Zulu Reed Dance, Elephants, Zebras, Hippos, and more!

This past weekend was absolutely one of the most incredible experiences in my life. We left for the Zulu Reed Dance early Saturday morning, it was about a four hour drive from our Durban home-stays to the Zulu king's traditional palace which is farther inland and in a very rural area. In total there were over 50,000 girls taking part in the traditional Zulu Reed Dance ceremony. Each girl goes through virginity testing before they are given a reed to bring to the king. At the palace they present themselves to the king in their traditional outfits consisting of beautiful beaded skirts, necklaces, bracelets and head pieces. It was an amazing to be a part of the traditional Zulu culture. The picture above shows the girls with their reeds in line to approach the king's home. They all looked incredibly nervous on their way in, but once they dropped off their reeds they were all smiling singing and dancing in celebration.

After the Reed Dance we left for St. Lucia, an area on the east coast of South Africa. The drive was about two hours in total, with about a 20 minute drive through a wildlife game reserve. We weren't expecting to see any animals since we were really just cutting through the park a short distance. However, about 10 seconds after entering the park we saw an elephant right next to the road. We stopped and watched the elephant cross the road in front of us. It was unreal! (Even in the picture below it still looks fake!) Then, we went on to see zebras, rhinos, springbok, and water buffalo all within our short drive! We arrived in beautiful St. Lucia and enjoyed a group dinner with one of our community health professors. In the morning we went to the beach to see a family of hippos laying out in the sand.

Seeing all of the animals in addition to the Reed Dance was really amazing....a weekend I absolutely will never forget!

More to come soon...

Sala Kahle