Nozomi Week 5

This week we wrapped up our time at the Rosslyn plant. I was able to finish my project and P&ID drawing, which will be checked over by Monique and hopefully utilized. While I had some difficulties sizing things on Visio, it was a really fun experience and interesting to work on. Today we moved backed to Sandton and to the guesthouse we stayed at the first week of our program, so we can present our work at the main office in Sandton. It's crazy to think that out time here in South Africa is coming to a close.

Over the weekend we branched out to the province of Limpopo, where we participated in a variety of activities. We first went to Thaba Monaté Game Lodge, where we did some zip-lining. The views that we saw while zip-lining were incredible, as there were beautiful mountains and scenery in every direction that we looked. This was my first time zip-lining, so I got an adrenaline rush every time we zipped down.

We then went to the Thaba Kwena Crocodile Farm just down the road from the game lodge. We got to see hundreds of crocodiles of varying ages, from young ones born just 18 months ago to giant beasts in their 40s. While the crocodiles were essentially immobile because it's winter here, it was still a quite a sight to see. The farm had a restaurant where they served crocodile as well, and I had the crocodile burger and crocodile pie. It tasted similar to gator but did not taste like chicken as much, and had a strong and delicious taste.

Finally, we went to the Bambelela Wildlife Care and Vervet Monkey Rehabilitation Center. Here, the staff takes care of and rehabilitates injured or mentally damaged monkeys to one day release them back into the wild. It was very interesting to see the various procedures that they take to nurture the vervet monkeys back to health. One thing that they do is to observe which monkeys are starting to bond with each other, and group them together. Once the group is formed and has bonded well We even got to interact and feed some of the younger monkeys, which was an amazing experience. The baby monkeys were very energetic, cute, and easy to interact with, as they would jump on our backs and shift from person to person frequently.

We finished up the day by going to a pub just outside the monkey sanctuary that was recommended to us. It had a great vibe, as we struck up a couple conversations with the waiters and locals while watching some rugby with them.

As I leave next Saturday, this was my last weekend where I could explore South Africa. It was an amazing way to cap my trip here and see the wonders that this beautiful nation provides. Once again, photos can be found on the following link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aeW7OgUGiskdEmzkKMyR5z9aF4_FWhPE?usp=sharing

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