African Safari to India & Beyond!

Safari!

9-30-08

I woke up bright and early Tuesday morning for my Safari! The flight was not too bad, but we had about a 5 hour drive to get to the place where we would be camping. As we drove into the game park, we got extremely lucky and saw two giraffes right away! They were probably my favorite animal I saw. Seeing them in photos is one thing, but seeing their gorgeous spotted fur up close was awesome! We also saw a baby rhino and its mom on our way into the park, which was darling. Our guide was absolutely nuts. Super outgoing, crazy jokes and always making fun of everyone. He started giving nick names to all of us as well. He gave us all raw eggs ( he said he does this with all of his safari groups) that we had to carry with us everywhere while at the campsite. They also gave us mugs with our names on them, so I just carried my egg around with my mug. The goal was to not let it crack for 3 days! Even when we ate meals, or were sitting around the fire, it had to be with us. We had to draw a face on it and give it a name. So mine was called Mufasa! Thus, that became my nickname on the safari. One night at the campfire our guide made the girl nicknamed Rafiki get up and hold a stick and dance around the fire (like the monkey rafiki does in the lion king). So then of course, he wanted Mufasa to get up and roar! Rafiki wasn’t doing a good job of being enthusiastic, so I got up there and wowed the crowd with my roar! I slept like a log that first night, since we were in bunkbeds with mattresses. I thought we would be in tents, but they were more like cabins, with a canvas opening and wooden bunkbeds inside.
We went out in closed jeeps the first day, and open air jeeps the second day (which was so much more fun!). We saw rhinos, zebras, springbok, monkeys, baboons, giraffes, elephants, a hyena, warthogs and even scorpions. During one of our closed jeep adventures, we saw about 20 elephants down in a big canyon or river bed. All of the sudden, they went off to the side towards us, so we couldn’t see them any more. Then we saw trunks and ears as they started climbing up the side of the hill towards our car. All 20 or so of them walked up the hill and right past our jeep, so we got to see them up close! It was actually a little frightening because one step on our jeep or thrash with their trunk and they could crush our car in an instant!
That night by the campfire we heard lions roaring! It was in the canyon next to our campsite. One roared from one end, then another responded from another end. Our guide said they were letting each other know that they wanted that territory. It was an amazing noise to hear, such deep and powerful growls. They were using bright flashlights to look for the lions in the canyon, because we all really wanted to see them, but alas we never saw them. We saw many more animals the next day, and got a lot of great photos! Another scary elephant encounter we had was when we were driving down a dirt road, and suddenly had to stop because there was an enormous elephant in the middle of the road! It was eating some plants on the side of the road, and we were maybe 40 feet away. Our guide slowly maneuvered the car to the side so we could go around it and as he was doing that, the elephant turned toward us and started approaching the jeep. We sped up and did a harsh turn around the massive animal and it did a little charge toward us, but then stopped. It was so scary! There was another jeep behind us, so after we got around the elephant, he started walking towards them. We kept moving, so I didn’t see the end result for the other jeep, but I’m assuming they all made it out alive!
The second morning some of us chose to wake up at 5 AM to see the sunrise. It ended up not rising until closer to 6, but it was so peaceful outside. Once it did rise over the hill, it was a beautiful sight to see. I was so glad I got to do a combination of activities in Africa! The safari was a must, but then I also loved being in the city of Cape Town as well as seeing the NGO’s that were in place. I definitely want to make it back to Africa some day!

10-9-08

Today we had the Sea Olympics! Since we have a 12 day stretch at sea until we get to India, they give us a day off of classes. The hallways on the ship are divided into different Sea names, and mine is the Yellow Sea. So we had Olympic events all day-volleyball, hot dog eating contest, jeopardy, pizza making contest, human knot, relays, etc. I was in the hoola hooping contest! We had to create a cheer and wear our sea color…so our mascot was a banana and we all wore yellow capes with some material someone picked up in Cape Town! We ended up winning the Olympics! Our reward is that we are the first ones to get off the ship when the voyage ends in Miami.
We have midterms all this week as well, so I have had a lot of work to do!

India!

10-14-08
Today we arrived in India! It was quite hot and muggy outside, but women are supposed to wear pants or a long skirt and are supposed to have their shoulders and chest covered. So I wore pants and a conservative t-shirt all day and sweat quite a bit! We wanted to go out into the city before our trip to the YMCA in the afternoon. So we walked to the edge of the port area where they had guards and gate. Instead of carrying our passports around, the ship gave us a typed paper with our name, photo and other personal info that was required by India. We had to show that paper to the guards every time we passed in or out of the gate.
We then got into a rickshaw, which reminded me of a golfcart-bumpercar-ish thing except with three wheels and very run down looking! The drivers were sometimes fairly aggressive in competing to get us into their car. Their roads were absolute mayhem! Traffic lights, signs and lines dividing the road were mere suggestions at best. There were cattle, bikes, motorcyles, cars and buses and rickshaws all on the same streets together! When we took the rickshaws we were literally weaving in and out of the traffic and it was quite scary! I know several people that watched crashes happen. It made for some great stories and I got to experience something that would never happen in the U.S.!

That afternoon, I did an SAS trip to the YMCA to see their facilities and to see how the organization was run. There were 80 little boys all lined up sitting cross legged in a large room when we arrived. The director explained their programs and schooling to us. In addition to receiving a normal education they were also taught vocational skills. It seemed that knowing how to work with textiles or do simple jobs in India is an important thing to be able to fall back on. They sang some songs for us, and we sang some for then. Our spur of the moment entertainment included songs such as “Old McDonald”, “He’s got the whole world in his hands”and “hokie pokie”. They even did the motions to the songs with us!
Later we were served dinner at the YWCA women’s hostel. There we met the founder of the program in Chennai, however he seemed to only be there for show. He was not interested in learning much about us, or even sharing much, and did not stay at the table with us for more than ten minutes. There were cameras and video recorders there because their news stations and newspapers had heard a group of students was visiting their center. He took a photo with us, presented us each with a scarf for a gift and then chatted with us for a short time. When we asked him what our SAS group could bring for the children next time (such as coloring books, school supplies, sports equiptment) he said nothing, that he just needed money because he could buy everything for cheaper. He said he knew we were students, so had no money to donate to him right now, but if we wanted to help next time, just give him money. His answer made sense, he just seemed somewhat unappreciative of us and our intention in being there and asking him these questions. Overall it was a very wonderful and eye opening experience.

Village Stay

10-15-08

The next day I went to see several temples in the morning at Mallapuram and Kancheepuram. In the afternoon I left for a village stay. It was a fascinating trip, as we got to spend time with the directors of an NGO who was working towards ending child labor and starting education programs and support groups for women. We stayed in a building that had four stories of just rooms with beds, which is where all their volunteers usually stay that they have throughout the year. We visited their school, where we planted a tree, just as all other SAS groups have over the years that have visited them. They also had a building with Semester at Sea written on it, because from our donations over the years, they were able to build that classroom. It was amazing to see the impact people’s generosity can have. We played with the children and toured their facilities. The food was also home cooked by some women in the village and it was delicious! Indian food has been my favorite so far-I tried everything and loved every single thing I tried! That night it was very hot, and our fan was not working. So all of us girls opted to sleep in almost no clothing with our sleeping bags all the way unzipped. Probably not the wisest idea, because in the morning we had numerous mosquito bites in places that were a little unexpected.
The next morning we went to another nearby village to talk with some women who were part of the NGO’s self help groups. They were some of the most warm and welcoming people I have ever met. When we arrived the men were having some type of village meeting all sitting around on the ground, while the women quickly welcomed us into their homes. On the street right outside their houses they quickly created a beautiful colorful design by simply spreading colored chalk with their fingers. They said people are supposed to walk on it because it brings you good luck. We asked them about their women’s group and found out that they each save 50 rupees (equivalent of $1) per month to put into a joint account. There are generally 15 women per group. Once they save up a decent amount of money, usually after 10-12 months then they give that money as a loan to one of the women. She then uses that to help with a business, or education or whatever she may need it for and then pays it back with interest to their account. It was really amazing to see all the progress that is being made to not only help the poor, but to empower women. I asked a lot about the old Indian practices such as Sati, where the woman is basically seen as useless once her husband dies and so either has to burn herself alive, or sometimes they were sent to widow homes on the edges of the city. I watched a very fascinating film called Water that was all about widows and how they were viewed and I would highly recommend seeing it! The woman that was translating everything for us in the village was a catholic nun, but she was Indian and probably not more than 27 or 28. She explained all the old and new practices to us and informed us of all the progress that is being made in India. It has such a high population for its size and is also growing at an amazingly fast pace right now!
My last day in India I did some shopping and got some amazing scarves! It was pouring that morning but that made for even more adventure! The streets were actually getting flooded, and driving in the already sketchy rickshaws was even scarier!
I also went to another NGO and talked with more women about their everyday lives and how the self help groups are changing their lives and giving them hope for the future. I was also surprised to talk to so many women who, although were uneducated, had children who were educated as engineers and they were so proud to talk about how successful they were. Globalization is having a significant impact on India! Although my clothes and shoes were incredibly dirty, the rickshaw rides were close to life-threatening and I saw more intense poverty than ever before, India has been my favorite port thus far. It was so different from what I’m used to, but has such colorful and beautiful culture, history, and people.