Turning African... well actually British

The past few days were roughly the same as the ones preceding them so I won’t go into too much detail. I have participated in the discussion of various topics in our lectures and have been driven around in the Safari Ranger on a daily basis, and although everyone has been kept busy during the day it seems as if we are in a time warp. With nothing to do and nowhere to be time has been standing still. What seems like an hour or two of group chatter over dinner more often than not is really only 20 minutes. Our most boring lectures seem to drag on for eternity but in reality are only 45 minutes long. That said, I only arrived in Intibane one week ago today, I feel as if I have been here for months. The days are short and even though it is winter here the temperature reaches an average of 25 degrees each day... long story short, I’m dying from the hot, very dry, climate. 

Yesterday was the last day I was in Initibane with the other volunteers and leaving for Pongola was surprisingly hard. I have only known these Yankees, Brits, and Canadians for a short time but we have all become good friends through our adventures and experiences. Last night we celebrated our time together by drinking more than adequate amounts of local beer and wine. Staying up past 9:00pm has been a real struggle on most nights, but last night we drank long into the night, sharing stories and laughing. The conversations we have had usually involve discussing the differences between our countries and our languages. We have discovered that, contrary to popular belief, Canadian junk food is far superior to that of the United States. Common products such as Mars Bars, Dairy Milk, Pizza Pops, and Kinder Surprises (a.k.a Kinder Joy here is S.A) are unheard of in the States, or at least in New York. When we aren’t constantly discussing food we spend our time laughing about the differences in our accents, mainly Lauren’s (who has a strong Long Island accent), and the fantastic language used in Great Britain. We Canadians were only called out on our extensive habit of ending every statement as if it were a question. The words “eh?” and “right?” being the most common. 

This morning packing was a pain in the ass, big surprise there, but I managed to cram everything into my rucksack once again. Although I was in the dumps about having the leave everyone behind, I was not at all upset about leaving the building in which we have been residing. We took a group picture, loaded our bags into the back of the vehicle (there are four of us headed to Pongola), said our goodbyes, and never looked back. 

The drive to the Pongola Game Reserve took less than an hour, including a stop at a gas station to stock up on snacks. This seemed like a good idea when leaving Intibane, but once we were in the store it was clear the 4 of us had been starved of any real source of sugar for the past week. Luckily the exchange rate is on our side and junk food here is incredibly cheap. What would have cost around $50 in Canada ended up costing me just over $20. The Canadian dollar is worth around 6.5 Rand in South Africa at the moment. I am sure I made a lasting impression on the woman running the cashier when I heaped my purchases onto the counter in front of her.

Not one of us had any idea what to expect in Pongola. Upon arrival at the research camp where we would be staying we learned that the camp was also used for eco-training... we also quickly learned that the majority of those participants were male. Heike, our coordinator and head researcher, introduced us to everyone and informed us that we would be staying in the Umkaya Cottage off site until the training program was over. Our gear was loaded into a Land Rover used for guided tours and after a quick tour of the research camp we made our way to our cabin located 2 minutes away.

I can’t say I had very high expectations for the place we would be staying, especially after the last week, but when we pulled up to the cottage I was more excited than I have been in days.

The Umkaya Cottage we are staying in part of the main lodge and is rented to the hunters and vacationers who travel to Pongola. There is an immaculate kitchen, with stone flooring in the central area. A master bedroom is off to the left, with another bedroom with two single beds to the right. There are two bathrooms, the main one having a bath tub and a shower. I had believed that the first week would represent my vacation time but clearly I was wrong. Aside from the daily research that we are going to be conducting I could definitely get used to this... well at least for a week as we are headed back to the main research camp next Saturday or Sunday.

I was also very excited when Heike told us that we would be responsible for our own meals and such. Tom, who works for a company in a partnership with OpWall, met us in Pongola with a weeks worth of groceries for us. Among some of the things he bought was peanut butter (!!!!), breakfast sausage, pasta, heaps of fruit and vegetables, and some sort of African squash...? Apparently it was his first time grocery shopping and he was excited to know how one would cook it. OpWall has prepared a weekly budget for our groceries and twice a week we can compile a list of things that we would like to have. The amount of freedom we have been given not only comes as a relief, but it has made this experience feel more professional. Being told when and what to eat gets old really quickly. 

The four of us (Abbey, Eva, Louise, and I), are settling in and making use of the large amounts of space we have been given.  The three of them all attend university in the UK and have very distinct British accents... after meeting everyone in the camp it appears that I am the only North American and therefore am the one with the real accent. In this environment it seems that I will more likely be trampled by an elephant then retain my “eh’s”... it is inevitable I will bring home the British lingo and maybe a few phrases... but only time will tell the extent of the transition from the good side to the bad.