Its the first weekend after a week of clinic and I am totally exhausted. Thursday, we were told that we must wake up at 4:45 am to be ready to be picked up at 5:00 am to go on the “Garden Tour” along the coast of the Indian Ocean. I was not a happy camper. I thought to myself… ‘not only do I think gardening is for pansies, but I also hate waking up so early.’ My brain doesn’t register anything before 7 am, and my eyes are already slightly asian looking. So, waking up this early…. they will literally be small slits above my nose; therefore, I will barely be able to discern anything. …Lovin’ life here in SA… I load my 50 lbs of luggage into the trunk of a bright blue, 8 passanger, Microvan by Volkswagon. Yes, driving along the country side of wine lands, beaches, and mountains, I will not be in a luxury vehicle. I will be in a Bright, Ocean Blue Volkswagon Van with no air conditioning inside, and 7 other uncomfortable girls, for 4 hours in 95 degree weather. Sounds like a blast! My grumpiness that morning finally turned to happiness. We stopped at a marvelous Cafe along the country side of thick vineyards, called The Country Pumpkin. It is known as the most famous breakfast, and lunch stop on the Route that we were traveling on in George. The owner owns multiple motorcycles and frequents many bike trips like my father. It was very exciting to see loads of BMW and Ducati sport bikes, as well as, Harley Davidsons flood the parking lot of this outdoor cafe. I had a wonderful parfait with a cinnamon toasted banana for breakfast. Then, it was off to our adventure for the day. Finallyyyyyyy, we reached our first destination. I was so estatic to see that no gardening tools were handed to me. We walked inside this huge barreled opening into the side of a mountain. This was the Congo Caves and the tour led us through the entire expedition of 40+ feet under sea level. I couldn’t believe my
eyes when I observed all the crystal formations and pools of fresh water. The Congo caves were filled with an array of stalagmites and stalactites. The second half of the tour required a little more athletisism. Because of all the pools, there was a lot of moisture, which made this hike even harder. It started with a 150 step staircase of rock to crawling on all fours for 5 minutes on slipperystone. Then there was a tall narrow passage way that required the person to walk in a sideways shuffle. [If you are closterphobic I do not recommend going any further.] There was more knee crawling and other grooves and openings that the individual had to climb through. Finally, there was the tricky part that required a small amount of skill. If you were a little overweight or could not support your body weight with your hands, this is where you would stop. The 75 degree, slanted tunnel required a full strong grip of the hands to pull the body upward. Some how the other climbers and I had to fit one leg into an awkward position to push our bodies towards the opening 15 feet up. We all got through except one poor guy, but were faced with another obstacle. Once through the opening, we all had to slide on our stomachs due to the extremely low ceiling for a few feet. Then we had to slide down a 6 foot, blind- sided drop backward then again down a quick slide to reach the end. It was a blast, minus all of the B.O from the rando tag alongs. I mean really people is it that hard to smooth a stick on the arm pits to save me from regurgitating my breakfast. Anywho, after the Congo Caves it was off to the Ostrich farm. Before we could see any ugly ostriches we were given a quick lesson by one of the workers. First, she explained that Ostriches have no teeth … Which made me think of an old person with no dentures… So, they need to quickly eat rocks and other hard gravel pieces before they can chew their food. Then she told us that when you eat ostrich you are most likely eating the meat of their knees. TMI. To differentiate between a male or female ostrich you can look at his or her feathers. Male ostriches have black and white feathers. Female ostriches have shades of gray and also bits of white plumes. Now, here comes the part that was most helpful for a Bergen County girl in this lesson. She told us a way to tell the difference between a real and a fake ostrich leather bag. When you run your fingers over the leather [where the plumes go] if the darker bumbs are raised and catch ur finger then the leather is real. If when you rub the leather and the bumps are smooth than the leather is fake. [I.E- Kate Spade wallets or hand bags= fake ostrich leather; Fendi spy bag= real ostrich leather] Anyways, After the lesson we went on the farm and got to handle baby ostriches. They look like they have porcupine quills instead of feathers. However, They were adorable and I wanted to take one home. Then we went over to the bigger, older birds, where the lady gave us food to feed them with our hands. This was kinda scary, because they looked hungry. I was just thinking in my head, “I want to be a surgeon, so these hands better make it out alive after this, or I’m sueing this darn ostrich farm”… I would probably make a whole 2 dollars from that suit. But anyway, she showed us how the ostrich has like an imitation owl head. They can basically turn it all the way around, because of their crazy looking necks. But after all the fun and games, she says to me, “Put this piece of food on the tip of your lips, and let the ostrich ‘kiss’ you. Well, I do not back down from dares, but… holy moly lady thats crazy. So, of course I did it, but the ostrich was pretty close to nipping these beautiful ‘full’ lips. After, we fed the stinky creatures, this tour guide thought it would be a great idea for us to ride the big birds. So, obviously she picked me first to scare the life out of me. She calls out, “Hey Lizzy, you’re first, its time to get on Satan.” YEAHHHH, good idea, let me hop on a bird called Satan and take it for a spin. Well, I politely declined Satan, because thats what Adam should of done and I hopped on an Ostrich called Michael Schumacher. My father is a huge Formula 1 fan and has forced me to oblige to his passion. To my dismay, I picked the fastest bird in the bunch. What happens is that you have to hop on this bird, like you would if you were riding a bull. The bird has a bag over its head, to disorient it for a bit. It’s also in a holding cell, so it does not run a way. Then while holding on to the back of the wings, you must cross your ankles in front of the bird’s legs on its chest area. Then they pull the bird backward for you out of the caged area and it takes off. This thing flew to the other side, and got away from the workers. Then it ran to the another side, before I flew off of it. [Apparently, I forgot that you can steer it by pushing the base of the neck either way towards your prefered direction.] Thankfully I fell on my own two feet, and ended up staying on the longest out of the bunch. After, the farm, we went to an Elephant park. There we got to feed two huge elephants, as well as, pet them. We also watched a bunch of elephants play in the mud and spit water at each other. It was soooo adorable. However, when it came to feeding them, they were a lot more aggressive then I thought they would be. The baby elephants had no chance of getting any grub from us girls because the older ones would push them away.
After the park, we went back to our hotel in ‘Wilderness’ right smack on the beach. I had my own room and a beautiful balcony that over looked the ocean and beach. Then we all got ready and went out to eat an excellent restaurant! [The pictures below are of my new friends and one of my group leaders!] What a great ending to DAY 1 of our vacation weekend, along the coast of Africa.
Hope you enjoyed a couple laughs,
Lizzy
