After several months of preparation and many of emails and
phone calls back and forth deciding on plans my parents finally made the trip
to South Africa to visit me, my site, and this beautiful country.
The week before they arrived I had a retreat with the rest
of the volunteers so instead of going all the way back to my site I stayed in
Pietermaritzburg on Monday night and headed to Durban the next day to wait for
them at the airport. Although their flight was not due to arrive until 8:10PM I
got to the airport around 11:30AM. Mostly because I had my big backpack and did
not want to be carrying it around Durban all day. Around 7PM I got a call on my cell phone and
heard my dad on the other end saying they had missed their connection in
Johannesburg! =( But they were able to get on the next flight and would be arriving
at 9:55. =) And they did! After many hugs
and excited greetings at the airport we headed to our taxi that would take us
to our hotel and after more than 24 hours of travelling I think my parents were
definitely ready for some sleep!
The next day we got up and had breakfast before heading out
to explore the Umhlanga area. Umhlanga
is a northern suburb of Durban and is a pretty nice area. There is a lot of coastline with nice beaches
and also the biggest mall in the southern hemisphere. We walked along the beach for a while and
also enjoyed a movie at the mall the first day. I know, not the most “African”
experience to start their time here but it was great just being together!
My Mom and I at the Umhlanga Pier
On Thursday we started our day with a visit to the Natal
Sharks Board, an organization that takes care of the shark nets along the KZN
beaches. They also have a video
presentation and live shark dissection which are both very informative and fun
to watch, although I think we smelled like fish for the rest of the day!
Tiger Shark ready for Dissection
After the Sharks Board we headed north toward
Pietermaritzburg. Our plan was to visit
a Lion Park on the way but, upon arrival, we were told that our rental car sat
too low to the ground and we would not be able go. We were very disappointed but there was an
African Birds of Prey Sanctuary nearby that we were able to go to instead. It had all types of eagles, hawks, owls, etc.
that were injured or sick and were either being rehabilitated for the wild or
would be taken care of at the sanctuary.
After this we headed to Howick, a small town north of PMB,
which has a waterfall as well as several craft shops and a small market. After that we headed back towards PMB and met
my country coordinator, Brian Konkol, for dinner. We also stayed the night at their place and my
parents were able to meet the whole Konkol family including Brian’s wife
Kristen and their son Khaya.
The Konkol Family! (They are a Wisconsin family but notice Khaya's Nebraska shirt my parents brought him! Go Big Red!)
On Friday it was finally time to head a little farther north
and visit my site. Upon arrival at KwaZamokuhle
we unloaded our luggage before taking a tour of the Centre and introducing my
parents to the people I spend most of my time with. We heard a lot of “Siyabonga!” (We are
thankful!) and “Siyajabula!” (We are happy!) It was a great experience to have
my parents see my site and to be able understand more about my experiences
here. It was also very reaffirming to
have people like Constance, my site supervisor, tell me that they have missed
me while I have been gone.
Goodness told my mom, "This is my boy!"
After the tour we took the 20km trip into Estcourt to get some
groceries for the weekend. I also took
my parents to Nando’s which is a staple South African restaurant. We originally were not going to be able to
see some of my friends from town, Eddie and Verna, because they were going to
be out of town for the weekend but we visited Eddie at his store and then we
ran into Verna at the grocery store. A strange set of coincidences but a great
opportunity for my parents!
On Saturday we headed to Royal Natal National Park to do
some hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains.
The hike took a little less than four hours but we all made it and had a
great time. The weather was perfect and
the views were amazing! Afterwards we
treated ourselves to some food at Tower of Pizza before spending the rest of
the afternoon relaxing at my site.
Royal Natal National Park
On Sunday we got ready and went to church. Normally my church service is around 1.5 hours
long but for some reason the one day we needed to leave early it was going to
go really long. After two hours of service and 40 minutes of a sermon (that
wasn’t over) we had to leave to make the five hour drive to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi. We
made pretty good time heading to the park and only made a quick stop in PMB to
pick up a fellow volunteer, Elise Anderson, who would be going with us on
safari.
We were worried about time because the gates of the park
close at 6PM and the place we were staying at was inside the park so we needed
to make sure we got there on time, which we did. On our drive from the gate to the campgrounds
we saw several animals but nothing compared to what we would see the next day.
We had to get up nice and early (4:30) to make the hour long
drive to the gate of the park and meet our safari guide at 6. Although it was foggy and semi-dark on the
way down we did see a few animals including a water buffalo on the side of the
road. Eventually we made it to the gate,
parked the car, and got into our safari truck.
It was cold for the first few hours of the drive but luckily they had
blankets for us. We also stopped for
breakfast and coffee in the morning and then had a delicious lunch with grilled
meats and nice salads. Oh and the animal
spotting was great too!
Ready for Safari!
Except for a small stretch before lunch when we were looking
for rhinos we were always seeing different animals. Zebra, giraffe, rhino, water buffalo, a pair
of lions, elephants, dung beetles, crocodile, and several more. There are two things that really stick out
for me though. The first was when we came
across a big herd of buffalo that were quietly grazing. Our guide told us that when they feel
threatened the males and adults will move to the outside of the group and form
a circle around the younger ones. Within
a few minutes a lion comes onto the scene and we see the buffalo do exactly
what he said they would do. The lions
did not seem like they were very interested in the buffalo at the time but it
was still really neat to see how quickly they moved to protect their young at
the sign of danger.
The coolest part of being at the park was the elephants
though. On our way back at the end of
the guided safari our guide got a call that some elephants had been spotted
near the road about ten minutes away so we headed that direction quickly. We soon saw several elephants near the road
and a mother and young calf(we were told it was less than ten days old) ran
right behind our safari truck! After
getting dropped off at the gate we got in our car and decided to look for more
of the elephants. For the next hour we
followed a herd of over 50 elephants with several very small babies. It was such an amazing sight to see! On our way back to our campground we came
across a male elephant in the road who did not want to move for us. Since we
were in a small Honda Civic we did not really want to play chicken with it
either. However, he started walking
towards us and we had to back up for several hundred yards before it finally
decided to leave the road and let us pass.
It was kind of a scary experience but also one I will never forget!
Male Lion hiding in the grass
Mom and her week-old baby crossing the road!
Playing chicken with an elephant! We lost.
The next day we drove around the park for a while in the
morning before it was time to head back to Durban. We had a relaxing afternoon and a nice dinner
as it was my parents’ last night in South Africa. The next day it was time to say goodbye which
was tough to do but I know I will see them again in only four months. It was so great to have them here! Not only
for the great, ‘touristy’ things that we got to do and see but also for them to
be able to see my site and the way that I live here. There is only so much that words and pictures
can show, but, now that they have been here, they should have a better
understanding of my life in South Africa.
I am so grateful for everything they have done, do, and will
continue to do for me! And a huge THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for them
while they were travelling and visiting me here! It was a great experience and
one I will never forget!
