Hluhluwe, St. Henry's Marist College and Durban culture and tourism

Tuesday June 8th

GREETINGS FROM HLUHLUWE

Today after arriving to the Zulu-Nyala Game Lodge in Hluhluwe yesterday afternoon, was the day in which we finally got to experience an African safari. This morning we broke up into two separate 4x4 trucks and each went on a 2 and 1/2 hour adventure through the 300,000 acre Hluhluwe National Park. Both groups were able to see many impala, boar, buffalo, zebra and giraffe, but only one of the groups was lucky enough to see a herd of elephants. Overall only 2 of South Africa’s Big Five (lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo & leopard) were seen, but even so everyone had a great time.

Following the safari we headed to the St. Lucia Estuary where we took a boat ride to view crocodile and the animal that kills the most humans in Africa- the hippo. While on the boat we got close (but not too close!) to several pods of hippos as well as a few lonely crocodiles on the shore. On our bus ride back to the Game Lodge, Professor Summers had the bus make a surprise stop at a beach where the students had the opportunity to swim in the Indian Ocean. This once in a lifetime opportunity was worth the soggy and sandy bus ride back to the lodge.


















Wednesday June 9th

GREETINGS FROM DURBAN

We departed the Zulu-Nyala Game Lodge early this morning and headed directly to St. Henry’s Marist College in Durban. When we arrived 4 hours later, they had already prepared a luncheon with faculty and several graduating high school seniors. After lunch we learned more about this small, private catholic school and had a tour around its campus which was very nice. It is however, located between a township and a very wealthy suburb of Durban, a discrepancy very similar to many others we have seen in South Africa between the ‘Haves’ and ‘Have Nots’.

Later on after checking into the Tropicana Hotel, our group made our way to uShaka, the aquarium and number one theme park in Africa. There we were able to enjoy a dolphin show, the penguins getting fed, and some of the sea life indigenous to South Africa. Before dinner we had an informal lecture on the Indian Communities in Durban given by Lecturer Ruggasum of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The discussion was very interesting and the students asked many in-depth questions during the subsequent Q&A period.

Less than one week is left on our South Africa experience and we are very excited to be heading to Johannesburg tomorrow!