Monday, November 29, 2010

Last Moments Overseas...

Hello everyone,
On my last day in South Africa Aunty Gwen and I visited the Groote Schuur Hospital where the world's first heart transplant was performed by Dr Christiaan Barnard (also the hospital where the medicine students - including Adrian and Rob - do a lot of their work!). This monumental event occured on the 3rd December 1967. Dr Barnard performed his 'maiden' operation on Louis Washansky, with a heart donated by Denise Darvall, who had been fatally injured in a car accident. Although Louis didn't live for long after the operation (18 days), the heart transplant was a success. He eventually died of pneumonia.
The hospital has a section which is set up as a museum that is dedicated to the incredible history of heart transplants and the wonderful work that Dr Barnard did in the advancement of medicine worldwide. It's such an inspirational museum! I'm so glad that I still had a chance to visit before leaving.
After the museum we caught up with Adrian and Rob who were on campus studying and doing exam work. The four of us went out for lunch before Aunty Gwen, Rob and I headed to the airport, with Adrian heading back to hit the books! It was a strange feeling, that drive to the airport. It really meant that the end was near... I had to say goodbye again to our very special family living so far away... take a long trip home and then life would go back to 'normal'...
I had such a wonderful time in South Africa! Thank you Aunty Gwen, Uncle Andre, Adrian, Rob, Simone and Danelle for making it a trip to remember! I had an absolute blast and made so many good memories. It was hard to leave - be sure to keep a 'spare' bed for me as I'm planning to be back :) Soon I hope!
Love you all,
God bless,
Sarah xxx
Time for a last note before leaving - taken quite ridiculously early actually :)
The first home I'd lived in for a very long time, complete with a newly planted garden! a lot like my 'real' home in Australia. If you look out of the top windows you can even see Table Mountain! pretty special :)
Last tourist stop

Dr Barnard in his younger years, at the height of his career

Operation details - check out the time of the anaesthetic!

The operation itself - it's unbelievably lifelike, even though it is a model

Holding/shaking Louis Washansky's hand in congratulations for making it through!

The beginning of the last leg of a very long and happy journey around the world

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Safari

A few days after our dinner at the Africa Cafe I headed off on a overnight trip to a safari park. I went to Aquila Private Game Reserve, which is about 2 hours away from Cape Town. I caught a bus to the reserve and spent a night in the glorious African country side, being treated to some incredible sights.
My package included 2 games drives, accommodation in a little chalet and all meals (which were absolutely massive - I certainly didn't need that after the Cafe experience!). The set up of he park was excellent and the facilities were incredible. I was blown away by it all! It was a wonderful experience which gave me an opportunity to see some of God's amazing creatures that I had previously only seen in zoos or pictures. That's just not the same!
The best thing about going to a game reserve is that you're fairly well guaranteed to see all of the Big 5 (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard - which we saw in the infirmary) in a small amount of space and time. When you visit the bigger parks - where you are allowed to drive yourself around - you'll have a much lower 'hit rate' of spotting animals. Everything has its own positives though!
Next time I go to South Africa I'm going to head to Kruger to see if I can spot some more of these awesome creatures! Want to come with me??
As always, enjoy the photos
Love Sarah xxx
Checking out the views out of the bus window as I headed to Aquila

My welcome drink and first glimpse of the game reserve - patrons MUST NOT jump the fence as buffalos will charge!

The accomodation and dining area - blending into the environment fantastically

A massive bed all to myself!

An outdoor shower - it was pretty chilly in the morning but lots of fun to shower outdoors - I've never done that before :) It was raining at the same time which was pretty cool

Standing just outside my 'hut' - which was really close to the fence line. I did see buffalos up close quite a few times :) So exciting!

The outside of my hut - as you can see, it's split into two sections so this is actually two huts (photos loaded slightly out of order...)

Our safari cars - pretty cool hey!

First glimpse of wildlife - springboks! This was a young male herd
Next up, hippos! I just love hippos and I'm so stoked with this photo :) It's incredible that I actually managed to capture the baby with his mouth open!

One of two elephants in the park - they are both quite young still

What you lookin' at?

Zebras! A baby and its mother - they barely moved the whole time we were watching them

Just grazing, as you do!

This was a zebra with attitude! It rolled around, jumped up and did all sorts of crazy things :)

This is a baby white rhino - and although it's not white in colour it is the correct name! The word white in the name of the white rhino is a mistranslation of the Dutch word 'wijd' for wide, which refers to its square upper lip. The black rhino has a pointed/hooked lip

I love the clouds in this one

Some more friendly white rhinos :) You can see how close we came to the animals

Not phased at all by the safari car

We had a snack break half way through our afternoon safari - impressive view, don't you think?!
Enjoying a glass of sparkling grape juice - even though the sun was out, it was pretty chilly, hence the layers :)

The lions are kept in a separate area so they don't attack the rest of the animals. They were really relaxed and wandered around the car quite happily! Our guide did get a little nervous :)

Animals gathering together - an incredible sight!

Birds around the waterhole

I managed to capture this hippo with his mouth open! It was pretty tricky as it all happened so fast :)

When I came back from our first safari I was greeted by this gorgeous elephant on my bed :) and a chocolate too!

Our early morning safari left at 6:45 am. The first animals we spotted were wildebeest

The wildebeest were moving a lot, probably headed off to find their breakfast :)

The sun coming up - isn't the light incredible?

The one and only giraffe I saw - we barely saw the giraffe - we were sooooo far away. I had a lot of troubl seeing them with my naked eye as they easily camouflage into the environment. Let's just say that I saw the giraffe through my camera lens :)
A male lion watching the other safari car (see how close?!)

One of my favourite photos!

Let's not forget the ostrich :) Our guide told us that the male ostriches are the ones with the 'voice' and female ostriches can't really make a noise... they only hiss. How unfortunate...

The buffalo, up very close! The buffalo are very vicious animals and do attack. Our guide didn't hang around here at all! He put his foot to the floor and we were outta there :)

The amazing view across the park with animals scattered around :)

Hippos having their morning wash - I love this shot


My view at breakfast time.... it's hard to see but there were buffalo and ostrich roaming around near the fence. I was pretty happy with that! Talk about food with a view :)

And as I headed back to my hut to get ready to go, what did I see? A buffalo that came to say goodbye :) Pretty special

One super stoked Sarah
It was a fantastic ending to an amazing overnighter! Well worth it, that is for sure.

Africa Cafe

Hello again,

After I'd been in South Africa for a week or so we all went out for dinner - to celebrate our time together and the wonderful country that Aunty Gwen, Uncle Andre, Adrian, Rob, Simone and Danelle live in!

It was a bit of a 'farewell' and 'thank you' dinner but we had it a little early because Uncle Andre was going to a Medical Conference in Barcelona - a pretty good location for a conference, I must say!!!

I thought it would be cool to try out an authentic Africa restaurant - a rather touristy thing to do but the locals I was with loved it too!

They served what is called a Communal Feast - which is 15-16 dishes of traditional African fare such as vetkoek, Morroco warm lentil, chick pea and rice salad (brought back memories, Mel!), Xhosa spinach and maize balls, Channa fish and much more. As you can see the food comes from all regions of Africa, including South Africa, rather than simply SA.

We were also treated to an African handwashing ceremony, some face painting, some traditional music and of course plenty of delicious food. We were so incredibly full that night that many of us didn't really each much breakfast the next day...

Check it out on http://africacafe.co.za/ - the website is really interesting and tells you the cafe's story. And be sure to visit if you are ever in Cape Town!

Enjoy the photos, I'm sure your taste buds will be very tempted :)
Love Sarah xxx
True African style

Decorated beautifully

All ready for our feast!

Adrian, Simone, Danelle and I - we were seated in the Egyptian room (had me dreaming of my Egyptian escape!)

My fantastic South African hosts!

Rob enjoying his traditional handwashing ceremony :)

Mozambican sprout salad

Spiced basmati rice, Xhosa spinach and maize balls, Tanzanian spinach in ground nut auce

Sesame chicken kebabs

Aunty Gwen's face painting

Us girls with ours

and again slightly more clearly :)

Traditional music and dancing - plenty of rhythm and audience participation as well!

Our host, Teddy, and me

Almost all of us

All of us together just before leaving!

The menu
We had a fantastic night together! Definitely one to remember :) Even the people on the table next to us thought we were having more fun than they were! It was rather amusing for us to see them watching us intently throughout the whole night :)
All photos are compliments of Uncle Andre. His camera is WAAAAAAAY better than mine! Thank you for copying them for me Uncle A! Now I have some fantastic pictures to remember the fun we had.