Journal #2 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/

TUESDAY, DEC. 10 -- written by Jordyn Emmelander, Maddie Chubb and Jax Keene

Today was an amazing day, filled with fun adventures. We had the opportunity to ride horseback through the safari, which we took full advantage of. Before we started on the safari, our safari guide told us that we couldn’t get too close to certain animals, like elephants, rhinos, and buffalos because they would chase us (scary right?). Fortunately for us, no one was chased. During the safari, we saw elephants, rhinos, antelopes, hippos, jackals and many zebras. We got so close to the zebras (like within 20 feet) and we even had to change course a little to get around them.

Along with us three girls, there were two other riders from Florida who had just visited Michigan. It was fun getting to talk to them about their visit and where they went while they were in our home state. After the safari, a couple of the girls seized the opportunity to go to the spa and got a few cornrows put into their hair. For a majority of the day, the girls really took advantage of the sunny weather and laid out by the beautiful infinity pool with mountain views. It felt amazing to relax in the sun and soak up some rays.

The food here is delicious and there are tons of new things to try. The past couple of days, we have tried wild game, lamb, line fish, cream of spinach, butternut fritter, tiramisu and a variety of other desserts and foods to name a few. Some of the foods have been hits, but there have been some misses (we’re not a huge fan of the spicy lamb).

Today was a relaxing, bonding day for us. We were able to lay beside the pool, listen to music, and take a lot of pictures with our friends. It was so nice to sit, relax, and not have to worry about anything besides getting burnt from insanely intense sun. The pool is somewhat cold, but it feels great after laying in the sun for a little bit. After we had ate dinner, Laken and Morgan were walking back to their room when they saw three frogs jump into the water. They hurried back and put on their suits so they could jump into the water and save the frogs. We are pleased to announce that all three frogs are alive and well.

In the following week, we plan to play volleyball, work at an orphanage, and continue to enjoy what Cape Town has to offer. We are all very excited to continue our journey and we’re loving every minute of it!

Click here for today's photo gallery.