At Phalaborwa, they played in front of a crowd of about 7,000. Their game was the opener before a game between a Scottish team and a South African team. They stayed in the homes of South African rugby players, in a university dorm, and in condominiums. In their free time, they visited beaches and markets, went to a marine reserve, relaxed at a hot springs resort, toured the countryside, and looked for game animals. The highlight of the trip, according to Colin Gotham, Lawrence law student, was a two-day stay at Kruger National Park, a wild game reserve that covers 12,400 square miles and is about the size of Maryland.
Players pose for a team portrait early in the trip.
Tourists pick up maps and drive through the park looking for African wildlife. Gotham and Henry said they saw elephants, zebras, baboons, black rhinos, and hippos during their drives in the reserve. They also saw vestiges of apartheid in the country. Gotham described the poverty in the black townships as dismal. There's a black-run government now, but I think it's going to take generations for real progress to be made.