Well, after a very fun little trip
out with some of the other volunteers, we finally arrived back at CARE at about
one o’clock this morning! Stephanie, Holly, Sarah and I took a couple of days
off to drive down to Johannesburg to visit the Cradle of Humankind, a museum
and digsite where some of the first hominid fossils in the world were found.
When first explained like that it sounds a bit boring, but it really wasn’t,
especially since it included a tour going into the actual caves where the
fossils were found. The museum also had a lot of interesting and fun exhibits,
and it turned out to be a really nice little break.
After
picking up the rental car in Phalaborwa two days ago, the four of us hit the
road. The trip was originally Stephanie and Holly’s idea, and after they told
us about it, Sarah and I said we’d like to come along. All four of us are from
the states- three of us are actually from Texas! Sarah’s from Austin,
Stephanie’s from Dallas, and Holly’s from Missouri. It was about a five-hour
drive that day from CARE to the hostel in Pretoria that we’d booked. It didn’t
feel bad though because of the absolutely beautiful scenery that we were
driving around. Apparently South Africa is a great place for growing fruit-
down in the area near Cape Town there are quite a few vineyards, and on the way
to Johannesburg we passed lots of fields full of orange and banana trees, which
were full of fruit. The scenery we passed was definitely not what most people
would expect Africa to look like- the big, tall trees, fog around the
mountains, and so much greenery made it look more like the Pacific Northwest!
We couldn’t help but pull over at a rest stop as we were on the road to take
some pictures.
When we
eventually made it to the adorable little hostel, we got the little tour of the
place and set our stuff down in the bedroom that the four of us were sharing
with two other people. While sitting in the main living room we talked to one
of the other hostel guests who was in South Africa volunteering with the Peace
Corps. We were trying to find a nearby spot to have dinner, and she suggested a
nice little restaurant that was only a few blocks away. The four of us walked
over and after a simple but very tasty dinner, we returned to the hostel and
went to sleep.
The next
morning we left the hostel at about 8:30. After stopping for breakfast, we
headed over to the Cradle of Humankind. We decided that we should buy the combined
tickets, which included the museum entry with the cave tour. The cave tour came
first, which consisted of a guide taking us, along with about ten other people,
down into the cave where some of the very first hominid fossils were
discovered. We spent about an hour down in the deep, beautiful cave. There was
an underwater lake in the cave that we saw- the water was so clear! Our guide
told us that people had once come in to try to find out how deep the water was.
After scuba diving down to forty meters, they still hadn’t reached the bottom
but had to turn around to come back up. On the way up, though, one of them
somehow took a wrong turn, tore the rope that attached them to the top, and six
weeks later his body was discovered. Since then, no one has tried again, so we
don’t really know how deep it is.
After
getting back up to the top of the cave, the four of us headed over to the
museum. It included a bunch of exhibits related to the fossils that were found
in the cave, as well as on human evolution in general. Overall we spent most of
the afternoon hanging out around the museum. At about five, we headed out of
the museum and, after stopping to grab some dinner, we began the drive back
home.
It was after
midnight by the time we finally arrived back at CARE. When we entered the gate of the nature reserve that CARE is
located in, I kept my eyes open for wildlife, since a lot of them are fairly
active at night. We pretty quickly saw some bushbuck, impala, kudu, and a
jackal. At one point, after seeing evidence of an elephant, I said, “keep an
eye out for elephants”, in kind of a joking way. Almost as soon as those words
crossed my lips, however, we saw an elephant standing right beside the road
watching us. It was a pretty great moment. We were all exhausted when we
finally got into the mountain lodge, so we just quickly looked at our schedule
for the next day (thankfully Sam had let us sleep in a bit) and went to bed. I
absolutely love it here at the sanctuary, but at the same time it was nice to
get out for a couple of days and do some sightseeing- South Africa is such a
beautiful country!
Today was
back to work as usual at CARE. I got two hours at the river with the babies, so
it was a good day. As we went to pick them up at the nursery this morning to
carry them to the river, I realized how quickly I started to miss those little
baboons. When I walked into the nursery, Yolo ran over to me and grabbed my
hand, telling me to pick him up. When I did, he looked me right in the eye for
a couple of seconds, then gave me one of his little baboon kisses. I’m going to
miss that little guy so much when I leave.
I guess this
post is long enough. Tonight’s food for thought: “Wandering re-establishes the
original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.”- Anatole
France
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