Kruger National Park and Volunteering in JHB

We arose bright and early on the 24^th of October to make our way into the Kruger National Park. This was an exciting day for both Harrison and I. Harrison had never been into the Kruger, and had never seen many African animals in the wild. For me, going into the park brought back many happy memories from my childhood. When I was a kid my family often went into the park together, and had so many wonderful times there. It was so great to share these memories with Harrison, and show him a place that holds such a special place in my heart. I was also excited to see animals, of course. We got into the park by 7:30am, and already the temperature of the day was rising. The first animals we saw were impalas grazing by the side of the road. Harrison was in love. The whole day he begged to take an impala home with us. After a bit more driving we came across a few elephants wandering along. 

This was really exciting for Harrison, as he had never seen an African elephant before! These were the first of many elephant sightings throughout the day. We drove on, and stopped at a bird hide for some tea and to see what we could see. From the hide we saw a warthog playing in the shallows of a dam, 

a crocodile sunning itself on the grass,

a few turtles and a water buck. Once back on the road we were stooped by some buffalo crossing in front of our car. 

They meandered past, taking all the time in the world. We were lucky enough to see a whole huge herd of elephants playing in the dirt and lazing about in the shade. 

Amongst the herd were about 3 baby elephants, one couldn’t have been more than a few days old. It was absolutely tiny! It rolled around in the dust and ran amongst the other elephant’s legs, and when it was time of the herd to move on it grabbed its mum’s tail with its trunk so it didn’t get lost. 

It was the cutest thing. Not long after the elephant sighting, some giraffes crossed the road just in front of our car. Giraffes are such funny looking creatures. They look like they shouldn’t be able to walk properly. 

Before breaking for lunch we stopped at a dam, and saw a whole heap of hippos both lounging around on the shore and splashing in the water.

We stopped at one of the camps in the park to have lunch. The place we had lunch was on a deck overlooking a river that runs through the park. While we were eating lunch we could watch the warthogs playing in the reeds and a buffalo cooling down in the shallows. It was really incredible. The park is so beautiful. After lunch we headed out once more in the hopes of seeing more beautiful animals. We saw more buffalo cooling down in the river, and more elephants cooling down beneath the shade of the trees. 

We drove around for a few more hours, but didn’t see too much more. It was so incredibly hot, that most of the animals were hiding in the grasses or looking for shade to sleep in. We unfortunately didn’t get to see any cats or hyenas or anything like that, but the animals we did see were still amazing. We made it home around 5:30 that night and were absolutely knackered. We had a pizza dinner and went to bed early. The next morning was another early one. We were leaving White River to come back to Joburg, and had to be on the shuttle bus by 6:30am. It was sad to leave my grandpa, but we had had such an amazing time with him. I am once again left feeling so incredibly grateful to have such a wonderful and loving family.

For a few days after coming home from White River we just stayed at home and relaxed. The weather has been ridiculously hot, so the motivation to do anything is very low. On Wednesday and Thursday Harrison, Alyson and I went to volunteer for an organisation called Santa’s Shoe Box. The purpose of this organisation is to give Christmas gifts to children throughout Africa who otherwise would not get one. Overall they distribute 100,000 boxes to children all over Africa. 

To pack a box for a child you need to register online, chose a specific child who you wish to buy for and get a checklist of what needs to be put in the box. The list includes everyday things like clothes, school supplies, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, candy and a toy. You can also put in other gifts if you wish. What we needed to do was open the boxes that came in and check that they had all of the items on the checklist, and that they were appropriate to the child that the gift was going to. Alyson and I checked boxes,

and Harrison worked in the back making up the big boxes that the little boxes would be shipped in.

It was an incredible experience. It was really amazing to see the kindness and generosity of people. Some of the boxes must have been so expensive to put together. They were beautifully decorated and had beautiful gifts inside. Of course there were some bad boxes, where people just didn’t seem to care, but the good ones outnumbered the bad ones hugely. In the case of the boxes that didn’t have enough items inside, or the items weren’t appropriate, we had to either put more items in or replace the inappropriate items with better ones. There were a whole bunch of extra supplies that had been donated that we were able to choose from when fixing the boxes. Our branch of the shoebox drop off was expected to receive 4000 boxes! It was an amazing experience, I really loved it! I am so glad I got the opportunity to do it.

On Friday, we did more volunteer work! Richards company (KPMG)

had organised a book drop for disadvantaged schools throughout Johannesburg. So Harrison, Alyson and I went to a school in a township area called Diepsloot to give out books to children from grades 1 – 3. There were about 300 children that we gave books to, and most of them had never owned a book in their lives. We got there and were allocated a class. We got one of the grade 1 classes. We split them up and read our groups a story, and asked them questions and just spoke to them. At one point I asked my group ‘who wants to tell me their name’ and they all jumped up with their hands in the air begging to tell me their names. They were just so excited to have someone paying attention to them, and wanting to know about them. When I sat down to read to them my whole group jumped on me, on my lap, hanging over my shoulders, squeezing as close as they could get to listen to the story.

Once their story was done and we had chatted to them we got them to line up to receive their books. They were so excited, the look of joy on their faces was just priceless. 

Every one of them said thank you once they received their book. They were so polite and happy. When we told them it was their own book, and they could write their names in the covers they were delighted. It was such a humbling experience. These kids have so little, but they have such joy in their hearts and are still so polite and willing to learn. We went into their classroom, and it was the bare minimum. 

The roof was only half built, with beams exposed and wires hanging out. The desks were tiny, and had too many children per desk. Most of the kids we saw didn’t even have shoes. But they were still so happy. It truly just goes to show that you don’t need material items to be happy. It was an amazing experience, and I am so happy that I got the opportunity to do it. I highly suggest doing something like it if you get the chance. It is so rewarding and humbling.

Yesterday was Halloween! We spent the day at home, and then around 2pm Lyndsay came home and picked us up, and we went to her work. Lyndsay is an incredibly talented makeup artist, so she was going to do gore makeup on the people at her work. On a lady called Roxy, she made it look like her throat had been ripped out and made a bullet wound on her forehead. Next she did Harrisons makeup, which was half a Chelsea grin. Which looked like his smile had been cut up his cheek. Once she was done with their makeup, we headed home again to get ready. We were coming back to her work, which was holding a Halloween party at the bar part. We got some pizza before going home, then went to get ready. Lynds was still going to do hers and my makeup, but when we got home we realised we had left her liquid latex at her work! I felt so bad! She had put so much effort into Roxy and Harrison, and then wasn’t able to do her own makeup! And Halloween is her favourite holiday. Luckily she had this other stuff that you put on your skin and it indents and makes it look like scars. But I could tell she was disappointed. Once we were ready we called an Uber and made our way back to Dakota Lee. We had a really fun night! There were bands playing and we met lots of new people. There was one band called Cortina Whiplash, and they were really awesome. Harrison and I left a bit earlier than Lynds because I wasn’t feeling very well. I think it was just a bit too loud for me, and I got such a headache. But I still had a lot of fun! I just love spending time with my beautiful cousin though.

Tomorrow Harrison, Nana and I are driving to the Drakensburg! I am so excited! There is supposed

to be a cold snap, and it might snow. So fingers crossed!