Long Day

                                                               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.