Maddy had a great week but excited to return to Cape Town

This past week we went on excursion to Johannesburg and National Kruger Park. Our time in Joburg for the first part of the week went by so fast. We went to many museums and historical sites. It was nice being able to see actual sites of events that we learned about in class. One of my favorite historical sites we visited was the jail at Constitution Hill. I’ve been told about how poor the living conditions were for people in these jails but what I was picturing was nowhere near how terrible it actually was. I kept having to remind myself that this jail also was up and running all the way up until the 1980’s and the cruelty, overcrowding, and poor sanitation was relevant all the way through its closing. I can’t imagine 60-80 people squeezed into the rooms we were standing in and told to live there. It was interesting learning about how gangs formed within in the rooms with the leaders controlling all of the others with the little they had. It also made sense to me that people joined the gangs because without joining they basically couldn’t survive in the cell. I also didn’t realize how intense the law was at the time. I knew that if blacks and coloreds didn’t carry around their pass books with them then they were punished, but to see the jail that they were sent to made me realize how insanely unreasonable the punishment was just because the white government was in control and did whatever they wanted without taking any human rights into account.

Another one of my favorite days was going to the Boys and Girls Club in Soweto. I knew all week that I would love this day because it makes me so happy interacting with the kids who are so excited you are there. At all times of the day I’m pretty sure everyone of us had at least 3 kids hanging from us as we were trying to play with all of them. I was definitely tired out by the end of that day but it was so worth it. I was amazed at how many children are a part of the club and assume they are there most days as a safe place to be kid. The global CEO of Tupperware ended up visiting the same day as us because he sponsors the club. It was actually so cool seeing him come visit with his wife and others to see how amazing of a place he is helping make happen.

On Friday morning, we left to go to Kruger National Park. Though, I have already been on two game drives since being here, I knew Kruger would be a completely different experience. The other drives were at reservations and conservations that though I was able to see everything I wanted, you could tell that the animals were placed there. Kruger is completely wild and it was amazing just looking out and seeing the park literally never ending as far as you could see. I was able to go on 3 drives during our time there, a sunset drive, a sunrise drive, and a late-night drive. There were periods of time where we would not see any animals and start giving up on seeing anything, but then suddenly an animal would emerge towards us and we could watch it in its natural habitat in the wild. Some of my favorite animal sightings were the male lions that at first we saw laying down with their paws over each other and then later that night saw them walking to the road we were driving on. We were able to follow right next to them. Just watching them walk was so mesmerizing. Some of the other animals I loved watching were the giraffes and hyenas. 

Porch on chalet at Satara Rest Camp in Kruger National Park

When we weren’t on the game drives, it was nice to be able to hang out. We are used to living in the city so it was a good change of pace to be in the middle of nowhere. There was also no Wi-Fi the whole time we were there so we weren’t able to use our phones which was nice to be disconnected. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was just sitting on the porch of my hut with Claire. We were doing a little homework and looking through pictures from the day while listening to music. It was so relaxing and we took a second to point out we are never going to be in this position again, as a student on our excursion at this national park. It made me realize how content sitting there made me, and how crazy this whole experience is. We are experiencing so many things while here that I would never have dreamed of and yet it’s my real life. Overall I had a great week but am also excited to return back to Cape Town.