much love from Africa

Quick update from Kruger. I'm using a public computer at an internet cafe, so sadly no pictures. Our journey from Cape St. Francis to Port Elizabeth to Jo-burg to Nelspruit went pretty much without hiccup, though there was a lot of time spent waiting at airports. The flight from Jo-burg to Nelspruit was kind of comical because we were on this tiny little hummingbird plane and it was the most rackety flight I've ever been on (and I've flown a lot in my life). Michaelle and I got excited when we saw that our seats were in rows 1 and 2, thinking that possibly we got bumped up to first class. Until we realized there was no first class. The plane is just that small. And once again we were bussed out to the plane because we're not special enough to get our own gate. Everytime we've been bussed out to a plane on this trip we joke about how it feels like they're taking us out back somewhere to shoot us and how anti-climactic it would be to die that way in Africa instead of getting eaten by a leopard or crushed by a hippo. We're a pretty morbid pair sometimes.

Anyhow, the Nelspruit airport is like the cutest little airport in the world and I really need to take pictures on our way back out. This time we were more focused on figuring out how we were going to get from the airport to Kruger and more importantly to Skukuza- the main camp where we knew we'd find our crew. Luckily, we caught a guy who was driving a shuttle to the main gate to drop off some other tourists and said that he could take us and go all the way to Skukuza with us (not for a cheap price, but apparently we were quite lucky to even get a ride at all). The hour and a half drive from the airport was absolutely beautiful. As we were driving along I saw signs for the Limpopo River and Limpopo Province which triggered a memory of a Russian childrens poem I learned in my childhood about how kids shouldn't go wondering in Africa because there are all these dangerous animals and it mentions Limpopo. I can't remember all the words and it's killing me (Ursula, help!!) but I just thought it was so cool that I had learned about this place as a kid and here I am, actually getting to see it!! Once we got to Skukuza, the driver took us all around trying to locate Dr. Frayrer-Hoskins since apparently no one knew where the veterinary camp was. We finally found it and reunited with our classmates which was great.

Unfortunately we are unable to go on the rhino captures with the rest of the crew due to this whole situation that I don't really want to get into because it's very frustrating and not our fault and there's nothing we can do about it because it involves stupid macho hierarchical politics. *Deep breaths* But we did get to go on a "game drive" with Dr. F-H and the other students and saw some cool animals. And it's so amazing to be surrounded by wildlife- herds of impala grazing near us as we walk to town, hyenas howling nearby at night, and a leopard roaming not too far from our camp. Over the weekend we hung out with the other UGA students since they get weekends off, braaing, exploring and playing cards, and then for the past two days Michaelle and I have been going to the main camp in Skukuza and sitting by the river watching the wildlife around us. Hopefully tonight we will get to go on a night drive and see some more animals. So this part of the trip has been a combination of disappointment and sore feelings and complete wonder and amazement with being in such a beautiful, magestic place. I'm having a hard time believing that tomorrow we will be on our flight back to the US (assuming we figure out a way to get back to the airport from Kruger). This whole African Adventure seems to be flying by in a blur.

Next time you hear from us will be on the other side of the ocean!! Until then, much love from Africa.