My internet sucks. You can’t do a safari post without photos, and the internet isn’t my friend at the moment. So instead of hearing about my amazing and luxurious safari, you’re going to have to settle on second best: a random list of things I’ve done in my 8 weeks of living in rural South Africa!
1. Visited the fantastic Apartheid Museum, which has been on my to do list since 2006
2. On my fourth safari in Africa, I finally saw leopards!
3. Made a local mat called a sangu by weaving plastic string tied to old, eroded batteries through pieces of straw (okay, okay, so my granny did half the work).
4. Watched WWE wrestling like it was the greatest fake sport ever and followed a local soap religiously
5. Pee’d in a bucket
6. Sat in on a community meeting as the village chief told the crowd not to ‘touch our breasts’.
7. Participated in a kudu poop spitting contest. (Not to toot my own horn, but I was pretty good.)
8. Shot video footage of a local choir to be used for promotional material in landing gigs at nearby game lodges.
9. Debated many a topic surrounding social business & aid in Africa.
10. Battled another staph infection, which I’m beginning to think is some recurring African mystery disease.
11. Attended a night vigil for one of the many funerals that took place in the village.
12. Danced with the locals while they were performing for paying tourists. I did this a lot actually since it takes place across from my house where the chief lives. I know I ruined many a tourist experience when they saw a mulungu (white person) saunter over to the party.
13. Shared the wonderful world of funfetti cake with my homestay family and celebrated another birthday.
14. Watched the most amazing sunsets and sunrises.
15. Kissed a hippo. Yes, they kill more people than any other animal in Africa.
I will be taking a two-week hiatus from blogging since my internet access will be limited until I leave South Africa. It’s good timing anyhow, because I have people to see and places to go before making my exodus from the village in 10 days!
OMG please please please do a post on you kissing a hippo!!!
You should keep this list handy. Quite the conversation starters! “Sooooo this one time I spent a summer in Africa, peed in buckets, and entered a poop spitting competition. I won. Wait, where are you going? What do you mean you have to wash your hair?”
;)
Hmm I was with you until the kissing the hippo! Those thing are really dangerous. I remember the post on WWE and how much grandmother actually enjoyed watching it.
I have really enjoyed reading your posts about your time in Africa, especially what you wrote about the debate as to whether you think you are doing more harm than good. It’s interesting how so many people go with the best of intentions and don’t really realize that what they’re doing isn’t necessarily the best thing for the community.
kudu poop? that does not sound like a good tasting competition :)
wow u kissed a hippo? That’s so cool… 1st person I hear about it :P
Yes, I also want to hear about the kissing hippo story! Pics please!
Tops. The time has gone so quickly and you’ve done so much.
I agree with the first commenter, post (with pictures!) of kissing a hippo is definitely in order now! It sounds like you’re having some epic African adventures :D