Asher’s African Adventures

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Asher Shaul

What’s up, everybody! I’m back with another blog post entry! Recently, one of my Israeli cousins, Imri, came to visit us for 6 days. The five of us, my two dads, my sister, Imri, and I, went on many awesome adventures together these past few days. Our first exciting adventure was when we went to table mountain and a farmer’s market. We first went to the farmer’s market where we saw and tasted lots of new foods. We even met our NEIGHBORS there, who are taking a tour around Africa. After the farmer’s market, we went to table mountain. Instead of hiking up the mountain like we normally were, my family and had just come from Kilimanjaro and were very tired, so we instead took a cable car up the mountain! Up on the mountain, we saw even more Marvins (See previous posts; they follow us everywhere!) and we got a fantastic view of Cape Town. It was chilly, but it was very cool and it was worth waiting for 30 minutes in line.

The next day, we went to the airport and flew to Johannesburg. At the airport, we met our guide and we went to Kruger Park, the home to thousands of African animals. After an extremely long, 5 hour car ride, we arrived at the park and got into a jeep. We finally started our safari in Kruger Park. Although, we got a pleasant surprise when we first entered. When we entered the actual preserve for the first time, we saw a group of Impalas being stalked by a single, female lion! She didn’t chase after them because of all the commotion the other people were causing. After that, the rest of the first day we just toured around and saw the different animals. But, there was one animal that made the day. As we were driving through a clearing, we saw, 8 feet from us, a fully grown leopard walking. Leopards are very rare in the park and we were in the park for about 1 hour and we already saw one! It was very exciting because I never saw a leopard in the wild before! After that, we saw more animals and our first day ended.

Day 2 went like day 1. We saw elephants, impalas, and more animals scattered all around. We even saw another leopard that crossed the road!! We saw lions that were actually resting on the road a while after. They looked very young and they hadn’t eaten anything in a while, it looked like. There were 2 boys and 9 girls, we could tell by the manes. A few hours later, we saw a full grown lion male and another group of females walked on and next to the road. After that, we saw a baby elephant enjoying its surroundings with its parents. Then day 2 passed by enjoyably and we saw a lot of awesome stuff.

Day 3 passed by faster than the other days. From 6:00 to 8:00, we went on a safari, but didn’t see anything to impressive… except for an African Wild Dog!! They were really rare and it looked very cute. At 8, we left Kruger Park and I ate a delicious chocolate-chip muffin at a cafe. We said goodbye to our guide and went to the airport where we finally left for Cape Town.

The safari was very fun and I would do again anytime! I saw so many new things that were amazing and it was one of the best parts of my whole Africa trip.

Posted in Asher's Blog Posts | 4 Comments

Killer Kilimanjaro: Asher’s Climbing Experience

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Asher Shaul

These past six days have been exciting. For those who haven’t heard the news, my family and I have climbed on the fourth tallest mountain by continent: Mount Kilimanjaro! Mount Kilimanjaro is actually made up of 3 volcanoes: Shira, Mawenzi, and Kibo. My family and I climbed up Kibo, which was the tallest of the 3 peaks, and the only one that is still a dormant volcano!! Our trip to Kilimanjaro started off by flying 13 HOURS to the country of Tanzania, to a city called Dar Es Salaam. The flight was very painful because we were constantly going through security and we had very bad airport food that tasted like junk. BOTH WAYS. On the way back to Cape Town, I had a burger that was so bad that I didn’t finish it(It was the first time that I didn’t finish a burger!). After the long process of traveling, we got to a hotel where we got our last rest in a clean place until after the trip.

The next day, we got ready for the trip. We woke up and our guide, Marwa, came to us and checked that we had all the right equipment for the climb. After he checked our equipment, we went to a gear shop where we rented gear to climb up the mountain like extra jackets, gloves, extra pants, sleeping bags, and long socks that would all protect us from the cold. Then, we got to the Kilimanjaro Park and, after all the preparation and work, the six-day long trek to the summit began!

Although the trek lasted six days, it felt much longer than it actually was. It was due to the fact that our daily hikes were over 3 hours long and that I was very tired most of the time. The trek to the first base, when I was well prepared, was 3 hours long and I got tired at about 8% of it. When we finally reached the first campsite, it was located in the woods and although the cabins were packed next to each other, my family and I got our own cabin to the 4 of us! In addition, there were monkeys called blue tailed monkeys that hung out near the huts and giant ravens that wanted to steal our food. The first day ended up being successful and we got a good night’s rest. However, the rest of the journey wasn’t so peaceful as the first day.

On day 1, we woke up in a hotel and started to climb a few hours later. On days 2,3,4,5, and 6, however, we woke up in a wooden cabin, immediately got dressed, had breakfast, and started to hike. It actually wasn’t as bad as it sounds, although it was uncomfortable at first. For breakfast, my family and I had porridge with hot tea. Afterwards, we got dressed, brushed our teeth, and set off on a six-hour hike to the second camp with Marwa and our 14 porters who took some of our bags. One of my favorite parts of the entire experience was all the nature that we saw on the mountain. There was so much wildlife and it stunned me how much the enviormnet changed as we progressed up. We even saw a couple of Marvins in the trees!!! The majority of hiking going uphill towards the summit was very sunny and exhausting because there weren’t any breakpoints. When we reached a lunch point, we stayed there for 5 minutes at the max and started to move again, but we did have time to look at all the nature around us. When we got to the campsites, we often stayed there for the rest of the day and rebuilt our strength. We always got our own cabin except for the night before the summit, where we shared a cabin with 8 other, noisy people :(.

On the day of the summit, we woke up at 10 pm and began our ascent to the summit. Waking up at 10 was not fun, and preparing for a long hike made the situation even more tiring. After we finally got ready to hike up, we got our headlights and made up our way to the summit in the cold, dark night. The hike up was the hardest physical thing I had ever done and it got even worse as my mind kept telling me that I couldn’t climb up and I kept on growing tired with every step. I considered stopping and turning around many times on the hike, but I knew that it was my mind playing tricks on me, so I pushed on. Finally, at 7:00 am, I finally summitted the tallest mountain in Africa!! I learned that if I really wanted to get something done, I could get it done if I put my full mind into it.

Because the hardest part of the climb was over, the climb down was really easy. I raced down the mountain with 2 porters and it was very fun. Climbing down was very relaxing because we weren’t in any hurry and we slept soundly in another wooden cabin. The hike down to the gate was 6 hours, but it was very easy. But then, at the restaurant before we left for the airport, I ordered fish and chips. Guess what I got: A whole, fried, un-boned fish that looked like it just came out of the water and chips! I literally threw up because of the heat and this unexpected surprise. Although, overall, the entire experience was very interesting and although I wouldn’t do it again, it was very educational and would recommend Kilimanjaro to anyone who wants excitement and something different.

<–A Marvin in the tree(middle branch)!!!

Ella, Asher, Ofer and Troy reach the roof of Africa! What a High….

Posted in Asher's Blog Posts | 2 Comments

Ella’s Kilimanjaro Climb

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Ella Shaul

Hello! My family and I have just gotten back to Cape Town from Moshi, Tanzania where we went to climb the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, Mount Kilimanjaro. We first flew for two hours and landed in Johannesburg, South Africa for a two hour layover, went to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for another two hour layover, and finally flew for one hour on a propeller plane to Kilimanjaro International Airport where an amazing trekking company called the Kilimanjaro Brothers drove us to our hotel. After getting a good night’s sleep, in the morning we woke up, got dressed, and, when our guide came to make sure we had all the right equipment, discovered that we were very unprepared. We were lacking ski pants, raincoats, wind jackets, glove liners, flashlights, water bottles, camelbaks, backpacks, and sleeping bags in addition to the thermal shirts and pants, thermal socks, heavy gloves, hiking shoes, winter jackets, normal clothes, and hats that we had brought from Cape Town. In addition, we were all missing durable walking pants except for Troy. Ofer and Asher easily found pants their own size, but me?, nope! I had to try on FIVE pairs of pants before I found the closest one to my size. It was still too large! SERIOUSLY?!!! There is no way I can be the smallest person to climb with the Kilimanjaro Brothers! Our guides said that I was “mosquito-sized”. It was really funny. Anyway, after we got our equipment we drove to the entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park. On the way there, Asher fell asleep but I looked out the window and saw many interesting things. I saw people washing and scrubbing their laundry, a group of little boys toasting to something with bottled water, small children gathering bundles of sticks, parents dusting their stoops, and people talking, walking, and working. It took three hours for us to eat a small lunch and buy entrance permits for the park, so we were some of the last people going into the forest. The rainforest. Yup. Kilimanjaro houses almost every kind of ecological system, including cultivated land, rainforest, heath, moorland, alpine desert and an arctic summit. I know that this sounds really lame, but the first day was one of my hardest climbing days even though it shouldn’t have been that difficult. As we trekked we saw many animals, including blue monkeys, colobus monkeys and rock hyraxes (Marvins!). By the time we reached the Mandara Huts on the Marangu Route (the first camp on our journey), we were exhausted. We soon had tea, ate dinner, and went to sleep. The next day, we crossed over from the rainforest to heather and moorland, though nothing eventful really happened, and repeated our evening ritual (tea/dinner/sleep) at our hut in a camp called Horombo. The following morning, we commenced on a short hike to a place 45 minutes away called Zebra Rock, called so because of its striped exterior. The lines, according to AfricanMecca Safaris, were inflicted by “ice too hard to be melted by the sun that thawed against the sun-warmed and thermally heated rock, ran down black basaltic lava rocks in white zebra stripes of ash-derived salts”. Anyway, let’s just say it looked pretty cool. At Zebra Rock we built mounds of rock towers for good luck and watched the fog cover the mountain. Then, we returned to the camp to play Uno all day in order to get used to the altitude (the Uno didn’t help with the altitude, by the way :-)). Once we had woken up and eaten breakfast, my family and I proceeded to climb up to a Kilimanjaro base camp called Kibo. Once again the hike was uneventful, but Asher and I talked about random things the whole way (Disneyland Character Costumes, Conspiracy Theories, etc…) so the trek was pretty easy, albeit crossing over to alpine desert. We also learned a traditional Kilimanjaro trekking song,

Jambo, Jambo Bwana (Hello, Hello Sir)

Habari gani (How are you?)

Mzuri sana (Very fine)

Wageni, mwakaribishwa (Foreigners, you’re welcome)

Kilimanjaro yetu (to Kilimanjaro)

Hakuna Matata (There is no problem)

Kibo was different than all of the other camps because unlike the rest of them we only stay there a few hours before summiting. Therefore, there are six bunk beds per room, meaning that my family and I had to share with eight other people. Luckily, we snagged the beds closest to the door. Our neighbors we so loud that I didn’t sleep at all. We woke up at 10 pm, got ready and began our climb to the summit. Though everyone was tired and we were cold, I continued talking about silly things just to distract us. Once we crossed over to the area of arctic summit, Asher began to feel faint. I’m sure he will describe this to you in more detail, but my toes were going numb and he had to stop every 15 seconds. When Ofer decided to stay back with Asher and for Troy to go up with me because it hurt my hands and feet to stop moving, Troy began stopping every 15 seconds. I love you guys, but come on people!! I hurt just as much as they did, and because I was trying to keep a strong face they disregarded my feelings. This resulted in me crying because they wouldn’t listen to me. Anyway, when we finally got to the top we rounded the crater and got to the icy summit! There were large glaciers gleaming in the sunrise. We then proceeded to climb down to Kibo where we ate and took a short nap, interrupted only by a group of German people singing like drunks (Ofer told them to go away). Then we hiked down to Horombo and finally went to sleep. In the morning we ate and hiked past the heather and moorland to the rainforest where we saw more animals (including Marvins). We were also able to pay more attention to the beautiful greenery, from the vibrant moss to the thick vines. After taking a break at our first camp, Mandara, we returned to the park and ate a lunch of chicken and french fries (much to Asher’s delight). On the drive to the hotel we stopped at an outdoor coffin store which made a very interesting picture. As well as the types of things I saw on the drive to the mountain, I also saw a little boy perhaps six years old selling raw fish on plastic rings around his hands (I just thought that was interesting). As soon as we got to the hotel, we all took showers, though Ofer had to change showers three times because they were broken. We then went to dinner at the hotel and received purple Kilimanjaro shirts and Official Summit certificates logged and supplied by the government. Troy orders pasta, Ofer orders chicken, I order grilled fish and Asher orders Fish n’ Chips. However, when they bring Asher’s Fish n’ Chips they are not Fish n’ Chips. Rather, they are fish……AND……chips! It was seriously a full fish, scales, eyes, bones and all, and french fries! In combination with heatstroke and this unexpected meal, Asher threw up. After a couple hours of sleep, we drove to the airport, suffered through a series of flights for 13 hours, landed in Cape Town, ate, and went to sleep. Then, we prepared for our first day of online homeschooling: today.

Ella

24-3-12-6-18-3-17-15…  18-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-24!!

Ella at Sunset, Horombo Hut. Mt. Kilimanjaro

Horombo Hut, Kilimanjaro

Stacking stones at Zebra Rock, Kilimanjaro

Ella, Asher, Ofer and Troy reach the roof of Africa! What a High!

Posted in Ella's Blog Posts | 2 Comments

Asher’s African Safari

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Troy, Ofer, Asher and Ella

Hi everyone! It’s been a blast in Africa so far. I’ve been on a river cruise,  we saw the Victoria falls, and went to a village!  The first thing I want to talk about is the river cruise. Starting off, the cruise was 3 hours long! My family and I got on a tourist boat that went around a river as the tourists spotted animals. Once we got on, we immediately saw a herd of hippos relaxing in the river! They kept on sticking their heads out of the water and going back in. There was even a baby hippo that was also doing it and snorting water! However, I fell asleep during the cruise and when I woke up 2 hours later, I saw a giraffe in the distance! I slept through the part where there was nothing in the water and I was glad that I did. It was a fun cruise with loads of cool wildlife. The next day, my family and I went to the famous Victoria falls! The falls were a lot bigger than I thought they would be and the mist in the air caused us to get very wet! We even saw 3 monkeys fighting over a piece of food! It was a hiking tour that took 2 hours, but was worth it. The last thing I will talk about today will be when we went to a house in a village. There, we met a kind villager that taught us about life in his village. He had many chickens that were used for bartering and a dog that kept patrol to make sure no intruders came into the village. He had a large family that was also very kind to us and told us that he had multiple small kitchens that each had a different purpose. The winter kitchen was where women gave birth and they also prepared their dead for the burial. Men also could marry more than one wife. So far, our trip so far has been awesome.

 

Posted in Asher's Blog Posts | 2 Comments

Ella’s Day-by-Day Safari Posts

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Ella Shaul

Hi! Here is a post of the past seven days because we had no internet. Sorry I didn’t post this earlier!!

July 29, 2018, Sunday 

Hey! Today my family and I got on a plane to Zimbabwe! Once we landed and got settled in our hotel room, we went on a wild and marine life river cruise on the Zambezi river, half of which is part of Zambia. We saw a family of hippos (there must’ve been at least five of them) with a little baby hippo! All of the hippos kept bobbing in and out of the water quite close to us. One of them was so close that when he/she yawned we could see all the way down into his/her throat! On the boat, we also saw two crocodiles and the neck of a giraffe in the far off distance. However, as we headed back to the dock we saw two giraffes at the water’s edge. They were beautiful. Once we saw the beautiful sunset, we went to a local restaurant for dinner. There, there were about twenty people completely drunk and singing songs in Mandarin…

July 30, 2018, Monday

The next day, we went on a tour of the Township, where people with jobs live, and the Village, where the people farm for their own survival, barter with livestock, and can’t pay for running water (they have a pump installed by UNICEF) or electricity. Family groups that live together work like this: If parents have both male and female children, the males and their family live with them while the females live with their husband’s family. Villagers prefer females because they receive a dowry and therefore live better, but males are also good because they take care of their parents when they’re old. A man may have multiple wives. The huts that people live in are made of mud and water molded into rounded brick shapes. The roofs are made of dried and have to be changed or covered every seven years. The walls of the huts are painted with natural paints made of rocks and plants. At one hut I noticed that the paint was painted on with a toothbrush! The family living in the enclosure of huts were very friendly, and one girl with wild hair was very enthusiastic and sweet. They live by a very interesting ideal: Their last name translates to “Baboon”, so they make sure that all the baboons are safe from harm and that no one is hunting them. In this way, all the families are responsible for protecting their name and there is harmony. Once we’d left the Village we went to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls. This was one of the reasons for our whole trip and had reason to be. The falls are the largest above ground in the world and are so powerful that even on high ground far away from the water the mist it creates soaks innocent bystanders…

July 31, 2018, Tuesday

The following morning, we drove across the border of Zimbabwe to Botswana in order to get to our hotel, the Chobe Safari Lodge. In the afternoon we got into a Jeep and drove to Chobe National Park in the hopes of seeing some animals. In the end, we saw over 31 types of animals; giraffes, elephants, zebras, hippos, impalas, kudu, lilac breasted rollers, fish eagles, maribou cranes, guinea fowl, crocodiles, baboons, vervet monkeys, lions, mongooses, water buffalo, cape buffalo, african buffalo, wildebeest, leguaans (water monitors), kori bustards, african wild dogs, puku, bushpig, pangolin, bushbuck, common eland, vultures, waterbuck, warthogs, and the rare Sable Antelope. We saw many of these animals closer up because of our Jeep companions’ shared binoculars (thanks guys!). They knew a lot about birds. There were many interesting occurrences on the safari, but I’m only going to mention a few. The first thing happened when we drove to the water’s edge to see the hundreds of elephants together (which is already odd because that almost never happens), and we saw twin baby elephants!, which is very rare. Before we drove away the second thing happened (which my parents insisted I include). We saw two baboons mating. Once we headed back into the trees, we went to the meeting area for a break and to stretch our legs. There, one of the vervet monkeys stole a bag of chips from another Jeep! Then, when we headed out again we saw rare Sable Antelopes! They are really rare! Then, as we headed back to the lodge, we saw a hippo to our right. This was incredible because they rarely stray away from the water, but then it got even better. The hippo crossed the dirt road immediately in front of us and yawned! Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, we saw the hundreds of elephants we saw earlier climb up the sloping ground to their sleeping areas. This doesn’t seem very amazing without seeing it yourself, but it was absolutely magical…

August 1, 2018, Wednesday

The next day, we woke up early in order to have a safari partly in the dark. Though we saw many of the same animals the day before was indisputably better. However, we saw five lions instead of the two lions we saw the day before. After the morning safari, we went to breakfast and witnessed quite a few warthogs casually enter the restaurant and just walk around. Later on that day we went on another boat ride along the river and saw many animals on the island between Botswana and Namibia, including more elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, hippos, and more birds, a new one including the kingfisher…

August 2, 2018, Thursday

The following afternoon we crossed over the Botswana border back over to Zimbabwe after suffering through a very long line, ate lunch overlooking the Gorge by Victoria Falls at a restaurant called the Lookout (duh), walked around the town, and did little else…

August 3, 2018, Friday

Once again, we woke up early in the morning. This time it was in order to take better sunrise photos of Victoria Falls, courtesy of Troy (thanks a lot Troy!!). Sure enough, the view was much better and we could see more of the falls without the sun gleaning off the mist. We even saw more rainbows this time! After a small breakfast, we got on a plane back to Cape Town, ate dinner, and went to sleep…

Today

Thanks so much for reading, guys! I really had fun on this excursion and am looking forward to our next one, whatever that may be. This post has taken me hours to write, so once again I apologize for the posting delay. I love you guys!

Ella

5-3-12-6  19-1-23-1-26  21-23  1-13  4-8-17-1-5-4!  1-26-’14-14  7-6  8-21-13!!

Posted in Ella's Blog Posts | 1 Comment

Big Cats, Marvin Marmots and Dolphins…. Oh My!

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Troy, Ofer, Asher and Ella

It’s our 4th week in Cape Town and things don’t stop getting awesome. I’ve been doing a lot of awesome activities with my family. Although my day at the penguin sanctuary was awesome, my day at a big cats sanctuary and whale watching was also very awesome. My day started with me waking up at 6:00 am. It was not the funnest part of the day as you can imagine. Once my family and I got prepared, we took a very long, 2 hour car ride to a big cats sanctuary🦁located far away from Cape Town.

 
While we were there, the tour guide showed us very strange and native big cats that I have never heard of like black leopards and white lions. A cat I didn’t know existed before was a caracal. It has big black pointy ears and is very common in South Africa. All the cats had all been rescued from very bad conditions and were brought to the sanctuary to live the rest of their lives in peace🐆. Some were put in places were a person payed money to shoot a random lion and some were even kept as pets! People should never visit big cat parks that allow you too touch and care for the cats because the staff are really mean to the cats and they beat them up whenever a customer doesn’t get their way. The tourists aren’t trained in care-tacking and wind up doing something bad to the cat. The cats there reminded me a lot of my cat, Bruno, who acts a lot like them. They kind of look like him, too.🐈
 
After the big cats sanctuary, we drove downtown to a park with lots of cool sculptures. They were geometric and some represented humans doing cool stuff. Later that day, we went whale watching🐳! We rode in the water for an hour while we native southern right whales feeding and teaching their young how to swim. They were called the right whale because when whalers killed them, they would float instead of sink. Anyways, whales weren’t the only thing we saw on the tour. We saw dolphins in the water jumping up and down🐬🐬! They were really cute and we got really close to them. The catch(pun intended) of the trip was that it was really freezing and that there were big tides, which isn’t good for anyone seasick😖. But I haven’t told you about one of the best parts about that day. Remember Marvin from my last blog post? Well, there was a whole cluster of Marvins on a rock!! There were at least 16 of them and they were all munching on bits of grass and staring at us! It was a very fun day that couldn’t have been better.
Posted in Asher's Blog Posts | Comments Off on Big Cats, Marvin Marmots and Dolphins…. Oh My!

The Glass Penguin Fits! A New Princess Is Crowned! Written by Ella

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Ella Shaul

Hello! Sorry guys, I would’ve written this post yesterday but we were all really tired after going out. We had woken up at 7:30 in the morning, gotten dressed and gotten in the car (I, of course, was already reading). First, we went to another winery. Yes, another winery. However, this place was more than just a winery. They also make chocolate, beer, cured meats, and glass! In addition, they also have cafés with really good coffee (according to Ofer). This winery is called the Spice Route At the glass store we saw workers actually making glass, and I bought a glass penguin for my glass animal collection (I represent places or events with glass that describes them, and we saw penguins in Africa!). Once we’d left the Spice Route, we drove to a place that makes goat cheese, called Fairview. As soon as I opened the car door I knew this place would be magical. As we walked up the path to the main building we saw in front of us a bridge. On this bridge, was a very old goat. He had enormous horns and sat regally above us on his bridge. Connected to the bridge’s left was an enclosure with more goats, and also, a tower. And, inside the tallest room of the tallest tower was a goat! A princess goat! It just brings tears to my eyes!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your beard!

After beholding this wondrous monarch, we proceeded to go into the main building where we all tasted some amazing African cheeses and wine (or juice for Asher and me). On our way out, our beloved princess was still in his tower and another goat had joined the alpha goat on the bridge. We then went to the little town of Franschhoek where we had lunch. After that, we simply drove home and enjoyed the view… Of course still thinking about the princess.

Ella

4-14-14  24-4-1-14  11-17-1-13-5-6-23-23  10-3-4-26!!

Posted in Ella's Blog Posts | 3 Comments

RIP Honey

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Ella Shaul

Rest In Peace Honey Shaul

Beloved chicken and friend, you will always be remembered

2017-2018

She is lived on by her sisters, Tweety, Matilda, Kiwi, and Hazel, her friends, Ella, Asher, Troy, and Ofer, her companions, Trixie and Bruno, and by all the visitors who visited her in the chicken coop

7/24/18

Posted in Ella's Blog Posts | 2 Comments

Ducks and Cheese: Ella’s Perfect Day

Posted on July 24, 2018 by Ella Shaul

Hi guys! Yesterday, my family and I went on a full day excursion where many things happened. First, we drove to a winery (I read A Column of Fire by Ken Follet in the car because I WAS NEVER TOLD OF ITS EXISTENCE even though the first two books, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are some of my favorite books. Looking at you Troy!). The first thing we did at the winery was go look at their animals. They had a goat and two black pigs in a pen, as well as some chickens. When I walked over, the two pigs acted like dogs and came to me, lay down, and wanted to be scratched and petted. I complied because they were adorable. On the way back to the main building of the winery I noticed that we were walking on very interesting ground. It was a dark, dulled purple, and I thought it made an amazing walkway. Then we realized that it was all peach and apricot pits! I thought that was genius. Then, we waited. We had not come here for wine, but for ducks!  At this winery live 1700 ducks and they get fed three times a day. This results in what is called a “Duck Run”. That’s right. A Duck Run. There are handlers with flags and a running track that the ducks charge through to get to their food! The result is absolutely hilarious. In the end, all the spectators get a bag of food and the ducks eat out of our hands. It’s really great. We then drove to another winery where Ofer and Troy sampled wine paired with chocolate. Asher and I did the same, but our wine was the exact same as theirs, just without alcohol. It was very sophisticated grape juice. After that, we went to eat lunch (and Ofer and Troy sampled even more wine). I had an enormous platter of different African cheeses! Then we went to a jerky store where we got some really good beef jerky. Our last stop of the day was at a crocodile breeding farm where the animals are bred for their skins. Then, we went home, watched some TV, and went to sleep. 2-2-2-2-2-2-2…

Ella

Posted in Ella's Blog Posts | 2 Comments

Care for the Caracals: Ella’s Call to Action

Posted on July 22, 2018 by Ella Shaul

Ok people. A lot of interesting stuff has happened since my last post. A couple days later we went to Robben Island, the place where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner. 10 days after we went to see the penguins we went to a bird sanctuary. There were many types of birds, most of them very colorful. There were also many species of monkey and other animals such as lemurs and meerkats. Some of the birds were Marabou Storks (they were kind of ugly)! A couple days later we went to a cat sanctuary called Panthera Africa: Big Cat Sanctuary. There, we were told about the back stories of their 23 animals. Most of them came from breeding farms. This is the way breeding farms work: 1) Adult cats are forced to breed *in order to get certain colors or types of cats, siblings and other family members (even parents and children) sometimes mate* 2) After 1-6 days the kittens are taken away from their mother so that she will breed again sooner *a female cat will sometimes have three litters in one year* 3) The kittens are rented to zoos where they are hand-raised *the employees are told that the kittens were rejected by their mothers or that something else happened to prevent their being raised naturally* 4) After a couple weeks the kittens are ready to be able to be petted and handled by humans and their children *this causes them to become used to humans, meaning that they cannot be released into the wild* *when the kittens play and accidentally hurt someone they are punished* 5) After a few months the kittens become big enough to be walked with a stick *the tourist holds a stick and can walk amongst the cats* *they are holding the stick that the cats are beaten with* 6) When the cats become too big for human interaction they are returned to their original breeding farms where they are mistreated *cramped for space* *malnourished* *beaten* 7) The cats are sold to canned shooting companies *where people pay to stand outside of a fence and shoot the big cat (with nowhere to hide) *in addition, these are trained cats who may even run forward to meet a person* for their ego *they are too beaten and scarred to be used for trophies* or are used for breeding. Any place where you are allowed to touch an animal, think about why that animal is so placid. The employees are told LIES so that they tell you lies. You shouldn’t go to these places, but if you do, ask the employees questions! Make them think! Support places like Panthera Africa. Now, on to a happier note. I think I found one of my new favorite animals! It is called a Caracal. There were three of them at the sanctuary, Max, Jack, and Amy, and they are absolutely beautiful. I learned a lot about them and the other animals. After that, we went whale watching and saw seals, dolphins, and Southern Right Whales, called so because when people used to hunt them they would float when dead, making them the “right” whale to hunt. I look forward to writing more soon!

Ella

1   ❤ 5-4-17-4-5-4-14-23!

Posted in Ella's Blog Posts | 2 Comments