Volunteer South Africa’s cheetah program must shutdown while they relocate. It’s been an interesting day.
I booked the least expensive, highly rated, room along Durban’s Golden Mile. It’s a stretch of beach from uShaka Marine World to Moses Mabhida Stadium. Really all that means is no view. Except that I woke up to a pretty nice “no view.”
It’s not jet lag. I was just tired. Normal tired. Seriously. So I slept in until nearly 9:30a, got up, dressed for the frigid temperatures (upper 60s) and went out to touch the Indian Ocean.
There weren’t too many people out. Most of those in the water were surfers. I talked to one who’d been out for a few hours and was taking a break. He said many more surfers normally come out, but the waves weren’t great today.
I walked north along the beach until lunch when I stopped at a well reviewed seafood place. Calamari and kingclip — a fish only found around South Africa.
It was about here that I received an email informing me that my planned volunteering couldn’t happen. I hurried back to the hotel and got on the phone with one of the organizers.
It seems they compete with another cheetah breeder in the area and got into some kind of turf war. And lost.
They gave me two options: go to a “sister” cheetah program that breeds cheetahs for educational use around South Africa, or switch to the Big Cats program. After we talked a while, and I explained my photography desires, he suggested a third option: switch to Big Cats, but take a four day safari in the middle of it. The bonus? They’ll pay for it!
So that’s the plan. I’ll work with Big Cats instead of cheetahs (though there will be cheetahs there) and take a small break at the beginning of the second week to go on a safari with my camera! By far the best problem I could have imagined!
Finally settled, I went back out and walked along the beach some more. Keeping my feet in the water wherever I could. They say the Indian Ocean is warm. Well, it’s not bathwater warm, that’s for sure!
At the end of the walk, I found myself a seat at a restaurant overlooking the water and had a nice relaxing dessert.
A couple hours in the hotel (getting this blog setup, gesh!) and then it was dinner time. Indian. Spicy. Greasy. Delicious! I would have taken a picture of the restaurant, but I was accosted by a couple beggars as soon as I left. No worse than Austin.
Now I’m calling it a day. New plans, better plans, and another ocean under my belt.
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