Day 3: Apartheid Museum and Lion Park

There was a stark contrast between our morning and afternoon activities today. This morning, we left CHC at 8:00 to head to Johannesburg once again. We went to Gold Reef Road, an area designed like the old mining towns. Gold Reef City is a major tourist attraction, with a theme park, casino, and even a small area where you can pan for gold. At the end of the road, however, was our destination- the Apartheid Museum.

The Apartheid Museum is an impressive complex. It opened in 2001, thanks to a bid by the Gold Reef Casino. In 1995, when the government first allowed casinos, they had to make a bid to show how they would benefit the community, so the Gold Reef developers included the museum- and subsequently won their bid. There have already been many visitors (apparently we just missed Michelle Obama, who was whisked away from the exhibits for a surprise visit from Nelson Mandela). We were only allowed to take pictures on the outside of the building, but there are still some impressive features there. We were greeted by the Pillars of the Constitution, which stand tall over the building. There is a large reflecting pool in front, with this Mandela quote: "To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedoms of others."

We went through either the "Whites" or "Non-Whites" entrance and saw all of the IDs, indicating whites and non-whites, as well as pictures of apartheid pass books. We walked through "The Journey," with all these people moving/looking forward, which led to the top of the building and a great panoramic view of Johannesburg. Once inside the museum, we started with a short film on the history of South Africa, starting with the Dutch colonists and ending with the British takeover. It set the ground work for the rest of the museum- the exhibits started with the early 1900s. We walked through each decade and each major event, complete with videos, posters, old newspaper clippings, large photographs, flags, guns, a tank, and more. It was unbelievably eye-opening. I walked through with Olivia and I think it took us about 2 1/2 hours; we didn't read everything, but we read most of it. On of the things that shocked us the most were how aware other nations were of what was going on here; the ANC reached out to foreign leaders, there were Time magazine articles from the 1960s about how "delusional" South African apartheid leaders were, and there was BBC video footage from the 1960s as well. We were also surprised to see the hangings of political prisoners continue up until 1989. The thing that was probably the most shocking, however, was the AWB, or Afrikaner Weerstandsbewegig. This white supremacist group lead by Boer descendants in the 1980s and 90s modeled itself after the Nazis- from the logo, to the flag, to the armband, to the marching. It was disturbing to see such a group have a major influence on a nation and no one did anything about it. Many of the students felt guilty after the museum and they weren't even alive for the apartheid rule- or even the reversal movements afterward.

At the end of the museum, there was a Nelson Mandela exhibit that the students found very interesting. You can check out the key points at the bottom at this link. They had colored sticks, each representing the different characteristics that Mandela represents, and you could pick the ones most important to you and place them in baskets scattered around the courtyard. After that, we walked around the outside pathways and had lunch out front.

We departed and drove through Sandton City and way out into the country for the Lion Park. This was a hit! We weren't even completely pulled into the parking lot and everyone was clamoring to the windows for pictures. Our afternoon started out with a bus tour of the grounds. A guide boarded the bus and we went through the herbivore, or game, exhibition first. The first animal herd that we saw was the Blesbok. They are typically found around the Cape, but could survive and thrive in a variety of locations in South Africa. The park has two Gemsbok, which had black stripes on its face and what looked liked racing stripes down its torso. They can live for 5 days without water and they have an interesting cooling system, which starts with their wide nostrils. There were several Springboks, the national animal of South Africa, running around, which we all loved. They choose their mates based on which male can jump the highest. On a slightly unsettling note, despite being the national animal, their skins are quite popular and people enjoy eating them- one student compared this to what would have happened if the turkey was our national bird. We took several pictures of the Burchell's zebras, or "zeb-ras" as our guide called them. They are the most common species of zebra and can be differentiated from the others because their stripes are much wider. The game exhibition is also home to a herd of black wildebeests, which were once on the verge of extinction. The blue wildebeest is much more common.

Everyone had been looking forward to seeing the lions. We drove into the carnivore exhibition, which is home to 3 lion prides, wild dogs, and cheetahs, all kept in separate enclosures. The first pride was right out in the open- I think that Emily got the BEST pictures zoomed in on the male and some of the cubs. We saw a mother nursing 3 cubs at this first stop. The second stop had a pride of white lions, consisting of 4 brothers and a few females. As we drove in, one of the males jumped up and reached up a side of a tree- RIGHT next to the bus- he was so close! The white lions are not albinos, but they carry a recessive gene. This pride is kept together to keep the gene going. In the last lion pride, one of the females got up and started running toward the side of our bus! I've never seen any student scramble so fast to close the bus windows! Once she decided to end the game of chasing our bus, we moved on to the wild dogs. They were very lazy, but we were told they are very ferocious. They will chase down their food and take a huge bite out of it- but they won't kill it. They leave the animal to die on their own later. Wild dogs only like to eat live prey. They cause all sorts of problems for African farmers raising chickens and goats.

The last area was the most impressive- the cheetahs. When we entered their area, they were stalking along the far fence. As the bus approached, all 3 turned and looked, then started walking our direction. One went right around the front of our bus, then reached up- and again, the windows were quickly slammed shut and a few startled girls screamed! It continued to circle, then another cheetah took off toward the side of the bus in a dead sprint! The third had lost interest, but the first two cheetahs continued to walk around, staring us down. It was thrilling to be that close and look right into their eyes!

The biggest hit of the day, however, was the cub exhibit. When we were done with our bus tour, we went into the main part of the park. They take you down a path to where they keep the juvenile lions in 3 different pens- cubs, "tweens," and "teens," as we called them. The handlers took us into one section of the cub pen, 7 at a time, to pet 3 different lion cubs. They had 2 regular cubs and 1 white lion cub. We could pet them and take pictures. Two fo the cubs were very friendly and one of them was a little, well, salty. He was not the friendliest or most open to pictures. Once everyone had a turn to pet the cubs, they let us go back in a second time. A few of the students had the opportunity then to sit down and play with a cub in their laps. I was impressed by how brave they were! So many of them did it!

The last item on our agenda was feeding the giraffes. We could get alfalfa pellets and feed their two giraffes from the top of a platform, or we could coax them along the fence and closer to the ground. The giraffe's tongue was the main attraction- it is very dark purple, almost black, and it is long enough to wrap around your hand as you feed it. Ted, Olivia, Meaghan, and some other students decided to "kiss" the giraffe. I would hardly call it a kiss- it was more like the giraffe licked their face! As much fun as it was feeding the giraffes, I think we almost had more fun looking at the faces everyone made in our pictures!

The students are busy this evening and next preparing for a short presentation to the school at their Friday assembly. They came up with some fun, creative ideas this morning and I can't wait to see the finished product. I'll let you know all about it Friday evening. They are also hard at work on a different type of assignment. Much to Simon's dismay, they are creating a photo project with Simon photos. They have been taking action shots and coming up with captions for each one- "Simon likes lions." "Simon is bored." "Giraffes think Simon tastes good." Silly things like that. Who knows if he'll ever need a modeling portfolio, but the girls are hard at work taking pictures :)

As a chaperone, it's great seeing everyone have so much fun and get along so well. They had fun games for the bus ride too- some very few of us had ever heard of- so we thought they were made up on the spot. Everybody is having a great time and getting along well with their hosts. There have been some crazy stories and I think everyone is overfed with new South African treats, but overall the students have been giving the country great reviews. We'll see how they feel after a full day of school tomorrow :)