The Elephant Moves Very Slowly...

Upon arriving at the Elephant Sanctuary, our group was really excited for this interactive experience with African elephants. We were told we would be touching, feeding, walking with, and riding elephants over the next few hours. We were introduced to the staff and they led us to the elephants we would be interacting with throughout the day. Their names were: Maroola (female, 19 years old), Jabu (female, 18 years old), Tandy (female, 17 years old), and Taba (male, 12 years old).

 Introducing The Elephants!

 Maroola- Showing off how she keeps cool (by flapping her ears)

I got a surprise visit from Heather, who I thought would die from happiness when seeing all the elephants. I guess it’s lucky there were no baby elephants, or this definitely would have happened! 

We learned a lot about African Elephants during our time at the sanctuary, here’s some of the facts:

-African elephant societies are arranged around family units and are led by one old female known as the matriarch. Maroola is the matriarch at the Elephant Sanctuary.

-An elephant eats up to 1000lbs of food per day.

-Elephants replace their teeth six times throughout their life. At about age 40-60, the elephant no longer has teeth and the common cause of death is starvation because of this.

-Both male and female African elephants have tusks and that continue to grow throughout an elephant’s lifetime.

-Elephants are highly intelligent and are amongst the world’s most intelligent species. In fact, an elephant’s brain is similar to a human’s in terms of structure and complexity. In addition, an elephant’s brain has as many neurons as a human brain!

-Although the population of African elephants has decreased over the years, it is estimated the total population is around 700,000 – compared with Asian elephants, which is around 32,000.

-An elephant gestation period lasts around two years.

-Newborn elephants can quickly stand and walk to follow their family herd. They are the center of attention for a herd and the herd protects its young from predators. 

-When an elephant is born, it is awkward and doesn’t know how to manage its 5th limb (the trunk). It relies on help from the herd and often has little control over its trunk, which may cause it to trip. It usually takes up to 9 months till the elephant knows how to properly manage its trunk (walking, feeding, drinking).

Examining the Elephants (Jabu)

 Feeding Time

Just walking with my elephant (Tandy)!

Riding Maroola

 Elephant Love!

After our amazing elephant experience, we headed another hour to the Tsitsikamma Lodge, where we would be staying that evening. On the way, we passed over the Bloukrans Bridge, which has bungee jumping off of it. This is the world’s highest commercial bridge bungee at 216m (709 ft). We didn’t stop to try it out, but many other SAS students made the long trek to jump off it. The students kept saying it was the highest in the world, which is incorrect. I found some pride in knowing I jumped off the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland, which is a whole 11 feet higher (though still only the 2^nd tallest commercial bungee jumping location). I spoke with a lot of students who did it and some of them had a shirt that stated, “Fear is temporary, regret is forever.” Molly - I wish they would have had these shirts in Switzerland, as I would have made you jump with me.

We made it to the Tsitsikamma lodge, which looked more like a summer camp campground. It was decent accommodations and the food was good. After dinner, I tried amarula, a cream liqueur from South Africa (similar to baileys); shared a bottle of wine; and called it a night.

Tsitsikamma Lodge

The next day, we awoke and were supposed to head to a suspension bridge in an area called Storm’s River Mouth. Unfortunately, due to road construction, we weren’t able to get there as we needed to be at Storms River Adventures at 9am for a Treetop Canopy Tour. The canopy tour featured 10 ziplines suspended 30-40m above the forest floor. The guides were fantastic and had a lot of information regarding the trees we were flying by as well as the insects/animals/birds in the forest. The ziplines were a lot of fun and varied in length/speed. The longest one we went on was about the size of a football field (100 yards). This excursion was fun and after a light lunch, we got back into the van to drive 4 hours to our next accommodation, Orange Addo Backpackers.

 Ready to Go

The Line

The Destination

The View Down (30-40 meters)

Group 1 & 2

Upon arriving, it was clear this would be the worst accommodation of the trip and was the reason we were asked to pack our own towel/toiletries. A few of our group members complained about the accommodation, but the majority of people had a great time and the food was good (dinner was a South African stew, which was delicious). It was a backpacker hostel, so I enjoyed meeting other backpackers from around the world as opposed to just being around students. I spoke at length with Josh (the owner of the bar next to the hostel (run by Josh’s dad)); Mia, Gavin, and Frenchie, who worked at the hostel; a Dutch couple, Frank & Marissa; and three educators from Norway, Immanuel, Julie, and Heidi. We stayed up chatting, watching Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 (Immanuel was a huge Arsenal fan and convinced Josh to put on the match), getting our dog fix (Josh had 3 dogs: lucky, ninja, and can’t remember the last name), witnessing a huge lightening storm, and dancing till about 2am. Some students chose to pull an all-nighter, since we were going to be meeting at 5am. I needed my 3 hours of sleep and it was well worth it!

 Orange Addo Backpackers & Bar

The final day of our trek started at 5am, where we met everyone and headed to Addo Elephant National Park for a sunrise game drive. We were spoiled with the Garden Route game drive as this one wasn’t as good. In addition, the guide mentioned because of the rain overnight, many of the animals won’t come out till the afternoon (so just some bad timing). That being said, we still saw a good amount of animals. Here’s some pictures:

 Lioness

 Cape Fox

 African Plains

Male/Female Kudu

 Elephants Hiding in the Brush

Overview of Elephants in the Brush

After our game drive, we had a quick breakfast and then headed to Port Elizabeth (about 1.5 hours away), where we would be catching a flight back to Cape Town.

 Our Group (minus Ferdie...he wasn't flying with us)

Our entire group was hoping to get back to the ship in time to see/hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak. Desmond Tutu is a South African social rights activist and a retired Anglican bishop, who rose to fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was the first black South African Archbishop of Cape Town and has received numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007. In addition, Archbishop Tutu has been on 3 full Semester at Sea voyages in 2007, 2010, and Spring 2013. Luckily our flight from Port Elizabeth left on time and we made it back on the ship, just as Archbishop Tutu began his speech!

Before Archbishop Tutu was done with the Q&A, I had to work embarkation, so I went outside to start organizing things. He was a hot commodity while on the ship (obviously) for a mere 2 hours, so when I got to shake his hand as he was leaving, I felt like I did more than most!

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Disembarking

Peace out South Africa…I’ll definitely be back to visit again!

Next up…12 days at sea with the Sea Olympics thrown in there as well!


"A man who denies his heart, either through fear of personal consequence - whether regarding physical jeopardy, self-doubt, or simply of being ostracized - is not free. To go against your values and tenets, against that which you know is right and true, creates a prison stronger than adamantine bars and thick stone walls. Every instance of putting expediency above the cries of conscience throws another heavy chain out behind, an anchor to drag forevermore."