I want to share some things with you about South Africa and I hope you can easily find it on the map. We had a GREAT time in South Africa and the most exciting adventure we had was visiting the world's largest animal reserve, Kruger National Park. This wildlife reserve was created in the 1920s and is huge--it is as big as the state of New Jersey. This reserve also had the most wild animals in the world, including the Big Five: Elephant, lion, rhinoceros, leopard, and water buffalo. We saw four of the big five pretty up close. In fact, we saw a female lion right after she had just killed a small water buffalo and the lioness was breathing pretty heavy. She was also dragging around big chunks of her "kill" to keep the vultures from eating her dinner.
I think all of you would have loved the trip we took to the reserve. We were part of a safari that included about forty people from our ship and we drove around in some very cool jeeps that kept us up high and protected from the animals. We spent three days in the reserve and saw herds of elephants, lots of rhinos (including one taking a mud bath), several types of monkeys and baboons (do you know the difference?), and lots of giraffes and other animals. It was a great adventure and we want to return to do more of it. We put two pictures in we took; one of a lion that had just killed a water buffalo and the other of a rhino that was taking a mud bath--hope you like them.
We spent almost a week in Cape Town which is a beautiful city and the biggest city closest to the South Pole. We took a little drive around the coast and were able to visit a colony of penguins and we were told that this is one of the only penguin colonies that live outside of Antarctica. We also went to a coastal town named Hermanus where we saw several whales swimming so close off the shore that we could see their flippers when they turned over and I think they were blowing us wet kisses.
We loved Cape Town as it is located on a beautiful bay with a mountain (called Table Mountain) that seems to guard the back of the city. Cape Town will host the World Soccer Cup next year and the South Africans are very proud of this event as they will be the first sub-Saharan nation to every host this very big and important event--any of you soccer fans?
We left Cape Town a few days ago and have been at sea and it has been very rocky. Did you know that the southern passage around Cape Town and along the coast is probably the most dangerous in the world for ships as more ships have sunk here due to storms than anywhere else in the world. While we have seen and felt some pretty big waves we have been OK although more than a few students missed classes the last few days as they were not feeling too good.
This is a very cool ship and let me share some things about it with you. First off, we have three separate dining rooms; two of them can seat about three hundred people each and both of them have outdoor tables/chairs on the deck where you can eat while trying to spot whales, dolphins, and other mermaids. We have spotted plenty of whales and the dolphins sometimes seem to be racing alongside the ship but no mermaids so far. We also have on the seventh deck (the highest deck) a small outdoor cafe where you can order pizzas, hamburgers, and other stuff but you have to pay separate for those items. When you are a student or teacher on the ship your tuition pays for three regular meals in the two big dining areas but the pizzas and other food served on the seventh deck cost extra.
We also have a small work-out gym but because there are so many of us you have to sign up in advance to use the exercise machines. We also have weights on the seventh deck so you can work out while watching the ocean and there is also a basketball court and a ping-pong table where the students try hard to beat each other. The ship also has a big conference room and we have had some great events there, including a student talent show and a mis-matched party where students wore all types of clothing and weird stuff that did not match. The students are having a great time and while this is not a huge ship it is big enough so that there are lots of events going on all the time.
Well, it's pretty late and time for us to turn in. The students just finished a dance in the middle of the ship and it was great to see them dancing although they have a big test coming up so they all had to end the fun around 11 PM. I will write you all again and let me know what’s on your mind.
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