Today was probably one of the most anticipated days of the tour: safari day! Or not quite a safari, a game ride, but it meant the same as a safari for us. We got up early so we could be in the road for 8:30am, and we began our two and a half hour drive to Aquila, the private reserve where our safari was taking place. People brought several things in order to occupy their time, however the most common activity was sleeping! Four full days in, and we are still very jet lagged, and our tour guide Enrico is sure to call us out for it (lovingly).
When we got to the retreat we were treated to a very nice buffet lunch. The things I were the most excited for were the Brie and the crème brûlée, some hot ticket items when you’re on tour! It was also a nice opportunity to try a couple of new things without taking a full portion, since you could serve yourself. One thing that I and others have learned while eating in South Africa is that they often have dishes that we would expect to be savory, but they are actually sweet. For example, I tried a meat and egg dish at this buffet that was sweet! It wasn’t my particular favorite, but I got to try it, and I liked the rest of the things on my plate.
Then it was time for the safari. We loaded onto two trucks and started driving around the reserve. The ride was scheduled to be two and a half hours long, and unfortunately due to a mishap with my portable charger, I was rocking at 50%, so you can imagine it was a little bit stressful rationing my battery! During our two and a half hour drive we saw; giraffes, zebras, rhinos, hippos, cranes, monkeys, antelope, wildebeest, elephants, ostriches, and many tiny birds, but the scariest for me was by far the lion. They had their own separate enclosure so that they wouldn’t hunt all the other animals, and when we were going in, the driver made sure to give us a long speech about keeping our arms inside the vehicle, lest we become lion lunch! We drove around quietly for a bit, before finding all four lions at the very edge of the enclosure. There were three females and one male, with the male one chewing on a raw bone. It was a really cool sight to see, but one of the females was looking at our car kinda funny, and as cool as it was, I was not sad when we got out of there.
After we had seen most of the animals we stopped at a rest area to go to the bathroom, and then adults were allowed a free drink. We ended up singing the three South African folk songs for the other tourists there, and then hopped back in the cars for the ride back to the resort. When we got back we made sure to hit up the gift shop, because we all love a good souvenir, and then it was the two and a half hour drive back to our retreat. After snoozing once again on the bus, we got home and had a later dinner (thank you, traffic) before having a small rehearsal since we were all so tired. After rehearsal, people went their own ways, splitting between a giant game of Mafia, or the smaller game of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza before it was off to bed to get ready for our amazing next day!