No time for a blog – just sharing some pictures from safari!
South Africa animal pics
All posts by June Cotte
South Africa
We had a wonderful visit to South Africa. After a day in Capetown, we took a trip clear across the south, from the Western to the Eastern Cape. The route is called the Garden Route, and we stopped along the way, in Botlieskop Nature Reserve, Tsikamma National Park, and finally in Port Elizabeth, where we visited Addo National Park. Our final day in Capetown we spent in the Boulder’s Beach area, where African penguins were abundant, and nesting.
The Garden Route trip was simply spectacular. We encountered elephants, both in the wild (where we kept our distance), and in a rescue sanctuary (where we were able to feed them, touch them, and walk “hand in truck” with them). From the protection of a jeep, we got close to wild lions, rhinos, warthogs, giraffes, cape buffalo, and more types of antelopes than I can list here. And, of course, the penguins. We also had some of the best food of the voyage so far, and stayed in glorious places, including luxury “tents” that were fancier than many hotels in which we typically stay.
And, a huge leap forward for Joe: he finally went zip lining! He had a blast, as we knew he would. We zipped through the upper canopy of 600 year old trees, some as high as 30 meters up. It was so much fun, for all of us.
I haven’t read the boys’ blogs yet, but I am sure they will talk a lot about the animals, so instead of posting animal pictures here, I thought I’d post some nice family shots we got here in South Africa. Many of the beaches were spectacular, so I’ve combined some scenery in with some nice shots of everyone.
I took more than 500 pictures in South Africa (well, I actually took about 700, but kept 500 in the end). So I may just have to make another blog post with scenery shots. South Africa was one of the highlights so far, for sure. Our plans in Namibia also center around animals and beaches, so we are already getting excited about that. Speaking of Namibia, one of the founders of the Republic (and the man who named the country Namibia, actually) joined our voyage in South Africa and will be travelling with us until we arrive. His talk last night was really informative, as many of us (myself included) do not know much at all about the country. We are really interested to experience it when we arrive…
Mauritius Pictures (again)
Okay, let me try this again. When I blog via email, the pictures occasionally get blocked.
Well, as you may surmise from the boys’ blogs, the trip to Mauritius was a little… odd.
The ship really just docked there for a fuel stop, so we had about 8 hours off the ship. Our sightseeing trip included a racist guide from Germany, a broken AC system on the bus, and numerous other aspects that made it a less than ideal day. In retrospect, it was so bad it is becoming a very funny story. However, the island is gorgeous, and we saw some truly beautiful places in a very short time. I’ve included some pictures here so you can see it too!
Sea Olympics
How to describe this? Sea Olympics is a ship-wide event. The students are in colour houses based on where their cabins are. And the “Sea-Celebrities” team was made up of Ship Kids, Faculty and their spouses, Staff, and Lifelong Learners. As a result, our team age ranged from 3 to about 80 or so. Events included sports such as volleyball (my event) and dodgeball (Dan’s event), but also mental events like Concentration (Jack seen here with his partner) and Jeopardy, artististic events such as the team Banner competition and a short film contest (we won this, but of course we have the ship videographer, and a documentary filmmaker on our team), and also just plain odd events, such as the Frozen t-shirt contest, where teams had to use body heat to melt a frozen shirt. (Jack hugging his teammate in the picture, with the t-shirt between them). For some teams, this took up to an hour, a really painful hour. Although we don’t have pictures, Joe and his partner Summer did well in Battleship, which is not the board game, but two people on each side, one a captain and one a blindfolded “ship” (that was Joe). The captain yells out commands, and the idea is to hit the other team’s blindfolded ship with a ball that you throw. It was hilarious to watch! Joe was also on the winning “Minute to Win It” team.
And the final event, which we actually won, was the team lip synch. We did a mash-up of the evolution of music, and some of us did solos in front of back-up dancers. Jack was a huge hit with his solo, “I like to move it, move it”, as you can see in these pictures.
The Sea-lebrities came in 4th of 8, which is not bad for a bunch of old farts. It helps that we had a very flexible 4 year old competing in the limbo!
Joe’s Madagascar and Mauritius
MADAGASCAR
After dinner on the second day after we left Mauritius we went to the seventh deck to see the sun set. And when we got there, we saw Madagascar. Of course, we were too far away to see a lion, zebra, hippo and giraffe. Did you know that right before the sun sets it turns green? It’s called the green flash.
MAURITIUS
We were in Mauritius. First we went to a mountain with a very nice view; then we drove in a bus with no air-conditioning to a very big statue of Shiva. Next we went to a Hindu temple that had a pond you could wade into with a lot of fish 🙂
Then we went to a place that had a very big water fall; next we went to a place with seven colours of earth plus five VERY big turtles. Then we went to an awesome beach. I saw a sea cumber, a sea star, and eight fish, and I got to touch a tiger shark’s jaws (third deadliest) and a bull shark’s jaws (deadliest) 🙂 Then we went back to the ship.
Jack’s take on Mauritius
We are now sailing to South Africa so I thought it would be an opportune time to tell you about Mauritius. When we first got to Mauritius it was very pretty (it was for the rest of the day too). After immigration and meeting with our field program we got off the ship (surprise). Mauritius is the African Hawaii. We met our German guide and were off for the day. Oh, and a quick note here, there was no air conditioning in the bus for most of the day. First we went to the rich neighborhood. Our guide, I kid you not, said this “most Muslims are drug dealers that’s why they are rich”.
So we went to the top of the hill to see the amazing view of Port Louis. Next we went to a temple were you could walk in the water with holy fish. Then to a hill with an amazing view of water falls and forests. Pause for a second here. I am going to tell you how warm we were inside that hell bus. It was cooler outside, in tropical weather, than it was inside that stinky bus. But then, what could this be, lunch with the most powerful fans in the world. Yes, Yes finally.
Then we went to a beautiful beach with skinny dipping students. Then we got back on the bus, but wait there is more, the air conditioning is fixed. Just in time for the wet people to freeze. Then we got on the ship and it was BBQ night!
Jack’s Birthday
Dan and I are now the parents of a teenager…
Jack celebrated his 13th birthday abroad the MX Explorer. It was a unique setting, but we still followed the normal birthday “script” as much as we could. We were able to order a special ice-cream birthday cake from the kitchen, and he shared that with all the “ship kids” during their afternoon enrichment session. We bought him SAS-opoly, a Semester at Sea version of Monopoly that is really popular among the kids on board. We also got him a SAS bandana, which he nows wears constantly. Not sure how I feel about that….
Homemade cards, and a family dining experience in the more intimate “special dining” on the ship, rounded out the day.
Not much of a blog, really, but I wanted to share some pictures, as a continued celebration of Jack!
Jack on India
We have just left Cochin, India. It was a different country. Not in a bad way. I mean different in the sense that you could be in the worst traffic of your life or have the road all to yourself (except for the cows).
So the first day in this beautiful country we did nothing (Mom had to work with her students). The second day however, we met our driver. He drove us to Munnar: a small town with lots of tea plantations. We went to our hotel (not the cleanest in the world). The food was great (you know except for the dead bugs in the cereal). Then we went to a tea museum and tea factory. Then we went back to the hotel for lunch. We rested for the rest of the day. The next day we drove to a different hotel, and along the way we made a few stops. The first stop was a cool water fall. Then we rode elephants. It was the most fun riding any animal (enough with horse riding: elephants all the way BRO). Next we went to a spice garden that just smelled beautiful (that’s it, just smell).
Then the Elephant Court Hotel in Thekkady. It was super beautiful and had amazing Wi-Fi. Then another long day of driving (no elephantsL). We went to an amazing beach resort and rode the waves in to the sunset. Dad and I lost our sunglasses (here we come South Africa). Then we went back to the ship, and mom and I had Mexican dinner for my birthday!
Joe on India
We were in India. The first day we did nothing at all just ate, slept, and played computer games. The next day we got off the ship – finally! When we got out of the gate we were attacked by taxi and tuk tuk drivers; it went something like this: “get in’’, “NO GET IN…’’, “GET IN MY IN MY BELLY” (Editor’s note: Joe is channelling Austin Powers – they didn’t really say that).
Then our driver came. Then we drove through an island made by people. We were driving on the island, and all of a sudden, we went to the other side with a truck coming at us full speed. My life flashed before my eyes… We then went to the country side. We then went to a hotel with a TV channel called animax. Now, if you like anime, you are going to LOVE this channel… It is all anime. The commercials are anime, but the shows are in Japanese. Warning! Do not eat the Chocos. They have bugs in them :(. The next day we went to a resort called the Elephant Court, and on the way there, we went ELEPHANT RIDING. When we got to the hotel, all we did is WI-FI. I only looked up five nights at Freddy’s 3 (by the way the demo is out), which introduces Spring Trap, that is really it.
Kerala
We spent our last few days in India continuing to explore the state of Kerala, which is in the south-west of India. Ahead of our trip, I did know that Kerala has both a very diverse religious population, as well as a strong history of communism and socialism. But I was still really struck by the number (and sheer size) of the Christian churches throughout the area. It was remarkable to see such small villages supporting such large churches. Our driver began our trip pointing some of them out, but then gradually stop mentioning them (I think he was afraid of boring us!). And the kids were struck by the presence of hammer and sickle-themed graffiti, plus advertisements featuring Che and other revolutionaries and/or communist figures. We all enjoyed the fact that many signs for the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) looked a lot like CRIM, especially from a distance. As these signs seemed to be everywhere, sprayed onto town walls and fences, the boys joked about the graffiti welcome they had to each town.
The pictures here are from our houseboat trip in the Allepey backwaters area, and our stay in a beautiful beach resort on Marari Beach (that is our cottage in the background of one of the pictures). The Indian Ocean was warm to swim in, and offered excellent waves in the early morning. Strong undertow though, and we ended our beach trip with one less pair of sunglasses (washed away) and one black and blue toe (goofy story of clumsiness in the strong surf, so of course it was me).
This port was a relaxing and wonderful family event. This is the first port we explored entirely on our own, as a family. Also the first port where we stayed primarily in less urban areas. As exciting as the cities in Asia have been so far, it was very nice to have some calm, serene time with bird sounds, gorgeous views, and quiet. Oh, and some of the best food I have ever eaten…
June, Dan, and Joe go travelling 