First, some of you might know that Ethan Zohn, one of Grassroot’s co-founders (yes, the Ethan who won Survivor) was diagnosed with CD20+ Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the end of April. He has been nominated as a finalist of the GQ Better Men Better World Search; the winner receives $10,000 to donate to his choice of charities. Ethan has pledged to donate all the prize money to GRS, HIV/AIDS, and cancer charities. You can check out Ethan and the other finalists’ background and information, and cast a vote at http://www.thegentlemensfund.com/final_vote.asp.
The weekend before last the PE interns rented a car and headed out to Tsitsikamma, meaning “place of much water” in Khoisan. The park is along the Garden Route, west of PE, stretching 80 km from Nature’s Valley to the Storms River mouth. We stayed at a hostel in Storms River Village where we met some great backpackers and spent two ridiculous nights. Dom convinced us all to bungy off Bloukrans Bridge, the highest bungy jump in the world at 216 meters (think MetLife building, and then picture me jumping off that).
It’s conveniently located just outside the park. We all agreed to jump, but as the day drew closer I began to have moments of panic, including elevated heart rate and sweating at random times during the day. Dom had been a couple times before and showed us videos of himself doing jumps, and then the day before we jumped he admitted that he was terrified. Good confidence builder.I spent the drive from the hostel to the bridge weighing the pros and cons of jumping. Pros = if I survive, I can say I jumped off the highest bungy in the world; my roommates don’t make fun of me for chickening out. Cons = death, among other things. The other three were getting pumped to some Linkin Park, but I couldn’t get into it. I had told a friend that I was going to do this jump and I was pretty sure I’d be crying at the jump-off point. Her reply, being the ever-supportive friend she is, was “Of course you’re going to be crying – make sure someone takes pictures.” (Thanks Whit) I’m proud to say I didn’t cry, though I did start to hyperventilate a bit when I got out of the car and saw the bridge for real.
We signed a form stating we weren’t too heavy to jump – no talk about health risks such as heart attack, blood pressure, or pregnancy (these were addressed on a sign in the gift shop that we saw after jumping). I signed on the dotted line, gave the woman my credit card, and hopped on the scale. I became 66/J11 (66 kg/Jumper 11). We harnessed up and headed down a path warning us to be aware of snakes, following it to a wire mesh bridge that led to the middle of the actual bridge. For those of you who have walked up or down a ferry ramp that you can look down at and see though the open squares, picture a similar ramp only smaller holes (not by much) and a springier tension. Raise yourself up about 700 feet and you’ve got the mini-bridge I had to cross to get to the actual jump. This ended up being the scariest part of the day – I kept my eyes on the back of Mike’s head in front of me and tried to take deep breaths.
We reached the middle of the bridge and climbed up to the jumping area. Loud music was pumping and the crew immediately engaged us in conversation, asking where we’re from, what we like to do, etc. I didn’t realize it until after, but their goal was to keep our minds off what we were about to do. Job well done by them. I was the first to go (not by choice),
so they dragged me over to a crate and sat me down to hook me up to the bungee cord. They wrap floatie-esque devices around your shins and then a strap that connects to your harness – your first point of attachment. This is reinforced by another strap, just in case you’re incredibly unlucky. While the guy was attaching my floaties, he told me the strap he was wrapping around my shins could hold up to 3 tons – I replied that I thought that should hold me and we shared a laugh. I’m sure he was humoring me. From that point, I put my arms around two of the guys so they could walk me out to the jump-off point (see picture) where they hold onto you and count down, “5-4-3-2-1 GO!!!” At that point, they don’t exactly push you off, but don’t give you any other choice but to jump. 
I threw myself off the edge of the platform and for a second looked out at the horizon toward the mountains, wondering with the hell I just did. I screamed until I ran out of breath and managed to keep my eyes open for the entire fall. The initial terror you feel shifts into a pure adrenaline rush as you move from being horizontal (see picture) to falling straight down, head first, arms spread (see next picture). The bounce is gradual and really peaceful once you realize you’re still alive. I started laughing and enjoyed hanging there for a while. I could see the mountains in front of me, and could turn my head to see the ocean in the opposite direction. My teeth and hands were numb with adrenaline. 
The one scary part about just hanging there, waiting for someone to come down to help pull you back up, is your feet feel like they could slip out of the floaties. I spent a couple tense minutes flexing my feet as tightly as possible, just hoping they wouldn’t slip and leave me hanging by my backup attachment strap. Thankfully, the floaties prevailed. One of the bungy guys was lowered down to meet me and he cranked my harness so that I was sitting upright for the ride back up to the bridge. Back at the bridge, a whole crew met me with high-fives and hugs, pictures and some more high-fives. I got to watch Mike and Sarah jump on a TV screen I hadn’t seen before I jumped. The music kept pumping and when the four of us had all jumped and been pulled back up, we had a huge group hug. Everyone was jacked with adrenaline and extremely happy to be alive.
From Bloukrans Bridge we drove into the park for lunch and a hike. We hiked the Otter Trail, which takes a few days to hike in total, but we only ventured in about an hour and a half to a fresh-water waterfall that runs into the ocean.
The trail starts by taking you into a lightly forested area that runs along the ocean. You walk out of 
the forested area onto a rocky beach where you can look up and down the coast. It felt like I was home being on that stretch of beach. The rocks were bigger, more like boulders, but a sense of peace came over me being that close to the ocean, running and jumping across the rocks. We hiked across the beach for most of the trip, climbing here and there on the taller of the boulders to look out at the ocean. The colors were intense and beautiful, and the waves were incredible.The waterfall came off the cliff that runs along the beach.
The water fell into a large pool that had formed in the rocks, and flowed down into the ocean. The water was freezing according to the boys, who decided to climb up next to the falls and then swim across the pool. I sat for a while watching the waves beat on the rocks, which are all shaped so that they slant downward toward the ocean – visible evidence of the waves crashing against them for hundreds of thousands of years. We hiked back to our car and drove to the restaurant at the end of the road for dinner. We stood outside for awhile after dark looking at the stars. The sky here is huge and when it’s clear at night we have incredible stars. We found the Southern Cross, and the other night we finally located Orion’s Belt.
Sunday was more relaxed, just zip-lining over a river and some waterfalls. Normally I’d be a little nervous zip-lining, but after the bungy, I feel weirdly brave. From here, sky-diving is probably the next step up in terms of extreme weekend outings.
So the next weekend we went to Addo Elephant Park, which is about 40 minutes outside of PE. The park has elephants (obviously), as well as lions, kudu (like reindeer), warthogs, jackals, rhino, etc. We decided to go for a sunrise tour, starting at 6 am.
It definitely wasn’t warm for the tour, which meant the elephants wouldn’t be abundant, but we saw an incredible sunrise and some of the smaller animals, like warthogs and jackals. We stopped to watch some jackals running around and the tour guide explained that males and females mate for life and are considered monogamous. If the female dies, the male generally doesn’t take another mate because he can’t leave his territory. Females on the other hand search out new mates, usually younger and who haven’t chosen a partner yet. The guide equated this to “what they call in America, a ‘cougar’.” (For those who don’t know, a “cougar” is an older, attractive woman who preys on younger men) After taking a second to realize what the guide had said, the four token Americans burst out laughing. He then asked, “Are there any cougars on board?” We replied no, but we did have two potential cougar victims with us. It’s amazing sometimes what filters through to other countries from America.We ended up seeing one elephant, though it was mostly hidden behind the scrub, but we didn’t get to see any lions out and about. In the car leaving the park, we decided to try to find a spot where we could play with baby lions – one of the boys had read about a place nearby that sounded pretty cool, and seeing as how it was only 9 in the morning, we figured we could kill some more of the day searching out Simba and Nala. Before we got outside of Addo’s boundaries, we saw a sign for a Lion and Croc Ranch. Sounded sketchy, but it had potential. We pulled off the road and headed inside, where we pulled a hungover you guy out of the bar where he was watching rugby to give us a tour. He worked at the ranch, tending the big cats. They had 4 or 5 pits of crocodiles, all of which were motionless and boring. We saw a Bengal tiger who would lick our guide’s fingers when he put them through the fence. After seeing the basic stuff, we got to the good part – the lion cubs.
We went into a large, caged-in area where four 7-month-old lions were hanging out under a tree. They seemed pretty big, but our guide walked right up to them and started petting and scratching their stomachs.
They would start to play with him and he would throw them around, bat their paws, etc. It took a minute or two, but we all finally sat down and let the lions sniff us out. Two of the males decided they liked the taste of my feet – they began licking and semi-biting my toes. It was weird/scary at first, but then it just tickled. Before I knew it, they were putting the paws on my chest and shoulders, and grabbing onto my hair. More scary than fun, but I tried to roll with it.There were 3 males and 1 female in the caged area. The female seemed extremely wary of us the entire time we were there, and she started to pace around while we played with the males. Out of nowhere, our guide tells me, “You need to stay still.” I thought he was kidding because it had been so light and funny, what with the lions licking my toes and all. “No, I’m serious…that one’s still got the wild in it.” So I had a “wild” lion creeping up behind me, neck exposed and everything. I started to
freak a bit on the inside, but the roommates say I seemed pretty calm. All of a sudden, I felt two paws on my shoulders, and then one went to my head and the claws came out, gripping a big chunk of hair. The other paw went to the back of my neck and just a little too much pressure was applied. This is when I started to freak outwardly, covering my face and saying something profound like, “Ow, ow, oh my God…” There was a moment of “Wow this is happening right now…I’m getting mauled by baby lions.” The guide grabbed the lion who was on my back and threw him off – apparently they just wanted to play. The so called “wild” one was actually still a couple feet away just watching me. It ended up being one of the playful males who jumped me from behind. Regardless, I got out of that cage and really had no further desire to play with the actual baby lions who we saw next. Any other day and they would have been the cutest cats I’ve seen, but I was bleeding a little and starting to worry about bacteria and infection and all the other stuff bio majors learn.
In case you’re wondering, I’m fine one week later. No infection, no serious scars, though that would have been pretty sweet. The boys were pretty jealous that I got attacked. They took pictures of the puncture wounds and kept looking at me like I had just done something seriously cool. Looking back at the pictures (because it was highly documented), it does look pretty badass.
In other news, I’m set and ready to go to the Training of Coaches next week. One of the Head Coaches is unable to go, so I think I’m going to be pretty involved and busy. I’m really excited to see how these are run – they’re a huge part of our success as an organization and it’ll be a great opportunity to understand how and why these trainings are so vital and successful. I’ll be sure to take pictures and update everyone when I get back next weekend.
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