Wow. I’m, like, speechless. This weekend was a whirlwind of childhood dreams come true, pampering and fake adulthood, strengthening of friendships and utter hilarity. Think Wildest Dreams meshed with Toto’s Africa with a sprinkling of I Love College.
Okay, so Sally, Caitlin, and I left around 9 AM Saturday morning in a private van with our driver, Garret. Though I’d been planning on napping and reading the entire ride, I had too much fun chatting with the girls and Garret (who told us that his favorite animal is “his wife”) to sit back in my seat for even a minute. We had a hilarious time, and our journey hadn’t even yet begun.
We arrived at Inverdoorn Game Reserve and Lodge around noon with a couple bottles of wine that we’d picked up at a nearby liquor store, because we obviously refused to be ripped off by the high prices of our Lodge. Garret lugged an entire box of our alcohol to our room for us, thinking that his official capacity as “chaperone and chauffer” (his words) would make the illicit alcohol less conspicuous. Meanwhile, Cait decided to upgrade from a Standard Room to a Luxury Chalet with some birthday money from her grandmother. The gigantic chalet (we literally didn’t go five minutes without using that word) had a television and opened up onto the rolling savanna, so we spent most of our free, non-safari time hanging out/drinking wine in the chalet. (Chalet chalet chalet chalet)
Before our safari, we sat on the porch, enjoying the fresh air and each other’s company, when a snooty English woman (who happened to be our chalet neighbor) threw us a disdainful glance. We apologized for our noise and asked if we needed to keep it down. She replied no, we were fine, but that’d we’d need to be quieter at nighttime. We immediately acquiesced and told her we’d see her at 3:30 PM for our ride. “Oh, I think you’re meeting at 3:30, but we’ve made… other arrangements,” she sniffed with a flippant wave in the air.
As soon as she retreated into her room, Cait, Sal, and I busted up. Caitlin, verbatim (as I remember it), remarked, “you guys. That lady is classy as f*ck. AND WE’RE IN THE SAME CHALET AS HER.”
Sally and I practically peed our pants laughing as Caitlin expanded on her remarks. “You know how I know she’s classy?” Cait asked rhetorically. “Because she’s made *othah arrangments*, she’s too good for us normal people,” she self-answered in a perfect imitation of the woman’s voice. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed.
The three of us headed to the reception area for our *peasant, non-other* arrangements—aka an incredible!!! safari with driver Sean. We saw an unbelievable number of animals—lions, rhinos, water buffalo, wildebeest, giraffes, springbok (which Sally, Cait, and I enjoyed saying over and over), oryx (spelling???), and cheetahs. It was absolutely exhilarating and so fun. The weather was perfectly cloudy and crisp, so the animals were out to play. The landscape looked… well, kind of like what you might imagine a safari landscape to look like. Golden-yellow and tan shrubs sprouting out from the dry brown sand, interspersed low-lying green trees and shrubs with purple mountains rising formidably in the far distance. I felt so at peace and so happy.
Upon our return to the lodge, we watched Madagascar for a little while in our chalet before enjoying an incredible steak dinner then passing out rather early.
We woke up at 5:30 AM for our sunrise safari on which we were assured we’d see more “water” animals. It actually started drizzling/raining (I guess the rains down in Aaaafricaaaa), which was really refreshing and attracted more animals! We got to see a herd of zebra, more giraffes, water buffalo, rhinos (and a rhino baby!), and… Wait for it… ELEPHANTS. YES it’s true!!! It was amazing!! I just about sobbed seeing two beautiful, amazing, wonderful elephants chomping away at some tree branches. Such gorgeous creatures. It was the cherry on top of two wonderful safaris.
But wait. There’s more.
After resting for about an hour in our chalet after breakfast (and after talking to my mama with the WiFi!!!), Sally, Cait, and I experienced something pretty amazing called the Cheetah Encounter. We literally got to pet a cheetah and it was glorious. Velvet, the cheetah, was born in a really shady and corrupt breeding facility in which she and her siblings were terrible mistreated for the first few months of their lives. Luckily, Inverdoorn (our safari place) discovered this mistreatment and rescued these cheetah pups from death. They’ve rehabilitated Velvet’s brothers, but due to a tail injury sustained in the breeding facility, Velvet will never be fully released into the wild. Instead, she’s taken on walks, trained, fed with slow-moving animals, and introduced to visitors—like me!
In a crazy turn of events, the three of us were the only ones on this “public” meet and greet with Velvet, so we ended up having a private Cheetah Encounter. Snooty English woman had paid extra for a *private* arrangement with her cheetah, so I made sure to mention how excited I was that both of our groups had managed to have private encounters!!! (I think she hated me.)
It was such an incredible experience—truly once in a lifetime!!! It seems amazing that this is my life, that I’m living and learning in such breathtaking places—but it is. And I am. And I promise that I have not taken it for granted, nor will I. But I must admit—I will be excited to go home in two (TWO!!!) weeks.
But before that, I’ll be compiling a music video to the song “Africa”—I’m not joking.
Wish me luck for my last week of IHP classes!!!
With lots of lion love, elephant endearment, cheetah chest bumps,
Aubrey Noelle
Okay, so Sally, Caitlin, and I left around 9 AM Saturday morning in a private van with our driver, Garret. Though I’d been planning on napping and reading the entire ride, I had too much fun chatting with the girls and Garret (who told us that his favorite animal is “his wife”) to sit back in my seat for even a minute. We had a hilarious time, and our journey hadn’t even yet begun.
We arrived at Inverdoorn Game Reserve and Lodge around noon with a couple bottles of wine that we’d picked up at a nearby liquor store, because we obviously refused to be ripped off by the high prices of our Lodge. Garret lugged an entire box of our alcohol to our room for us, thinking that his official capacity as “chaperone and chauffer” (his words) would make the illicit alcohol less conspicuous. Meanwhile, Cait decided to upgrade from a Standard Room to a Luxury Chalet with some birthday money from her grandmother. The gigantic chalet (we literally didn’t go five minutes without using that word) had a television and opened up onto the rolling savanna, so we spent most of our free, non-safari time hanging out/drinking wine in the chalet. (Chalet chalet chalet chalet)
Before our safari, we sat on the porch, enjoying the fresh air and each other’s company, when a snooty English woman (who happened to be our chalet neighbor) threw us a disdainful glance. We apologized for our noise and asked if we needed to keep it down. She replied no, we were fine, but that’d we’d need to be quieter at nighttime. We immediately acquiesced and told her we’d see her at 3:30 PM for our ride. “Oh, I think you’re meeting at 3:30, but we’ve made… other arrangements,” she sniffed with a flippant wave in the air.
As soon as she retreated into her room, Cait, Sal, and I busted up. Caitlin, verbatim (as I remember it), remarked, “you guys. That lady is classy as f*ck. AND WE’RE IN THE SAME CHALET AS HER.”
Sally and I practically peed our pants laughing as Caitlin expanded on her remarks. “You know how I know she’s classy?” Cait asked rhetorically. “Because she’s made *othah arrangments*, she’s too good for us normal people,” she self-answered in a perfect imitation of the woman’s voice. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed.
The three of us headed to the reception area for our *peasant, non-other* arrangements—aka an incredible!!! safari with driver Sean. We saw an unbelievable number of animals—lions, rhinos, water buffalo, wildebeest, giraffes, springbok (which Sally, Cait, and I enjoyed saying over and over), oryx (spelling???), and cheetahs. It was absolutely exhilarating and so fun. The weather was perfectly cloudy and crisp, so the animals were out to play. The landscape looked… well, kind of like what you might imagine a safari landscape to look like. Golden-yellow and tan shrubs sprouting out from the dry brown sand, interspersed low-lying green trees and shrubs with purple mountains rising formidably in the far distance. I felt so at peace and so happy.
Upon our return to the lodge, we watched Madagascar for a little while in our chalet before enjoying an incredible steak dinner then passing out rather early.
We woke up at 5:30 AM for our sunrise safari on which we were assured we’d see more “water” animals. It actually started drizzling/raining (I guess the rains down in Aaaafricaaaa), which was really refreshing and attracted more animals! We got to see a herd of zebra, more giraffes, water buffalo, rhinos (and a rhino baby!), and… Wait for it… ELEPHANTS. YES it’s true!!! It was amazing!! I just about sobbed seeing two beautiful, amazing, wonderful elephants chomping away at some tree branches. Such gorgeous creatures. It was the cherry on top of two wonderful safaris.
But wait. There’s more.
After resting for about an hour in our chalet after breakfast (and after talking to my mama with the WiFi!!!), Sally, Cait, and I experienced something pretty amazing called the Cheetah Encounter. We literally got to pet a cheetah and it was glorious. Velvet, the cheetah, was born in a really shady and corrupt breeding facility in which she and her siblings were terrible mistreated for the first few months of their lives. Luckily, Inverdoorn (our safari place) discovered this mistreatment and rescued these cheetah pups from death. They’ve rehabilitated Velvet’s brothers, but due to a tail injury sustained in the breeding facility, Velvet will never be fully released into the wild. Instead, she’s taken on walks, trained, fed with slow-moving animals, and introduced to visitors—like me!
In a crazy turn of events, the three of us were the only ones on this “public” meet and greet with Velvet, so we ended up having a private Cheetah Encounter. Snooty English woman had paid extra for a *private* arrangement with her cheetah, so I made sure to mention how excited I was that both of our groups had managed to have private encounters!!! (I think she hated me.)
It was such an incredible experience—truly once in a lifetime!!! It seems amazing that this is my life, that I’m living and learning in such breathtaking places—but it is. And I am. And I promise that I have not taken it for granted, nor will I. But I must admit—I will be excited to go home in two (TWO!!!) weeks.
But before that, I’ll be compiling a music video to the song “Africa”—I’m not joking.
Wish me luck for my last week of IHP classes!!!
With lots of lion love, elephant endearment, cheetah chest bumps,
Aubrey Noelle
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