tours - Curious Karibella

2022-08-192022-09-09

Spring of Hope and Visiting a School

kids covered in oranges in the back of a car

Today we visited NTSOELEMOLODI Primary School! We actually visited twice. The first time we went, we did a tour and gave oranges to all the students and staff! There were so many oranges. We started when Trygive picked us up and explained the school’s history.

We drove for quite a while, but we had to stop for gas. Before we stopped for gas, we went through town, and on the side of the road, there were so many people selling things. Among those things were oranges, and a lot of them. Trygive helped us pick a stand to buy from. It was run by a lady and she was SO happy when we bought ALL her oranges in on go. We piled them in the back seat which was where I and Bardez were sitting.

I and him got covered in oranges. It was actually kind of nice like a massage except one of my feet was bent in a painful position. When we got to the school I and Bardez started thinking about how we would get out when we were covered in oranges.

Thankfully others had a plan. As we went through a gate about 20 kids in uniform came out. There were also a couple of drummers! The children started marching in a circle around us. Mom told us to join them and as homeschoolers, we could not stay in the line very well. We eventually got into the rhythm but only for a short time because the principal signaled the students to stop. We got to meet the teachers and principal and there was a short welcome speech then the principal said there was going to be a traditional dance done by some of the girls. The dance was beautiful and I enjoyed it very much.

The principal took us into her office and talked about the school and grades. We then got to tour the school and classrooms. The classes were not small. Though they were organized. The school had grades kindergarten through 7. When the school had a huge garden with lots of vegetables and some bathrooms. It also had a new library except there were no bit chapter books for the older kids. It also had a netball court. Net Ball is close to basketball but pretty different.

I got to sit in the 5th-grade classroom with Bardez for a few minutes. It was a little awkward between the students and us but soon things slackened. After lunch, we played some violin and sang the national anthem of South Africa with the kids. Then it was time to go. None of us kids wanted to leave but we had to. We asked if we could come back for a day of school later that week. And we did!

The day at school was so awesome! I totally loved it! When we got there I went to the 6th-grade classroom, B went to 5th and Emmy and Zeb went to 7th. When I got in it was very awkward. I just sat at the desk in the front row next to a boy who had his book open. While the teacher was teaching I noticed a lot of whispering going on. I was okay with it. To them, this was a day at school where a new white girl was in their class and they were probably curious. Soon the atmosphere relaxed a bit.

They had been learning about electricity and how to save it. There was an activity where we had to get notebooks out. I had brought my notebook and I got it out of my backpack. I got good marks on my paper when the teacher checked it and I got high praise. I wasn’t sure if it was getting high praise because I was a guest or if it was the norm. At one point I started trying to figure out what one-third of 100 was. Then there was an activity where the teacher shared a poem he made then he asked me if I could write one. I told him about my little bear Poems. He asked me to write one. I was worried that I would not be able to write a good one but I did.

It took us a little while and in the end, when I read it the teacher asked the other students what it was about. I really enjoyed the rest of the class and I would love to go back. It was my first time in a classroom and my first day of going to a school (that wasn’t homeschooling). I really really really loved it!

2022-08-142022-09-09

The Cradle of Humankind in Central South Africa

Cradle of humankind was interesting. It was cool to learn about all the history and see the animals. We stayed at the Cradle Boutique Hotel and the hotel rooms were little huts with thatched roofs. The first unofficial game drive we went on was a drive, then a walk. We saw antelope, wildebeest, monkeys, giraffes and a zebra. On the walk, we went to a cave that you had to crawl into. I was very scared of going into the cave but I had to. Mom was very encouraging even when I saw a bat hanging from the fall inches from my face. When we got to the bottom there was just enough room for 4 kids and one adult so mom and dad sat in the shaft thing. On our way out mom cracked one of the bones on the floor and it sounded super weird.

The food at the hotel was super good. I had the best risotto in my life there and I tried an ostrich! They also had a kid’s drink called an Appletizer. It is basically their version of Martinelie’s or sparkling apple juice in a can.

Visiting a Famous Cave and Museum

On Saturday we went to the famous caves. They were really big and cold and there was a lot of history about all the bones found there. The second cave was just a museum; there was no actual cave. It started with a water ride that is just floating through tunnels. It was fun but not thrilling. Then you went through a vortex tunnel. A vortex tunnel is a tunnel where you go in and stand on a platform and the walls are a tube around you and the tube around you spins so it feels like the platform is falling sideways. They are really cool! The rest of the museum was pretty cool but one fact that stood out to me a lot was that there were 5 massive extinctions and could we be the sixth? Could we also bring our own extinction upon ourselves? This thought was intriguing and scary. I do not think that the extinction of humans will happen in my lifetime but it could. There was a thing called a kiddies cave and what I imagined was a playroom but it was a literal cave.

The Glow of a Wildfire, Just Over the Hill!

That night as we were eating dinner we could see a huge wildfire just over the hill that was just one mile away from us! The next day we went for a game drive and we got to see the amount of burnt land. There was a line of black. Burnt, not burnt, burnt ground not burnt ground. There was still some smoking ground. It turns out the fire was started by arsonists who were attempting to burn down a movie set for a movie about a Zulu king named Shockra. They did not succeed in burning down the set or coming within three hundred feet of it. But they did succeed in burning down 2,000 hectares of ground.

Cradle of Humankind was my third favorite place in the first three places we stayed. I would recommend it as a weekend but not for too long.

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Touring the Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa

We toured the Cullinan Diamond mine! We did not get to go down into the mine but we did get to see the outside machinery. We had to wear hard hats and reflective vests and we had to blow into a machine that tested our breath for alcohol. The diamond mine was very loud. The diamonds are found in a rock called Kimberlite. The miners bring out 11,000 tons of Kimberlite from below the surface and get only a handful of diamonds each day!

They have 3 shafts but only two of them are in use. Shaft one is used to bring up the kimberlite and shaft 3 is used to bring down and up people. The shaft used for people has a giant elevator that can carry up to 103 people in one trip! One fact I learned that I found very interesting was that if a machine can’t fit in the elevator they will dismantle the machine, and re-build it below the surface! The kimberlite is brought to the surface via shaft one, then dumped onto a conveyor belt that goes to two more conveyor belts that go to the plant where the diamonds are harvested.

Overall I really enjoyed learning how diamonds go from sitting in a rock to in a ring or necklace. I would highly recommend touring or just visiting.

2022-08-092022-09-09

Soweto Township Walking Tour in Johannesburg, South Africa

Soweto Walking Tour

After Constitution Hill, we did a walking tour of Soweto. Our tour guide’s name was Tobago. We started by walking by the Hector Pieterson Memorial. Hector Peterson was a 12-year-old boy that was shot and killed in Soweto. He was walking home from school and crossed paths with a massive group of school kids that were marching to the capital building and a group of police officers that were trying to shut down the peaceful protests. The police started open firing on the children, and many were shot. Hector was thought to be the youngest one to be killed, but it was later found out that there was an eight-year-old girl who was killed. Hector was famous because of a photo of him being carried to a clinic where he was pronounced dead.

Visiting the Mandela House Museum

Next, we went to Nelson Mandela’s house, which had been turned into a museum. His house was surprisingly small. It had three rooms, and in the front, it had bullet holes in the brick from when the police would shoot at the house for no reason. The police probably would come up with ridiculous reasons for shooting at the home, but I think they were trying to invoke fear.

After Mandela’s house, we went to Desmond Tutu’s house, but it was not a museum. Then we went to Winnie Mandela’s huge Soweto house, which was also not a museum. After the place, we went to a brewery, and dad tried some beers.

Up the Soweto Towers

Then we learned how to signal a public taxi bus to take us to the Soweto Towers. At the towers, some of us, not me, were going to do a free fall, but Bardez could not do it because his back and Emmy and Zeb were too chicken. I won’t say I was chicken because I was turkey. No, I just do not do those kinds of things. We ended up just riding up to the top of the towers, which was scary enough for me.