Last full day with the Huskies

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I Spit Poop, and Other Stories

Thursday morning, I put on my swimsuit, grabbed sunblock and my book and headed to the pool at Sefapane. Halfway between my hut and the pool I noticed that it seemed very dark for 9am. Did I read the clock wrong? I looked up to see an overcast sky, and it honestly took a moment to process. There hadn't been a visible cloud since I arrived in South Africa 9 days ago, and the 100 degree heat we battled yesterday was now working overtime to hit 65 degrees. It was windy. It was cold. Swimming was not going to happen. I passed some time talking to Mark, our guide who knows everything about nature and animals in South Africal. He's never been to the States, but would like to RV around America if he ever gets the chance, so we swapped stories and I promise him a tour if he ever makes it to Seattle.

In the afternoon, I was happy for the cool weather since our bush walk necessitated hiking shoes, thick socks and long pants. Decked out in my best safari browns and greens, I joined 7 others as we met our rifle-toting guides. First, we entered th Kruger and bumped along in our open-air vehicle for about a half hour, past giraffes and impala and some crafty warthogs who dug their way under the fence and out to freedom (later to be seen in the parking lot of the town grocery store!) When we had finally driven in enough circles that my sense of direction was completely useless, the vehicle stopped and our walk began. Now, this isn't a liesurely stroll down a path. We had our guides (and rifles) in front of us as we followed in a single file line trying to be quiet. I have to say, compared to some other people in my group who clomped through the bush, I was like a ninja. Alas, my amazingly noiseless tracking skills will have to be discovered another day, as the general noise from our group was enough to scare off most living things around us. We did see a lone giraffe who seemed to want us to chase her-- galloping a few hundred feet only to turn around and dare us to come closer.

What we saw the most on our journey was poop. Of all kinds. Never in my life did I think I'd see so much elephant poop, and eventually I'd be so un-phased by it that I'd stomp right through it. Giraffe, rhino, buffalo-- you name the poop, we saw it, and more often than not our guide, Donovan (who was quite hot until we realized his penchant for dung), would dig his hand into it to see if it was fresh.

Now we come to the impala poop. This story may not be for everyone, but once it's finished, no more poop-- I promise. As he was fond of doing, Donovan came upon a pile of pellets and asked us what animal produced them. Blank stares. Then he drew a line in the dirt, told us we were having a competition and whomever didn't play would be tied to a tree and left behind. This sounds promising. Then, he handed each of us an impala pellet, and told us it was a SPITTING contest. Um... What?!? To dispell our panic and disgust, the second guide, Wayne, put one in his mouth and spit it as far as he could while assuring us it was just grass and didn't taste like anything.

My logical self must have still been lounging around Sefapane Resort because I found myself popping the wood-like pellet into my mouth and actually trying to win the contest! (I did win. Yay me.) When we all spit, we turned to Donovan, who just laughed at us and said, "What? You think I'm putting crap in my mouth?" Punk.

Our hard work was rewarded with cool drinks back at the range vehicle, and then we drove along in the dusk, eventually switching on spot lights to glimpse animals at night. Think of looking for the reflection of deer eyes on the highway, and you'll get the gist of what we were doing. We made our way to the rest of the group and the bush braai, which was much nicer than I was expecting, with white tablecloths and wine glasses, and chefs cooking on barbeques. While we ate, the rifle-toting rangers spot-lighted the area looking for animals who might have been a little too curious...

Overall, it was a good last day with the group (poop-spitting aside). Now, I'm in Cape Town with Courtney (whoo hoo!), but I'll get to those stories in the next post... =) I can't believe I'll be home in a week!

PS... I uploaded a video of our giraffe friend, but some people may be having trouble viewing it. Let me know if you can see it (and the pics) by leaving a comment, and if no one can see it, I'll take it down. Thanks!

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Photos

Range Vehicle
Note the rifles propped up along side it.

Bumpy ride
It was not easy to take this picture while bumping along in the open-air bush vehicle.

Walking
Our fearless leaders in front on the bush walk.

Spitting
Me, winning the game.

Michelle and Donovan
Donovan is still a punk.

Bush braai
Who knew a bush braai could be so upscale!

Comments

[CJ]

Hahahahahaha
You ate poop! And spit it!!!!!