Cheetah Attack?

A taxi bus picked us up at 8:30 Monday morning and drove us to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Campus where Tarin gave us a tour and told us the best (or worst) places to eat lunch if you wanted to have a run in with a monkey—yes, monkeys live on campus! She showed us around the campus before introducing us to a tour guide to give us an introduction to Port Elizabeth. We learned a little about the history of the city, the derivation of the name from a former magistrate's late wife, and the economy of the city. He finally drove us to the highlight of the day, the Kragga Kamma Game Park.

The nine of us piled into a Land Rover 'Bakkie' with a game park diver and we drove around the reserve to see all of the animals. Although not as legitimate as a real safari, the game park was a cool way to see a bunch of the native African animals without being too afraid of danger or having to drive too far. We drove right up to herds of Water Bok, Zebra, Wildabeast and Impallas. A giraffe crossed our path and we grazed along with a blind white rhino. The animals were so beautiful and the landscape looked like it was glowing in the sunlight.

As we made our way off of the vehicle and back to the lodge, an ostrich took interest in Brittany's shiny camera and chased her all the way down the hill and almost into lodge. It hung around outside the glass door—waiting for Brittany—until it finally gave up and ran off to peck at something else. Brit got so scared and the whole situation was hilarious.

We paid 50 Rand (just over 5 dollars) to play with some tame cheetah cubs that were a part of the facility. They were so cute and were purring as we walked in to say hello. Their fur was course and thick and I think they enjoyed the attention for a little while but got a little rambunctious. One of them wanted to play with Katie and took a swipe at her leg as she was bending down for a picture, leaving a mark on her thigh. I took my picture, kicked around the basketball with one of them and peaced out before it decided I would be its next 'playmate.'

I napped as we taxied back to the apartments where we decided to cook separately but meet up for dinner. I made stir fry with rice, onions, garlic, red and yellow peppers, mushroom, chicken and a chopped stir fry mix seasoned with sweet chili sauce. YUM! Ashley brought over some wine and cheeses for the group and we spent the rest of the night enjoying each others company and drinking wine.