The End Is Near...

Hello!

The end is near! It has been a crazy, busy, and emotional week around Inkwenkwezi. There are 5 of us vollies leaving this weekend, so it's been nuts with everyone saying good bye! I am leaving here on Sunday, August 1st, flying to Cape Town for one more day. Then heading back to the US on August 2nd and I should be back in North Carolina around 6is on August 3rd. Gonna be another whirl wind tour to get home.

Totally mixed emotions about coming home. I cannot wait to get home and see everyone and really share all my crazy stories, adventures and pictures! So many amazing things to share and so many amazing people to see at home. Missed home and everyone very much.

But, I know when I get home I am going to want to be here. It is going to be official, I will have left my heart in South Africa.

I know it has been super long since I have posted and I sincerely apologize. Things here have been pretty busy, on top of the fact that it takes ages to upload pictures on this computer. So sorry! Here's my plan, when I get home I am going to post a bunch of pictures of the things that have happened here that I wasn't able to post throughout my trip, so check back here in a few weeks once I get back. I am looking forward to the continued sharing of my adventure in South Africa!

Today is my last day in Cintsa, Wild Coast, South Africa. Myself and fellow volly, Jannika, are going to go back to Cintsa Beach and try surfing again! Looking forward to spending my last day here splashing around in the waves and have a bit of fun in the sun.

Love and miss you all! Hope everyone had a fantastic summer, I know I did! I will be back in touch once I get to the other side of the big pond.

Surfing!

Nothing too crazy has been happening these days. Lots of work around camp, lots of having fun with the guides and the other vollies.

One of the best things I've done so far was this weekend. Myself and Jannika, another volly from Germany, took surf lessons at Buccaneer Backpackers this weekend. It was absoluately AMAZING! I didn't really get up onto the board all that often, but just being out there was incredible! The weather, the waves and the water was perfect! Had a great time with the lessons from Denver, the South African, and then we were able to keep our boards for the rest of the day, so we had a great time in the beautiful Indian Ocean trying to be surfers! So much fun!!



Love Cintsa Beach!


Paddling to catch the wave, pretty sure I fell off the board when I tried to stand up here....


oops! Gotta go back out and try again....



After a long day of surfing, the beautiful sunrise the next day was perfect!

Can't believe there are only 2 weeks left here at Inkwenkwezi, but I am sure more fun to be had!

Keep you posted! I hope everyone is having a great summer at home and enjoying themselves!

More pictures

Here are some more pictures...

Mama Tofu's:





And Cliff Jumping:




Horse Back Riding on the Beach (Beautiful!):





Until next time!

So sorry it has been so long....

Alright, so it's been a really long time since I've posted. I apologize! Here is a quick update on things I've done in the past couple weeks:

We found the rhinos after they hadn't been seen for a couple months:



We did an elephant interaction. I got to meet and feed the big guys. They are officially my favorite! After I met them my tentmate Sam, decided we wanted to go for an elephant safari so we got to ride the elephants through the conservation. It was very neat and the elephants are awesome! I rode the biggest elephant named Ramadiba.







We also go to go in and meet the cheetahs. They have three very tame cheetahs here that were rescued and raised by people so they are like big dogs. They are so cool! You can lay with them and they purr like mad, they lick you and are so fun. Their eyes are awesome!







That weekend there was a festival at Inkwenkwezi. It was the Jikeleza festival and we all worked in the bar tent. It was an experience to try to understand the locals and to learn the whole Rand notes system, but in the end I was a regular. The festival was also awesome to meet and see some of the locals, see the music and dance from the Xhosa culture that is near by and see all the local crafts that are handmade here. It was a very fun weekend.

After the weekend Sam, two new volunteers and I went to Mama Tofus and experienced first hand the Xhosa culture. It was an awesome experience to learn about their culture and live as they do for one night. We slept on the floor, ate a traditional dinner, learned from 91 year old Mama Tofu, and her eldest daughter, Zinzin, about their customs and beliefs. They danced for us as well. It was very fun to meet the young girls that live there as well. They were very fun and full of energy, and loved to play with us! Unbelieveable experience!

On the way to Mama Tofu's I was able to experience the cold river water as well as I jumped off a cliff! Very fun!!

Today was a very fun day as well as I went with a bunch of the girls for a horse ride on the beach! So much fun!!!!

Everything has been going well and I am having a great time going on game drives, working in the conservation and meeting some pretty awesome people as I go!

I will post more pictures of my adventures soon, it is dinner time now!!!!