We were very lucky because on this 3 hour game walk through long brush and prickly thickets we got to see hippos in a watering whole, giraffes roaming wild, a lone elephant eating a plant, and zebras that were bonding with a herd of wildebeests. We also saw storks, warthogs, and antelopes. It was amazing to be a few feet away from a group of wild zebras, watching the sunlight hit their black and white stripes. A zebra is South Africa's national animal due to the blending of the black and white stripes, representing the blending of the black and white people.
After arriving back at camp Moyo had an amazing egg roll sandwich waiting for us. I call it an egg roll because it is an egg on a roll with canadian bacon and it is absolutely delicious. After breakfast, my friend Britt'ne and I along with Wesley decided to go for a swim. We all got into a makuro donning our costumes (the word for bathing suits here) and headed to the safe swimming spot, supposedly where crocodiles don't go. Wesley was actually quite good at poling the makuro with only a few mistakes, and we made it to shore. Brit was to afraid to go in the murky waters so she tried her own skills at doing the makuro, it was pretty entertaining. It felt so good to jump in the cold water after being sunburnt in the 90 degree heat. Also, everyone had been commenting on the amount of dirt my face and legs and feet were caked with, mostly from walking around barefoot and laying down in the dust. Someone thought there was a shadow on my face until they told me it was dirt, so I figured I should scrub down in the water. After that we hopped back in the makuro and Brit did her best to take us back to camp. After taking a few pit stop and the scenic route back enjoying the reeds we were stuck in, we made it back!
I took a nap in preparation for our sunset makoro ride. I shared the makuro with Henry and Wesley with Tampo as our poler. We were taken to see 5 or 6 hippos in the river, spouting water from their mouths and bobbing in the stream. It was incredible to be so close to such amazing and dangerous animals. (Don't worry mom we were totally fine). It was another day where I had to ask myself "Is this real life?" It was just absolutely incredible.
We got back and had chicken curry for dinner. It was delicious! After dinner all of the villagers who came with us did a traditional song and dance for us and in return we tried to think of something that we could show them. We ended up doing the cotton eye joe and the soul train. Then we formed a circle and Warrior sang in his traditional language and called people in the middle to dance with him. I ended up doing this strange dance with two of the female villagers where we hopped on the ground like frogs, it was such a funny odd experience. Afterwards I sat around the fire with Brit and Moyo, Tampo, and a few of the female villagers who I unfortunately cannot remember the names of. The most common question was when I was going to get married, because many people in their village get married very young. Then this man, who looked like he had just come off of the show survivor, appeared out of nowhere from the water. He came with a poler who had informed him that there were other Americans staying at a camp site nearby, so he found us. Everyone even the villagers had a little laugh to ourselves at how absolutely strange the whole situation was. It turns out Nate is in the peace corps and has been living in Botswana for 7 months working at a school, teaching English and music. It was interesting to talk to him about the existence of corporal punishment that remains in the school, as well as the Peace Corps in general. Afterwards I went to sleep recapping all that had happened in only a matter of hours.
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