Monday, July 12, 2004

The other side of the world...

I'm here!!! I got here last Wednesday. My luggage arrived on Thursday. It's truly been amazing. Woke up this morning, got dressed, had some breakfast, and Jamie and I took a drive around a new housing development on a game reserve in search of a giraffe. Welcome to Africa. We didn't find the giraffe, but we did see two ostrich, a heard of goats, some subspecies of "bok" (not springbok, but something similar, Jamie wasn't really sure), a red crested heron pecking at grain with a bunch of chickens and ducks, and a family of warthogs. Now for being such UGLY creatures, the babies sure are cute. All of this in a matter of 10 minutes and within steps of peoples rather large homes. Can you imagine waking up to that in your front yard? hm...

I thought that was pretty cool, but last weekend was even better. One of Jamie's friends has a house on a large plot of land in another private game reserve on the opposite bank of the river that borders Kruger Park. A group of us went out there to stay for a couple of days while the guys built a hide (kind of like a deer blind, but it's for looking at aminals, not shooting them). And THAT's where I saw a giraffe in the wild, calmly munching on leaves by the side of the road. The next morning we woke up to a lovely sunrise and 4 Kudu hanging out in the front yard. I'd never seen a kudu before, and I'll try to post some pics when I get back, but for now imagine an elk doubled in size, with antelope's horns, and white zebra-patterned stripes on its hind end. Very majestic looking creatures. One of Jamie's friends Lisa said that she could never leave here because of things like that. No matter how bad things get economically, or whatever, she'll make do because where else can you wake up to Kudu grazing in your front lawn? Who needs a lawnmower, when you've got kudu.

Another thing that is truly amazing is the complete lack of light pollution at night. I've never seen so many stars in my life. Not in Joshua Tree, not in the sticks in Texas, nowhere... it's amazing how cluttered the sky can be when you can actually see it. It's also pretty interesting looking at "new" stars. I've learned how to find due south without a compass, thanks to the Southern Cross. If I ever get lost in the southern hemisphere, I should at least be able to tell the lion about to eat me, where south is. I'm sure he'd be impressed.

Up next on our agenda is a day of climbing about an hour away. Jamie keeps telling me the name of the place, but as its in Afrikaans, I can't even begin to make sense of it, so I'll tell you more when we get back. Next weekend we're taking a 3 day, 50 km hike through a gorge. Then the following weekend heading off to Kruger Park for a couple of days. Somewhere in the midst of all of that is a day or two in JoBurg, and possibly a quick trip to Cape Town. I won't be disappointed if we don't make it there though. There's so much to see and do here.

Well, we're off to the tourist office to try and book a 2 day horseback journey into the local mountains. *sigh* I hate my life. (maniacal giggle - HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!)

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