and a gourd rattle that was made by some ladies in another booth. Odom also let me video his entire technique so I can teach it to my students! We also saw an area where they do pottery.
Woman hand painting pottery to sell. If we thought we could have gotten them back in one piece, we would have bought a whole set of cups.
Now it was time to go to the houses. And when I say houses, this is an extremely loose term in many circumstances. I will say, I didn’t always feel comfortable taking pictures in certain areas, so I didn’t. I know that tourism is important to Langa and that the community supports, embraces, and welcomes it, but I didn’t want to feel like I was participating in some kind of “human zoo”. These people are proud and I wanted to be as respectful as I could under the circumstances. There are different levels of housing in Langa, from abysmal to quite nice. Houses that have numbers on their doors are on the government list to receive better housing when it is built. Don’t hold your breath for that to happen, though. People have been waiting 10+ years. First, we went into a dorm that used to be a “mens only” dorm, meaning they had to be separated from their wives and children. There were a few children playing soccer in the entrance hall. Loyiso explained how many families lived in this dorm- at least 8. They shared one bathroom that was outside, which consisted of a single toilet. There is no shower, bathing is done in plastic tubs. The stove and sink are communal as well, and there are no refrigerators. The individual “apartments” consist of a single room. Families who have too many members, children sleep on the floor. If there are too many to fit in the room, they sleep in the entrance hall on filthy mattresses. There is a strict curfew of between 9-10 o’clock. If you are not inside by then, you are locked out. This way, you don’t disturb the people who have to sleep on the entry way floor. I thought this was horrible living conditions. I was soon proved wrong.
In the courtyard area of this dorm were some shipping containers. We learned that these weren’t for storage. They were homes. And each container wasn’t one home, it was TWO homes. The containers were split in half, each side with a family. Electricity was run haphazardly from structures that had electricity (this was the case in many of the areas). These containers had been brought in as temporary housing- years and years ago. We were invited to go inside of one of the “homes”. Honestly, I felt really bad. There were 2 children who had been sitting on the floor, girls about 8 and 10, who had to go outside so we could come in. The room was maybe 10 x 10, no bigger than a normal sized bedroom and this was the entire house. No running water. No kitchen. They shared the outdoor toilet and kitchen with the dorm. There was one bed, with an African woman and a newborn baby laying on it. Loyiso explained how they receive money from the government for each child, and some work and need that money to feed their children because wages aren’t high enough. Some people have children so they don’t have to work. God. How can I judge? I can’t. How do any of us know what we would do in that situation? It’s easy for us to sit in our fine homes with a refrigerator full of food, good jobs, spending cash, hell- our own TOILET AND SHOWER, and judge how these people should live and behave. Fuck us all for that. I couldn’t bear to take a picture- just too human zoo for me. I felt bad enough being in her home with my camera around my neck, knowing it was worth more than she probably sees in a year. I have never been face to face with such abject poverty.
The shipping container homes. I can’t even imagine how hot they get with no ventilation and all that metal.
We wandered down more streets and came to a large building called the Old Beer Hall. Originally, there was a ban on the people being able to brew their traditional beer. Then, in the 1940’s, the government allowed it, but only in the beer hall. Now, it’s converted into- you guessed it- temporary housing. Multiple families live in each of the rooms. They all share an outdoor toilet. No showers, just plastic basins in their rooms. Trash isn’t always collected when it should be, which causes a massive problem with rats.
Old Beer Hall
The bathroom for the beer hall, and many of the shanty structures behind it
Inside the beer hall
We now went down a makeshift tiny alley in between ramshackle, make shift “accommodations”. I was thinking how there was no way in hell I would ever been in this place if it wasn’t for a tour guide. Because instinctively, you recognize that it is not a place you belong. Is it from fear? Is it from privilege? Is it from not wanting to know this exists? Is it all of these? I don’t know. How do you sort out instinct? There was a church, painted blue and white, and falling apart. We continued down dirty, narrow alleys, almost suffocated by the poverty and injustice on all sides. I can’t stand it. It’s not right. We went into another dwelling- one of these “shanty shack” homes- pieced together from whatever materials could be found. Inside were about 8 children under the age of 4. This was the “orphanage”. A woman was taking in children whose parents could no longer care for them for a multitude of reasons. There were 4 rooms. A “living room” kind of area, a storage type area, a bedroom filled with bunk after bunk that the children slept 2 per bed in, and a kitchen area. Again, no bathroom. I’m not even sure where their toilet was (I think they may have had to share with the Beer Hall toilet that was about ½ a block away). One plastic basin to wash the kids in. How can these children ever even have a chance? How? It’s not possible. They’re born with 3 strikes against them- no parental guidance, no chance of a good education, and growing up in a culture that tends to perpetuate itself.
Living room of the orphanage
Orphanage kitchen. The black tub on the floor is the bathtub
We made our way to another shanty. Inside of this one was an older man named Cederick. His nickname is Shooter because he’s short. 🙂 He lived in the Beer Hall, then built a house on this spot 10 years ago. There was a fire that ran through the shanties and destroyed his and many others (I can’t even imagine having practically nothing, losing that, then starting over), and he had to rebuild. He used pieces of the township that was torn down when the freeway that runs next to Langa was put in. He told us stories of his life, how Nelson Mandela gave rights to the people, and how he is still waiting for the government to provide him a real house- that that is his dream. I videoed 17 minutes of him talking, it was that interesting. He works with the local school, teaching children skills. He showed us some Snap Circuit boards he had so he could teach the children how to do electrical work. A woman in the States donated 30 sets. I got the feeling that he’s been a fighter his whole life and refuses to give up. I also got the feeling that he’ll never get a home. I guess when all you have is hope, you hold on to it no matter the circumstances. He told us how Mos Def and DJ Skrillex had both visited his home. One piece of their damn jewelry would buy him a house…
We walked a few more shanties down into a room that had about 7 men in it. This is where they would come to drink the traditional beer. It’s only brewed by women and they refuse to give any man the recipe. They brew it, and they sell it. It only has .01% alcohol, so you’d have to drink buckets of it to get a buzz. And that’s exactly how it was served to us- in a communal bucket that was passed around and everyone drank from it. It tasted a little fermenty, not much like real beer. It was very white and frothy.
The place we went in to drink beer is the one with that orange trash can in front of it
We exited this little section of severely run down shanties, and walked down kind of a main road. There were women there preparing a sheep brain soup of sorts. They were smoking sheep heads, then they would prepare them, make the soup, and sell it. Just like with the beer- the women are the primary entrepreneurs in the community. Loyiso told us more than once that the men are lazy… Lazy, or just beaten down? Who am I to judge?
Now we entered kind of a “middle class” area. Large apartment buildings, very similar to what we might see in urban housing projects in the states. He said some people pay rent here, some people stay for free. They have private bathrooms in their apartments. How did they manage to get these upgrades? No one knows for sure, really. Maybe they knew the right person. Maybe they gave money to the right person. Maybe they were next up on the government list. I would think that if you were in the shanties, dorms, or shipping containers with your family, the why and how wouldn’t matter near as much as the fact that you finally had a roof over your head. I know that I would do whatever it took if I was in that situation.
We now walked through another compound of buildings, very similar to the dorms we saw earlier. These were built in 1941 and probably hadn’t seen many if any renovations since then. There were children playing in the courtyard under lines and lines of clothes hung out to dry. These would probably be a step up from the dorms, but not by much. Everywhere you looked in this community was poverty. Children. Conditions you couldn’t even imagine animals living in. Things that are impossible to reconcile in my mind.
Now it was time to visit the “upper class” of Langa, or as Loyiso called it, “Beverly Hills”! Many people of Langa who had gotten an education- doctors, attorneys, accountants, etc… didn’t leave the community. They stayed. They built nice homes. They wanted to show everyone (especially the children) that with hard work, education, and focus, you can change your circumstances. And the thing that I immediately noticed was the lack of bars on the windows. No barbed wire circles trimming the tops of fences. No alarm company signs. No security cameras. No vicious dogs. No barriers between them and the gut wrenching poverty just meters away. Why? Weren’t these home ripe for the picking? Wasn’t this an extravagant display of wealth (even though it was completely modest by our standards) taunting people with nothing? Weren’t these homes a crime of opportunity waiting to happen? No. Because the people of Langa are community. They are strong. They support each other. If a crime does happen in the community, the community takes care of it by beating the hell out of the offender. Ofttimes, the criminal will turn themselves into the police before the community can catch them and institute Langa justice! It’s amazing if you think about it.
After 2 hours, our time in Langa had ended. I never once felt unsafe (except on that initial drive in!). But I did feel uncomfortable. Good. I should feel that way. There are only 3 things that separate me from these people. Three -tions (shuns?). Coloration, education, location. My white skin affords me so much opportunity. Opportunity that even with the same level of education and drive I would not have if my skin was dark. I know and recognize this. I have always valued the importance of education, even though I did struggle with poverty conditions as a child. An education was available to me, and I took full advantage of it. And living in the United States, I automatically have rights, freedoms, and opportunities that these people could never even comprehend. Being “given” a right and having the ability to “exercise” that right are two completely different things.
After Langa, we headed to Hout Bay. First, to the market, where Brian bought me a coral shaped ring that I had seen last weekend. We went and talked to Xoma Abo and scheduled a tour for Wednesday. We had lunch at Mariner’s Wharf where a man from the Congo waited on us. He’s going to Maryland in March to live with his brother. He wants to be a ship mechanic. I hope his dreams come true.
by Mary Middlebrook | Jan 16, 2018 | South Africa
We had a looooong adventure today! Our goal was to drive to Cape Alguhas- the southern most tip of Africa. What is there to do there? Take a picture with the sign and turn around after an almost 5 hour drive. 🙂 So as always, we planned extra little excursions around our main one.
We left Simon’s Town early and drove along the beach to Somerset West. There, we continued along the beach, and the views were outstanding! In one area, it was miles and miles of nothing but fantastic shoreline on one side and massive mountains on the other. One of the most scenic drives we’ve ever been on! (Cuba wins out because it was a straight up adventure- the infrastructure is too good here! 🙂 ).
We made our way to the sleepy little town of Betty’s Bay. Seriously, there were only 3 things going on here- baboons, a penguin colony, and a bunch of rock hyraxes!! No restaurants or stores or anything. Just a lot of houses on a beautiful little bay kind of in the middle of no where…
No opposable thumbs means no hitchhiking!
This guy was determined to jump down about 1m off the top of this rock. We were worried for him, but he made it!
Cute little hyrax
Beautiful, but oh so sleepy, Betty’s Bay
At the next town, we saw a biltong shop and decided to stop in to see if they had anything more exotic than the springbok and kudu we had bought a few days ago (and have yet to try!). They only had beef, but they had some big slabs of it hanging up so we said we’d take a slab of it. They cut it into almost paper thin pieces. It didn’t have much seasoning, but it was good. Quite greasy though! It’s “greased” its way through the bag in just a couple of days!
Now rarely do we take the route Google suggests. I look at the map, see where we’re trying to go, and if there’s a more interesting looking road, we take it. We’ve ended up on roads that aren’t even on google maps by doing this…and that’s what we call an adventure! I wanted to stick as close to the coastline as we could, even though google maps insisted that we go inland a bit and around. We soon figured out why google maps was so insistent, after we ended up on a 12 mile long dirt road in the middle of a bunch of farms! But, had we not done this, we would have never seen a farmer with his 3 dogs herding sheep. 🙂
We finally hit another bit of pavement, and then….another 12 miles of dirt road!! Soon the farmlands turned into areas that had a sign indicating that this land was Alguhas National Sanctuary. Brian spotted a MASSIVE grey bird waaaaaaaaaay out in the middle of a field. We couldn’t see much with our bare eye. It literally looked like some kind of an oddly colored ostrich it was so big. When I zoomed in with the camera, I saw that it was actually some kind of heron/egret looking bird!
Headed back down the dirt road and we simultaneously inhaled, gasped, and sucked every ounce of oxygen out of that car. We had run over a tortoise!! Luckily, Brian saw it at the last second and straddled it. We backed up, and the poor little guy was completely closed up in his shell (who can blame him?!). We took him out of the middle of the road, put him in the weeds on the side he was heading toward, and deemed ourselves “Heroes of Africa”. We’re waiting for a knock at the door with our prize… 😉 And as always, when we see a tortoise, there’s a sign not too far off. And there it was, when we hit pavement again. Completely different from the normal signs we see, and in three languages. I’m assuming one is Dutch and one is Africaans, but I have no idea.
Research says: Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus)- which just so happens to be South Africa’s national bird!!
Soon we were hugging the coastline again and on our way to Cape Alguhas! Finally- the southern most tip of Africa and the place where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. Got there, parked, walked up a little boardwalk, stood in a short line to get our picture taken. And….yeah. That was it. Hey, if I’m ever on Jeopardy and they ask where the southern most tip of Africa is, I can say “Cape Alguhas, South Africa!”.
Now it was time to drive back about an hour and a half to go to Panthera Africa- a big cat sanctuary. This sanctuary is a lot different than Cheetah Experience Ashia. They do not allow any breeding, as to insure not to increase the population of these cats in captivity (Ashia is breeding for a good reason- to increase genetic diversity). They do not allow any interaction with the animals- not even the workers go into the enclosures. And after you see just how big these cats are, who the hell would want to go in there anyway?! All of these cats are rescues from mainly two sources- individuals who had them as pets and breeding farms. Breeding farms for big cats are akin to puppy mills for dogs. The females are bred over and over and over again by removing their cubs from them within 2 weeks of birth. This causes the female to go into heat very quickly, vs the 2 years it would take if she was raising cubs. It also is a tremendous strain on their bodies, as they are not adapted to be bred like that. Those that are too old to breed anymore are often sold into the canned hunting trade- where someone purchases the cat, it is put into an enclosure, and the purchaser shoots it. If no one buys the animal, it is killed and its bones are ground up into powder for the Asian “traditional medicine” (read: traditional bullshit) market. Oy, humans. We suck. The kittens generally are sent out to be hand reared by volunteers who are told that the mothers rejected them and they’ll die without human intervention. This cats are then completely adapted to humans and are used in petting “zoo” type areas, until they get too old. Then, they go to a breeder farm. Two ladies were serving as volunteers, thinking they were helping these cats. When they found out the truth, they started a rescue facility, and have rescued back some of the kittens they had helped to raise. These animals are brought here to live out their lives as naturally as possible, being taken care of as well as possible. I was quite impressed by the facility and saddened by the true horror stories some of these cats have lived through.
Black leopard, who was about 1/2 the normal size due to inbreeding.
After we left Panthera, it was paved roads all the way home (for 3 hours!!). We had done 40 miles of dirt roads total, and our fillings and internal organs were feeling it! We stopped for gas and a healthy snack- hey, apple tea and carrot cupcake = one serving of fruit and one of vegetable, right? 🙂 After the long drive, we were both dead tired, but never too tired for porcupines!! We had made it back just in time for porcupine o’clock, and were thrilled to FINALLY get pictures of both Behati and Adam!! Happy, wild porcupines.
by Mary Middlebrook | Jan 18, 2018 | South Africa
What’s the first thing you think about when you think about adventures in Africa? SAFARI! Now, there are no true safari experiences near Cape Town. The next best thing are private game reserves, which are basically huge swaths of land that private owners put animals on and charge tourists to jump on a safari truck and go driving the property in search of “The Big 5” (which you’re never going to see at one of these places). What are the Big 5? Elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos, and buffalo. Why are they called the Big 5? You might think because they’re the biggest animals in Africa. Nope. There are animals bigger than leopards, for sure. You might think because they are the most dangerous to people. Nope- Hippos (after mosquitoes!!) are the most dangerous animal in Africa. It’s because these are the most dangerous to hunt. I really don’t like that designation anymore… There were 3 of these experiences near (within a 2 ish hour drive) of Cape Town. Fairy Glen, Aquila, and Iverdoorn. I seriously couldn’t decide which one I wanted to do, so I decided to do two of them, based on location- Fairy Glen and Aquila.
When I’m talking about private land owners, we’re talking about a LOT of land- in Fairy Glen’s case, about 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres). We drove the hour and a halfish from Simon’s Town and arrived about 7:45am. Our package included welcome drinks, breakfast, 2-3 hour game drive, and lunch for 1590 rand ($128 US)- which is kinda steep. But I’m so into the animals, and I knew this would be my only chance to “safari” in Africa, so what the heck. Sometimes, you need to splurge! We arrived, signed our lives away, got our choice of orange juice or tea for our welcome drink, then had breakfast. It was buffet style with a decent selection- kind of bland, but edible. Not being ones that can sit still for 30 seconds to digest food, we headed outside to walk around and see what we could see. I found a cool little sunbird in a tree, and was super excited about that!
We all met outside at about 9am. We were to be split into two groups- one group for those who were staying on the Fairy Glen property (they have little cabins) and one for visitors. The guy making the announcements was pretty cool and seemed very personable and knowledgeable (and easy on the eyes, and a South African accent to boot!), so I was happy to learn that he was leading our group! He said the first thing we were going to do was feed and pet the elephants. Excited noises ran through our group. Huh? I’m not here to feed and pet elephants, I’m here to see them roaming “freeish” on 25,000 acres, doing their elephant thang! Well, apparently a large part of the reserve is being turned into vineyards, and the elephants are very destructive. So until they can be relocated further back at the foot of the mountains, they’re in pen. Sigh. Strike 1. Ok, I can get over this. Still a shot to bat it out of the park with me, Fairy Glen!! I really didn’t feel right about just feeding and petting them for the sake of doing it, so I refrained. But I will say this- compared to the Asian elephants I worked with at the sanctuary in Malaysia, these elephants are MASSIVE! Like twice the size of some of the Asians I worked with and I thought they were big! It was stunning and awe inspiring just how huge they were. I couldn’t begrudge Brian the chance to feed one though, since he didn’t get to go the elephant sanctuary with me.
Look at the size of this elephant compared to the guide!! (This was the other guide, not our guide)
After the elephant feeding, we all piled into one of those safari style jeep kind of things you see on TV. WOO-HOO!! Let’s go find some animals and get some great photos!! I made sure we got a seat right behind the driver/guide, Dennis, so I wouldn’t miss a word! Plus, like I mentioned, he was cute and it’s just fun as hell to get Brian all worked up about it! (evil girlfriend). And, of course, if you’re in the front you don’t have to see all of the tourists you’re actually on this trip with. Dennis gives us a bit of an introduction, during which he states he used to be a professional hunter. Ugh. Seriously? Look, we all have our own lines when it comes to being around animals- both those in captivity and those in the wild. And I get that some people hunt, and I don’t begrudge it. But trophy hunting (when not necessary to cull populations) crosses my line. Waaaaaaaaaaay over my line. Brian said he could see my face fall and completely change with that revelation (and I know he was secretly happy because he knew this guy just hit my shit list, cute or not!). Strike 2, Fairy Glen. Still a chance to hit it out of the park though! Let’s do this! We headed up and away from all of the buildings and construction on the reserve, into the “wild”.
Expansive area, where no animals were. They were all down in the populated, busy area 🙁
We went into the “wild”, made kind of a loop, then headed back down to the busy and populated area of the reserve. Dennis pointed out zebras and springbok (yes, we saw them on the way in). It was hard getting shots that didn’t have signs of civilization in them… Then, Dennis gets out of the car and shows us a rhino midden- they poop in very specific places instead of just whereever like other animals. He broke some open and showed us how full of undigested grass it was- because the rhinos don’t digest much of what they eat. Fairly inefficient. He then pulled out a piece of grass from the dung and put it in his mouth, toothpick/redneck style- much to the whispers of delight and disgust from the tourists. I was neither delighted nor disgusted. I saw it for what it was- an obvious ploy to tourists. “Oh my goodness- did you see that man put something that came from animal poop in his MOUTH?!!”. Sigh. We went a little further, and Dennis gets out again. He gives this long speech about the games they used to play in South Africa, and one was spitting shit. Yes, spitting shit. He picked up some smallish oval shaped poop (probably from some kind of antelope), puts it in his mouth, and chews it like gum- all while explaining how you had to chew it up and make it really sloppy so it would go further. The ooos and aahs and gasps of delight/disgust from the masses behind me was grosser than what Dennis was doing. He then takes a couple of steps and spits it out as far as he could. Guess what? I’m not impressed. Not in the least. It seemed like some kind of ego/give the tourists something to tell their friends ploy. It seemed contrived and gratuitous- neither of which I tolerate very well. I’m here and paying a lot to see ANIMALS, not watch some guide chew up shit. Foul ball, Fairy Glen…foul ball.
We drive a little further and there are some cape buffalo. The same ones, I think, that had been standing by the road when we drove in. Dennis goes on to explain just how dangerous these animals are. How they are demons. Then, he would open the driver door to try to get a reaction from the dominant male. I got the feeling that he was trying to strike some fear into the hearts of the masses and make it more exciting (jokes had already been made about how many people would make it back from the tour. Sigh.). Just SEEING these beautiful and massive animals was exciting enough! If you aren’t going to give me hard facts and teach me something, shut up and let me take pictures. Sheesh. While I’m sure these animals are quite daunting in the wild, these guys just wanted us to leave them alone. I couldn’t blame them.
So at this point, Fairy Glen has 2 strikes and a foul. We pull up to a lion enclosure (lions were literally the one animal we didn’t see either as we were driving in to the lodge or driving out of it). There were 2 females and a beautiful male. Dennis said he had hand raised the male. It made me think back to those breeder farms I had learned about yesterday at Panthera. The male was right up against the fence in a pretty awkward position to get good pictures. If I hadn’t have had the little display screen on my camera that allows me to see what the camera sees without having my eye to the eyepiece, I never would have gotten a shot. Can’t have that, apparently. Because Dennis goes back to the truck, gets a bottle of water, and proceeds to dump it on the male, agitating him to make scary faces and move. I was just in shock. Literally, in shock. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. I just wanted to leave the entire reserve at this point, but Dennis tells us to follow him around the fence. The lions had all moved there to a) get the hell away from us and b) get into some shade. We all get over there, I’m still trying to process what I had just seen, and Dennis gets a stick and starts prodding the male with it. ENOUGH. I told Brian I wasn’t going to stand there. I stormed off and Brian followed. We went back to where the jeep was and I was crying angry tears, with poor Brian trying to console me. I’m here to witness these animals in some assemblance of the wild. I’m not here to watch a guide poke, prod, and agitate them for the thrill of it! Strike fucking three, Fairy Glen. You are OUT (of line). And if I could have walked back to my car from here I would have been gone. But we were in the reserve area and it wasn’t safe. That experience put me in a funk for the rest of the trip. I dwell on those kinds of things. Maybe too much. But at this point, I was so over Dennis and Fairy Glen, nothing could have changed my mind.
This is the lion that the guide agitated. 🙁
And things didn’t get much better. Dennis referred to the ostriches we came across as “stupid animals”. Ok, I fully understand that ostriches aren’t the brightest bulb on the bird tree, but to call them stupid…it hit me the wrong way. There are better ways of saying it without being so degrading and egotistical. Stupid compared to what? Ostriches survive into old age in the wild without a gun. Could you do that, Captain Superior Dennis? Doubtful. So really, who’s stupid? Stupid is relative. And after what I had just seen Dennis do to that lion, I’d put my odds on an ostrich’s brainpower over Dennis’ at this point. Next up, wildebeest! And guess what? According to Dennis, they too are “stupid”. If this guy didn’t shut up soon, I was going to get ugly. I could feel the words boiling up inside of me. I thought they were beautiful, and they perfectly serve their niche in the ecosystem. Dennis couldn’t even serve his niche as a kind and compassionate tour guide. So again, who’s stupid?
NOT stupid. Beautiful and curious.
Now, for the only really “wild” thing I saw at Fairy Glen. Two male springboks were fighting! It was really interesting to watch this behavior play out in front of me. Well, kinda far away from me and behind some bushes, but I could see it happening! It was a very “Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom” moment for the little girl inside of me! We watched them for quite a while, then moved on.
This next story is where Dennis almost redeemed himself, but not quite. It’s the story of Lady and Higgins- the male and female rhino that live on the reserve. Someone had snuck on to the reserve several years back and poached their horns!! They were found near death the next morning. Rhino poaching is a SERIOUS issue. More than 1 is killed per day in Africa, with their horns going to the Asian “traditional medicine” (I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again- traditional BULLSHIT) market. Of course, Asians who have weak minds, weak hearts, and weak dicks think rhino horns will fix at least one of those problems. Fuck. Seriously, how stupid can someone be in 2017?? Compared to an ostrich or a wildebeest, those Asians are far, far stupider… The story of Lady and Higgins was horrible, and you could see that Dennis was affected by it (nice to know there’s a heart under all that bravado). They almost died, but were nursed back to health. The owner of Fairy Glen even wrote a book about it. So now, not only are these the southern most rhinos in Africa, they are the only ones to have survived a poaching attack. They lost their horns, but not their lives…
This is Lady. They didn’t cut her entire horn bed out, so hers grows back. They remove it often though so it doesn’t tempt anyone.
This is Higgins. His entire horn bed (like your nail bed) was removed with the horn, so his doesn’t grow back. Numerous skin grafts to close up the hole into his nasal cavity. 🙁
Next we went to another lion enclosure, but these one we could drive into. There was a male and 2 females. Dennis kept talking about how aggressive they are and how one of the females is such a “bitch”. Stupid. Bitch. Huh, funny cuz those are the exact two terms I had been thinking about for Dennis. (Can you tell I’m just over this guy?? Don’t torment and don’t insult animals around me.) We drove fairly close to them and looked at them for a bit. Dried skeletons of cattle carcasses and such were scattered everywhere. There wasn’t a lot of shade in this enclosure and nothing high for them to get up on. Sigh. And Dennis did his same “open the driver door to agitate the animal” schtick he had done with the buffalo.
We drove around some more, looking for the Elans- the largest antelope in Africa. We had seen them when we pulled into the reserve. They are stunning! And it’s that big flap of skin under their neck that the San people used to make flip flops with!
It was time to head back, and I was glad. I had a cloud over me ever since the incident at the first lion enclosure, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to leave this place. We went in, got our buffet lunch (again, a good variety, but really quite bland). We sat upstairs by ourselves. Dennis walked up and handed me the book the owner had written about Lady and Higgins (the rhinos). I thanked him. I don’t know if they give that book away to everyone on the tour (if so, that would be a lot of books to hand out every month!), or if he knew I was displeased with this whole experience and was trying to make it up to me (I know it was all over my face- I don’t hide things too well). Either way, I’ll look forward to reading it. It was now time to drive a little over an hour to Aquila, and I was dreading it totally. Had it not been prepaid, I would have skipped it and gone back to the house. In fact, the idea that this place was only 995 rand ($80 US) was scaring me. Cheaper (and by a lot) than Fairy Glen probably meant the experience would be a lot worse…
The drive was beautiful (as is the majority of what I’ve seen of South Africa!). Huge mountains, vineyards. We pulled in and I immediately cringed. This was a resort. Everything screamed “If you want to visit Africa, but want to live in your bubble from home the entire time, you’re in the right place!”. Yes, I’m judgmental. But it’s my blog and I write about how I feel. And I HATE places like this. Froo-froo registration desk. Froo-froo restaurant. Froo-froo swimming pool. Froo-froo bar by said swimming pool. Froo-froo white people running around in froo-froo clothes saying and doing froo-froo things. UGH. Already hated it. We were early, so we sat down. The views (as long as you could keep the tourists out of them) were pretty amazing. We met at the meeting point at 3:30pm for our Sunset Safari tour. A guy and girl boarded, and she starts in with all of her fake fear to impress the boyfriend, “Oh my god! I can’t do this! I’m so scared! I don’t want to die! Oh, I just can’t do this!”. Good. Then get the fuck off this truck and do us both a favor. PS: As much as I hate froo-froo resorts, I hate fake ass girls even more. But this was exactly that kind of tourist sheep behavior Dennis had been playing into earlier. Sigh. The truck was full, and we started off. My expectations and excitement level were super low. First stop were HIPPOS!! They were in a huge pond quite a ways away, and in the water. I took about 30 pictures and only a few even turned out. How awesome to see them, though!
Can you see the hippos WAAAAAAY out there??
The guide was good. I mean REALLY good. He gave us so much information about every animal! Now THIS is what I wanted. In the distance, we could see these 2 massive creatures roaming “free”. Elephants. We drove up the road and they were in it. And they weren’t real pleased with us being there. They started walking toward us, and the guide just slowly backed up the truck to give them their space. Watching these animals cross, and walk off toward the hippo watering hole was just amazing. Aquila is about the same size at Fairy Glen (10,000 hectares, 25,000 acres), but it feels so much more wild. So much more remote. You can’t see buildings and construction and signs of civilization everywhere. In fact, for the vast majority of the trip all you could see was “wild”. I told Brian I was liking this place much better!!
Heading toward the jeep. MUCH better than handing them carrots over an electric wire!
Next, we saw a rhino. WITH her horn! And not only with her horn, but with a nursing baby as well. Awwwwwww! Brian asked about how they insure their safety (from poachers). The guide said there was security everywhere, and we couldn’t even see it. I asked how many rhinos were here. He wouldn’t say, in order to protect them. Nice.
See the baby nursing?!!!!
We saw more elan, zebra, and wildebeest. The guide said that the zebra and wildebeest hang out together. That when it’s time for a crocodile infested river crossing, the zebras know the wildebeest will cross first. It was a way of saying wildebeest aren’t as smart as zebras in this circumstance by pointing out how they interact in their environment. Not by labeling them as “stupid” and feeling smug about it. Nice! We came across three more rhinos, just hanging out near the road. And with horns. So innocent and beautiful.
Then it was time to see the lions. Lions at both parks were kept in separate enclosures within the reserve, and I understand that. But this enclosure was MASSIVE!!!!! So much bigger than the enclosures at Fairy Glen, and the enclosures at Panthera. You literally couldn’t see the fence line from end to end it was so big. And there were big rocks (high places) for them to get up on! We didn’t drive right up to them like we did at Fairy Glen. We kept a large distance and admired them from afar. No wonder lions are called the kings- they are truly majestic.
Truly the king. Coming face to face with that in the wild….damn. The power is palpable.
We drove out of the lion enclosure on the opposite side. I really couldn’t get over how big this place was. We had stayed in such a tiny area of Fairy Glen. Here, we drove and drove and drove. We saw an Oryx, and then the guide asked if we could see the thing waaaaaaaaay out by the bush. I couldn’t- it was too far away. He said it was a giraffe. I zoomed, and indeed it was!
Can you spot the giraffe???
Only with mega zoom!
We stopped at a little rest area for drinks and snacks, then headed back. I was feeling so much better about the day after experiencing Aquila. So now I’m going to leave you with two parting thoughts:
1. If you are in Cape Town and trying to decide which reserve to go to, go to Aquila- HANDS DOWN. Yes, it adds an hour to your drive (one way). But it’s cheaper, it feels more wild, the guide we had was so much more informative, the animals are respected, and you get all the animals you get at Fairy Glen, but with hippos, oryx, and giraffes as well!!
2. I will never do a private game reserve tour again. Even though Aquila was a better experience, overall, it’s not for me. Neither tour mentioned anything about conservation (except for rhino poaching), which bothered me. These aren’t sanctuaries, but some conservation sentiment would have been nice. Plus, I want to see these animals truly in the wild – not dependent on humans for food. My next such outing will be a real safari (Brian and I are already researching).
