Julia Goes to South Africa

A Vulture Romance

Vulture vs. Impala...well, dead impala

So once upon a time there was a dead impala (this is a type of antelope.) It died in a fight over a girl, with another male impala. (a girl worth fighting for.) So we decided to watch it incase any kind of animal came to try to eat it. first there was another impala--perhaps a greiving friend, perhaps the murderer, we'll never know. and then slowly the vultures began to appear. they came one by one to the scene and soon there were just millions. well, maybe like 30. but still. so they started tearing the impala apart and basically ate the entire thing until there was nothing but some bones and skin left. but it was cool to watch them eat because what they do is they eat as much as they can but they cant chew so then the food kind of sits in the pouch further down from their throat. the pouch has stones that the vultures has swallowed (for this purpose) that then mash up the food--like chewing. and eventually the food can go to the stomach and the vulture can eat more. so we would see all these vultures eating and then a ton of them just sitting around with huge bulges. vulture 1, impala 0.

WILD DOGS!!!

these are wild dogs. there are only two hundred or so in kruger park so it's absolutely amazing that we saw a group of them--twice! they are so cute and look/act like regular dogs. but behind that sweet exterior is a viscious beast. basically, they hunt in a pack and together eat their prey alive, bite by bite. and the bites arent even that big either. other animals like lions/leopards kill their prey immediately and then eat it. but wild dogs just run with the prey and bite off chunks until the thing eventually dies of blood loss. not a nice way to go. but at least they're cute!

Driving to Cape Point

cape point was absolutely beautiful. it's the bottow tip of Africa where ships used to stop off and there's lots of history etc. but the drive there was absolutely gorgeous. these pictures are of me and some friends on the way to/at cape point. and on the way back we stopped at this penguin place and you can see me with all the cute little penguins!!

home but...still in south africa

So I know that I'm now home, so you're all probably like, why would you be updating your blog right now? you're not even in south africa! go study for the mcat! but no, i would like to continue my blog.

back to capetown. along with hiking table mountain, we also went horseback riding on a beautiful beach and we even saw a whale even though it wasn't whale season! (i later took my parents here and we all rode together!) the first time i went my horse was named rebel and he was beautiful. i even gave him a free salon appointment at Julia Styles(i braided his hair). During the trip, i often did other people's hair (i got really good at french braiding) so people started calling my salon (wherever i was doing someone's hair at the moment) Julia Styles. so clever!

(for those of you who dont know, like my father, Julia Stiles is a famous actress, and that's why it's funny.)