I woke up at 4am this morning with my stomach in knots. I really didn’t want to leave. I walked outside to the kitchen to see everyone, and hung out with them until they left to film for the day. I then went back to sleep and packed everything. I just kept thinking how much I didn’t want to leave throughout the entire morning.

At 9:30am, Liam picked me and Frank up, and drove us to the Kruger International Airport. I was nervous when I first looked at the outside of the airport because it looked like a thatched roof hut, which is something very similar to what I have been sleeping in for the past few days. Liam took a picture of me and Frank pulling our luggage out of his car, and then said goodbye, and left. We walked into the airport and it was stunning. The entire airport was about the size of Westchester County Airport, but it was made entirely of wood. We checked in and checked our bags, grabbed some food, went to the one shop that there was, and then got on the plane. Frank and I weren’t sitting next to each other, but the ride was only 45 minutes long, so it wasn’t that bad. The landing, however, was pretty bumpy and since it was a small plane, it was kind of scary. We made it to Johannesburg though, and got our checked luggage. We then went and checked in for our flight to JFK, and went to give back our rented cell phones. After that, we walked around the airport for a while, and went through security/customs. We found a place to eat, had some food (thanks to Liam, he gave us money for dinner), and relaxed until 6pm. At 6, we went to our gate and waited until 7 to board the plane for 18 hours 40 minutes with a stop at Dakar, Senegal to refuel. But before we boarded, we were all put in two lines—men in one and women in the other, and we were all pat down and had our bags searched again. Apparently, we are now not allowed to bring any liquid on the plane even if it was purchased in the airport. Pretty ridiculous. After that, we boarded the plan and we were on our way JFK and then to LaGuardia to meet up with QFS kids for our trip to Sundance!

The mix of cultures in South Africa is amazing. I have seen so many different types of people with different social classes, speaking different languages, coming from every walk of life. For example, when we were sitting in Joberg waiting for our plane to JFK, I saw a Muslim man praying in a corner while two men sitting near me played American rap on their cell phones, and the flight attendants spoke in a different language, possibly Afrikaans all in the same general area. I’ve seen people of extreme high class at the Waterfront in Cape Town dining at the 6 star hotel, to people who live in townships in Khayleitsha who basically have nothing. I’ve seen orphans that have been infected/affected by AIDS at Baphumelele, and I’ve met people like the spoken word artist Tulani and the waitress Aritha at Quay Four who wants us to send her a postcard when we get back to the States.The diversity in this country is amazing, and the landscape only makes it more beautiful.

This is a trip that I will never, ever forget. It may sound cliché, but it has changed me in ways that no one will understand. Not only did I experience some amazing things, but I became close to a great group of people. Liam was right, no matter how much I try to explain it; no one except the people who went on this trip will fully understand what I experienced, and how amazing it truly was. I can’t believe how fast these last three weeks have flown by, and I am so grateful that I was able to have the experiences and have them with that amazing group of people. You guys are the best!

We spent most of today driving around Kruger to see and film as many animals as possible. We were out of the hut by 5am, and instead of driving mostly tar roads like we did the day before, we drove mostly on dirt roads instead, with the hope to see more animals in places with less traffic. We ended up seeing a bunch of animals including hippo, monkeys, giraffes, crocodiles, warthogs, zebras, impalas, kudu, and another leopard.

We ended up filming impala fighting in the middle of the road, which is one of the things that Liam was looking for, so we were really excited. We also ended up filming monkeys jumping off of branches onto the floor and wrestling with each other, which was super cute and made me want to get out of the car and take one home with me.

While we were driving, we saw one of the park rangers, and he was riding a bicycle, which seems fairly dangerous considering all of the wild animals that are around that area, including the most aggressive animal, the hippo. After a second glance, we realized that he had a semi-automatic rifle attached to the bar of his bicycle, which was definitely a sight. We later talked to Liam about it, and he said that it was probably a ranger who was looking for poachers, and he had that gun because the rangers have the right to kill poachers if it’s necessary.

 After our eventful morning and afternoon of animal sightings, my car (Josh, Ben, Frank and I) and Jamie decided to go to the pool and relax and the boys did their laundry. It was hysterical to see the boys act like they were 4 years old and attack each other in the pool and pretend to pull me and Jamie in (since we weren’t swimming and were still in our clothes). We went back to the hut and we hung out for a while, and cooked dinner for Julia, Kay, and Max who went on the night safari. Since it was Frank’s and my last night, we all hung out for a while, took a bunch of photos. Liam also decided it was the traditional cigar night, and we toasted three times—to students who have traveled abroad from QU, to students who have gone on the trip before (our group makes 79 people who have done it), and to ourselves and the great documentary that will come out of this amazing experience. I didn’t smoke the cigar, but I have it as a nice little souvenir.

 It was really sad to go to bed, because I knew that as soon as I woke up, I’d have to pack and leave. I wish I could stay for the whole rest of the week, but I know that I’m going to have an amazing time in Utah at Sundance.

Today was absolutely amazing. I woke up at 3:30am to get ready for the rhino walk. I met up with the rest of my car in our hut, and dressed with our safari hats and boots, we got in the car and drove to meet the guides who would take us on a walk through the brush. We got to the parking lot at 4:45am, and got out of the car to see a man carrying the largest gun bag I have ever seen. We all introduced ourselves and got into the safari vehicle. The other guard, Peter, came, and we drove off into the beautiful African sunrise. We drove for about 15 minutes before stopping and getting out of the truck.

As we got out of the truck, we saw two white rhinos (they are less aggressive) wallowing in a pond, along with an extremely rare bird that is usually never seen. After getting footage of that, the guards got their elephant guns ready in case anything charged us. Each gun holds up to 6 elephant bullets, which are at least 3-4 inches long and can kill an elephant on contact.

Both guards put 5 bullets in each of their guns, and we started on our trek through the brush. We saw spiders, rhino poop, birds, and dung beetles during the first half of the trip, and the guides were extremely knowledgeable about their surroundings and how everything in the brush is connected. We ended up climbing this huge hill full of rocks and bushes, and stopped for a morning snack of cheese, crackers, and apple juice. As we looked over the horizon, we saw a rogue bull elephant (male, extremely aggressive) wandering around below us. At this point, he was very far away and to see how big he looked even from that distance was astonishing.

After finishing our snack, we climbed back down the hill and started heading in the direction that the rogue elephant was going. We ended up catching up to him fairly quickly, and he was as aggressive as the guides were telling us. We were all in a single file line behind the guides, and Peter turned around to us at one point and said, “be aware, I may have to use my rifle.” As scary as that was, I really wasn’t that nervous because I knew that these guides knew what they were doing. The elephant looked at us, flapped his ears, and instead of charging us, saw a bunch of female elephants and decided to go over to them instead. We could see the “musk” that the male elephants excrete when they want a mate running down the back of his ears, and the smell was extremely distinctive.

After that close call, we walked back to the truck and drove back to the parking lot. We spent the rest of the day relaxing (it was one exhausting trip) and ended up going out for about an hour in search of more animals. We came back, napped, and met up with most of the group to do a night safari.

The night safari gave the bush a whole different feeling. We had three spotlights to find animals (by shining it in their eyes), and we saw bushbabies, zebras, hares, owls, crocodiles, and a leopard. During our drive, we pulled up to an owl standing in the middle of the road and I got footage of it eating an entire scorpion whole. Really cool.

The best part of the trip came 20 minutes before we were back at the parking lot. We were all searching for animals in the dark when all of the sudden our driver slammed on the gas and sped up the road, saying he thought he saw a leopard. We were extremely excited since most of us hadn’t seen a leopard yet, and we searched for about 30 seconds with no luck. Then all of the sudden, Max spotted it and it was right next to our truck! The leopard was a lot smaller than I would think one was, but it was beautiful nonetheless. It was extremely rare to see a leopard by itself on the side of the road, so we were so grateful that we were able to see one. We got a ton of footage for the documentary from it, and it was an amazing experience altogether.

When we got back, Liam and his wife Gwenny had prepared dinner for all of us, and we demolished it and went to bed.

Call tomorrow is 5am, and we’re going to be driving around all day long!

I can’t believe I’m leaving so soon.

Today our call was at 9am. We all met up and Liam told us what to look out for and where to go. Our car got the straight route up to Skukuza, which is the main rest camp. One thing that he told us is to make sure we wave to everyone we see because it’s a custom. We also found out that the night before, someone left a window open in Max’s car and the monkeys that are all over the camp grounds got into his car and stole all of the snacks they had.

We drove for a few hours and saw SO many animals including: kudu, impala (they’re EVERYWHERE and we now hate them), elephants, baboons, giraffes, rhinos, water buffalo, turtles crossing the road, wildebeest (when we saw them, Josh screamed, ‘you killed Mufasa!”), warthog, and a bunch of others.

We pulled up on this one dirt road saw a bunch of elephant poop in the middle of the road, and we got kind of nervous, and about 2km later, there was a GIANT rogue male elephant walking in the middle of the road, stopping both lanes of traffic. We got some great footage of it, and waited for it to move. When it was far enough on the other side of the road, we started driving around it, and all of the sudden our car stalled out. The elephant was about 10 feet away from us when Frank started the car and drove off. It was terrifying/awesome.

It is crazy to see all of these animals and know that they aren’t at all used to human encounters unlike animals at the zoo. At any moment, any of the animals could attack our car. So surreal and amazing. We all got back to the hut and cooked kabobs on the braai and told our crazy stories to each other.

Call tomorrow is at 4:45am, and everyone in my car is going on a walk through the brush with guys with big guns searching for wild animals!

So last night, we spent the night in a luxury tent inside a lion park. We fell asleep to the sounds of lions roaring, and it was absolutely amazing. Although, someone (not in our group) decided to leave the premises at 3am, and the alarm went off. I usually never wake up to anything, but that woke me up, and I listened to the lions roaring until I went back to sleep. So surreal.

Today we woke up, packed up, and went to breakfast at the local gas station. You know, classy. We got some croissants and snacks, and headed out for the 6 hour drive to Kruger National Park. I am in the car with Frank, Josh, and Ben, and it is one pretty hysterical drive. We ended up finding a CD that I forgot I had that had some 90’s throwbacks on it, and sang along as we drove across South Africa. About 2 hours into the drive, we realized that the back half of our 5 car convoy was gone, and we stopped at the nearest rest stop. It turns out that one of the cars had a blown clutch, and we all waited at the rest stop until Liam’s friend Donnie towed the car into the rest stop. Everyone who wasn’t in the broken down car kept driving and followed Liam, and the rest met up with us later.

The first half of the drive looked like the mid-west of the US, and the second half of the drive was drastically different, with much more foliage as we got into the more humid climate. The road started to narrow as we kept driving, and the highway turned from 2 lanes of traffic each way to one lane of traffic each way. In order for us to stick together, we had to let people pass us, and to thank us, the people that passed us used their hazards. I had never seen that before. It started to rain really hard through out the trip, and at times we couldn’t see the road which was somewhat problematic considering the mountains we were driving through. South Africa as a country is absolutely gorgeous, especially the mountains.

After re-grouping, we all went to the grocery store and bought food for the next week. Liam gave us each something to find in the store, and had us guesstimate how much we needed of each item and we went back with him to make sure it was the right amount. We were all exhausted and starving so this stop was not the most enjoyable experience, but we managed.

A trip that should have taken us 6 hours actually took us 9 hours and 45 minutes. We got to Kruger National Park all in one collective angry, hungry group and as soon as we got the okay, went straight to our huts to turn on the braai (the bbq) and start cooking our first full meal in a day and a half. It took us a while to figure out how to use the hot plates and set up the braai, but we managed, and all sat down as a family and had a wonderful dinner full with rice, corn, and chicken.

Tomorrow, call is at 9am (instead of the 4:30am that Liam previously told us), and we are going on safari! Time to break out my wild safari hat and see/film some animals!

Only a few more days left in this amazing country, and I don’t want to leave at all.

Today was an absolutely ridiculous day. It started off with the group meeting at 7:30am to go to the airport. We went into the airport and I went to check my luggage and realized that the travel agent from QU never booked me or Frank for the flight. Liam, his wife, Frank and I had to go buy another two tickets. This took FAR too long, and we almost didn’t make our flight. Frank and I basically ran through the airport, but we made it!

We all took our malaria pills right after breakfast, and after the plane ride, we all felt the side-effects from it. I felt pretty terrible after taking the malaria pills, and I decided to ignore Liam’s advice to stop taking them. We then picked up our rental cars, and had an hour trip to the Lion Park.

Well, let’s just say that the hour trip took MUCH longer than an hour, and the amount of problems that we had were outstanding. Max was having problems with his car, so we were following him and stopped in this SUPER bad area. There were police tazing bums in the street, and hearing that was somewhat terrifying but that’s okay. The place that we were stopped was really bad, and we stayed there for about an hour, I was super uncomfortable. In my car, we have Frank driving, and me, Josh, and Ben. One hysterical car, that’s for sure.

So once we got back on the road again, we were all in a convoy doing fine until we pulled over on the side of the road to make sure everyone was behind us. That’s when Frank hit the side of the curb pretty hard and basically destroyed the rim of the tire, giving us an instant flat tire. We took all of the stuff out of the trunk, and Ben changed the tire in 4 minutes! He should work for Nascar.

We drove to a gas station because we all had to pee, and that was by far the most sketchy bathroom ever, but that’s fine. We stopped at a stoplight and had this guy wash our windshield. He did it because he wanted a tip, but considering we didn’t want to pay him, and he threatened Frank, and then the light turned green and we sped off.
There were a lot of people who sell things like bananas and bricks in the middle of the street. We finally made it to the Lion Park and went on a little safari and got up close and personal with some lions. They were RIGHT next to our car! I got some great shots of them. Also, there is a giraffe on the grounds that apparently loves people and it came up to us and put his head down so we could pet it. We got some great pictures of him as well! Also, while we were in our camping area, the female giraffe managed to get into our camping grounds and decided to just chill all around the grounds eating the trees. She is also the aggressive giraffe, so we had to stay away from her or else we would have gotten kicked. We drove around the grounds a bit and saw some zebras, springboks, and some antelope too! This is getting us really excited for Kruger tomorrow!

Tomorrow call is at 7:30am, breakfast at 8, and we have to be on the road by 9 so we can drive for 6+ hours and make the gate at Kruger National Park by 6:30pm. If we don’t make the gate, we sleep in our cars.

Wish us luck!

Today we interviewed Herman Binge (pronounced Bing-ah), who is an extremely accomplished South African producer/director. He had a lot of interesting things to say about the South African film industry and how it could not possibly be compared to the American or European film industries. He spoke for a long time, and hopefully we can use some of what he said in our documentary.

After the interview, we took a drive to City Varsity, which is a college of sorts that teaches film to students after high school. We got to see some short films that the students made, and for their first year, the films were pretty good.

We duplicated another shot from Invictus by Moulie Point (a lighthouse), and while we were filming, a ‘homeless’ guy (still not sure if he was homeless or not) came up to us asking us for money/food. We said no, and continued shooting, but he kept following us everywhere. He ended up sitting next to Liam as he watched us film, and when we got back on the bus, Liam told us that he was probably on tik, which is a drug similar to methamphetamine.

We then drove for about two hours down the coast, and the view was absolutely stunning. We stopped off at a viewing area, and when we got out of the car, the wind was INTENSE. We took some pictures, and headed back on the bus.

We decided to duplicate another shot from another film, and went to film on a beach that was further down the coast. We started to walk down to the beach with our cameras, and the park rangers saw us and stopped us. After a somewhat heated argument between Liam and the rangers, we had to get back on the bus and were not allowed to film there. The best line of the day was Liam saying, “do I get arrested if I give these guys the finger as we leave?” Hahaha. We then devised a plan to hide everyone in the bus away from the beach, and have three of us (me, Kevin, and Jim) walk down to the beach like we were just going normally, and have the two guys film while I kept lookout for the guards. It worked like a charm, and we got the shot! Documentary making at it’s finest.

We then went to another beach, this time it was the Indian Ocean instead of the Atlantic Ocean, and I got to step into the Indian Ocean for the first time in my life! Awesome. There were also wild penguins on this beach, and we got a bunch of video/pictures of them because they were so adorable.

It was our last day in Cape Town today, and I will miss it so much. What an amazing two weeks it has been. Tomorrow call time is at 7:30, and we are on to Johannesburg, the Lion Park, and our final destination will be Kruger National Park!

Today we went to the Cape Town Film Studios, the biggest film studio in Cape Town. It is brand new, and just opened in October. The facilities were state-of-the-art and gorgeous. We saw some props and set dressings from a Hollywood film that I can’t name because we were forced to sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). We also got to drive through another township (still heartbreaking) and saw some goats walking on the side of the road. Liam turned to us and yelled, “look, it’s pre-smileys!”. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but smileys are township food, and are basically boiled goat heads. When the head is boiled, the cheeks shrink, and it looks like the goat is smiling at you, hence the name. It was a hysterical moment considering we’ve been trying to find a place that sells smileys just so we could see what they look like, but to no avail. We also were able to go to two equipment houses—Panalux and I can’t remember the name of the other one. These are the places that rent out equipment to commercials/films/etc. that film in Cape Town.

After this long day, we went for dinner at Quay Four, and ended up getting the waitress we got the night before (after a huge process of moving to her section). Her name is Aritha, and she’s AMAZING! She was so happy and loved us all. She even took a picture with us at the end of the night and gave us her information so we could send her a postcard from America. I’m fairly sure we gave her a 30% tip, but she deserved every Rand. She even came out of the restaurant to hug us all goodbye!

We all walked back to the hotel, and got panhandled by some homeless men that followed us for a good distance. This ended with Jim yelling some wild statement at them, and then they left us alone.

Can’t believe I only have one day left here!

So, I forgot to talk about a few things that happened yesterday, I guess the exhaustion/sun/heat is getting to me. Yesterday we also went to the Castle, a fort that the Dutch built. There, we saw the key exchange ceremony (and filmed it from all angles) and we looked through the few museums that are on this South African military base. We saw a dining table that had 101 seats, it was incredible! This is also what Castle beer (the beer of South Africa) is named after. We also went to dinner, and it was Indian food. Did not enjoy it at all. But you win some and lose some, so it’s okay.

This morning I woke up and heard the sound of vuvuzelas coming from across the courtyard. Pretty sure it was the guys in our group that are across the hotel and it was hysterical.

After breakfast, we met with Liam and he told us the schedule for the rest of the trip, and told us that when we are in Johannesburg, we are going to have to pitch an idea for a 5-6 part series to a pair of documentarians. I’ve already got a list of ideas, but I need a good brainstorming session to come up with some more. This is going to be one of our papers when we come back—we are going to have to write an entire proposal for a series that includes a budget and a schedule. Somewhat intimidating but really interesting, and I’m pretty excited to do it.

We all walked through the only 6-star hotel in South Africa, and wow it was gorgeous. I couldn’t even imagine staying there. I’m sure we looked so out of place with Liam in his safari attire leading a pack of 11 students with cameras, but that’s fine. I think he enjoys parading us around the city with our cameras. We walked over to Waterfront Studios where we got three separate tours through their facilities. They have a production studio, a post production studio, and a commercial studio. While waiting for the tour guides in the lobby, we watched American MTV on the television, and there was this great poster on the wall that said, “make films, not war”. I took a picture of it, but I can’t upload it until I get back to the States. Before the tour, the tour guide told us about the history of South Africa—it went from colonialism to slavery to apartheid and now, finally, democracy. He explained that over the last 20 years, South Africans have developed a way to be a part of a global community and now have the freedom to express and tell stories. He also talked about Johannesburg and Cape Town and the differences between the two cities, and there’s definitely a rivalry between the two cities that seems to be similar to the rivalry between Boston and New York.

We toured all three different aspects of film that the company works on (production, post, and commercial) and then went to the tv studio where they produce Hectic Nine 9, which is a kids show that four of us went on to talk about the documentary we’re making. Hectic Nine 9 was the first show to ever go live in Cape Town, and it attracts about 2 million viewers a day.

While waiting for the show to start, Liam told us a little more about Kruger, and told us that we will be in an area that inhabits two of the most deadly snakes in the world—the black mamba and the Mozambiquan spitting cobra. If you get bitten by the black mamba, there is no antidote for its venom. And if you see it, you won’t be fast enough to run away. Needless to say, I’m staying in the car when we’re there. It’s exciting though, can’t wait to go to Kruger.

Almost time for dinner/shopping/Quay Four, adiosssss.

Today we filmed a lot for the documentary. We went into downtown Cape Town by taxi and got shots of the technical school as well as the University of Cape Town’s art school and the local community center that has a film program. We filmed all of these to show the ways in which the youth can get involved in the television/film industry in South Africa, but even with these resources, we still have to show the many hurdles that students have to cross before being able to go to University. We also went to the District 6 museum, a museum all about the famous township of District 6 (which is what District 9 is based on). It was still incredible to see how these people were forced to live. We saw the ID cards that everyone had to have when they went anywhere in the city, and if you didn’t have it, you would get arrested on the spot.

We all went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while, then did an interview with a well-known South African actor that Liam has known for 20+ years. He is a great guy and has some great insight about the industry.

Tomorrow we are going to the Cape Town studios, which house a bunch of production and post-production houses and 4 members of the group are going live on national television. I was chosen as one of the people to be on tv, but over the past few days I’ve lost my voice so I don’t think I’ll be able to. It’s unfortunate, but that’s okay.