The day began around 5:00 am where I received a knock on my window from Megan (while I was still in my underwear) telling me that she, Katie, and Gjiro wouldn't be able to make it to the park that day because Katie and Gjiro were mugged the night before and although they were completely fine, weren't quite up to going to the park. Thus Haley, Marco, Daniel, and I all piled into a cab at 6 am and drove to the airport where we waited for an hour for the car rental places to open (we were told they opened at 6...). We then priced the different cars and ended up finding a great deal for an entire day R256 and 200km of driving free before you had to pay mileage. Not bad. I did not however, especially at that hour of the day, enjoy the man that worked there being sarcastic and joking with me... Grrr...
Finally we were in the car on our way. Marco was driving and didn't know any of the rules of the road here and had never driven on this side before so I sat in the front to key him in. Haley and Daniel made up the laughing audience in the back and I swear we almost died more than once trying to get out of the city.
When we got out past the townships, Marco and I switched and I drove and refreshed my memory on how to drive a manual. I did quite well! And I had tons of fun. It was great to just zoom along the beautiful countryside here and relax in the sunshine with the window down. Haven't done that in forever... :)
We got the park, got in for only R30 (about $4 USD) and then we were off. The first animal we saw was a cute little tortoise on the side of the road, then a yellow mongoose. We saw hartebeests, kudus, warthogs, ostriches, and, of course, elephants during the day. We mostly drove through the beautiful scenery and enjoyed the breathtaking views and the sunshine. Got some amazing pictures. In one instance, we saw some elephants down this rough road which had a "do not enter" sign that we conveniently didn't see and they were walking down it towards us on the main road and so we did what normal college students would do and took it and drove down to just in front of them, turned ourselves around so we could make a quick getaway if needed and watched them walk closer and closer to us. They got about 10 feet away from us before we gunned it out of there-not because it was angry or charging us but because we didn't want it to like step on the car haha... It was amazing!
We ended the day on the banks of the Sunday river. Haley and Marco went swimming and climbed some sand dunes and Daniel and I sat on the dock and basked in the sun with some beers. It was so relaxing! When Hales and Marco got back, we all took a spontaneous nap on the dock which left my cheeks and nose a bit rosy and burnt :) Totally worth it. After we woke up from some knurly waves crashing into our dock, we decided to head home as some clouds had rolled in. We piled back in the car, drove home, dropped off the car, and took a taxi back to our place.
I then jumped in the shower, got dressed and a group of us went out to dinner where I had butternut squash ravioli (so good) and my favorite cocktail :) It was great to have a big group-all talking and laughing. I enjoy the people here so much!
Thus the day was great. It was nice to have the freedom that comes with having a car that I've been missing while in Kenya and since being here. It was incredible to feel the sun on my face all day and the wind in my hair and be with people who made me laugh. To be in such a beautiful place and to see such wonders. It's really incredible how blessed I am!
More later :)
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