Moholoholo (not that's not Hawaiian for how are you?)

Sun-
Today the site I'm at took us for an outing to an animal rescue/rehab center near Hoedspruit called Maholoholo (forgot to ask what it meant).  It was much smaller then the place I was at in Namibia, and much more touristy.  I got to pet an 18 month old Black Rhino (fun fact- White Rhinos and Black Rhinos are actually both grey.  The White Rhino got its name from a Dutch or Afrikaans word that means wide, but sounds like White, so they called the other one Black.  The White Rhino has a wider mouth, that's why the Dutch were calling it wide.)  They also had some Honey Badgers, which are apparently around here too, but are mostly nocturnal, and while I"ve heard them trying to get into the trash cans at night, I've not actually seen them. They also had a Servel, which we have here too, but I also hadn't seen it.  It's a very pretty cat.  They had lots of birds, mostly in cages, but the Mariboo Storks were walking around (I always thought mariboo was the fur that was used to trip nightgowns and slippers, and make boas with).

The weather was cold, and at the moment it's pouring rain.  I'm so glad I'm back at the main site tonight, and in a bed, too!  The last two nights I've had what I imagine to be a youth hostel experience.  Since I refused to stay at the bushcamp, and the main camp was full, I camped out in the common area.  Fri night John and Ruth and I all slept in here, and last night I had it to myself.  I didn't even do youth hostels when I was young, how did I wind up doing one now?!  If they don't let me stay in a room here at the main site for the rest of this week, I will seriously try to book myself in elsewhere, as I'm not going back to bushcamp to freeze and be in open air vehicles in the rain!  How can I explain to them that I don't do weather????  There is a 5 star lodge here, and I've booked a massage for tomorrow- yay, this princess has found her home- it's like having an internal homing pigeon- but at $600 US a night, I won't be staying there :(

Ciao for now,
Robyn

Lions! (but not Tigers and Bears, oh my!)

Thurs-Fri-

Roar!  The last two days have been Lion filled!  Thurs morning we went on a game drive and were able to find a male and female lion just lounging around in the bush.  They were quite close to the vehicle- what an amazing experience!

The afternoon was a bit of a bust.  We went in search of the buffalo, and they shouldn't be that hard to find since they're in an enclosure (quite a large one, but still, it's fenced in), but we didn't find them.  I did get the shock of my life though- I went to open the gate, which is attached to an electrified fence (they had that in Namibia, too), and the chain to the lock must have landed on the electrified part because I got quite a shock!  It left me with a headache, but I think my memory is still intact (they use electric shock to treat depression, and they say it wipes your short term memory).  Our guide got out to look for the buffalo and was gone so long, and it was already 5pm (it gets dark by 6pm), I thought I'd have to get on the radio to call someone in to find us and get us out, but luckily he came back (even Zulu guides get lost apparently!).    We did come across some Hyenas on the way home.  That was cool, that was the first time I'd seen them, though I've heard them multiple times.  Then I suffered through one more night at bushcamp.  Tonight I'm back at the main camp in the communal room.  I"m hoping they let me stay for the duration (one more week plus a few days) because I'm tired of being cold!!!!!!!

This morning was also a great drive.  We heard there were two lions who had just made a kill, so we drove up to where they were.  As we were driving through the bush to get to where we thought they were, we accidentally drove up onto the exact spot where the female was breakfasting on an imapala.  She was right next to the car, and seemed to be annoyed that she was interrupted, so she took her meal and moved further into the bush.  We watched for a while, then found the male lion.  After a few minutes they were done and got up to go to a new spot, and we were able to follow them for quite a while.  What a great morning!

This afternoon we'll be having a Zulu lesson, then I'm going to get ready for shabbos.  (I hope I get a hot shower!)

Good shabbos, have a great weekend everyone!
Robyn

Bushcamp

Tues-
OK, my Princessness has been pushed to the limit! 
Note to self- be specific!  Don't just ask if there is running water, make sure you ask if the running water is both hot and cold!  In order to get a hot shower, you have to boil water in the kettle, then pour it into this bag contraption, add some cold so you don't burn yourself, then hoist it up and turn on the tap and stand (bent, bec it's not tall enough) to take a shower.  And the shower is somewhat outdoors.  There is like a tent thing around it, but it's not completely enclosed- meaning the cold air from outside is what you're standing in while the water is off (bec there's not enough to keep it running while you soap up).  Interesting.  I thought I'd try to go several days without a shower, then this morning we did another "walk" (really, this was a major hike) through the bush, so a shower was called for when we got back.  I'm happy to report that I survived!  Me and my hair are clean :)

On the subject of bush-walks.  I'm done with them.  All we saw was dung, dung, and more dung.  We never saw the animals that left them :(

So my new friend Ruth (who, thank GD, is as princess-y as me- keep in mind, she's only 15, so she might not be fully princessed out yet, but she's got time) talked to the manager and arranged that we will not be doing walks anymore (esp considering the people on the game drive today- all the 15 year olds) saw Leopards today!

There's no electricity, but thankfully there is a gas stove, so so far I haven't had to cook on the open fire (not quite sure how people balance pots on the fire wood), but I will put the marshmallows I brought to good use!

Here's to surviving in the bush!
Robyn

Hoedspruit

Mon-
Today we took a trip into town to drop off two volunteers who were leaving, and picking up some new ones.  (there's a couple that came today that was with me in Namibia too.  They're American, from Hawaii- not actual Hawaiians).

What, you missed Hoedspruit on your trip to SA?  That's because you blinked as you went through it!  It's not exactly a thriving metropolis, but it does have your requisite gift shop and a supermarket (yay- more cheese!)  I picked up a metal statue of a baboon- to remind me of the fun times with them in Namibia.

I've been hanging out with this lovely father/daughter couple that's here, Ruth and John, from the UK.  She's 15 and here on school break with her dad, a very nice guy.  It's nice to be able to have some adult conversation after being the only "older" person amongst a pack of 18 year olds.  They're both very sweet.  John knows that on shabbat I don't turn off lights (from other Orthodox Jews he knows in the UK) and offered to leave the bathroom light on for me (we were sharing a bathroom), then asked if I'd be offended if they ate bacon in front of me.  So nice!

Off to bushcamp today (there are 13 15year olds coming to the main area today) :(
Cheers,
Robyn

Kruger National Park

Sun-
On Sun I went to Kruger National Park with 3 other volunteers and a ranger.  It's about a 2 hour drive from where we are (we left at 5am and came back at 9pm- a long day!).

It was a great day.  It's a huge park where the animals are free to roam.  There were a lot by the road.  We were able to see Zebras, Giraffe, and Elephants, and finally some Hippos (yay!).  There are 100,000 Impala there, so of course, we saw them too.  No Lions :(   There was a Leopard, and I saw it's tail, but that was about it.

I took lots of pics, of course.

I hope to go back for at least one more day drive, and possibly an overnight at one of the lodges (I won't go so far as to camp if not absolutely necessary!)


Cheers,
Robyn

Lots of animals, yay!

OK, so today, Friday (morning) we did another game drive and it made up for yesterday's lack of animals.

Today we saw a herd of Buffalo, several Zebras and Giraffes, two Elephants, and one was trying to push over a tree for us (there are tons of uprooted trees all over the place that the elephants have pushed over- it was very cool to see one start to do it, but then he stopped, leaving the tree intact).  We saw a Water Buck and of course, the ever present Impalas.

(oh- yesterday I forgot, we also saw a Mongoose)

Tonight I will miss the Hyena drive, as it's shabbos, and I will also miss the visit to the orphanage on sat :(

Sun is a day off for us, and a small group of us are going to Kruger National Park with one of the rangers here.  Looking forward to that!

Good shabbos/Have a good weekend everyone!
Love,
Robyn

What?! MORE manual labor?!

Thurs-
I thought I was done with paying for the privilege of doing manual labor!  This morning was "road clearing" time.  The road gets overgrown with trees/shrubs and their branches (some of which have nasty thorns) stick out into the road and are a hazard when you're driving (we're in open air safari vehicles), so this morning's task was road clearing.  I pretty much played the girl card and watched mostly, but did clip some errant branches with the clippers.  However, I declined to hack away at the trees with the machete!

This afternoon's game drive was a bust :(
We went looking for Rhinos, but didn't find any :(
We saw some small animals, but mostly at night and it was hard to see.  We saw an Owl, a few "bush babies"- they claim that they are primates, but it looked like a mouse to me, I'll have to look them up on the internet to see what it was I was looking at.  We also saw an African Wild Cat and a Civet (something like the size of a Raccoon).  Others were very excited by these finds, but to me they pale in comparison to a Zebra, Lion, Giraffe, etc....

Oh well, as Scarlet liked to say, tomorrow is another day.
G'night!

This is apparently a bush baby (pic from internet, not me)
and this is a civit (also from the internet, not me)


My pics-                Owl

Bush Baby