Bali to South Africa – Fall 2024

The day has finally arrived. There have been whale sharks, mantas, Komodo dragons, coconut crabs, dolphins, whales, monkeys, and turtles. All of that was
leading up to today, the day of the safari.

I woke everyone up at 7 AM by walking through their cabins while playing Circle of Life from the Lion King. At the exact moment that the song ended, the fire alarm went off. While toasting our bagels, the chefs had also made a good amount of smoke for breakfast. We all met on the dock with fire extinguishers, as we have been trained to do. The monkeys on the dock chased each other over a banana that they had stolen from the boat.

At 9 AM, we all got in a big van that drove us to the town of St Lucia, which is inside a game reserve. Along the way, we passed a five-gallon bag of popcorn from the bow of the van to the stern and back, nibbling all the way. We reached town by 10:30 and had an early lunch. A family of warthogs trotted through the streets without any regard for traffic regulations.

At 12:15, we boarded a wide pontoon boat with a deck covered in astroturf. After a very short safety briefing, including an emphasis on the futility of zigzag running away from a hippo that is chasing you, we set off into the swamp. We saw eagles and bee-eaters perched in the trees alongside the riverbanks. Hundreds of weaver bird nests had been assembled within the forest of reeds in the shallows while the bright yellow birds that called them home chirped and flitted about in equal numbers. If the female weaver bird is unimpressed with the nest that a male has built, she will not only look for a different mate, but she will destroy the nest that so disappointed her.

While searching the wetland for hippos, our boat seemed to run aground, as if we had bounced off some large submerged object. I myself was thrown to the astroturf upon impact. Our guide carefully reversed the boat away as a colossal hippo emerged from the muddy water just in front of us. The collision did not seem to have phased it, and it snorted and went back underwater. We then went on to see a dozen or so hippos, including baby ones, playing.

We returned to shore in the mid-afternoon, and after a bit of free time, we were picked up by two safari jeeps and headed out on a game drive. In one vehicle were Hannah, Amanda M, Ben, Ava, Ainsley, Juliette, Ali and myself. In the other car, Charlie, Meg, Kiley, Travis, Will, Philip, Amanda D, and Bodhi. The two groups ended up separating for the drive, which lasted from about 5:00 to 7:00. Our group regaled our guide with stories of ocean crossings and Clayson the rat, much to his confusion. The other group went to the seashore for the sunset and scrambled around the intertidal zone. Animals seen on the drive included zebras, buffalo, rhinos, warthogs, wildebeest, storks, impala, kudu, and a little chameleon.

We gathered that evening back in St Lucia at a restaurant a block away from our hotel. Since we had to wake up at 4:30 the next morning for another game drive, the festivities did not last long. St Lucia is a particularly dangerous town after dark, but not because of the risk of violent or petty crime; when the sun goes down, the hippos emerge from the water and roam the steers. Hippos are the second most prolific killer of humans in Africa, after the mosquito. We were careful to walk to our accommodations in groups, and everyone made it safely back to have hot showers for more than ten seconds for the first time since Mauritius.

More to come tomorrow.