South Africa: Days 16 – 20 (Cape Town)

It was a beautiful drive to Cape Town, over some amazing mountains and through breathtaking scenery. We did have a lunch stop in the town of Hermanus where I saw something that I never thought I would see: Whales mating. TONS of them. Sperm whales, humpbacks, it was nuts. They come into the bay and right up to the cliffs where you can watch them. So we found a restaurant with outside seating and proceeded to eat with a few of whales coming up and down out of the water and rolling around and it was awesome. Then about an hour or two later we were at the inn in Cape Town. We were on our own for dinner and the next day we would hopefully be climbing Table Mountain (weather was the key factor), driving to the Cape of Good Hope, and to see the African Penguin colony. We ran into a polish couple who had been travelling along our route but separate from our tour who I had recommended in Knysna to do the Great White Shark dive and they had gone that day (the first good weather day in a week) and said how amazing it was and how I was going to love it. I was so excited!

The next morning we awoke to howling winds and we were told the hike was off because the road leading up to the mountain was closed. So we went to the Cape of Good Hope and hiked to the lighthouse and across the ridge to the actual Cape. The wind was so fierce we weren’t sure why Table Mountain was closed and this was still open. We were along the cliffs struggling to stay upright, only to fall sideways when the gusts would stop.

We eventually ditched the trail where we thought it just realistically couldn’t be that safe and hopped down the side of the mountain to get our picture taken at the most South-Western place on the continent. We proceeded then to wait for the truck to pick us up and watched as other buses full of tourists were blown around while trying to get their picture taken. Brigitte even got blown off the rock she was standing on and fell to the ground, uninjured thankfully. After we were picked up we were off to Boulders, which is where the African penguins live and breed. They are ¼ smaller than their Emperor cousins in Antarctica (who grow to be 4 feet!). It’s also strange to see penguins on a beach and not in the snow. But this is how these ones live. Along the trail which is fenced off for their protection you see them in their nests, sitting under a bush in a dirt hole in the ground. When you reach the beach they’re just hanging out, posing for pictures for all the Japanese tourists pushing us out of the way to get a good shot on their cell phones. After that we took a quick break for lunch and then back to the inn for a break before we boarded a local bus to the Cape Town marina for our final dinner together. The Cape Town marina is pretty nice (think the Cannery in Monterey Bay, but nicer). Cute shops, nice restaurants, the aquarium. We wandered awhile and then met Andy, Johann, Seb, & Lize at a Scottish pub for a beer before we met everyone else for dinner. Then after dinner we all went back to the pub for a final drink together. (Andy, Johann, Seb, & Lize stayed on).

The next morning we awoke to rain, and after breakfast headed to South Africa’s Cape wine region for a bit of tasting. It was a bit odd for 10 in the morning but oh well, right? It was good and I thought of buying a bottle had I not had to lug it with me to our next stop in India. Plus I already had a bottle from earlier on our tour that we hadn’t drunk so we needed to finish that first. After tasting we went to an old French town to wander before lunch. Since it was raining we ducked into a coffee shop for some tea (I added some pumpkin soup). Alex wandered in and sat with us until it was time to head to the bistro for our final meal together. We reminisced about the tour and our favorite memories. Alex, Andy, and the boys weren’t leaving until the next night, and AJ, Sonja, Brigitte, and I weren’t leaving until 2 days later so it wasn’t totally goodbye. So at 3:00 pm we were back at the inn and officially the tour was over! How fast 18 days goes by! That night AJ and I had dinner with Alex, Sonja, Brigitte, and Andy at a place called Marco’s – a local popular restaurant with African specialties. The waiter was SO helpful and explained so many things to us and made sure we had the perfect wine to go with our entrees. I ate crocodile carpaccio which kinda tasted like deli sliced turkey actually. An African band played while we ate and we just reveled in the local flavor which so perfectly ended our tour.

We went to bed hoping that the weather would be ok the next day so that we could go diving with the Great White Sharks. The innkeeper told us before heading home for the night that we would be told first thing in the morning by the tour company. Andy & Alex and the boys were hoping to go to Robin Island but weather also threatened to change plans for them.

Throughout the night the weather sounded a bit rough but when we awoke the sun started shining briefly which gave us all a good feeling. After the innkeeper arrived we were like kids on Christmas waiting anxiously for the all clear to tear into our presents. Sadly, Scrooge came out and said the tour was cancelled. I was SOOOOOOO bummed, as this had been the climax I had planned to an amazing African adventure. If I had a dollar for every time AJ said, "I’m sorry" I could have bought a boat and done it myself! So we found an actual working internet café and caught up on all the stuff we had missed over the last 3 weeks. Then after lunch we decided to go down to the marina and catch the Cape Town Aquarium. It was smaller than I would have expected, but it was pretty nice. They did some really interesting tank displays that we hadn’t seen in our many trips to the other aquariums we had seen so far. They had a teeny turtle swimming in a round tank and it was so curious that it would come to wherever you were standing, and another tank FULL of clownfish (Even the little kids were screaming "NEMO!!!!")

After the aquarium we went back to the inn and said goodbye to Lize and Petrie who were leaving and Andy, Seb, & Johann who we wouldn't see before they left. Then we ate dinner with Alex, Sonja, & Brigitte before saying goodbye to them. We spent that night at the inn alone which was pretty creepy considering that besides another American couple from New Jersey on their honeymoon no one else was there. So we split our bottle of wine and filled out postcards and thought about how wonderful our time in Africa had been. It is one of the most special places you will ever visit if you are lucky enough. It has changed us forever and we want to go back and see more of it!

The next morning we had breakfast and then went to the internet cafe until lunch before heading back to the inn and waiting for our airport transfer. Then it was off to the airport and our 3 flights to get to New Delhi. Lots of flying ahead...!

South Africa: Days 13 - 15 (Knysna)

The morning of Day 13 we departed the Karoo on our way to the Southern Coast town of Knysna only to be promptly delayed by a flat tire. There are these really thorny trees - I mean so thorny they are like 3 inch bamboo skewers so tough you can't break them off with your hands - and the thorns somehow find their way on to the road and are actually the biggest cause of blowouts in the country. The only problem is that this road is in the middle of nowhere where we had a better chance of being struck by lightning than a car coming by. Thankfully one of the innkeepers came through a few minutes later on her way to town (probably to restock the bar!) and checked on us - but our fearless leaders had it under control. In about 45 minutes they changed the massive truck tire and we were on our way!

Once in Knysna late that afternoon we arrived at the inn which was situated in the middle of the forest about 3 miles from the main highway that went near the coastline. And who better to greet us than the inns 5 dogs! Well, they were sniffing out some prey in the grass and didn't pay any attention to us. Who did greet us was the innkeeper, who was the bubbly-est person we may have ever met. At first I thought it might be too much for me after such a long drive (and silently wondered, "Will I want to kill her after 3 days?"). We got our room keys and dropped our stuff off and relaxed in a brief moment of peace and quiet. It was cool in the forest but we had a heater so we were very happy. The inn itself was amazing - surrounded by huge pine trees, it had an elevated wooden walkway connecting the cabins so that the natural grasses underneath could grow; a pond, a swimming pool, and not another person or cabin for miles so it was QUIET. At night, the stars shown very brightly like they had in the Karoo.

The morning of Day 14 we took off for Plettenberg Bay to grocery shop and during our morning break we tried fruitlessly (AGAIN) to find an internet cafe that 1) was open, or 2) had a working connection. What is it about this country and the internet? So we wandered around the town square before getting back on the bus and driving to The World's Highest Bungy Jump, underneath Bloukrans Bridge. I hadn’t really considered this optional activity but I knew Lize, Seb, and Johann were going to do it. I was surprised when Sonja decided to go and off they went under the bridge for the jump. Part of me actually regrets not doing it (you were right, Lize!) but part of me still doesn’t. I was saving myself for the Great White Sharks in Cape Town. It was great though to watch them all brave this huge jump into the gorge with nothing but a giant rubber band around their ankles, and I could see the stress on Brigitte and Andy as their children prepared for their jumps. Even Lize called her mom to tell her she was jumping and she loved her. I don’t think my mom could have watched.

After that it was off to Tsitsikamma National Park at the ocean to have lunch and a hike. Unfortunately the hike was cancelled because while we were in the Karoo a major storm had hit the coast and washed away the trail. So we sat in awe on the grass watching the massive waves hit the rocks and wondered aloud how they could have come over where we were sitting days before and up on the hill behind us. After that it was back to the inn for some free time and rest before dinner. After dinner we were given a task to design a t-shirt as a group that summed up our experience.

Day 15 brought some options for our time spent in the morning. You could go with Lize on a trail hike through the forest around the inn, horseback riding, mountain biking, or quad-bike racing. Seb, Johann, Petrie, and I went for the quad-bike racing, and the rest of the group went on the hike. I had never been on a quad racer before so I was pretty excited. That was until I found out that you had to shift the gears manually and I’ve never driven a car with a stick so that whole concept is completely lost on me. Every time I shifted the bike stalled so while everyone is practicing I’m just stalling and stalling and stalling. Finally I get the hang of it and figure, ok this is the best it’s gonna get. So I signal everyone else to go first so I don’t hold up the gang and we go for a test run around the track. That was another thing. I thought we were going in open land – I had the added humiliation of being lapped 100 times to look forward to. But, in the end I really didn’t care – I was trying something new and I was going to have fun no matter what. So we go around the track once and I missed the turn-around spot and ended back at the farm where we started. Oops. And the guy tells me, "You have to shift out of first!" So I couldn’t hide that I was going slow either. I couldn’t say, "Well, first is fast enough for me, thank you." And besides, the turns on the track came so fast that if I did shift to second I would not have had time to shift back down for the turn and probably would have flown off the thing. So I said, "OK thanks!" and started back down the hill to the track. I never did go out of first, and I didn’t care, it really was pretty fast. As I bounced over the bumps and my ass flew off the seat and I felt like I really was going to fly over the handlebars I was laughing hysterically inside the helmet. I would look back occasionally to see if any of the guys were coming up behind grandma so I could pull off to the side. And all seemed to be good in the way of not getting dirty until I came across the one mud puddle on the track. I tried to go slow, but it was useless; mud flew up and I was filthy. So I said, "well ok then – let’s do this". And with each round on the track I let myself get faster and faster till I was pushing first gear like it hadn’t been pushed before, laughing all the way (Ha Ha Ha!!). When the rest of the gang came to pick us up on the way to town where we would be going on a boat ride I was so proud of myself and my muddy clothes - I think everyone (especially AJ) was looking to see if I’d killed myself in the process.

Once into town we were told the boat tour was postponed until the afternoon so we wandered around town a bit and then had lunch at a restaurant at the marina overlooking the bay. If you’ve been to one coastal town and ate at the marina you’ve been to them all. So this was a smaller version of Pier 39 in SF but the fish was fresh (AJ’s mussels were not) and when we went back to meet for the boat ride to find that it was cancelled altogether we joined Alex, Sonja, and Brigitte to go see "The Dark Knight" before meeting back for dinner (also at the marina but thankfully at the restaurant across from where we ate). Dinner was great – we ate at JJ’s and JJ himself came to greet the table and ask where we were all from. The food was great and we sampled more of the great wines from South Africa. We piled back into the truck and with a full belly and slight buzz we all were quiet for the short ride back to the inn ready to climb into bed.

Not so fast we were told. It was now "Mandatory Shot Time"!! I thought, "oh dear, not again" but thankfully it was a "15 year-old-girl-drinking-for-the-first-time" kind of shot (Amarula, a SA version of Bailey’s & Crème de Menthe), but it was symbolic for the locals as it was called the Springbok, and was Green and Gold, the colors of SA Rugby, Soccer, Cricket, etc. But when I found out there was a song and dance to it then I was sold! It went like this:

(with the shot in front of you)

(look to the left) "No Leopards!"
(look to the right) "No Lions!"
(look between your legs) "No Hyena!"
Springbock! Springbock! Springbock!

Then you do the shot without picking it up. This was not as easy as I thought it would be (I had to cheat or I was going to bite through the glass). And someone dropped theirs and it shattered on the floor. But it was another South African hazing. I promptly went to bed and fell fast asleep – for the next morning we were headed to Cape Town!! Oh and I have to say I found the innkeeper to be so charming and sweet in the end that I think this was my favorite inn on the whole trip!!