February 24,
2013 (2:34 P.M.)
What a long
day; only way to start this off. By the time I got home, I wanted nothing more
than to curl up in my bed and sleep until the sun was halfway through the next
day. Unfortunately, I did not realize it was most of my friend’s last weekend
before leaving South Africa. My dreams of sleeping away the night were
immediately ruined by the evening’s plans. Even worse, my recent pattern of
rising early in the morning wouldn’t even allow me to sleep in.
I went to
sleep around 11 p.m. on Friday evening. My alarm disturbed me at 1:18 a.m.;
quality two hours of sleep. I started my 2 a.m. shift at a little before two
and slowly watched as the sun rose and the number of hours of potential sleep
decreased. I was fortunate enough to have a two-hour drive to the bungee jump
though and anyone who has ever driven with me knows I will have no problem
utilizing that time. When the six o’ clock deadline finally arrived and my
transportation was ready to go, we headed off. Normally we drive in a spacious
Volkswagen van for our weekend trips; something I was looking forward to, but
for this drive, we were in a not-so-large, four-door coupe. Not sure who
authorized the switch, but it was a little crushing to see the little car pull
into the parking lot. There were four interns in the car and a field specialist
driving, meaning space was limited. I wasn’t too worried. I’m an excellent car
sleeper. I would have preferred to have
a window seat, but since the other interns had pillows in their hands already,
I figured they had the same idea as me. We started our drive and I did my best
to get comfortable but it didn’t seem to work. There wasn’t much maneuverability
in the backseat and being more than six feet tall – feels really nice to say
that – I wasn’t exactly living the dream as far as sleeping arrangements. Worst
part was, neither intern slept the entire ride there. What I would have given
for that window seat. Bottom line was: no sleep yet.
We arrived
at the bungee jump – on time – and headed toward the bridge. We got our straps,
our safety instructions and we were there and ready in a matter of minutes. The
“bridge” to the bridge was an open metal platform allowing you to see just how
high you were. I thought it was genius of the bungee company; really amped up
the nerves. When it came time to start, everyone was a little nervous and no
one wanted to be the first one to go. I was excited to jump, but didn’t want to
be the first person of the morning to “test” out the cords. My roommate Ben was
lucky enough to have the honor. As we watched the staff strap the necessary
equipment to him, I couldn’t help but make unnerving comments to an already
apprehensive Ben.
“Are the
straps supposed to be that loose?”
“Isn’t your
bungee cord supposed to be attached to the bridge at least?”
“Why is that
guy over there holding scissors?”
“Can I have
your GoPro if, you know, something happens?”
I thoroughly
enjoyed the moment.
When he
jumped, everything went smooth and the crowd cheered. Seeing that the whole
process seemed safe made everyone a little less nervous. I was third to jump
from my group. By the time I was called, any nerves I might have had were gone.
There was a DJ on the bridge playing some jams and it really helped calm
everyone down. The worst part was the waiting. I had to sit there and wait as
one-by-one each person jumped. By the
time you’re called, you’re just ready to go.
When I was
getting ready, the guy started telling me what I should do and what each strap
was. It was hard to hear but I eventually got it. I’m sure I missed a couple
things, but since I survived, they obviously weren’t that important. They
strapped my feet together and put the backup straps around my chest. When I was
finally up next, I stood up and let the staff check my equipment one more time.
As I hopped to the edge, I didn’t even
have time to get scared. By the time you are looking down, the guys start
counting down from five.
“Five, four,
three, two, one... Jump!”
You know
that feeling when you jump into a pool; the feeling of no return? As you’re in
the air, regardless of what you do now, you realize you’re going into the pool
and you’re going to get wet. There’s nothing you can do about it. Now imagine
the pool is 216 meters beneath you. It’s a sickening feeling as you jump off
the ledge and see what’ve you’ve just done. It goes against everything your
brain is telling you, but once again, there’s nothing you can do. You’re
already falling faster than you’ve ever fallen and nothing you can do will
change that. It’s a pretty amazing feeling.
As the blood
rushed to my head and the pendulum feeling started to subside, a staff member
is dropped down to assist you. He attaches himself to your vest and the two of
you are slowly carried back to the bridge; back to safety. As fun as it was, I
was very excited to be safely back on the bridge. I did it though. Quite a fun
time and I have a video of me doing it. We were not allowed to bring our
cameras on the bridge unless it was a GoPro with the necessary attachments so I
purchased the video. It’s absolutely going on the site.
After the
bungee, our next tour was the ostrich farm. Interesting is a nice way to
describe it. We were given an informational tour of the farm as well as
opportunities to take pictures with a number of the birds. I’ve seen ostriches
before though. I wasn’t here for the tour; I was here to ride an ostrich. To
begin with, the tour guide asked anyone if they wanted to just sit on the
ostrich for photographs. A few people came up, especially those with smaller
children. I just assumed everyone was waiting to ride them too. After the
photograph section was completed, it was time for the ride.
To ride an
ostrich, a person had to be less than 75 kilograms. Having been weighed at the
bungee jump and falling in at 74 kilograms, I could tell this was meant to be.
As the ostrich was brought to the stand, its face was covered. It was the kind
of mask you would expect to see in medieval times as a person was brought to
the guillotine. It looked a little cruel but the tour guide explained that the
bird will only allow a person to jump on its back of if they cannot see them.
When she called for people to come ride, I was highly disappointed with the
number of people willing to do it. The first lady to try it was selected by the
tour guide; she didn’t volunteer.
I’m in
Africa; there’s no way I’m not riding an ostrich. When she asked for anymore
volunteers, I immediately raised my hand and asked Ben to film it. I jumped on
its back, positioned my legs and held on to its wings for added support. The
mask was removed and the ostrich took off. Obviously it didn’t last long, nor
did the ostrich come anywhere near reaching its full speed of 45 km/ph, but it
was still really cool to try. We rode from one side of the pen to the other and
I jumped off. No big deal; just another experience here in Africa. I have a
video of me doing it. I will try and upload it up.
After the
ostrich farm, we headed to Cango Caves. This was unbelievable. We were a little
late so we had to catch up with the rest of the tour, but we didn’t miss a
thing. From the moment you enter this cave, you are amazed. It’s hard to even
describe. It was dark, but the various lights located around the cave gave it a
beautiful, yet ominous appearance. We headed through the main section, still in
awe of how detailed and intricate each rock looked, and made our way through
some of the more difficult passages.
I found out
pretty quickly I was not claustrophobic. Good thing I wasn’t because there were
sections of the cave no higher than 11 inches. You had to pull yourself through
by your fingertips. There were steep sections you had to climb through and
tight spaces you had to squeeze through. I had to duck, crawl, slide, jump and
maneuver around this massive structure. I got as many pictures as possible and
our group did every imaginable tunnel; even the ones warning about severely
tight spaces. The whole tour was awesome. I’d recommend this to anyone.
The final
tour of the day was the Cango Wildlife Ranch. We had a personalized tour
through the entire facility. We watched saltwater crocodiles eat and otters
wrestle. We saw leopards, cheetahs, lions, tigers, servals, flying foxes, pygmy
hippopotamus’, lemurs, etc. It was a really cool tour.
We even saw
two Cape Vultures. In case you don’t know what they are, Cape Vultures are the
most endangered species in the world. There are currently only 22 of these
birds left in the world and we saw two of them. They were really cool. The
reason they’re so endangered is because they have their nests in the same place
every year for their entire lives. If the nest is destroyed for whatever
reason, the bird refuses to lay more. Also, unlike other birds, these vultures
only lay one egg per year. In one lifetime, the Cape Vulture is lucky to lay
four eggs whereas other birds can lay dozens of eggs with each litter multiple
times a year.
By the time we left the ranch, I was due for a
much needed sleep. I was given the window for the hour and half car ride home
and when I woke up, we were in Ocean’s Hotel and Campus. Good day.
