We only have a few more weekends left, so we decided to fill this weekend up with the last few things we want to do in Johannesburg. On Friday, we went to the Apartheid museum.
When we purchased our tickets, we discovered that we were randomly assigned a race: white or non-white. We had to enter into the museum through different gates.
We spent a couple hours walking through the museum and learning about the South African history and as well as Nelson Mandela. The thing that struck us the most was watching live footage. It's crazy to think that this happened in our lifetime...
On Saturday, we went to the crocodile park. We have been hearing about since we got here, and so we finally made it to the park. There were three different enclosures for different age ranges. The younger Nile crocodiles were about 3 years old and the oldest one was around 65. Apparently, they can live up to a century. We toured the park with a very enthusiastic trainer, whom Alastair persuaded him to let Alastair help with feeding. Alastair helped chuck wheelbarrows full of chicken (dead) to the crocs. It smelled gross and I made sure that Alastair washed and sanitized his hands multiple times just to make sure that he wouldn't catch salmonella. Time will tell, I guess.
There weren't just crocodiles at the park, but all different types of reptiles. There were monitor lizards, chameleons, snakes, other lizards that I don't know about, and tarantulas.
I'm not a fan of reptiles but Alastair still dared me to hold those bad boys. The trainer let us hold a baby crocodile and some snakes. While I was just standing there and waiting, my heart was pounding and my palms were sweaty. Kind of silly, but at least I didn't cry! We first had a tiny snake on our shoulders and then a baby crocodile.
You have to dip your toes in before you get to the big stuff! The finale was a Burmese python. I decided that we should both hold it at the same time; strength in numbers. But all of a sudden, I had the snake around my shoulders... all by myself! I'm glad I did it for reasons unknown. In the end, at least we have pictures to prove I did it.
We spent a couple hours walking through the museum and learning about the South African history and as well as Nelson Mandela. The thing that struck us the most was watching live footage. It's crazy to think that this happened in our lifetime...
On Saturday, we went to the crocodile park. We have been hearing about since we got here, and so we finally made it to the park. There were three different enclosures for different age ranges. The younger Nile crocodiles were about 3 years old and the oldest one was around 65. Apparently, they can live up to a century. We toured the park with a very enthusiastic trainer, whom Alastair persuaded him to let Alastair help with feeding. Alastair helped chuck wheelbarrows full of chicken (dead) to the crocs. It smelled gross and I made sure that Alastair washed and sanitized his hands multiple times just to make sure that he wouldn't catch salmonella. Time will tell, I guess.
There weren't just crocodiles at the park, but all different types of reptiles. There were monitor lizards, chameleons, snakes, other lizards that I don't know about, and tarantulas.
I'm not a fan of reptiles but Alastair still dared me to hold those bad boys. The trainer let us hold a baby crocodile and some snakes. While I was just standing there and waiting, my heart was pounding and my palms were sweaty. Kind of silly, but at least I didn't cry! We first had a tiny snake on our shoulders and then a baby crocodile.
You have to dip your toes in before you get to the big stuff! The finale was a Burmese python. I decided that we should both hold it at the same time; strength in numbers. But all of a sudden, I had the snake around my shoulders... all by myself! I'm glad I did it for reasons unknown. In the end, at least we have pictures to prove I did it.