alicat

I just had to say how happy I am to be back to my home, my computer and the TFP!

Hubby and I were in South Africa for about 3 wks.. It was the chance of a lifetime, as my hubby was going for his work and they agreed to pay my way as a condition of him deciding to travel abroad. This was no small perk, as my ticket was approximately $3,000 round trip! It would probably be decade's before we would be able to afford a trip to S.A. on our own.

Although we didn't get to experience that much of the country (because Hubby was working most of the time and I was stuck in the hotel) we at least were able to visit a private "Big Cat" park. We were able to see the awesome adult and baby lions up close (literally anywhere from 2 ft.-15 ft. from our car). We were also able to see tigers, giraffes, bok's, hyeanas, zebra's and wild boars (one of the ugliest creatures on earth! Although kind of cute in an E.T. kind of way!).

The coolest part was at the end when we were able to get into a pen with baby lions! Hubby and I have watched a lot of episodes of "Crocidile Hunter" and "The Jeff Corwin Experience" as well as many dozens of documentaries in our 16 yrs. together where we've seen people playing with lion or tiger cubs. Nothing can prepare you for the experience. Those cuddly little cubs you see on TV are actually as strong as a 80 lb. dog! And they are no where as near as soft/cuddly as they look, their fur is actually quite stiff and they are powerful!

One of the three lion cubs in the pen that we petted decided he had a taste for my shorts. The next thing I knew, he was gripping my knee on either side with a massive paw (including massive claws). Now, this might not seem like a big deal until someone extends these cubs claws and you see that they are about 3/4" long and razor sharp! The gamekeeper came over and said "It's alright, o'kay?!". How was I supposed to know if it was alright, I'd never been in the grip of a lion cub before! He then proceeded to thump the lion cub on the nose and I thought "Great, a lion has my ham in his jaw and this guy is hitting it in the face, this can't be cool!".

I guess it was good that my Hubby managed to take a picture in the midst of this. Apparentely thumping a lion cub on the nose is an effective tactic because he let go. Just as I was giving a sigh of relief and preparing to stand up, the cub decided my camera-bag strap looked like a great new toy. Repeat the last senario except a camera strap in place of my leg! I now have a camera strap covered with dried lion cub spit as a souvenir, as well as a pair of shorts with lion tooth and claw marks in them. The ass of the shorts are also covered with South African dirt from me sitting down in the midst of the teeth/claw incident.

The above was the most exciting part of our trip to South Africa (besides all the great people we met there). I was stuck in our hotel room most of the trip (it was, after all, a business trip) and therefore we didn't get out much but were nonetheless way impressed with the country. After being awake for nearly 45 hrs. and making it through about 19 hrs. of flight time and 4 hrs. of airport running around, we managed to finally sit our asses down on our own couch.

Of corse, we still had postponed Christmas decorating to do, as well as belated celebrating with our families.....And here we were hoping to relax!!!!

Happy late X-mas and New Years to the TFP community! Glad to be back, I missed you guys!

Ali

P.S. I haven't had time yet but I hope to post some of our pictures for you to see!

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'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, The frumious Bandersnatch!'--Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll

"You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Glava

From what I hear, South Africa is really unsafe, especially for whites. Out of curiosity, did you see any extraordinary security measures, such as armed guards, at your hotel or any other places where they would not normally be found in the United States?

Ganguro

*laughs uncontrollably for several hours*

ShaniFaye

welcome home alicat!!!! It sounds like such an awesome experience...Im jealous, I've always wanted to play with feline cubs. I always imagined it like a kitten experience magnified by 100

Cant wait to see any pictures you have!!!

Glad to have you back safe and sound

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

tecoyah

Truly....this sounds like a wonderful adventure.....welcome home, and glad you had a good time.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

whocarz

I don't think being black would make it safer.

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If there exists anything mightier than destiny, then it is the courage to face destiny unflinchingly. -Geibel

Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else. -Marcus Aurelius

Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever? -GySgt. Daniel J. "Dan" Daly

Glava

Ok. A black person and a white person walk through downtown Johannesburg. Which one is more likely to be left alive?

K-Wise

I once took a picture with a full grown tiger. Then went off to play with tiger cubs. It is just like a kitten experience except just a little scarier when they start playfully bitting and swatting at you. Lion cubs though..they were in a cage (I later found out why) they were adorable but my dumbass didn't even think and reached in and picked one up. Ya know when ya pick up a cat that doesn't want to be picked up and it sticks it's arms straight foward and retracts it's claws like it's going to swat you? Yeah this one did that and showed me it's fangs so I was just kinda like "Okay lets put you back down now" and I got the hell outta there.

So you didn't get to take a jeep around the safari for a little while to see the wildlife Ali?

Asta!!

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"I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project

It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys! - Asta!!

nowthen

from what i hear, prime steak is really awful. so, i have decided to not eat prime steak. whats more, i am going to post stupid comments on forums about prime steak, not because i have ever tried it, but because i have heard it tastes bad.

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"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

George Bernard Shaw

tecoyah

Quite insensitive, Borderline racist, and completely irrellevant to this thread.

Now back to your regularly scheduled "welcome home"

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

alicat

Thanks for your responses everyone! We're still busy playing keep-up with our families since we got home and I haven't been able to respond till now.

Thanks for the welcome back Shani and Tecoyah! We're glad to be back home and to the TFP (hubby and I--he lurks like ShaniFaye's Dave does!).

Glava: Your question is legitamate, I wondered the same thing myself for months before we actually went. All I could find on the net were horror stories about the crime and violence in South Africa and I was, quite frankly, scared to death to go there. I really (sorry) can't give you a satisfactorily answer because the company my husband was working for put us up in a very nice hotel. We were in the Protea Centurion hotel in Centurion, which is between Johannesburg and Proteria. It was a very nice area with a pretty upper-class mall adjacent to the hotel. I still looked over my shoulder most of the time but I went to the mall 3 times by myself (which included a long trek through a parking lot filled with people following you trying to hawk cheap products the whole time).

Yes, there were security guards, (2) in the lobby of our hotel and multiple guards in the next-door mall. However, the mall was quite unlike any mall I've been in here in the US. The terrain in South Africa is very hilly (and I mean tiny mountain hilly) and the mall was built onto a hill and therefore it was three levels tall to acomedate the land. It was very unique in that the main body of the mall was outdoors (concourse, running north and south) and exposed to the elements while there were multiple offshoot hallways (running east and west) that were indoors. There were security guards almost everywhere you looked. As paranoid as I am, I (and my hubby) felt perfectly safe walking through the mall, although we didn't dare take our camera there to take pictures because we were told that would target us as tourist's and we might be followed and robbed. The bottom line: we didn't have any trouble but we were also in a pretty upper-class area and not downtown Johannesburg.

K-wise: Not in the traditional sense of the term. Like I said, we went to a private "Big Cat" park which is on a much smaller scale but you are still able to see the animals up close. From what we heard, it's actually better because you can go on a safari in, say, Kruger national park, and there is no guarantee that you will get to see any animals, much less the "Big 5" (lion, elephant, rhino, giraffe and buffalo). In a small, private park you are sure to see the animals (although I admit it is somewhat disheartening to see them penned in like in our American zoo's). I should say that only the giraffes, baby lions, (2) tigers, hyeanas and boars were penned in. Otherwise, the boks, zebras, buffalo's, wildfowl and ostriches were free-roaming on acres upon acres. The adult lions and older cubs, as well as the hyeanas that weren't rotated to the walking part of the park, were also in free-range area's, just seperated from the other animals they might prey on. Unfortunately for us, the park didn't have elephants or rhino's (or, maybe, fortunate for those two animals!)

I'm not going to go into too much depth because I don't want to get into any arguments, but hubby and I were both sickened by the state of racism and the seperation between whites and blacks there. Anti-apartheid happened a decade ago and yet from what we saw and experienced, we might as well have been back in the US a decade or so after the Emancipation Proclimation was enacted. We in the US have no concept and are not told about the state of race relations as they stand now in South Africa. As (white) American's, we both felt ashamed and embarressed while with white South African's (for their behavior) and also saddened and sorrowful towards the black South African's we met (for their situations and plight) Although we didn't feel it was our place in a foreign country and culture to vocalize any of that. The white people would have looked at us like we were crazy for caring about the black people and the black people also would have thought we were nuts for caring and/or voicing our compassion. I can't even tell how many strange looks I received from black people (which, sorry to say, fill almost all the service industry jobs) when I asked or said as I normally do, "How are you?" or "Have a nice day!". We were very, very sad to experience the state of affairs in the country.

Nowthen: I'm sorry but I have no clue as to what you mean...

Again, thanks everyone for posting and when I finally figure out what I'm doing (completely computer illiterate!), I'll post some photo's!

Ali

__________________
'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, The frumious Bandersnatch!'--Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll

"You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

pinoychink790

welcome back!