Hi Guys,
I am well aware of the sheer magnitude of my slackness when it comes to keeping up to date with this thing.
I would apologise but where would that get us? Instead I will try and cram everything that has happened in my life since the last blog into this one....I sense I may fail but let's give it a shot!
My most recent adventure included a week spent in Durban with one of my girl friends from the course. We splurged and paid for a 4 star hotel room. You know you've been away from civilization way too long when carpeted floors make you excited. We were also situated about 1km from the largest shopping centre in Southern Africa, which was both dangerous and amazing.
The last sememster at Bushwise would have to be one of the most stressful times of my life to date. With the final exam and practicals crammed into 4 weeks we were all highly strung and a little sleep deprived to say the least. But everything worked out fine, I passed the exam with 81% and my practical was a success in spite of a few stupid mistakes on my part. My practical assessment drive included myself kicking open a container housing a venomous scorpion on the way to the reserve, then running into 2 male lions having a stand off in 2 different reserves by the road, some lovely giraffe, zebra, kudu, impala, a detailed discussion on dung beetles and then a very close encounter to a male elephant in musth.
We had our last assessment on the 16th of Nov and that afternoon were treated to a leaving lunch at one of the local reserves (Moholoholo). Most of us were not only exhausted after the exams but were also madly trying to pack up the last 5months of our lives to start our placements the next day. Yes that's right, the next day. No rest for the wicked it seems. The last day was probably the hardest for all of us as we said goodbye to the people we'd seen pretty much everyday of the last 5 months. I cried hysterically for a good hour at least and finally proved to everyone that I did in fact have feelings haha
This brings me to my current location, Nkambeni Tented Camp, yes tented, as in I live in a room with canvas walls...it has its downfalls i won't lie. The lodge itself is actually located just inside Kruger National Park, which is pretty cool, there is an electric fence around the lodge but as soon as you step out of the gate you are surrounded by wild animals. Just last night I was at a party outside of the gate and walked in on the BIGGEST male elephant I have ever seen, some things in life you know you'll never forget and you can't quite comprehend actually happened. Every morning I'm woken up by the hippos that live in the dam just outside the gate, just outside my room. I've been sitting around here going slowly crazy for 3 weeks now though as I have to wait for documentation from the field guide association before I can register to start legally guiding, I've done some media and PR work for the camp in the meantime that's kept me pretty busy and thankfully my documents arrived today! Which means I will be able to start guiding sometime this week, very exciting and very nerve wracking at the same time!
Oh well, that's about all from me for now but I've added some photos to help with the story.
Peace out xx

Better Late Than Never

Well I think it is well and truly proven that I am beyond slack when it comes to keeping up a blog!

 I apologise to anyone who was waiting on baited breath for my breathtaking stories and adventures haha it's been a crazy month and a bit and while it feels like I've been here with these people for years it has also gone ridiculously fast. Every day of our week is planned out for us and any free time we have is theoretically spent studying for our weekly tests. Something I am avoiding studying for by updating this blog right now....
I'm not entirely sure how to cram everything I've done into one blog so I'll give it my best shot.
Currently we're at the end of our first week of second semester and life is definitely different than it was a few months ago! So far I have seen all of the Big 5 (White Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard) as well as Hippos, Cheetahs, Crocodiles, Baboons, every Antelope imaginable (fucking Impala) and more bird species than I care to remember.
In terms of subjects, so far we've covered Mammals, Survival training, Reptiles, Plants/Trees, Ecology, Taxonomy, Astronomy and I'm about to be tested in a few hours on Grasses, Geology and Viewing Potentially Dangerous Animals.
On the bright side I now know how to find south when lost in the bush, quite a few constellations, some stupid trees.... and where to shoot any dangerous animals for a kill shot.
They are yet to let me touch a rifle but that's coming up next semester so fingers crossed everyone here knows how to duck quickly.

This week half of us made the trip to Kruger National Park, which was good but quite annoying for me as you have to stay on the paved roads and there are tourists driving around in sedans who have no idea what they're doing. Seems ridiculously dangerous to me and unnecessary but as I've learnt here TIA - This Is Africa. We saw some great Ellie sightings and nearly saw an elephant flip the car of a stupid tourist who decided to park directly in it's path. FYI a male elephant is twice the size of your car and if you park in front of him I will be hoping the Elephant flips your car for being a jack ass.

The 2 best experiences I can relate so far from game drives would have to be firstly our very rare Leopard siting in which we found not only a female leopard but her cubs as well. For those of you who don't know, Leopards themselves are insanely difficult to find but to also find leopard cubs is a miracle! Then as we were watching the cubs and mother suddenly we heard impala making alarm calls in the background. This is usually a sure sign of a predator of some sort in the area. At this point both cubs made a dash for it out of their hiding place and into the opposite bush at full pelt. Then as soon as they had disappeared a pride of lions appeared, surrounding our vehicle and chasing the mother Leopard up a nearby tree. They then proceeded to fight over the remains of her impala kill stashed in the bushes while others sat under the tree she occupied waiting for her to come down. This was an experience of a life time and made everything I did to get here worth it.

Then 2 weeks ago we all started taking the game vehicles out by ourselves on drives. Meaning we drove while the group was in the back and trainer in the passenger seat. These vehicles are very different to drive than my old Saab but brilliant all the same. On my second time driving we came across some Lions chilling out in a field. We observed them for 10 or so minutes then decided to make our way back, as driving back we ran into the other male and female lion of the pride taking a rest on the road. Again we observed them for 10 or so minutes and then turned around the same way we came. As we made it back to the original Lion siting we ran into the original male and female deciding to make a move. At this point I am tailgating lions up the road trying not to piss them off by getting too close. Let's just say it was a surreal experience. As we slowly made our way following the lions the male lion decided to lay down on the side of the road. My trainer then told me to quickly pass him so we could try and get around them. I drove forward and literally passed a fully grown male lion 1m away with a car that is open roofed with no doors. At this point he also turned around and eye balled me. At this point I was running off a combination of nerves and adrenaline. We then came to the female about 10m up the road who had decided to take a rest in the middle of the road. By this point we're stuck between a male and female lion with the only light being our vehicle spot light. Our trainer then decided to turn off the spotlight just as the the 2 lions started roaring. Let me tell you something, there is nothing, and I mean nothing that makes you feel more inadequate or ridiculously edible than 2 lions roaring less than 10m away from you in pitch black!

We have 20 people in our group, let's see if I can remember them all....

3 Americans - Macon, CJ, Hayley
4 Brits - Kate, Emma, Andy aka Andilicious and Ashley
2 Germans - Tina and Ben
2 Dutch - Frank and Mayra
1 Irish - James
1 Portugal - Vic
6 South Africans - Sean, Lawrence, Nuria, Debbie, Shawn, Matt
and me.... the only Aussie

Let me tell you I never thought I would miss the Aussie accent but after a month of this motley crew all I wanted to hear was the twang of an Australian accent with a nice cold Bundy and coke in my hand!

We had our week off last week and 4 of us went off to Cape Town for the week off to kill our livers. We had a brilliant time and literally started drinking every day by 11am. We became regulars at some of the bars down by the waterfront and even have the t-shirts to prove it. Much rugby was watched by myself and Emma (Brit) in that bar and our shirts prove it. Not only do we have matching shirts but somehow her and myself ended up with the same jeans, shirts and thongs. So obviously the next step it matching propeller hats...stand by for photos in the near future.

We all went shark cage diving when we were in Cape Town as well and while eating a meat pie and orange juice at 4am in the morning for breakfast seemed like a good idea at the time, it wasn't the best the second time round when it re-surfaced over the side of the boat. The water was rough to say the least and I haven't puked that much since my 18 year old days of tequila and jager. I did thankfully make it into the cage though (FYI coldest water known to man) and looked a few great whites in the face 30cm away from my own. I would also like to add I managed to throw up under water...something which is much more difficult than it would seem I assure you! I also managed to stalk and find a few Aussies on the trip, some old ladies on a Robin Island trip and a random guy in a restaurant haha

Anyway, I need to go get some study done so I can hopefully stay here!

FYI I'm never coming back so you must all come and visit me! haha

Miss you all!

xx

Anna Savanna

Prologue

Well it's officially less than a week until I leave this great Southern Land of Vegimite and strange marsupials. 
My bags are finally (if not completely) packed and all I have to worry about now is the back problems I'm going to have after carting them around... 

If I do manage to make it across the great wide world to South Africa without becoming a cripple then all I have to worry about is everyone's constant warnings of not getting stabbed or shot (very reassuring sentiments I must say). Then again I ventured into Logan recently and came out unscathed so I feel I'm pretty well prepared for the upcoming trip. 

As for the dangerous animals, what Australian doesn't face at least one deadly animal on a daily basis? Granted some of Africa's are a little bigger and more likely to eat me alive but at least it'll give me a little warning before attacking and be a much better obituary than falling victim to a red back on the toilet seat. 
Whilst there would be a poem to commemorate it I feel death my lion or elephant trampling has a more bad ass feel to it. 

While I'm not sure I've even set this blog up so people can read it yet and I don't promise to be studious enough to keep it up to date I thought I'd give it the ole' college try and get the ball rolling. So I hope you enjoyed my strange and mostly morbid ramblings and look forward to much more in the future. 

Ps. here is a photo of Mount Kilimanjaro aka my backpack. 

xoxo Gossip Girl....jks lol nah it's Anna