A party, a safari, and a 5k: South Africa style

Promptly at 5:30 on Friday evening Mr. January and a few of his family members arrived at Algoa Bed & Breakfast to pick up a group of very excited teachers. We were about to have the time of our lives: a true South African experience with new friends. We had been invited to a party at the home of our principal! How thoughtful! We were told to expect good food and lots of dancing. Dancing? I am not gifted with dancing. By the end of the night, we all had no choice but to dance.

The ladies at Mr. January's house

Mr. January lives in a beautiful house on top of a hill that overlooks Port Elizabeth. Before we had a minute to take in the beautiful scenery, we were ushered inside to meet Mr. January’s family. We were able to meet his sister, nieces and friends. The aroma of home-cooked food scented the entire house. It was a feast! There was a delicious salad complete with avocado and apple, grilled chicken, mixed beans, and potato salad! Even though there was quite a crowd, there was plenty of food for everyone – plus leftovers! We were taught two South African dances that reminded me of the electric slide and of a fist-pumping dance that I learned when I was in Sweden. Although I was familiar with the moves, I still stepped on everyone’s feet!

Overall, the night was quite a success. Mr. January ended a night with a special toast to Dr. Roseboro and our group. We felt so honored to be included in the celebration and giving of thanks. In turn, we thanked him for the countless opportunities he has given us here in South Africa.


On Saturday morning we headed off on another adventure. One adventure that I had been anticipating for a very long time. We were going to Addo Elephant Park, a wildlife reserve about an hour outside of Port Elizabeth. Our tour guide was Mike, a friendly South African man with a plethora of knowledge about South Africa and the animals that live in the Eastern Cape.

I was immediately reminded of Jurassic Park when we entered into Addo. The reserve is the size of the country of Belgium! As you can imagine, it took us all day to navigate through the park. I didn’t mind! That meant seeing more elephants, my most favorite animal. Around 500 elephants live in the park! Within five minutes of being in the park, my friend Mary spotted them. Two elephants right next to our van! They were enjoying their favorite snack, a bitter tasting plant found in all over Addo!


Throughout the day, our group was fortunate enough to see 4 out of the “Big Five” animals that live in the park. The “Big Five” includes lions, rhinos, elephants, buffalo, and leopards. (We didn’t spot the leopard.) Wow! We were lucky! Lions had not been seen for months! When we pulled up to a watering hole we saw over 200 elephants drinking, swimming, and playing. They were all so beautiful! Mike shared some fun elephant facts with our group, so I’d like to share them with you.

The average life span of the elephant is 75 years.
There are two sets of twin elephants currently living in Addo.
Elephants can be right or left tusked. You can tell this by the size of their tusks. The smaller, more worn one is the tusk that they use more.
There are over 60,000 muscles in an elephant’s trunk.
Young elephants are weaned from their mother at three years old.
Elephants mourn the loss of another elephant. The process may take months. During this time, elephants may eat less and travel less.
Elephants have an exceptional memory.

Family is important to elephants. They visit family members and run to one another in excitement!

Elephants typically make four different sounds. A squeal, a grunt, a hum, and a trumpeting sound!

We had such a fun day at Addo, it was very hard to leave! Before we left, we looked at our checklist to see how many animals that we had seen. We saw elephants, lions, zebras, a meerkat, buffalo, kulu (a type of deer), antelope, cranes, warthogs, and various colorful birds. All of these animals are native to this region of South Africa. Thankfully, they are protected in Addo but they are still treated as if they live wild and free. Our visit to the park was even better than I had imagined it would be. It was such beautiful day, and we saw some animals I had only seen in movies such as the Lion King!

The girls woke up early Sunday morning to participate in the Ocean Racing Series here in Port Elizabeth! The Ocean Racing Series offers a 5k run, a 5k walk, a 1k walk for children and an ocean swimming competition! Two of the girls in our group chose to run and four of us chose to walk. I have not ran three miles in a long time, so I decided to walk instead. BIG MISTAKE. It is so hard to power-walk on the sand! (It probably would have been easier to run.)

The local newspaper, the Weekend Post, also targeted us because we our outfits made us stand out in the crowd. We were wearing BRIGHT yellow hats and over sized t-shirts that were given to us by President Zuma’s wife! She started an organization that raises awareness about the dangers of diabetes. We decided to honor her in the race by wearing the shirts and hats. As the four walkers approached the starting line, the announcer labeled us the “American Whooses” because we were walking. Embarrassing! At the end of the race, it was all worth it. We had completed a 5k in South Africa! We even made a few new friends along the way. Each of us were given medals and posed for a picture. That was enough to feel like a champion!