Insinkwe

From Durban, we drove about 3 and a half hours to Insinkwe. There we were able to travel to Umfolowzi Park and go on our first Safari. I was so excited even though we had to get up at 4:30am. We spent 5 hours in the park and I was pretty much the equivalent of a little kid who went to the zoo for the first time. We saw zebras, hippos, rhinos, warthogs, kudus, buffalo (different from the ones you see in the U.S.), water buffalo, elephants, and giraffes (my personal favorite). We were all disappointed because in the park there are also lions and leopards, but we did not see any. Apparently it is very rare to see either, but we had heard from the Durban group that they saw a pack of lions eating a Zebra, so we got our hopes up a bit. I kept singing the song Wondering Where the Lions are, but sadly no one else knew the tune and thought that I was making it up. I looked for it in my itunes library, but I don’t have it, try not to be disappointed in me Dad.
After Umflowzi, we headed back to the backpackers for lunch and a bit of relaxation around the pool. It was a super hot day so it was nice to be able to cool off a bit. Later that afternoon most of the group decided to go on a river boat ride. We drove about an hour in order to take a boat tour in which we saw a bunch of hippos and crocodiles and another kudu. We were so close to the hippos that it was amazing and they were in large packs. It was a lot of fun to be right next to animals that for so long seemed like such an odd commodity.
The next morning we woke early to drive the 3.5 hours back to the Durban airport. We got inside the airport and saw a Subway and a few of us went pretty nuts. We decided to eat there for lunch but were quickly disappointed. It looked exactly like an American Subway, in everything but the food. You couldn’t build your own sandwich and all of the meats were different than I had ever seen, it was a bit of a let down. But also a good lesson to not expect everything to be the same here as it is back home.
When we landed in Cape Town we were picked up and taken back to our homes in Langa. It was wonderful to reunite with my family there. Zina ran outside and hugged me and tried to help me carry my big bag. The mother gave me a huge hug and a smile and then asked all about my experience. Toko also gave me a huge hug and then immediately went to change so that we could go out. When Lohlhi came in and saw me he immediately started laughing and fell to the ground. I then chased him around and tickled him. Nwabiza saw me from the street and called to me there. It was quite the welcoming and it really felt like I was home. I will be so sad when we have to leave Langa for good tomorrow morning. However a few of us are positive that we will be visiting during our ISP’s.
For now, I am loaded with homework as crunch time is starting to set in. We have a term paper due in a week that I have yet to start and we also have to finalize our ISP’s. Not to mention the fact that I have a lot of medical bills to deal with and just got notices saying that if paperwork is not filed soon I will be solely responsible for the bill. Oh yes, and did I mention that I managed to lose my Check Card..... so I am now without money. I’m pretty much the world’s worst traveler, but somehow I’m managing to survive.
I hope that things are wonderful with everyone at home and that these posts made up for my inactivity in the last few weeks. Myrna, I apologize for missing your shower, but I hear that it was great.