Less than 2 weeks away?!

Yo, yo, yo diggity yo! Long time no post. Sorry, things have been getting pretty crazy in both school and life recently with finals encroaching and projects mounding. However, I think a South Africa update is needed because the trip is officially less than 2 weeks away! 13 DAYS, that's right folks, 13 days until I'm hugging hippos and frolicking with felines in South Africa! This post is going to include a lot of general information that I have neglected to tell you so far. First off, here's a link to a super neat Buzzfeed article that dictates all the wondrous possibilities of a South African vacation experience!

12 Reasons Visiting South Africa is the Vacation of Your Dreams
^Everything sounds awesome, the cage-diving with Great Whites especially. Actually, one of my friends I met through the DCP Facebook pages has been to South Africa and said she would never forgive me if I didn't see me some Great Whites. Unfortunately, this experience is not exactly on the schedule but it IS on the schedule for my life bucket list (ojala que!).

Second, here is a tentative timeline of where I'm going to be/what I will be doing. As far as the course goes, our day-to-day activities are determined by things like the weather and what our instructor wants to do that day, so there is no set schedule. Here is what I do know:

May 11: Depart from Kansas City for Atlanta. Flight leaves at 12:20 pm and arrives at 3:20 pm.
Depart from Atlanta for Johannesburg. Flight leaves at 7:29 pm (I know...what?) and arrives on May 12 at 4:50 pm. If it's hard to do the math because of the whole time change thing, let me just clue you in on the fact that this is a 19 hour flight. Let me reiterate that... 19 HOURS. From what my Dad has told me, it took less time than that for Robert Plant to write Stairway to Heaven (random comparison I know). A plethora of crossword puzzles will ensue...hopefully some good movies as well. My 6th grade iPod met its tragic yet long-awaited demise this semester so I will not have any tunes for the ride (need to save iPhone battery for an emergency). I'll also be studying my field guide with dedication, and probably tell my life story to my two friends who sit on either side of me, Emily and Jake. OH and I need book suggestions. Maybe I'll bring a Harry Potter along (one of the smaller ones). Emily would like that - apparently she has listened to Harry Potter audiobooks while she sleeps since middle school. One time I crashed at her place and had very vivid dreams of myself in Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid and some other magical pals.

May 12: After our arrival in Johannesburg, we will be staying the night in an airport hotel. The Johanessburg airport for international flights is called TAMBO International. The professor, Dr. Fore, has expressed to us that Johannesburg is a very dangerous part of South Africa so we will not be leaving the hotel during this time.

May 13: Today is the first day of the course! Our South African instructor (whose name is escaping me right now) will pick us up from our hotel and transport us by van to Hoedspruit, which Dr. Fore equates with the Kirksville of South Africa (lol I think she just means it's tiny and out-of-the-way). I tried to google a map to give you (and myself) some bearings but it turns out that it's so small that it isn't really present on a lot of maps. When I googled "Hoedspruit, South Africa" I did find this tender moment between a man and his rhino, which you can revel in below.

May 13-21: This will be the length of the course! We don't know what we are doing each day, but I will have a journal so I will definitely be able to update you when I return!

May 21: We travel back to Johannesburg. The other three students who aren't participating in extracurricular activities (AKA freelance South African pursuits) will be flying home today. Myself, Emily, Jake, and Jasmine will be picking up our rental car (we got an automatic transmission woot woot!!!) and staying the night in an Airport B&B which I booked.

May 22: This will be our travel day from Johannesburg to St. Lucia, on the upper East Coast. St. Lucia is home to a large freshwater estuary, wetlands park, and the world's largest vegetative sand dunes (alright alright alright!) Today, we will check into our accommodations at the St. Lucia Safari Lodge and continue resting and recovering from the course. We will also hopefully chill by the pool, have some drinks and meet some other tourists. Nice and relaxing.

St. Lucia Safari Lodge

May 23: Today is our long day! We have planned a full-day (8 am-3 pm) "Bush & Beach" experience at iSimangaliso Wetland Park in St. Lucia. This includes a guided tour to Cape Vidal (a gorgeous sheltered bay), and a renowned snorkeling spot (at low tide), along with BBQ lunch and refreshments! I think this is kind of a "do-as-you-please" experience with some direction from tour guides. At night, we will probably be tired and just hang out at the hotel some more.

Cape Vidal

May 24: Today during the day we are planning on visiting the local beach of the estuary during the day and just exploring St. Lucia in general. We will probably ask the concierge for recommendations. Then at night, we have a night safari planned!!! This too is through the iSimangaliso Park services. The best part about these park services is that they actually pick you up from your hotel and take you to their location! Here, we will have the opportunity to possibly view 4 of Africa's "Big 5": elephant, rhino, leopard, and buffalo (no lions) along with antelope, zebra, hippo, giraffe, and more........

You know you loved this episode

May 25: Today we also have one activity planned - a 2 hour boat cruise on the St. Lucia Estuary to see if we can spot some hippos, crocs, and diverse bird-life! Jake is an avid birder and he picked out this activity. If you know me at all, you know that I love birds too (I have a yellow-sided green-cheek conure named Zazu!) so I'm pretty pumped about this part as well. I will have to check and see what time this is - I can't remember currently. This is also our last night in St. Lucia.

May 26: We drive to Johannesburg and depart for the states. Our flight is later, around 7, so this should give us plenty of time to get from St. Lucia to Johannesburg and return our car. Then back to America we go! The return flight from a vacation is always the worst part, especially a 19 hour one. Really not looking forward to this part, but hey.

Sorry for all of the rambling! I was going to tack on a packing list too, but this post is already pretty long-winded so I'll probably just make a separate one. Maybe tomorrow? Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll post it, tomorrow, it's only a day awayyyy! 

Goodnight peeps!