Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So being me, disorganised and scatty, my packing has been left till today. Luckily a sort of "packing" had started which was growing pile in an area of my room I thought I might need. To be honest, I don't really know what I'm expecting. I couldn't even find the address on the Pod website. All I know is that I will be getting mucky looking after elephants. I have two days off a week apparently, but I'm not sure which days and what I'm going to be doing on them. Hopefully I will be going to beach, regularly. Bikini....check!
For a goodbye meal, me, mum and dad went to the Old Sian. I don't think I'll be having thai for a while, if at all in Africa. It was really lovely, but still didn't feel real that I would be in another country this time tomorrow. It only really hit me at the airport when I squeezed the last of what I could into my suitcase, said goodbye to Heidi for the last time and waved goodbye to my parents. I promised the girls I'd ring them at the airport. Being on speaker phone and having three people at the other end talking all together is not easy, but it was another goodbye I had to say along with my little sis.
Due to mum and dad being exceptional wary of time, I'd checked in and was ready to board with bags of time on my hands. Of course I spent it as any girl/woman would and hit the shops! I think the best thing I bought was my travel pillow, no contest. While pootling around the shops I happened to befriend an old Chinese lady. Don't really know how I stumbled into that one. She was off to Rio and weirdly offered me her water, which she'd drunk out off and didn't want anymore, even though her flight was in another hour. I took it out of courtesy but as soon as I was out of sight through it in the bin. I found a quick serving pub and ordered some food to have before the flight, only to look at the time and found 2 hours had whizzed by...oops! Wolfing down my club sandwich, I had 15 minutes to get to my gate before closure which was on a train ride away. Knowing my luck, it wouldn't have been surprising if I had missed my flight!
I was quite lucky where I sat, next to a girl about my age and an elderly couple, although I soon found out that the couple were not a very happy one and argued for most of the first half of the flight. Luckily it was the girl I had to climb over which wasn't too bad. I managed to only let myself watch one film and after dinner, which was disgusting plane food as always, I tried to get to sleep. I forgot how hard it is to sleep upright though. Luckily for me, the man sitting next to me got up and when he came back his wife had fallen asleep so he sat somewhere else for the rest of the flight leaving me space to stretch out a little bit on.
Arriving in South Africa was probably one of the most stressful things. On my immigration form, I wasn't sure what to write as I had been told not to mention any word of volunteering or working while I was here but I was convinced they were going to suss me out. Having to recheck in for my connecting flight, I obviously looked like a confused tourist, especially with my travel pillow in hand. Porters are not easy to shake off at all but one insisted on following me to the check in place and then continued to hold his hand out. In case he got angry I gave him R50 which I didn't really know was a lot or little, I'd only been in the country 10 minutes. After that it was a breeze but I did find myself with a beer in my hand at 10:30am at a bar. It had been a stressful journey ok! And the thought of another plane journey was starting to get to me.
Being in South Africa flying South African Airways, apparently I now know, you are expected to be delayed. I was delayed for an hour on the tarmac, not that I really know as I passed out and got woken up by a lady offering me an apple juice. The flight was a lot longer than I expected but the food that they gave us broke it up a bit and it was so much better than British Airways was, I actually ate it. When we touched down I was looking for the person who might be taking me to the elephant park. After waiting what seemed like forever to get my bag, so long that I almost claimed lost property, I went out and was stopped by 3 women/girls. That was the first shock, I had singled out a middle aged man wearing all kaki and a safari hat.
It was all a bit of a whirl when they picked me up, swapping names and backgrounds and they were asking how the flight was. I recognised the symbol on their bus and it suddenly clicked that I was going to the elephant park where I went with the family 4 years ago. At least I now know where I'm going and it's not a scam! They took me straight to a supermarket where I was expected to buy all my food until Friday that I wanted to eat. I tried my best but I was all over the shop, especially when I got back and looked at what I had bought. Luckily a guy called David, the only male in the volunteer group, had cooked everyone a meal. It was some chicken stuff, not to my taste but I was glad to not cook for myself at that stage.
When I first arrived, I was taken to see the elephants to the Boma (what they're sleeping area is called). There are 12 of them, 6 male and 6 female, 3 of which are under 5 and still are in the baby phase. They are all so adorable and can't wait to start working with them properly tomorrow. I've been told because I'm new I get a lie in. This means I have to be ready at 8.30am, not a lie-in in my book. Also a girl called Abi is arriving into my room sometime tonight, but I'm about to pass out with tiredness so I probably won't wake when she arrives.
- comments