Journal #1 from Cape Town
The Olivet College women's volleyball team is on a 10-day trip to Cape Town, South Africa. While there, the players will be writing blog posts and sending them back to the U.S.A. to be posted on the website. The home page for the blog, where future posts will be linked to is: www.olivetcomets.com/sports/wvball/2019-20/cape_town_blog/
FRIDAY, DEC. 6-MONDAY, DEC. 9 -- written by Kyleigh Cross, Laken Groll, Abigail Pray and Morgan Schneider
After traveling for over 35 hours, we finally reached our destination…Cape Town, South Africa. To start off our trip, we experienced some van difficulties. Not only did we have to adjust to a new continent, Andy had to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road, sitting in the opposite seat, and driving a stick shift with his left hand. The turn signal was also on the opposite side, so instead of the blinker, he kept turning on the windshield wipers. Upon departing the airport, we began to drive toward our hotel.
With five short minutes left, we started to smell a strong burning odor (Abbi thought it smelt like Cheerios). It turned out to be our van. Kyleigh, Laken, Morgan, and Jax had to get out of the van and push it out of the road. We then had to figure out how we were going to get all 17 people plus their luggage to the hotel. Coach Merchant figured it was best to take a couple trips in the van that was still working, and that is what we ended up doing. A few of us stayed back with Andy until we got rescued from our stranded van.
We finally made it to the hotel, showered, and then went out to the waterfront of Cape Town. Many of the restaurants we saw were seafood, but we choose to go to the Italian one, and it was delicious. After dinner, we got to explore for a few more hours. While exploring, we got to experience some of the African culture by listening to a live performance. We then headed back to our hotel for a good night of rest.
The next day, we woke up refreshed and rejuvenated and ate breakfast at the hotel. We then packed up for more traveling! A two-and-half hour drive led us to Aquila Private Game Reserve where we are spending the next two days. During the drive, we saw amazing views with many mountains. We even got to go through a tunnel! Instead of deer crossing signs like Michigan, they have baboon crossing signs here. Like wow!! We even got to experience them crossing the road and the babies on their backs!
When we got to the reserve, our group was treated with welcome drinks. During the evening, we went on a 3-hour safari and saw many animals. Our favorites included: elephants, lions, zebras and rhinos. Our tour guide, Emil, was very nice and stopped many times to make sure we got a lot of pictures. He also had many fun facts. He was very soft spoken but he had jokes, like saying the terrain was so rough but to enjoy the African massage. We got up close and personal with these and many others, basically to the point where we could touch them. We definitely thought that the animals were going to be more scared from the safari trucks, but they did not even flinch. After getting back from the safari, we relaxed by the pool and stargazed. The hotel even provided a telescope since it is supposed to be the stargazing capital of the world.
What we realized most in the first few days was that the culture is much different from what we experience daily back home. It was definitely an eye opener to many of us. Safari life is the good life!
Click here for today's photo gallery.