Finally in Empangeni Kwa-Zulu Natal

March 24, 2012- Yesterday I started the next chapter of my PC journey. I left my training site and was off to my permanent site! It was such and exciting and scary feeling that I didn’t really know what to think. I travelled with some of the other volunteers who will be placed in Eastern Kwa-Zulu Natal around me.

After a very long all day trip I finally arrived in Empangeni around 7 or 8. My new host grandparents greeted me once I arrived at my new home. Their daughter, her husband and their two little girls were also there. It was a good feeling to finally see where I would be living and what the people I would spend my next two years with would be like. My host grandparents are from Mauritius, which is an island country about 550 miles east of Madagascar. They are amazing cooks and I look forward to learning how to cook some Mauritian food. They speak English and French and maybe I will learn a little bit of French. I think I will stick to the isiZulu for now! Oh I think the new thing to get use to is not spider on my wall but geckos! Today my host family took me to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve. Um can you say amazing? When I thought of a safari I was thinking big open plains with a few trees and maybe some water holes. This was nothing like that. It was very green, hilly and full of vegetation. It was so cool to see everything and we had a very lucky day. My host family has gone several times before and has never seen as much as we were able to see. We started at about 7:30 AM and there was word that lions had been spotted. We headed towards the location of the lion spotting. On the way there we saw a heard of wild dogs. These are endangered and it is not common to see one let alone a whole heard of them. On the way to try and find the lions we also saw many wildebeest, impalas, a hyena (also rare to see,) water buffalo, zebras, vultures, and a rhino. I was so amazed by the size of the rhino. I think of the ones we have at the zoo, yeah those are nothing. These things are like the size of a medium sized elephant at home. I was shocked! The other thing that I really liked to see was the water buffalo. I could watch them all day, I love the horn thing they have and I think they are amazing.

It was funny when we saw the zebras, I was super excited and they just think of it as a horse with stripes. It is amazing the way everyone sees things differently. We saw a herd of elephants at a very far distance. They were all at the water and there was no way we could get closer.

There were a few spots throughout the reserve where you could get out of your car. One area was fenced and you walked down a wooden fenced pathway into a room that only had some small rectangular window type things to look out of. It pretty much placed you right on the side of a water hole. We were able to see some more bucks; I think they are really called springboks. The water hole was filled with turtles and surrounded by birds. It was really neat to be able to get out and be part of that. The other opening we went to did not have a fence. I just hoped that I would be able to run faster then Murray or Granny if need be :). Later I spotted a lioness and I was speechless. Murray was driving and all I could think to do was whack him so he would stop, I think he was a little caught of guard since I just met him! A lion was the number one thing that I wanted to see so I was pretty excited. She was sitting nice and peacefully in some tall grass.

About 40 yards ahead we saw a bunch of cars so we knew there was something neat. Sure enough there was a lion! We got lucky again and got to watch him for a few minutes. He was a lot harder to sit and watch because he was in some deeper brush and that.

We didn’t want to stay too long so other people could also see. The day was almost complete and we did not think that we would get lucky enough to see any of the other Big 5. I was also hoping to see an elephant up close and some giraffes. We headed towards the gate to leave and Granny spotted a giraffe. Then we saw another and I was a happy camper! It is really amazing to see all of these animals in their natural habitat. Speaking of natural habitat, we saw a wildebeest that was stuck in the river. I asked if they would go and try and get it out and they said no. It was just part of nature and that is how it goes.

That was interesting to hear because the rangers would be capable of helping it, but they want the reserve to be as natural as possible. I guess the crocs will get to have him!

We left the gate and as we were discussing the fact that we had not seen an elephant up close there one was! We were only about a mile outside of the gate and an elephant started to cross the road right in front of us. I found it kind of interesting because only in Africa would I ever see an elephant crossing a highway type road. I was excited that I was able to be fortunate enough to see all of these animals in one day. It was an amazing experience and I hope to take my parents when they come to visit.