Rhino poaching

today we are going to talk about rhino poaching.  this doesn't affect any of us in the states, but it is a big area of concern over in africa where one rhino is being poached every 19 hrs.  keep this rate up and rhinos, especially the black rhino, will be extinct in just a few short years.

white rhino

rhino are being poached for their horns, which bring $65,000 US/kilogram.  put that into foreign currencies and you've got a fortune.  most of the market goes to vietnam as they believe the horn, ground, will have some sort of medicinal purpose.  also in china, rhino horn knives are a symbol of "coming to age" (or something like that)



when we were there-- poachers were out and about and killed 2--a momma and a baby.  the poachers go onto the reserve, shoot the rhino in pure daylight and literally hacksaw the horns off and run.  why can't they catch the poachers?  these reserves are huge.  imagine tracking down a poacher if you have 220,000 acres of bushland to go through. 

although hard to see, this guy was poached a couple of weeks before we were there.  you can't see its nose--which is just sawed flat off.  now hyena, dog, lion---anything is fair game to feed on this.

reserves also just lost all of their government funding as well.  this puts much financial stress on the reserves to keep their properties lined and safe.  (what happened--govt officials were going on game hunts as "company parties," and the reserves were rather angry about it.  the reserves took the govt officials to court and won.  in return, the officials decided to take away the govt funding).  tourism alone will not support these reserves.  anyone want to donate?

1 month old baby white rhino.  his momma was poached 

.

normally i'd blow off rhino poaching as it doesn't affect my life one way or another making chocolate.  but once you see a poached rhino--it's a different story.  one that is completely heartbreaking.  if a momma is shot the baby will stay by it's side.  at one of the reserves we went to they had a 1 month and a 2 month old with poached moms.  they're still bottle feeding at this age and drink about 9L of milk/day.  although there is hope for these little guys it would be better if they were out in nature- not in the bomas (holding pens) with humans.     stop rhino poaching!

did you know?

the pink on a hippos' body is pink because their body has secreted an oil in that area that works as a sunscreen

backdrop images

last night, before our very early bedtime of 7:35 (we were fighting to stay up until then!) we went through our 2200 images of the trip.  there are some by the beach and in the gardens that would make for spectacular backdrop images.  just click on the picture.  once it's big right click and then choose:  set as desktop background. 

i'm going to start going thru them with a fine tooth comb and slowly start posting them....stay tuned!

Curing jet lag Costco style

Close only counts in horseshoes....

We have been traveling for what seems ages. It has been at least 24 hrs and will be more like 36 by the time we arrive at our front door. Cape Town to London was a breeze. We slept nearly the whole way (almost 12 hr flight). Once we were in London Dallas promptly got Starbucks. Even a tall size feels massive to hold compared to what we had for the last 2 weeks. A small layover and then 9 hrs to Chicago. Here we got in late, had delays in security since there was a tornado warning. Then our gate got moved twice, delayed..... To us this feels like midnight. Can't wait to board our plane and sleep. Or maybe we shouldn't sleep.... Who knows. Chicago is close to home but not close enough.

Andi

(sent from my phone, most likely there are errors)

One last coke light.....

Not they are any different than sodas in the US. We went to the waterfront today and hung out. Walked all the way back and ate at di vinci's....again. (It's only our 3rd time here). Tonight we leave for London..then Chicago....then home and the dream will be over. Reality will be good but it will hit hard on Monday!

Day 14

Today we hired a guide to take us around Cape Town. We went to cape point (where the Indian and atlantic oceans meet) and then around to Simons town for this....I've only been waiting to see the penguins for 10 months...they are adorable. The water is beautiful and the penguins were great. We ended up with a wine tasting at the oldest winery in Cape Town (founded in 1692)

Tonight we went to a funky little restaurant down the street from where we are staying. It was recommended to us by fellow safari people. We ran into other people from seattle that were at the lodge the same time we were and had dinner. What a small world!

Purple......

The color of ksu (and American college football...not soccer, or cricket, or rugby)....the color of home.....

Its time. It's time we get to thinking about reality and home. It's so fun being abroad. But it's about time to come home. There is always this little "moment" in which you know it's time to head back. Maybe it's because you don't feel comfortable walking down the street and people are looking at you funny. Or maybe it's because you feel uncomfortable when every house has a wall and fence, completely surrounded by barbed wire and security system. Or maybe it's because every store front has bars on it and some you have to ring the worker in order to come in. For us though..... I was when we were hungry and both of us gravitated towards: Hudson's...a burger place. Beer and juicy hamburgers, acdc, the counting crows......it felt good. Very good. Tomorrow we are hitting cape point and then leaving Saturday...... And America, despite beng election time and all, will never have looked so good. (Did I mention we are craving huge-ly sized coffees? Like we are going to get ventis and suck down every last drop)

(Cape Town is nice, but I'm a country girl and loved the reserve and its wide open spaces so much more)

Shark diving

Today we were picked up at 5 to go shark diving. Apparently they are more active in the mornings. It took 2 hrs to get here, at gansbaai, sa. After a quick safety briefing (basically, don't stick your appendages out of the cage) we took off. Once out there we put our wetsuits on and hopped right into the cage. They baited the water and stuck some tuna out there. Then they yell "down" and your hold your breath and hang on to the hand rails and watch the sharks go by. They are huge. Even the small ones are huge. Since there were only 6 of us on the boat and one person didn't want to be down, we got to stay in the cage the entire time. Then we got out, and was so glad that we had nurses on board who were wise enough to bring zofran. We are definitely land people and the swells were getting to us. I would have grabbed a few shots of the sharks or the seals on dyer island but Dallas and I were both too busy staying in one spot trying not to puke. We do have a video instead. I'm usually anti video of the gimmicks but we needed proof.

Cape Town day one

We really need like 2 weeks and a wad of cash to do everything we want to do here. But, we don't have either of those. Today we went to the Kirstenbosch gardens. They have around 4000 varieties of plants here. Usually I'm not a plat person but this was beautiful. They say if you are on vaca here and the sky is clear you go to the mountain. We have been begging to do some sort of physical activity since we left Germany.....so today we climbed table mountain (ironic since we hike one at home all the time). It's the tallest place down here in Cape Town. The lady at the front told us we shouldn't go up since there were some clouds. They also said it would be 6 hrs. Being young, dumb Americans we defied both. It was beautiful. This is the kind of place my mom would love....birds of paradise everywhere. Tomorrow: shark diving!

Lion king

Actually we are lion king-less since we never got to see a lion here. I was ready all week to burst out in"oh i just want to be king" song for our group but never got the chance. I seriously haven't seen the lion king since high school, er, uh, 3rd grade (ok! I watched it in college!!) but could sing you just about anything from the entire movie. Today was our last little safari drive and then we drove to Durban and am at Cape Town now. It was hard to leave. There are so many places I could see myself living and this is one of them. Ask me how our trip was and I'd say "incredible" and would be speechless after that (yes, I realize that is quite a concept for anyone that knows me). It has been the trip of a lifetime, something that I can't put into words. I can tell you facts about all the animals but its something you really have to experience for yourself.

we will have to call Manie, our A+ guide and have him take us out just to see lions on a different trip. I guess we will come back if we have to. :)

Dallas is a special child. Since we missed octoberfest in the states he decided to wear his Liederhosen for our last group dinner tonight. This way when someone ever randomly asks "have you ever wore Liederhosen while dancing to Zulu music in South Africa" he can proudly be the only person in the entire world to raise his hand. The resort staff actually really liked it. When we were leaving tonight they chased our group down with a cell phone. One guy from the group is Iike, "no, no one at our table left this" when in fact it belonged to one of the staff members and they actually wanted a picture with him! I was dying laughing. In an odd way it was like they got their own German safari tonight. Ha!

Day 10

Holy smokes. We have been gone for 10 days!? It feels like we have been gone a whole month. We learn so many new things daily and am always doing something. It's really crazy to think we will drive to an airport tomorrow. Although we will still be in South Africa I have an idea that it will be nothing like it is here. We have had such a good time with our group and have made some really good friends. Even some from Denver. I really don't feel like coming back. I could stay with these animals forever. I'm sure it is second nature, being from here, and seeing zebra on your way to work every day. I guess I'll just have to appreciate it for 12 more hours. In the morning we are doing a walking safari for 2 hrs and then am headed out. We will drive 3 hrs to durban and then fly to Cape Town for 4 nights.

Today we visited both the elephant and cheetah rehab facilities. It was a very interesting tour. W got to stick our hand on the elephants tongue and the pet a cheetah. I was fortunate. The cheetah really liked me and I got to pet it for twice as long. I didn't take my iPad into the cage so will have to wait to upload my picture of it when we get home. I can't wait to make my mother completely jealous. :)

it is 11p here so headed to bed. Tomorrow morning our group is pulling a prank on our ranger. If we all participate and pull it off will be great.

No lions.

We tried. We drove for hours and hours today looking for them. Instead we got quite the treat. It is a long story how this little guy got here (momma was poached) and a long story of what is going on in South Africa at the moment. More on that to come later. Here is a one month old little rhino sucking on my hand. It's like a a baby calf. Adorable!

Nice view from the office

Would be better if I hadn't of picked up a cold with sneezing and congestion....but it will do. :)

St. Lucia

Today after our safari Dallas and I braved the South African driving again and went to st Lucia, a 85 km estuary to see the hippo and crocs. We only saw 2 crocs but it was evening, starting to cool down, and the hippos were starting to become more active. They sure do make funny noises. (I got it on video). Dallas has some great shots of them yawning....I can't wait to get home to upload them! Did you know hippos kill more people in South Africa Yearly than the big 5? They come out and eat at night so at st Lucia it's not uncommon to find one roaming the streets. I guess last week a hippo bit a guys leg off. Tomorrow we are leaving at 4:30 to go to another game reeve and hopefully see lions!!!

Dallas has very advanced forms of mosquito protection.

Twiddling thumbs

We get 2, 2 hr safaris a day. I asked one of the couples who was leaving what you're supposed to do with all your extra time. She said, "oh, just eat, sleep, do nothing....you'll get used to it really fast". Apparently we are from different planets. This is driving me crazy. I might make Dallas take up tennis while we are here (there is tennis court).

We hung out w these two while drinking coffee this morning.

Today we had a full tour car, so there were 10 of us. I was stuck in the middle. Note to self- try to sit on the outside for pictures. Dallas is using our Nikon and I'm the dorky tourist bringing out the iPad. I'm sure I look ridiculous but oh well. The reserve we are on is one if the smaller ones and can only support 3 elephants as they eat 250 lbs of food/day.