Chatham Hall in South Africa 2008

Starting the day earlier than normal – 7:30 am – we all boarded the bus and started the trip to see a beautiful view at Signal Hill instead of climbing Table Mountain because the hurricane like winds did not permit. The view of the city and Robbin Island were lovely but not as exciting as climbing Table Mountain would have been. Some were able to get their amusement from watching the Rector literally trip his way from one place to another in his excitement.

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We went from there to the Malay Quarter. Many of the buildings, mainly houses, were amazingly bright but surprisingly fitting in color. We dodged cars, took pictures of the 18th century cobblestones, jumped up and down like idiots, and watched in amusement as Dr. Fountain’s hat was blown away. We went to an adorable store, Monkey Shop, which of course had a monkey theme. The outside of the building was painted in a bright, sunny yellow and decorated with orange monkey faces smiling from ear to ear. Most of us bought a few hundred rands worth of souvenirs like beaded pigs, angels, or bowls made out of colorful recycled telephone wire.

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Our next stop was a historic fort, The Castle of Good Hope. Though this place was full of beautifully historic paintings, a table that seats 106 people, and a dungeon, this adventure was disappointing. The dungeon was only two rooms and like any other museum, we were not allowed to touch anything. This can be hard for a group of hungry, curious, teenage girls who are still tired. All of us ended up either sitting on benches in the shade or laying out on the grass waiting for adult stragglers. The group on the grass, of course, inspired a picture, so we all moved to the ground. The formation was everyone laying on everyone else’s stomach or lap. I don’t know about anyone else but I felt like a big cat sleeping in the sun. When the picture was done, we were all too comfortable to move and resisted until Mrs. Knight mentioned that lunch was next on the menu. This had the immediate effect of us jumping up from the ground and walking briskly to the buses.

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The trip to the Botanical Gardens was torture. The bus was hot and, in my opinion, could not have moved slower. However, we were rewarded with two large boxes of sandwiches, cokes, and water being delivered to us; chicken salad has never tasted so good. We savored the food and finally made it inside of the gardens. “They looked like a Monet painting,” Susan Sun could not help but say when we got there. The time in the gardens were more amusing that I thought they would be. We ducked birds and took lovely pictures. Rebecca Schwartz ducked massive sea gulls while we tried to escape the labeled green forest and make it back to the bus on time, which the adults once again failed to do. While on the bus waiting for all of our chaperones to arrive, we managed to teach Susan a new word: punctuality.

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When we left the gardens and finally arrived at the animal rehabilitation center were were all dead tired. None of us were excited to see any animals until we saw people petting live cheetahs. Perking up almost instantly we wanted to go play with the big cats. After a tour and a few movies we learned some interesting facts: cheetahs mostly fly when they run, their entire stride is 8 meters, and when it comes to experiences, even those with a mortal fear of animals will touch a predator to say they did. We were able to pet a 3 yr-old male cheetah, Enigma, who enjoyed us so much he decided to mark some of his visitors as his territory. “Lina and I didn’t get it too bad, but Dr. Fountain was soaked,” remarked Rebecca. “It was a little uncomfortable, but how many people can say they were peed on by a cheetah?”

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We left the center and went back to the Malay quarter for dinner. The food was delicious, though I was a little unsure about the dips they gave us. We were also given a brief history on the area we were in by an expert. When we finally left, everyone was full and happy. It was an odd day, to say the least, but petting the cheetah had to be the highlight of my day. I miss the children and the amazing boys from Bishops school, but I cannot say that petting the cheetah was not exciting!

– Vickey Casey

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