Just like that my first month on the World Race was over. South Africa came and left. To end our month, our team went to debrief to meet up with the rest of our squad. Debrief is just a time of relaxation, reflection, and restoration. Our squad mentor comes out and gives us some devotions, we have time of worship, and share about what God has done up until this point on the race/month. This Debrief was awesome being reunited with the squad as I have missed them very much and I was eagerly awaiting our chance to do something adventurous. As a squad we decided to go on a safari.
My excitement was through the roof because in my mind I pictured animals out the whazu. I wasn’t just ecstatic about the animals either, I was really excited because this was the first time on the race that we got to experience something touristy. Every time I had seen pictures of a safari it was animals up close and personal with the cars. Wild animals just interacting with humans. Awesomeness. I remember scrolling through pictures of people feeding giraffes and having their long, black tongue on their faces, elephants poking their trunks into the safari vehicles. I remember seeing lions walking next to the cars at a car-length away. I was so pumped to be on an actual African safari. I feel like that is the one thing that anyone wants to do when they go to Africa.
After the breath taking sunrise, we spent the next hour or two looking at animal poop. Literally… We drove around looking at rhino poop, lion poop, elephant poop, and impala poop. You name it, I saw it. Driving through the park, I instantly flashed back to a scene in the movie Daddy Daycare where the kid is describing his dog for show and tell and all he says is “he poops… B.I.G. POOPS.” If you haven’t seen it, it is worth youtube-ing. Anyways, I can now also tell you some interesting facts about poop such as rhinos all poop in the same area. Usually animals poop where ever they please but not rhinos they make one giant mound of poop as a herd and then the male comes and kicks the middle of it. It looks like one giant poop donut. After looking at poop for so long, the anticipation was building for our first animal besides an impala. Impala are as abundant as fish in a stream. We came across three elephants in the distance. They weren’t so far that we needed the binoculars but they were far enough away to not be picked up by our camera. Little did I know that this was going to be the theme of the day. Besides one lone elephant that walked by our safari truck at least three car-lengths away, all the animals were pretty far away to where we couldn’t take pictures of them or we needed binoculars to see them. So the animals were kind of disappointing to say the least. Our tour guide of the park, Dave happened to study African medicinal plants. So although we didn’t see many close up and personal animals, I got to experience a world of plants I didn’t know existed.
Dave first stopped on the side of the road to pick up this seed. The seed was long and wavy. He explained us that when the seed got wet that it would start to spiral down into the soil and plant itself. To demonstrate he held the seed with his two forefingers and licked the seed. Sure enough the seed began to spiral while he was still holding it. This was so unbelievable to me that I told he must be turning the stupid seed with his fingers. He plopped another seed in my hands and told me to do it myself. I was without words as the seed rotated in my hands. Dave could tell we were all amazed by this little seed so the safari became a plant safari.
There were leaves that when you broke them in half they would ooze out white liquid that was toxic but somehow they are really good for giraffes and rhinos. There are leaves that an animal can eat if it is constipated so that everything starts flowing again. There are leaves that if animals have diarrhea that they eat this plant and it just stops it. Dave pulled over and we bite into this particular leaf. The leaf tasted bitter and immediately dried the salvia in my mouth. He also told us that if the animals ate too much of this particular plant that they would it would stop basic digestive function and not process the leaves. The animal would then die of starvation because although it was full of leaves it’s body would not be able to digest it. Even more mind blowing, if animals are eating too much of a particular plant that they would start producing the same components in their leaves as the diarrhea plants so that animals would quit eating the bush so it could recover and continue to survive. There is a tree called the Leadwood Tree that pushes all the toxins that it absorbs from the ground into one branch. It’s called a suicide branch, the tree sacrifices the branch so that the tree can survive. This tree also is so heavy that it will not float and it weighs in tons. No one uses this tree for anything except to produce toothpaste. That is right, the tree produces toothpaste on its bark. My obsession for plants is in full force as of now. I could not believe that plants can do more than photosynthesize! There is even a tree out there that is protected from poachers because it has thousands of medical uses. This tree is protected by the same people that protect endangered rhinos. Did you know that plants can be protected from poachers? I certainly would have rolled my eyes at this if I had not heard so many uses for this tree, it could probably cure anything. I would not be surprised it we cured cancer, ended world hunger and stopped human trafficking with this thing. Not really but it could help so many people. No wonder it is endangered.
The COOLEST plant of them all. Dave stops the safari vehicle and breaks up part of this bush in my hand. He pours water into my hands and tells me to rub them together with the brush. Wanna know what happens? FREAKING soap appears in my hands. It was so smooth and concentrated. My hands have never been softer in my life. Mind blown by the world of plants. It is safe to say that before I didn’t care too much about plants except that they provide oxygen to humans. . After spending the day waiting anxiously for the next time Dave pulled over for a plant pit stop, I wanted to look into every plant program offered in African medicine. I came to see some pretty cool animals in their natural habitat and left completely awestruck by things that I only look at from the car window. How often do we take for granted the simple things in life? I think that why I was so amazed by plants was because of all the uses God had created them to have. He seriously thought of everything. Diarrhea? No problem got it covered. Need white and cavity free teeth? No problem. God has created people to have different purposes in life, animals to provide certain elements to their ecosystem, and plants to provide for literally everything else. Did you know if we didn’t have termites that the whole ecosystem would collapse? God has created things so wonderfully, purposely, and usefully. I cannot get over how everything comes together and it was created in just 7 days.
John 15:1-5
I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts of every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
