Welcome to the wilderness

Welcome to the wilderness. After indulging in all of the urban getaways that South Africa has to offer, our group has finally made it to The Bush. The Bush is what South African’s refer to as the wilderness; it would be the equivalent to the American Wild West. Although I really enjoyed my stay in Cape Town, Kimberly, and Pretoria, The Bush is turning out to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip. I mean it this time! I keep saying each part of this trip is my favorite but, truly, this part of the trip is unbelievably unforgettable.

After leaving the comfort of civilization in Pretoria, we made our way north close to the Zimbabwean and Botswan(i)an border to the desolate Mapungubwe nature reserve. The camp we stayed at was actually in the middle of a nature reserve and was really beautiful and fancy. The natural beauty of the South African Bush is just breathtaking. The camp is surrounded by rocky, bush covered hills that are sprinkled with huge trees, like the ones in the lion king! (lame, I know, but I forgot their actual name). As beautiful as Mapungubwe is, nothing prepared me for the incredible darkness of the night. I was freaking out! You couldn’t see your hand in front of you, and did I mention there are wild animals? Although most of the animals are harmless... wait, I take that back! Mapungubwe has elephants, leopards, snakes. They have black mambas, which can kill you in 90 seconds flat with their poison. The combination of pitch dark nights and prowling predators didn’t make me a happy camper at night. Needless to say, I didn’t got anywhere alone. Thanks Nate for never leaving my side (although I am still angry you scared the crap out of me at Medikwe)!

After spending two glorious days and three scarring night at Mapungubwe, we traveled south to another camping site. Although this site was not in the middle of a game reserve, it might as well have been. Medikwe is an ex-, small farm owned by a sweet old couple that has been converted into a lodge for tourists. If you all thought Mapungubwe was beautiful, this place was... well... even more beautiful. Medikwe is up in the mountains, and although town is only 30 km away and there is a train running through the land, there is NO electricity. That’s right, no electricity. Not to mention that our cabin was a ten-minute walk from the guest house! However, our cabin made up for it. It was built on the side of a rock, literally! Hannes, the co-owner of Medikwe, built a cabin using a huge boulder as one of the main pillars of the house. This place was, as my little bro Balta would say, “Off the chain!”

We spent two days at Medikwe enjoying the scenic views, relaxed conversations, and thorny Sickle Bushes, bushes with toothpick like thorns on every square millimeter—let’s just say they aren’t fun to mess with, right Jake and Muneer? On our second day, there Hannes took most of the group on a long walk to see cave paintings—real, original cave paintings, not the fake crap. The walk was great, but the paintings were amazing. I still can’t grasp the idea that hundreds of years ago a person sat in the same spot were I was taking a snap shot and painted the picture I was admiring. It was completely surreal.

After our days in beautiful Medikwe, we traveled to the world famous Kruger National Park. Kruger Park is amazing. It is a HUGE national park that has an incredibly impressive fauna and flora, including some of the most famous African animals, the cheetah, leopard, lion, hippo, elephant, and the water buffalo. We weren’t in the park for more than 10 minutes when I saw my first non-caged, actually wild, independent elephant. If you all think the elephants at the zoo are cool, you have to see one in real life! After settling in, we went on our own safari. We saw more elephants and plenty of impalas, but the real show started when we saw an entire herd of water buffalos, there were at least like 100, if not 150. It was incredible.

As the days I have left in South Africa diminish to the point where I can count them on my hands, I am beginning to realize how much I have enjoyed my experience here. This country really is a country of stark contrasts. Reading parts of my blog over show me just how diverse and contrastive this country is. Starting in a metropolitan tourist city, traveling to rural desert areas, and ending in a living zoo, this country has shown me a lot, and it has yet to stop surprising me. I have 6 days out of my original 6 weeks left in South Africa, and I can’t wait to experience them. I will be back in the United States on Tuesday of next week. This fact seems as unfathomable as the beauty of this country.