Ha oho na matata.

All the photos I have from the safari in Kruger National Park, from my birthday in Swaziland, and from the remainder of my trip throughout the eastern part of South Africa can be viewed here.

To get a better understanding of where I traveled, check out this map:

From: http://www.ezilon.com/maps/images/africa/political-map-of-South-Afri.gif

The morning of my birthday, we packed up at the backpackers in Swazi and headed back into South Africa. By that afternoon we had reached our next destination, St. Lucia, the world’s largest estuary. We relaxed small, then went out for deliciously cheesy pizza dinner with a group of newly-made international friends from the BP. Then Sadie and I (rather enthusiastically) made a giant bowl of guacamole while Joy photo-documented the night and Maren went hunting for Lefty, the one-eyed cat at the BP.

A Guac-tastic Night

The next day we went on a nice, hour-long walk to the beach. We had finally reached the Indian Ocean!

We splashed around in the water for all of ten minutes before a saw some storm clouds rolling in, so we headed back to the BP, but at least I collected some cool sea shells before we left! That night, we went out for sushi and I had THE BEST MILKSHAKE of my entire life. And then I got sick from it (or the sushi or the combination of the two) for nearly a week. Totally worth it though.

After St. Lucia, we made our way to the quaint town of Clarins, where even the trees are kept warm!

Then we made our way to Bloemfontein, one of the larger cities in the Free State province. The last night all four of us were together, we went to a festival at the University of the Free State.

Joy, Sadie, Maren, and Me at the Festival

Honestly, it was a bit strange for me. “There were so-so white people,” as we’d say here in Liberia, and I'm not used to interacting with large groups of them anymore. (Is that weird? How am I going to be able to handle coming back to America?!) The majority of them were speaking Afrikaans, which I had never heard being spoken before, so that was interesting. One thing I noticed at the festival and didn’t particularly like was that more of the festival-goers were the white, Afrikaans-speaking people, the black South Africans that were there were working in the some of vendor tents and shacks, and both groups mostly kept to themselves. But I'm sure if you really look for it, you'll find that sort of self-segregation anywhere.

At this point in the trip, Maren was going to fly home and Sadie had to return back to her site in Lesotho to begin school. Unfortunately, there just wasn't the time or the funds for Joy and I to see Sadie's site, so Joy and I stayed in Bloem for an extra day. We went back to the festival and ate multiple types of foods on a stick, including donuts, waffles, and chips. A bit of Americana had made its way to South Africa!

To get back to Johannesburg, where I had to fly out a few days later, Joy and I took an overnight bus. We had our new South African friend, Milton, come pick us up from the bus station at 4 A.M. (We met him in St. Lucia on my birthday, and he offered to help house us if the need came up...which it did since I had practically no money at the end of my trip.) I had never stayed with a couch surfer before, but I would definitely recommend it! Milton was so warm and welcoming and literally saved me from having to sleep in the Joburg bus station for the last 3 nights of my trip.

Why can't more people back home be as genuinely helpful?

Milton took Joy and me to the Joburg Botanical Gardens for a picnic one day, and we enjoyed delicious food and interesting conversation with people from all over the world. The next day, I was invited for lunch and tea time with his family and had a great conversation with Milton's mother, Michelle, who also gave me some books I could use as resources for ideas for income-generating activities with my Girls Club here in Liberia. It was refreshing to interact with people who were so helpful and expected absolutely nothing in return.

While I never made it to Lesotho ("Leh-su-tu"), Sadie taught me a phrase in her local language, Basotho ("Ba-su-tu") during my time down there. The phrase is reminiscent of Disney's "Lion King" (and a bit cheesy, admittedly), but it encompasses something that was reinforced for me during the last leg of my trip in South Africa. "Ha oho na matata" means "There are no worries." I really didn't need to stress out about money during the end of my vacation thanks to my incredible friends and the goodwill and generosity of complete strangers. All my worries from the end of the trip simply vanished because people looked out for me. Things like this reinforce the faith I have in others. I now know that when a sticky situation arises, others will be there to help you out. Someway, somehow, you'll make it through.