3100 meters above sea level

Well I am half way through my 6 weeks!  The first 3 weeks have actually gone by pretty slow, which is great because I feel like I am really taking everything in.

We had a 4 day getaway this weekend for the photography group to the Drakensburg mountains.  It included hikes and photography workshops with Emil who spent the first week with us here.

Friday we were up and in the van by 5:00am to head out for the long drive.  It was 3 hours to Durban where we picked up Emil and then another 3 or 4 hours to our destination.  The first night we were camping so we got to the campground and set up our tents.  The camp ground was lovely with really nice bathrooms.  Right away we went for a short hike up to some waterfalls and climbed all around them taking photos and learning the technique to make the water look milky.  I absolutely loved it.  The photos were so cool.  This is something I’ve always been interested.

I had a pretty crappy sleep.  Our mats were pretty thin, I was freezing cold and there was some bird that chirped off and on all night.  We were up at 5:00 again and headed to a river that came out of the amphitheater which is basically a big, beautiful rock wall.  We took photos as the sun came up and shone light on the rock.  It was beautiful and nice and quiet and peaceful.

After the sunrise we got back for breakfast, packed up and hit the road.  Just a 20 minute drive and we started our hike.  It was a fairly good hike.  Got the blood pumping and the sweat going as it was a pretty warm day.  We’ve got several older guys in our group who smoke so they struggled quite a bit.  But it was good.  It was 8 km up and it took about 3 hours which included some break stops and photo stops.  At the very top we wound across the river and came up to a canyon type thing where we went and took photos.  We had to take our shoes off and go barefoot and it was freezing and the rocks were tough to walk on so that didn’t last a real long time but it was very cool in there.  The lighting wasn’t great so I didn’t get many good photos

We had a 2 hour drive around the mountain range to the other side to our accommodations for the next 2 nights.  We were up at 3:30 am and on the trail at 4:00am.  The first part took about an hour and we just walked in the dark with our head torches.  It was weird not having any idea of where you were going but just plotting along.  We arrived at our first stop before the sun was up and got set up and waited for the big show.  It was a beautiful sunrise and I really enjoyed it.

We had our breakfast then hiked on around the mountain below the face of the rock.  Then we came to the ladder!  We had to go up 40 meters on a ladder that went pretty much straight up the rock face.  It was a bit unnerving but not bad at all.  I thought I’d take a peak down as I was going up but that wasn’t the best idea.  At the top we walked across a big meadow beside a river from a spring and came to the far side of the mountain and looked over to see the river fall over the edge, the 2^nd longest water fall in the world.  It is the same river that we walked along yesterday, which was kinda neat.  It was amazing and beautiful view.  We hiked up to the top of the mountain for our lunch which was at 10:30.  I believe we were somewhere above 3000 meters above sea level.

Instead of going all the way back the way we came, we scaled down a little (but steep and long) gully between to ridges.  It was about 70 meters down, and at about 45 degrees steep and full of rocks that we had to climb over and around so it was pretty sketchy at some points.  My knees and leg muscles were pretty sore by the time I got to the bottom.  We continued to hike down back to the car and arrived all safe and sound by 12:40!!  It was weird to have such a big hike done by so early in the day.

Only 5 of our group of 8 did the second day hike but we were all glad we did.  It definitely made any hiking I’ve done in the past seem pretty Mickey Mouse. I had such a great time and feel really proud of myself for accomplishing it.  I saw some amazing things and hopefully have some photos to show for it.

A true African experience

I had probably one of my best days so far here in Africa and feel like I really got a sense of the people and the culture.  The weekend (Oct 1st) trip that was offered was to go to Mozambique and to swim with dolphins.  Although it would have been great to get to see another part of Africa, I’ve already swam with dolphins so didn’t want to spend the money.  I wanted to go and see the Sagoma instead which is basically a spiritual person in the Zulu culture.  I was the only volunteer interested in going and since the project managers wanted to get out and about on their day off, I went with them.  So there was the 4 of us (Amanda, Natasha and Martijn) plus Anton, one of our guides who is Zulu.  He had to come along to help us find the Sangoma and to translate for us.

It was such a random day which I guess is typical Africa.  We started off by going to ? town to get some snackies and some fuel.  The town was just hopping with activity and people.  Apparently Saturdays is the day to come to town and visit and do your shopping.  There were 2 huge line ups outside the grocery store for people getting their Saturday lottery tickets.  There was a little market set up for people to sell clothes, fruit, crafts, etc as well.

It’s very common for people to walk along the road and hitch a ride.  There are lots of taxi vans that people use to get around, as well as just hitch hiking.  But people are always going somewhere.  And there are lots of cattle strolling alongside and on the roads, as well as goats.

Next we went to the house of Anton’s friends so we could find out how to get to the Sangoma.  His friend’s mother came out and gave us a handful of bananas fresh off the tree.  Then we went into the next town and picked up his friend’s friend, who was to take us to the Sangoma, which is his mother.  But first we had to stop and talk to his wife so he could tell her he wasn’t going to see his girlfriend and that he was coming with us.  This obviously started a conversation for us girls with Anton to get this whole wife/multiple girlfriend thing sorted out in our minds.  It is very common for men to have several women in their lives.  The Zulu King and the President have several wives each.  And when you have a girlfriend it is out in the open and talked about, it isn’t kept a secret.  I asked if the women have more than one husband or girlfriend and he said no, that would be cheating.  So obviously there is a huge double standard.  He said that if a man wants to have a second wife, he will tell his first wife that he will bring another women home to help her out (ya, like he’s doing her a big time favor).  I asked if the number of women in a man’s life declines as he ages.  Anton said it depends on how ‘strong’ a man is, but there is a tree that will help them with that, ha ha!

Then we headed to the Sangoma’s house which was way tucked away and was a really lovely homestead (basically a fenced off area with several homes in it for all the family members).  It was really neat and tidy compared to the ones I saw last week in the more rural areas.  We went into the one round hut which had concrete floors and walls, thatched roof and a power source and light switch, which seemed funny to me.  The floor was covered in grass mats and hides.  The main, older Sangoma came in along with some younger ones in training.  We got an opportunity to ask her general questions about being a Sangoma.  Basically it is something that you are called to do by your ancestors, so not everyone can be a Sangoma.  And it also runs in the family, so likely several of her children will be Sangomas as well, including men.  After you are called, the training may take anywhere from a few months to a few years.  Basically people go to them for any problems they are having and with the use of their ancestors and yours, they can see the future and can help you and make suggestions to fix things gone wrong in your life.

We took turns having our time with the Sangoma, with Anton staying there to translate.  It was very interesting to watch it all happen.  They sort of meditate and chant while mixing a pile of bones, shells, dice, rocks, coins (whatever they have chosen and is meant to be a part of their ceremony, each person’s being different) on the floor.  Then they push and scatter them on the mat and then read and interpret what it says.  Anton’s ancestors kept budding into my time and causing some confusion.  While it was my turn, Natasha was asked to come inside and pour some water on the floor of the hut so the ancestors could have some water since she was drinking some after her session.  I guess it is disrespectful to not give the ancestors whatever you are having first.  I was also told that I was sitting like a man which was disrespectful to the ancestors and I had to change my position.

Afterwards, we were invited into a different hut where there was a bit of a ceremony going on.  One of the trainees was being ‘taken over’ by the ancestors, which I guess brings on a gathering/ceremony.  Before we went in I asked if I could take photos and they said yes however once I got in there I realized it was much too private for photographs.  This women was chanting and moaning and groaning in a very low gruff voice and was walking around on her knees shaking people’s hands with her eyes closed.  Everyone once in a while a bunch of the other people in there would start singing and beating their drums.  Then another women also got ‘taken over’ and she began to chant and join in.  Although she appeared to be in real pain and Anton said as it’s happening, it feels like you are being stabbed by many needles.

We left after a little while as this ceremony would take a while.  We were all silent and reflecting on what we just witnessed.  We understood it was very intimate and private moment and we were all very thankful to get to experience it.  We had so many questions about it all but were just happy to have been a part of it.

Afterwards we headed to the beach and played in the waves and in the sand.  We packed up and headed home, taking a short cut through the neighboring game reserve.  We ended up coming across the elephant heard so were stuck for over an hour waiting for them to pass.  Then, as we were just about at Thanda’s entrance, we saw a leopard dart across the road into the bushes.  We all hooped and hollered as it is a very rare sighting and we were so excited.  I can now say I’ve seen all of the Big 5!  It definitely capped off an amazing day full of the African experience.

Things I’ve learned at Thanda:

1.       If it’s mellow, let it mellow.  If it’s brown, flush it down

2.       Electricity is almost as scarce as water.  Which is why it’s good to have a good torch on you at all times

3.       Gecko’s poo a lot.  So when there is a gecko living in your hut on the ceiling, you will have gecko poo on your bed everyday

4.       Croatians are stubborn.  Or maybe I should rephrase; Romeo from Croatia is stubborn

5.       Game drives never get old.  They are amazing even if you don’t see much

6.       Being close enough to touch an elephant is both exhilarating and nerve wracking

7.       A lot of people in the world (if the small United Nations of Thanda is a correct comparison) do not agree with hunting, even as a purpose of population control to balance an ecosystem.  Meaning Jody should stop mentioning that her friends back home hunt.  Unless you are talking to the tracker and the ecologist who understand life outside a city.

8.       Starting your day with a game drive is an amazing way to start any day!!  Even if it’s at 5:30am

9.       I am going to come home with a British/Aussie/South African accent as that is who I spend most of my time with.  I just know it.  I already find myself pronouncing the animal names like them!!!

10.   Hippos live in pods of females and babies with just one dominant male.  One female will come into season (heat) each day.  And as the saying goes, ‘she will offer him her honor.   He will honor her offer.  Then all day, he will get on and off her.

11.   If they say you should carry your water with you on conservation work, believe them

12.   If they tell you there will also be a truck following us that you can leave your water on, don’t believe them

13.   You will not die from being electrocuted by the electric fence, luckily it wasn’t me that found this out

14.   Female hyena’s have both sex organs.  She mates with a penis and even delivers her cubs through her penis

15.   Wild dogs are little trouble makers.  They like to toy with buffalo, elephants and giraffe

16.   A two handed waive is a must when someone drives by

17.   Children love balloons

18.   White rhino’s have black poo, and black rhinos have black poo

19.   Gecko poo on the bed count is at 23

Week # 2: Conservation and Community work

 Since our first week was full on photography, this week was a lot more conservation and community work, which is another main purpose for my trip. 
 

On Tuesday morning we all (photography and research groups) went to help the manager of Thanda Wildlife and his workers to do a controlled burn.  They will burn each block (which I’m not sure the size of as they all vary) about every 3 or 4 years which helps to get rid of the long grass that doesn’t offer much nutrients and have all that nutrients go back into the ground so new grass can grow that provides more nutrients for the animals to eat.  We split into 2 groups although the side I went with was considerably less people.  We started at a corner and headed in parallel directions.  Some people were lighting the fire and the rest would come along with fire beaters (made of sheets of rubber with some slits cut in it on a broom stick) and put out any fires that were going the wrong direction.  The wind wasn’t cooperating so the smoke was really bad so my eyes were watering the whole time.  It was a long morning with some pretty good hiking/walking over some big hills and will little to no water but it felt good to look back and see all the burning we had done.

On Wednesday we headed to a community school about 1.5 hour away to spend some time with the kids and teach them about the animals of South Africa.  I know it seems weird that we come in from all over the world and have to teach them about animals in their country, but these kids don’t have the means to learn about them and never travel to see them.  So we taught them about the kudu, dung beetle and oxpecker bird.  We made posters and activities to go along with them and the teacher had to translate for them.  Afterwards we got to go outside and play with them.  We had taken along a bunch of balloons for the kids and they just loved it.  At one point I had probably 30 kids around me pushing and shoving and grabbing for the balloons.  Thankfully the teacher came along and made them behave and we got them handed out.  They all had such a great time with them, it was so fun.  A few of them were pretty sad when their balloons were popped.  We took a box of apples for them so we halved them and handed them out to them to go with their lunch of beans.  Then afterwards the kids did some singing and dancing for us which was great.  It is definitely a big part of the Zulu culture.

Then Thursday morning we did some more conservation work at the Thanda base camp.  Right now their grey water leaks outside the fence and the animals are drinking it.  So they are creating a wetland where the water can go through and be cleaned and oxidized and then put outside the fence for the animals to drink.  Previous groups had already dug the big hole (a small swimming pool type hole).  So our job was to lay plastic down in the hole and line the edges with a bunch of rocks and to carry away all the dirt from the hole.  It was a fairly big job to do all by hand but with a big group of us we got a lot done in a short amount of time.  There’s still a lot to be done before the ‘wetlands’ is ready for water, but it is getting there.  It is one of those things that remind you that you are in Africa.  Things get done when they get done, no real rush and it’s all by hand.  I look forward to hearing updates on it though and how it turns out.

We have a few more community and conservation projects going on this week that I am definitely looking forward to!

Week # 2: Game Drives

Well week number 2 did not disappoint in the slightest.  We were lucky enough to see an endangered animal as well as seeing another one of the Big 5 and I also learned why they are called the Big 5.  Apparently, if you try to kill those 5 animals (elephant, rhino, leopard, buffalo and lion), and you don’t kill them in the first shot, they will come and try to kill you. 
 

We finally found the heard of water buffalo.  Actually it was only about half the heard, so about 50 or so.  They are very similar to a cow in their movement and mannerisms.  As with most African animals, and as the joke goes, you only get to see the ass of the animal as they walk away.  So as the heard of buffalo were walking away from our truck it reminded me of a cattle drive back home.  I wondered how it would go herding them with horses.

We also got to see the wild dogs which are an endangered species so they are actually monitored twice a day.  This pack has an alpha male and female and their 5 grown pups.  It was neat to watch their family dynamic.  The pups are quite playful and full of energy.  The old male is not doing well.  He looks old and tired and is the laziest one.  We followed them along one day pretty closely as they acted like they might make a kill.  Unfortunately, they ended up just laying down for a rest on the shade once again.  At one point I was within 10 feet of the dogs as they passed by the truck.  And man do they smell bad!  They are also very cheeky and playful and although they won’t have the intention to hunt they will pester buffalo, elephants and rhinos.  We watched them bug the buffalo one day.  The one was trying to sneak in to grab a hold of a buffalo’s tail.

We saw two of the young male lions one day lounging by one of the watering holes.  They were being pretty lazy so there wasn’t much for exciting action packed photography.  But we still got some good shots.  We could tell they had had a good feed the night before because their bellies were plumb full.  And they were so lazy they even peed where they were lying down.

One day I decided I wanted to ride on the tracker seat which is a seat way out in front on the hood of the truck where the tracker normally sits.  And by the way, several of Thanda’s best trackers were once poachers.  Since we don’t have a tracker with us on our drives (our guide/driver/tracker Maryanna does it all), I wanted to give it a go.  I wasn’t too sure about driving through the park with all the wild animals but apparently the only animals that you can’t sit up there for is the elephants and the lions, since they see the vehicle as 1 object.  Luckily we didn’t come across either of them, but if we had, we would have just driven by and I would have hopped in the back.

The only thing of interest we saw that day was 2 rock monitors fighting.  It was so interesting and none of the guides or drivers in any of the vehicles said they had ever seen it before so it was a pretty rare find.  We ended up sitting there for almost 2 hours watching the wrestling match go down.  It was intense and actually quite comical to us.  They were hard core as they fought for dominance which including biting and twisting legs and tails.  Unfortunately we had to pull away for the main lodge vehicles to see and as were driving up again to watch some more, it ended and they ran off.  It was crazy though, some people filled up a 16GB card on their camera with just photos of them fighting.

After that we met up with the research group to have ‘sun downers’ which is apparently a tradition that the Brits brought over many years ago of drinking gin and tonic.  So we found a spot where we had a good view of the sunset and had a drink and some snacks and just enjoyed visiting with everyone.  It was really lovely.

One of the nights we had the option of going to a bush dinner that is put on by the main lodge for all their high paying guests and we are asked to come along if we wish.  I wasn’t sure about it but was really happy I decided to go along as it was really cool.  We drove over in the dark around 6:30 and actually saw the lioness and her 3 cubs along the way which was cool.  When we arrived we were greeted and escorted down a path lit by lanterns.  At the bottom we were handed a glass of champagne and a warm wash cloth to wash our hands from the game drive.  There were several camp fires going with chairs set up all around, lanterns all around and several tables set very beautifully and all fancy with each chair having its own blanket to be used.  We were to bring our own drink so I had a cooler.  We were served a yummy soup and bread to start with then went through the buffet.  There were many different choices especially the meat.  I made sure to try the impala sausage which tasted pretty similar to some deer sausage I have had before.  Then there was lovely dessert buffet afterwards.  As we were sitting there visiting we were all asked to be quiet.  We sat a few moments in silence and then heard the elephant herd trumpeting.  They were agitated earlier in the day so whatever it was must have been bugging them still.  But it was such a great experience. Then to topped it all off, the staff got up and did some Zulu singing and dancing which was awesome.  I love hearing it and watching them all have fun as they are doing it.  The one song has been stuck in my head which is great!!

Weekend in St. Lucia,

Well we were allowed out of the bush for the first weekend after our hard week of learning and boy did it hit the spot.  I was really set on going to the Thonga Village for the weekend to experience some African culture, but unfortunately no one else was interested.  I still really enjoyed myself in St. Lucia though so was glad that I went.

Our accommodations were lovely.  We got to have real showers with guaranteed water.  Hot and lots of pressure which we now don’t take for granted like back home.  Our room also has no gecko poo all over it.  P.S. the gecko poo on my bed count is now at 17 for only the first week.  We also got a tv and a little kitchenette and I got set up for wifi so we could get in touch with everyone back home (hence the few quick updates to the blog).

A group of us met up for dinner on Friday which was great.  The food at Thanda is nice, but it was also great to get out and have some more variety and options.  We were all pretty tired from the week so we all headed to bed after supper.

Saturday my roommate Robyn and I had a pretty lazy morning watching tv, lounging and enjoying the breakfast we’d grabbed at the grocery store, although we were still awake at 6:00am.  We just hung out in our room most of the morning.  We headed out to walk up and down main street to check out some shops and local stores.  We enjoyed tea and cake as people call it although I had coffee and a muffin.

In the afternoon, most of our group all went on a hippo and croc boat tour for a few hours.  It was a nice little trip.  We got to see lots of different types of birds and lots of hippos.  Unfortunately crocs are not very common in that area anymore so we only saw one, although I’m convinced it wasn’t alive, that it was a fake one just staged on the shore as the guy pointed it out long before he was able to see it there.

The hippos were neat to watch.  Some were just hanging out watching us, a few young ones were busy play fighting and some would hide under water just as we came along.  Apparently a hippo can hold its breath for up to 6 minutes.  And they do not swim, they simply walk on the bottom of the water.  You have to be very careful in St. Lucia at night as that is when the hippos come out of the water to feed on land in the town and they are very territorial and feisty.  Emil said he was chased by one once.  I think when I’m there in a few weeks that I’ll keep to daylight walking tours.

A few of us went out for dinner to celebrate a British girl Caris’ birthday.  Again, it wasn’t much of a party as we were all tired and headed to bed early.

Sunday was a crappy weather day, pretty rainy all morning.  Robyn wanted to do some shopping so I followed her around in the rain.  We then headed to a cute, fancy looking coffee shop and sat outside on their patio under a roof.  They had some comfy deck chairs with cushions on them so we sent up camp there.  We asked if there was a power point to plug the lap top in and they ran over an extension cord for us and brought out some fuzzy, warm blankets for us.  It was so lovely, sitting listening to the rain, all cozied up, having a coffee and I was reading a book.  I order a scone later and the presentation of it was amazing.  The jam, cream and butter all came on its own tray in fancy dishes and crystal.  I loved the whole experience.

Then at about noon the weather broke and the sun came out so we decided to go for a walk to the beach.  It was about a 45 minute walk and we came out onto a huge sand dune.  It was pretty cool.  We didn’t have a whole lot of time to hang out so we started heading back.  We got back just in time to gather our stuff and hop in the van to head the 1.5 hours back to Thanda.  It was a great weekend and it made me look forward to spending 2 weeks there during my second project with African Impact.  It will seem weird to be in civilization for more than a weekend.

Photography Overload

Well the officially photography course part came to an end on Friday September 22nd after 5 days at Thanda with professional photographer Emil Von Maltitz.  You can check out his website at www.limephoto.co.za and you can check out the link to his blog http://emilvonmaltitz.blogspot.com/ which has tid-bits to help improve your photography skills.  He is full of energy and very excited and passionate about photography which made learning about it easier and fun.  He not only has a lot of knowledge on photographs, but on photography in general and its history.  It was nice to learn the reasons behind all the settings on my camera.

It was a pretty full on week with lots to cram into a short about of time.  I did my best to stuff my brain full of all the information that I could but I know a lot of it seeped out or just plain old didn’t fit.  The one day we started at 5:30 and didn’t quit until 9:30, so it was a long day on the old thinker.  Most of the people in the group have more experience and knowledge then I do and several of them have many years of ‘hobby’ photography behind them so they have a really great understanding of photos, composition and cameras.  It’s been handy using their knowledge since Emil left to help me out.  But during the course I did find myself lost many times as they all seemed to be 20 steps ahead of me.

We had 3 or 4 different assignments over the week to put into practice what we learned.  We would then go through each person’s 3 or 4 photos, vote on the best one, then critique each one so we could learn from it all.  I found these intimidating and nerve racking as I knew I was up against some great photographers.

Our first assignment was we were each giving a plant and we had to produce 3 different photos from that plant.  Our second assignment was to produce 4 photos from a game drive and one of them had to be only 1 element in the photograph.  I was quite excited about the picture of the one element that I took which was simply a rhino horn with grass all around it.  I got a lot of great feedback on it and Emil even said he wants to steal the idea from me.  So that helped to improve my confidence.  They also quite liked one of my other photos of a wildebeest.

At the end of our longest day, we learned how to paint with light.  Even though I was dog tired, I actually really enjoyed this and would like to play with it some more at home.  I did a simple one using a tree.  I don’t have the painting technique down yet but you get the idea.

Our last assignment was on the Friday and it was the one I liked least of all.  It was difficult, awkward and I had run out of steam for the week.  We had to pretend like our camp was a 5 star resort and had to photograph it to show it off. So we had to stage different scenes and be models and act and it was just not fun.  It really made me realize how many little details there are that go into those perfect shots that are on brochures.  We also had to do a portrait of someone.  I was really short on time so just snapped a shot of my roommate which didn’t really turn out.

All in all I had a great week learning about photography and improving my skills.  I’ve got a long way to go but that all just takes time and practice.  And I have another 3 weeks to hone my skills.  For the 3^rd weekend at Thanda, our group is heading to the Drakensburg Mountains for a 4 day photography course with Emil while hiking the area.  I’ve heard it is a beautiful, amazing experience even without the photography course.  Plus I am looking forward to learning some more tips and techniques from Emil while I am there.

Just a few of my 'photography' photos: