Location: Durban, Sout Africa
Ce matin, aprs une bonne nuit a lhotel, on sest tous reveille a 4h30 pour faire un safari matinal. Bien videmment Juliette et moi navons pas t rveilles par notre alarme et on sest donc rveilles a 4h50 (heure a laquelle on devait tre hors de nos chambre) avec Meg qui criait a notre porte. On a laisse toutes nos affaires dans nos chambre et ensuite nos Jeeps sont venues nous chercher.
Apres une heure de route nous sommes enfin arrives a la reserve et nos deux voitures se sont spares. Jtais avec Hannah, Ava, Juliette, Bodhi, Amanda, Gabe et Ben. Notre ranger sappelait Theo et il tait super drle, il nous a appris quelques mots en zoulou et a essayer de nos offrir la meilleur experience possible. Heureusement on tait dans la voiture la plus chanceuse et nous avons vu tellement de choses. Tout dabord une bonne trentaine de rhinoceros (avec des bbs!!), une troupe de plus de cents elephants!!!!!, une cinquantaine de girafe et puis des zbres, des buffles, de gnous, des impalas, des koudous et normment de phacochres. Malheureusement on a aussi t tmoins dun rhino tue par des braconniers et Theo nous a dit que 200 rhinoceros ont deja t tues depuis avril.
Vers 9 heures on sest arrt pour prendre un petit dej et on a retrouve lautres voiture qui tait un peu moins chanceuse. On est ensuite reparti pour une heure de route pour aller chercher nos affaires a lhotel. On a eu 2 heures de temps libre et on sest tous spar pour manger le djeuner. Hannah, Ava, Juliette et moi avons mange dans un resto ou au lieu de chaises on a eu droit a des balanoires. On sest tous retrouver a lhotel pour faire deux heures de routes et retourner a Argo. Une fois a bord, on prepare le bateaux pour partir le plus vite possible.
Le moment ou on a quitter le port, on a tous senti que la nuit allaiter rude: rafales de vents, vagues de plus de 3 m de hauts et tous le staff un peu agiter. On a commence par lever les voiles, quand on est arrive a la main staysail, on a eu beaucoup de mal. Le bateaux bougeait dans tous les sens et au cause du vents la voile tait beaucoup trop puissante pour nous. Une des pieces qui attache la voile au bateau sest casse en plein milieu de loperation et on a du descendre la voile le plus vite possible. Le staff sest occupe du reste de la manuvre car ctait trop complique pour nous. Pendant les operations sur le pont, tout le monde tait trempe, non pas a cause de la pluie, mais a cause des vagues qui passait au dessus de la coque et atterrissaient directement sur nous.
Pour manger on a pu aller en bas parce que manger sur le pont aurait t trop dangereux et on aurait srement perdu toute la nourriture. Tout le monde essayait de saccrocher quelque part car ctait assez dur de rester debout sans se faire jecter contre les murs. Pour finir la soiree en beaut, on a regarder the queens gambit ensemble et puis on est tous allez se coucher car on savait que cette nuit nallait pas tre calme.
This morning, after a good night at the hotel, we all woke up at 4:30 a.m. to go on a morning safari. Obviously, Juliette and I were not woken up by our alarm, so we woke up at 4:50 a.m. (the time we were supposed to be out of our rooms) to Meg shouting at our door. We left all our belongings in our rooms, and then our Jeeps came to pick us up.
After an hour of driving, we finally arrived at the reserve, and our two cars separated. I was with Hannah, Ava, Juliette, Bodhi, Amanda, Gabe and Ben. Our ranger was called Theo and he was super funny, he taught us a few words in Zulu and tried to give us the best experience possible. Luckily, we were in the luckiest car and saw so much. First of all, a good thirty rhinoceroses (with babies!!), a troop of more than a hundred elephants!!!!!, around fifty giraffes, and then zebras, buffaloes, wildebeests, impalas, kudus, and lots of warthogs. Unfortunately, we also witnessed a rhino killed by poachers, and Theo told us that 200 rhinos have already been killed since April.
Around 9 o’clock, we stopped to have breakfast and met up with the other car, which was a little less lucky. We then left for an hour’s drive to pick up our things at the hotel. We had 2 hours of free time, and we all split up to eat lunch. Hannah, Ava, Juliette, and I ate in a restaurant where we had swings instead of chairs. We all met at the hotel to drive two hours and return to Argo. Once on board, we prepare the boat to leave as quickly as possible.
The moment we left the port, we all felt that the night was rough: gusty winds, waves over 3 m high, and all the staff a little agitated. We started by raising the sails. When we arrived at the main staysail, we had a lot of difficulty. The boat was moving in all directions, and because of the wind, the sail was much too powerful for us. One of the pieces that attached the sail to the boat broke in the middle of the operation, and we had to lower the sail as quickly as possible. The staff took care of the rest of the maneuvers because it was too complicated for us. During the operations on deck, everyone was soaked, not because of the rain but because of the waves that passed over the hull and landed directly on us.
To eat, we were able to go below because eating on deck would have been too dangerous, and we would surely have lost all the food. Everyone was trying to hang on somewhere because it was pretty hard to stay upright without getting thrown into the walls. To end the evening in style, we watched “The Queen’s Gambit” together, and then we all went to bed because we knew that this night was not going to be calm.