Kruger

(you can click on the photos to expand them)

I intend to post a lot about Kruger - but now I'm back in Cape Town, and just wrote out a to-do list with my collaborator, and I need to do some serious work :) It's funny to be back in heals and designer clothes, all focused-on work! I feel like a totally different person than I was yesterday... Fortunately I like work, otherwise I'd already be off on the next adventure.

I will work on posting pictures little by little! For now I wanted to post some highlights to share. The trip was AWESOME! LOVED IT! It was 5 days in Kruger, arriving late the first day, and leaving early the last, because it is a long drive from Joburg. The last day included a drive through the Blyde river canyon - the 3rd largest Canyon in the world - quite beautiful. I was exhausted by then though - we got up around 5am most days, and I was dead asleep by 9:30 pm! Dark falls fast there, and after a good meal cooked for you by the guide and a few glasses of wine, there's nothing better than a solid sleep! The accommodations were quite nice, though only mid-range for the camps (you can do everything from tent camping to luxury). I would recommend the company that did the tour:

http://www.outlook.co.za

I booked them, and the Joburg B&B and tour through EcoAfrica, but they can be booked directly. A better B&B was recommended than the one I used (which was good): Africa Sky - it seemed quite nice!

There were 3 other people on the tour - a nice couple mom's age from NW Canada. They were great! The other person was a young guy from Switzerland - very laid back. They made for great traveling companions! Our guide was very informative and took the time to learn what each of us was interested in and to make sure we each learned about new things along the way. He particularly quizzed me on tree-types... a new skill for me! I'm still working on it :) I learned a lot about birds, too.

We identified roughly 45 bird species, 25 mamels, 12 trees, and 3 reptiles. We saw 4 of the "big 5", all 3 big cats, 3 of the "small 5", 2 endangered birds (and countless other awesome ones), loads of young animals, individuals and large herds, and an elephant with HUGE tusks. Here are some highlights:

My companions: the Canadian couple bravely venturing from the car to read a plaque, and the Swiss and our guide spotting from the front seats











Endangered birds: the Ground Hornbill, and the SaddleBilled Stork











Moms and babies: Hyena, Hippo, Elephant and Baboon






















The "Big 3" cats: Lions, Leopards (yes, there is a leopard there!!), and Cheetahs






















An elephant with HUGE tusks:











Some great trees: Baobab, Marula, Sycamore Fig, and Umbrella Thorn Acacia























Blyde River Canyon: the Pinnacle, Berlyn falls, Lisbon falls, and Three Roundavels




























Accomidations: Mopani, Tamboti, and Skakuza (the first two are tree types, the third means "the one who clears" - the third camp is the biggest base, basically a town, and nearly 100 years old)

Update on the outreach high school day

I ran into one of the high school teachers from the LEAP school where I did outreach with my friends last Monday. I found out more about the school from him. He, himself, is an interesting person - an engineer who at ~45 (?) is doing a masters in physics, with a specialization in physics education research. He decided after a long industry career to go into teaching, and works at the school while doing his masters. A good guy.

The school is for people from the Townships (see my description in the Joburg post). They take youngsters who show promise in their schools, and send them on scholarship to summer camps. From the summer camps, they select the best in terms of doing well in school and leadership potential, and they offer scholarships to them for the LEAP high school.

It is a relatively new school, and funded by the government and by private agencies. Interestingly, the students at that school can no longer be considered "disadvantaged" for college like the ones I work with at UCT, because they have more money spent per person at the LEAP school. I wonder if in 4 years they can overcome the educational disadvantage they have from the Townships? They seem to be having success at the school, and the students were quite engaged in learning. It seemed they were all college-bound, at minimum. Some were even planning to go to UCT (the best school in southern africa if not beyond).

Pretty cool, huh?

Joburg

Greetings from Johannesburg. I'm at my B&B, waiting to be picked up by the safari guide. It'll be a long car drive today and I got up way too early! I'm totally psyched about the trip though. I got into Joburg yesterday at noon, and was picked up along with 2 other people for a half-day tour of the city. We spent some time at the apartheid musuem, and in Soweto - which stands for "south west township". It's probably the largest city in south africa - but it's technically part of Joburg. They call it a "city within a city". When the townships were formed (forced separation of the blacks) they were not allowed to have their own governance. The township now has over 4 million people. About 10% live in nice houses, 80% in "matchbox" houses - not bad but very small, and close together, and about 10% in shacks. We walked a bit around the shacks and met a family - but I most enjoyed the memorial to the children who were killed during the uprisings. The museum really put that into context. Recently, there have been uprisings against the refugees and dozens of people killed in the townships. It's funny because when I heard that I was a bit worried about going there (even though it has calmed down), but it's funny, because dozens of people are killed in any US city over 4 million and it hardly stops people from visiting! On top of that, tourists are a source of income, and are with guides all the time, so they aren't likely targets. Our tour agency took us around in a mercedes - it was kind of odd being there in the nicest car. I felt very conspicuous - doesn't help that I am way too white and well dressed to actuall LIVE there! In Soweto it isn't just the poor, though, we also saw Winni (spelling?) Mandela's house, Mandela's old house, and Desmond Tutu's house (still lives there).

I can't wait to see the big 5!!

Photos from Joburg:

The city - you can see it's just as any other city - has its high rises, even a small amusement park near the Apartheid museum!











Here's what built the city - gold mining. In fact, there are mines under the city and construction is a serious issue. One new building found a mine underneath and ended up stabolizing it and leaving it as a monument!











Here is Soweto - you can see a range of housing types, but not the worst or the best in this pic.











Here is a monument to the children in Soweto who lead the uprising in the 70's against Apartheid. On the left you see the photo of the just-shot child Hector Peterson that brought the worlds attention to the township problems.

Audrey Updates

My dog sitter is a grad student in my department - a very responsible one!! I am so glad to have Audrey staying with someone I can trust, especially while she is still recovering from Lymes. She has a dog, Arthur, that Audrey has quickly become good friends with. I took her over to play a few times, and we took a hike together before I left (the context of the photos here - you can just see the "three sisters" snow-covered volcanic peaks in the background of the one) so they could acclimate, and now things seem to be going great between them! I got a terrific email from her today I thought I would share here:

"Arthur has really figured out swimming in the past week and a half. Audrey pushed him to go our further and then he suddenly realized that he was a good swimmer. Saturday when we were at the river, he was definitely out-swimming her. Given that he is bigger and a bit stronger it's not surprising, but Thursday was the first time I had seen that much confidence out of him in the water, and they kept the same stick the whole time (which is a big deal for Arthur, though I'm sure old hat for Audrey). So on Sat we went and bought them a real water toy, since finding a good stick can be a challenge on the beach there since so many people take their dogs. They didn't lose it. Boy were they exhausted when we got home though. They napped for the rest of the day. She's teaching Arthur how to play frisbee. He's starting to get it more and more, so we'll see how that goes. We also bought them a tug toy because they kept wanting to tug with toys that weren't really going to hold up to tugging. So now they have a tug toy to wander around tugging on."

It warms my heart :) I miss my pookey little girl so much!!! Apparently she still has a bit of a limp - but her energy is obviously back up to normal!! Her spirits were already back up before I left, thank goodness. I would be far more worried if she were still down like she was in early July...

Staying Busy at Work

Monday I went with two of my friends (the new professors near my age) to the LEAP school:

http://www.leapschool.org.za/johngilmour.q

to do outreach. They had prepared demonstrations to teach the Doppler effect and Standing waves. This is a very well funded school for good students, but it was still nice to get out into the community and interact with students. They were seniors, and very welcoming. They even sang for us at the end to thank us for our time. I was able to jump in and participate, and my friends enjoyed seeing my teaching style and having me partake. It was fun! Now one of them wants me to teach a bit in his college course, too - I should be careful what I get into :)

I'm also spending time with my host's masters student - helping him digest the background literature he needs to write his thesis. It's good for me, too, as it forces me to read new stuff, and think carefully about terminology and education theory. He's also very friendly, so it is fun to work with him. Today he also introduced me to a student lunch venu - african food that reminded me very much of Alabama food - black eyed peas and spinach over spicy rice. It was less than 4$ for a big plate. We ate outside where all the students hang out and got to watch a break dancing exhibition that was drawing a crowd. It's very dynamic to be on a college campus :)

In the physics department, there are big politics going on right now regarding the blending of the disadvantaged students who go through the bridging program with those that go through the standard courses. It has been the "talk of the town" and everyone seems to want to bend my ears about it. I have been given the task of interviewing the students to get their perspective. I am glad to help, and the situation is interesting in terms of how to help these students as well as how to have sustainable educational change, but I'll be glad when this is no longer occupying EVERY tea room conversation!!

I am frustrated with the slow internet, so am staying late tonight to download papers I need and post on the blog, and respond to emails - which has been laregely neglected. It feels like nothing can get done because it takes so long to access resources that are normally at my fingertips... It really depends on the task, though. I shouldn't feel frustrated, because everything has been useful so far.

Tomorrow is my last day of work before heading to Kruger. Then I'll have nearly 3 weeks to work again when I return. They will be busy! There are two people on campus that want my input on their research projects, and this whole interviewing buisness, more with the masters project here, and I am working on a handfull of previously neglected papers for publication.... Glad I'm getting in vacation days on the weekend!!

Kirstenbosch

I spent Sunday afternoon alone exploring the many trails of Kirstenbosch. It is an amazing botanical garden, and I enjoyed every moment of my explorations. I started the day by having lunch at the tea house - a quiche and appletizer (I've already told people they can come visit me for the price of bringing a case of that with them - it's sparkling apple juice with nothing added - very refreshing), followed by a real french hot cocoa with loads of real chocolate melted at the bottom...












Then I walked all the trails, except the ones that actually exit the gardens and head up the mountainside. I went a bit up one but it was amazing how quickly the trail became isolated. Though I am a lot more comfortable here than last time, when alone, it's best to stay where you can see other people... There are still people being robbed on hiking trails :(











I took 160 photos, among them were attempts to capture birds. I had been here last year, but not for as long, and not alone (so free to explore EVERY path...), and my camera battery had gone dead, so I hardly got any pics... I'm so glad I went back!! Here I am including a sampling of some of the Kirstenbosch bird varieties:

Cape Point

On Saturday, my friend took me to Cape Point. I was thrilled that the weather had turned better and the sun was peaking out from the clouds. I had not been all the way to Cape Point, though I had been down the cape quite a ways last year - stopping short of going further due to the weather turning windier and cold. The Cape Point park (cape of good hope) encompasses the entire end of the cape past near where the penguins live that I visited last year. There are loads of overlooks, quiet beaches, and amazing views. The drive there is beautiful, too - no matter which side of the cape you drive down. We went down one side and back up the other. We stopped at a nursery with local plants, and for an afternoon snack at a restaurant nestled away from the coast.











On the Cape we saw Ostriches with their babies, and Baboons with their babies. Some of the baboons were trying hard to beg for food from people, and hanging around the parking lot. They had an attendant constantly shooing them away. I don't like to go near monkeys with their babies - so I was glad! My friend said these were quite tame though, and I didn't need to worry. My Indian friends have told me enough horror stories that I don't want to go too near them! One of them was camped out on someone's car - I'm glad we didn't have to contend with that!!











One amazing thing that happened right off the end of the cape was a rainbow that was moving swiftly toward us, at the leading edge of a small localized rain storm. We stayed and watched the rainbow until it became clear we were about to get wet. No pot of gold for us though - had we stayed and gotten wet the rainbow would have come right on top of us!!