Listen up friends and family! I've just made a monumental effort and posted 3 different items about my time in South Africa so far. Make sure you read them in order...
I'm still not quite up-to-date, I still have the last week or so to blog about. I'm off tomorrow morning on a 2-week safari that takes me into South Africa's Kruger National Park (cross my fingers that I'll see lions, leopards and giraffes), Botswana's Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park and finally Victoria Falls, on the Zambia side. It should be very cool, so hopefully I'll have some amazing pictures to show you some day...
In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful summer days in Montreal, or wherever in the World you are!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Vacation time!!!
While in Storms River, Mairead raved about a place called Port St. Johns, a place she'd gone to 3 times already and spent 11 weeks earlier this year. Since my time was my own and I had no plans per se, I decided to join her there in time for her favorite backpackers' 3rd year anniversary. We booked ourselves onto the Baz Bus (a hop-on, hop-off backpacker bus), as all the other 'normal' buses were sold out and wouldn't allow us to get to Port St. Johns in time for the party. We had a 1 night pit-stop in Port Elizabeth (uneventful) and rode the bus the next day to get to PSJ.
This place is fairly remote, 1.5 hours away from the largest town in the area called Mthatha. It's in a region called the Transkei, which interestingly enough is the birthplace of Nelson Mandela and was its own country during the apartheid era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transkei). Just the journey to PSJ was amazing to me and somehow felt like the 'Africa' I'd imagined before I arrived in South Africa. Mairead and I took a minibus taxi/shuttle from Mthatha, and while we were the only 2 passengers to start off with, we kept picking-up and dropping off people along the way. Very Asia-like, all packed in the minibus, but with the major difference of having dark faces and beautiful smiles. I loved it already!
Once in PSJ at the Jungle Monkey, I was horrified to learn that it was a 'dress' party for Friday the 13th that night ('dress' party meaning costume party for us North Americans). Yuck. At best of times, with all sorts of stuff at my disposal to dress up, I would find a way to get out of a costume party. But with just a backpack full of ratty clothes I've been wearing since October? Like I said, Yuck. But I was here to have fun if it killed me, so I made an effort. Mairead knew a lot of people there already from her previous stays, and I met one of the managers/owners daughter within minutes of our arrival. A very lovely girl, Angelea organised both Mairead and I's 'costumes' and did my hair and make-up. Mine was to be the 'morning after' look, wearing pyjamas, smudged make-up and freaky hair.
I have to say, it's a good thing I was there with a friend, cause had I been on my own, I'd have probably hid in my room for the night. It was a crazy party, with literally hundreds of people around, mostly all drunk. Plus, there was a bit of drama as some guy was caught stealing from tents and the dorm, and as per the South African way, the guys who caught him were trying to bash his head in... My stay in PSJ was off to an exciting start, that's for sure.
I obviously wasn't scared off too much, since I did end up spending a total of 3 weeks there, more than any other place on my trip so far. What did I do while there, you ask? Nothing much, I say. It was a weird time of sleeping until noon, lazing around in the afternoons, having dinner and then dancing/drinking/chatting at the bar all night. Literally all night, as I'd go to bed anywhere from 2AM to 8AM most days, with an exceptionally late/early day of going to bed at 2PM in the afternoon!
It wasn't all drunken debauchery though, I did get in some of the most amazing scenery while in the area. The Jungle Monkey crew would every once in a while bring people around to see some of the area, with a barge trip down the river, trips to a nearby airstrip up top a mountain that overlooks the whole area, trips to the beach, mini-hikes to a blowhole and trips to a shebeen (informal bar in the 'townships' of South Africa). It really is a beautiful place, and regardless of the drama of my first night there, I always felt safe.
Another trip I took while there was an overnighter to a traditional Xhosa village. The initial draw was to see the mighty Magwa Falls, a beautiful waterfall that would be overflowing after the couple of days of rain we'd just had. Because of my night owl schedule, it was a very hard thing for me to get up at 7 AM to meet the group to leave for Magwa Falls, but boy am I glad I did. We bought food at the supermarket, used minibus taxis to get to the village and started wandering around. Louie, the guy who organises these trips, is actually building his own traditional house in the village, so it didn't feel as much like an intrusion as in some villages I'd been to before. The waterfall was spectacular (you'll see eventually when I post photos), but the highlight was visiting the children at school, having them sing and dance for us, then having a traditional meal of pap and veg by the fire. More kids came by the fire that night to sing and dance some more. Amazing. The Xhosa people are very friendly, if a bit shy, and have THE most beautiful smiles I've ever seen. I felt energised by the trip, that's for sure.
After 2 weeks of 'relaxing' in PSJ, I was slowly getting ready to move on. Because there was no Internet at the Jungle Monkey, I'd been out of touch for awhile and only found out a week and a half into my stay that Visa had been trying to reach me about some fraudulent transactions on my credit card. Long story short, my credit card was somehow cloned and had about 10 ooo$ worth of transactions on it for the past 2 weeks. Visa was great in that all the transactions were cancelled, but I still had to wait to receive a new credit card. Because I was in such a remote area, it started out that I'd have it in 3-4 business days, then 5, then finally 6. This is basically the reason I ended up staying a 3rd week at the Jungle Monkey, but honestly, it wasn't a chore...
This place is fairly remote, 1.5 hours away from the largest town in the area called Mthatha. It's in a region called the Transkei, which interestingly enough is the birthplace of Nelson Mandela and was its own country during the apartheid era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transkei). Just the journey to PSJ was amazing to me and somehow felt like the 'Africa' I'd imagined before I arrived in South Africa. Mairead and I took a minibus taxi/shuttle from Mthatha, and while we were the only 2 passengers to start off with, we kept picking-up and dropping off people along the way. Very Asia-like, all packed in the minibus, but with the major difference of having dark faces and beautiful smiles. I loved it already!
Once in PSJ at the Jungle Monkey, I was horrified to learn that it was a 'dress' party for Friday the 13th that night ('dress' party meaning costume party for us North Americans). Yuck. At best of times, with all sorts of stuff at my disposal to dress up, I would find a way to get out of a costume party. But with just a backpack full of ratty clothes I've been wearing since October? Like I said, Yuck. But I was here to have fun if it killed me, so I made an effort. Mairead knew a lot of people there already from her previous stays, and I met one of the managers/owners daughter within minutes of our arrival. A very lovely girl, Angelea organised both Mairead and I's 'costumes' and did my hair and make-up. Mine was to be the 'morning after' look, wearing pyjamas, smudged make-up and freaky hair.
I have to say, it's a good thing I was there with a friend, cause had I been on my own, I'd have probably hid in my room for the night. It was a crazy party, with literally hundreds of people around, mostly all drunk. Plus, there was a bit of drama as some guy was caught stealing from tents and the dorm, and as per the South African way, the guys who caught him were trying to bash his head in... My stay in PSJ was off to an exciting start, that's for sure.
I obviously wasn't scared off too much, since I did end up spending a total of 3 weeks there, more than any other place on my trip so far. What did I do while there, you ask? Nothing much, I say. It was a weird time of sleeping until noon, lazing around in the afternoons, having dinner and then dancing/drinking/chatting at the bar all night. Literally all night, as I'd go to bed anywhere from 2AM to 8AM most days, with an exceptionally late/early day of going to bed at 2PM in the afternoon!
It wasn't all drunken debauchery though, I did get in some of the most amazing scenery while in the area. The Jungle Monkey crew would every once in a while bring people around to see some of the area, with a barge trip down the river, trips to a nearby airstrip up top a mountain that overlooks the whole area, trips to the beach, mini-hikes to a blowhole and trips to a shebeen (informal bar in the 'townships' of South Africa). It really is a beautiful place, and regardless of the drama of my first night there, I always felt safe.
Another trip I took while there was an overnighter to a traditional Xhosa village. The initial draw was to see the mighty Magwa Falls, a beautiful waterfall that would be overflowing after the couple of days of rain we'd just had. Because of my night owl schedule, it was a very hard thing for me to get up at 7 AM to meet the group to leave for Magwa Falls, but boy am I glad I did. We bought food at the supermarket, used minibus taxis to get to the village and started wandering around. Louie, the guy who organises these trips, is actually building his own traditional house in the village, so it didn't feel as much like an intrusion as in some villages I'd been to before. The waterfall was spectacular (you'll see eventually when I post photos), but the highlight was visiting the children at school, having them sing and dance for us, then having a traditional meal of pap and veg by the fire. More kids came by the fire that night to sing and dance some more. Amazing. The Xhosa people are very friendly, if a bit shy, and have THE most beautiful smiles I've ever seen. I felt energised by the trip, that's for sure.
After 2 weeks of 'relaxing' in PSJ, I was slowly getting ready to move on. Because there was no Internet at the Jungle Monkey, I'd been out of touch for awhile and only found out a week and a half into my stay that Visa had been trying to reach me about some fraudulent transactions on my credit card. Long story short, my credit card was somehow cloned and had about 10 ooo$ worth of transactions on it for the past 2 weeks. Visa was great in that all the transactions were cancelled, but I still had to wait to receive a new credit card. Because I was in such a remote area, it started out that I'd have it in 3-4 business days, then 5, then finally 6. This is basically the reason I ended up staying a 3rd week at the Jungle Monkey, but honestly, it wasn't a chore...
Adventureland continued...
After our 2 days in Hermanus, Melissa and I then stopped in very quiet little towns along the Garden Route, the first called Swellendam and the other called Knysna. Beautiful places, both of them, but very very quiet. We were 2 of 6 guests at the backpackers in Swellendam and the only 2 guest at the one in Knysna. The highlights of my time there: a nice hike to a dried up waterfall in the forest near Swellendam and a cruise around the harbour in Knysna. Knysna is also where Melissa and I parted ways. She desperately wanted to go back to Hermanus (her story to tell, not mine), so we went our separate ways after 10 days of travelling together. I was back to my solo-traveling ways.
I went off to Storms River, home of the world's highest commercial bungee jump at 216 meters. The only reason for me stopping there was to watch the bungee jump, not do it. As I've said before, it's just not my thing. It so happened that a Canadian girl arrived the following morning to do the jump, so I was joined by Mairead, a lovely Irish girl I'd previously met on the bus to/from Hermanus, to watch her jump. We payed an extra 50 rand (approx. 7$) to walk under the bridge and watch from the platform. Now honestly, the walk to the platform was scary enough for me, as it's done on a wobbly grill and you can see straight down to the valley/river below. I made it to the jump site without looking down once. Once there, it was thrilling to see how the jumpers reacted before and after their jumps. Lots of adrenaline, for sure.
While there, the bungee crew were working hard on getting Mairead and I (i.e. the watchers) to do the jump. Actually, they didn't waste a lot of time on me, since I looked very determined that I wouldn't be jumping. But Mairead was wavering between doing it and not. Long story short (actually, a very loooong story ;-) ), she decided to do it, then spent about 20 minutes on the edge of the platform trying to jump, while constantly being reassured by the excellent crew that she could do it. She finally gave up and we walked off the bridge. At the edge of the bridge, we met 2 English lads who had bet on her jumping or not. Nicely enough, both guys, including the one who had bet against her jumping, convinced Mairead to join them and try again. So back under the bridge we went, and this time she jumped (helpfully shoved by the crew) without hesitation. It was amazing to see her overcome her fears.
The next day, I went on my own version of an adventure activity, a zip line tour above a waterfall in the Tsitsikamma National Park. There are 8 zip lines to cross in all, and the first couple of them were a bit scary, getting the hang of it and feeling confident that the damn things will be able to hold me up :-) But all in all, it was a fun thing to do, but not very adrenaline-inducing. The scenery was nice, what I actually got to see of it. You see, the guide would tell us for some of the zip lines where we should start braking. For example, start braking when you get to that big tree over there. So what would I do? Just focus on the tree and nothing else. Didn't see much of the scenery on those lines...
After the waterfall zip line tour, I headed out yet again to the bungee jump. This time to watch 2 other guys from my hostel who were doing it. Noticing a trend yet? This was now the 4th time in my trip (twice in NZ, twice in SA) that I've watched others do the bungee jump. And of course, on my last day in Storms River, sitting in the sun just hanging around and waiting for my bus to bring me to my next destination, I started regretting not doing it. Somewhere along the line, the bungee jump has become something of a symbol to me, overcoming fears, yes, but more than that, proving that it isn't too late for me to 'live' a little. Do something adventurous, exciting. Things I didn't do in my 20's and have thought I'd never get around to doing. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I think 37 is old, but still, not being fit for most of my life has left me with a body that does feel older than my age most of the time. I left Storms River with a definite sense of disappointment. Hopefully, next time I come across a bungee jump, I won't hesitate & I'll just do it.
I went off to Storms River, home of the world's highest commercial bungee jump at 216 meters. The only reason for me stopping there was to watch the bungee jump, not do it. As I've said before, it's just not my thing. It so happened that a Canadian girl arrived the following morning to do the jump, so I was joined by Mairead, a lovely Irish girl I'd previously met on the bus to/from Hermanus, to watch her jump. We payed an extra 50 rand (approx. 7$) to walk under the bridge and watch from the platform. Now honestly, the walk to the platform was scary enough for me, as it's done on a wobbly grill and you can see straight down to the valley/river below. I made it to the jump site without looking down once. Once there, it was thrilling to see how the jumpers reacted before and after their jumps. Lots of adrenaline, for sure.
While there, the bungee crew were working hard on getting Mairead and I (i.e. the watchers) to do the jump. Actually, they didn't waste a lot of time on me, since I looked very determined that I wouldn't be jumping. But Mairead was wavering between doing it and not. Long story short (actually, a very loooong story ;-) ), she decided to do it, then spent about 20 minutes on the edge of the platform trying to jump, while constantly being reassured by the excellent crew that she could do it. She finally gave up and we walked off the bridge. At the edge of the bridge, we met 2 English lads who had bet on her jumping or not. Nicely enough, both guys, including the one who had bet against her jumping, convinced Mairead to join them and try again. So back under the bridge we went, and this time she jumped (helpfully shoved by the crew) without hesitation. It was amazing to see her overcome her fears.
The next day, I went on my own version of an adventure activity, a zip line tour above a waterfall in the Tsitsikamma National Park. There are 8 zip lines to cross in all, and the first couple of them were a bit scary, getting the hang of it and feeling confident that the damn things will be able to hold me up :-) But all in all, it was a fun thing to do, but not very adrenaline-inducing. The scenery was nice, what I actually got to see of it. You see, the guide would tell us for some of the zip lines where we should start braking. For example, start braking when you get to that big tree over there. So what would I do? Just focus on the tree and nothing else. Didn't see much of the scenery on those lines...
After the waterfall zip line tour, I headed out yet again to the bungee jump. This time to watch 2 other guys from my hostel who were doing it. Noticing a trend yet? This was now the 4th time in my trip (twice in NZ, twice in SA) that I've watched others do the bungee jump. And of course, on my last day in Storms River, sitting in the sun just hanging around and waiting for my bus to bring me to my next destination, I started regretting not doing it. Somewhere along the line, the bungee jump has become something of a symbol to me, overcoming fears, yes, but more than that, proving that it isn't too late for me to 'live' a little. Do something adventurous, exciting. Things I didn't do in my 20's and have thought I'd never get around to doing. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I think 37 is old, but still, not being fit for most of my life has left me with a body that does feel older than my age most of the time. I left Storms River with a definite sense of disappointment. Hopefully, next time I come across a bungee jump, I won't hesitate & I'll just do it.
Janie in Adventureland
So far, South Africa comes in a close second to New Zealand for being the adventure capital of the world. Tons of adventure activities on offer, but it's all a bit of a waste for the non-adventure type like me, isn't it?
The first time I'd heard about shark diving, I didn't just think 'no', I thought 'Hell no!'. But as Melissa and I started the next leg of our trip down something called the Garden Route (roughly the south coast of South Africa, from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth), more & more people were talking about shark diving and how great it was. We arrived in Hermanus, our first stop after Cape Town, on a rainy cold morning. At this point, I was intrigued by the shark dive so I thought 'what the hell, I'm doing it' and booked myself into the next available trip the following day. Melissa and I spent the rest of the day in lazy style, having a nice lunch in a restaurant by the sea and walking around town, and then a not-so-lazy evening playing drinking games with the gang from the hostel. Ahem, might not have been the best idea to do that before going out to sea shark diving, but live and learn, I say.
Surprisingly enough, I was feeling fine the next morning and the weather was gorgeous, so we were good to go on the shark dive. How it works is like this: we drive to Gansbaai and take a boat out to 'Shark Alley', where more than 80% of all documentaries on Great White sharks are filmed. Winter is the perfect time to see Great White sharks, as the water is cold enough for the sharks and they just hang around near an island covered in seals, their favorite food. Once anchored in 'Shark Alley', a smelly oily mixture is thrown into the water to attract the sharks. Once one is sighted, everyone slips into a wetsuit and waits for their turn in the cage hanging off the side of the boat. Speaking of the cage, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I thought it would be completely covered in mesh, totally protected, but no, the metal bars are far enough apart for you to stick out arms, legs and head if you were feeling suicidal...
The water that day was fairly calm, but even so, our guide from the shark diving place warned us that at least some of us would be seasick, there is almost always at least a few. Until we anchored in Shark Alley, I was smugly confident that I wouldn't be one of 'those', since I hadn't ever really been seasick and I'd had a good breakfast that morning (supposedly one of the tricks against being seasick is to have something in your stomach). One of the girls from the hostel who'd also played drinking games the night before was already puking her guts out on the side of the boat before we even anchored, and I was still feeling fine, so all was good. Once the sharks arrived, I 'slipped' into my wetsuit (Huh. Wasn't easy, nor fun) and waited for my turn in the cage. I was in the 2nd group to go in the cage, packed in with 4 other people. The water was pretty cold (13-14C) but no too bad so far. When the crew sighted a shark, they'd yell "Go under! Go under!" and you'd take a deep breath, grab the bars of the cage and go down to see the shark. Crazy, but not as scary as I thought. The first time I went under, I barely lasted 5 seconds. The combination of nerves and cold water made me lose my breath in no time at all, but I got the hang of it after a few tries. The sharks we saw seemed huge to me, but really not aggressive at all. All they seemed interested in was the bait and only got close to the cage when the bait was brought there to attract them. The scariest bit for me was actually when I was floating above water and saw the shark fin floating by. Now that was scary, and all I could hear was the doo-doo, doo-doo, ... of the Jaws theme song.
Halfway through my 1st time in the cage, things went a bit awry for me. We were just bopping up and down in the cage, not having sighted a shark in a few minutes. I was cold and the queasiness I had started to feel instantly turned into full fledged nausea. I had about 30 seconds or so to warn the others stuck in the cage with me that I was about to hurl, and I tried climbing above the bars to puke over the side of the cage. The guy next to me was nice enough to drag me back inside the cage and tell me that maybe it wasn't really a good idea to have body parts hanging outside the cage while adding chum to the water... For lack of a better option, I just went under water to throw up there. Charming, isn't it? Lovely. Throwing up in a cage, stuck with 4 other people while a boat load of people are watching above me. What fun ;-)
By the time my 2nd turn in the cage came around, I could care less about seeing another shark. I was done. Fini. Finito. But still, it was a really great experience and made you realise that sharks aren't that scary... And it did make me a little bit infamous for a while there. The rest of the week, while traveling further down the Garden Route, I kept meeting people who said: "Oh! You're the girl who was sick in the cage while shark diving!" :-)
The first time I'd heard about shark diving, I didn't just think 'no', I thought 'Hell no!'. But as Melissa and I started the next leg of our trip down something called the Garden Route (roughly the south coast of South Africa, from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth), more & more people were talking about shark diving and how great it was. We arrived in Hermanus, our first stop after Cape Town, on a rainy cold morning. At this point, I was intrigued by the shark dive so I thought 'what the hell, I'm doing it' and booked myself into the next available trip the following day. Melissa and I spent the rest of the day in lazy style, having a nice lunch in a restaurant by the sea and walking around town, and then a not-so-lazy evening playing drinking games with the gang from the hostel. Ahem, might not have been the best idea to do that before going out to sea shark diving, but live and learn, I say.
Surprisingly enough, I was feeling fine the next morning and the weather was gorgeous, so we were good to go on the shark dive. How it works is like this: we drive to Gansbaai and take a boat out to 'Shark Alley', where more than 80% of all documentaries on Great White sharks are filmed. Winter is the perfect time to see Great White sharks, as the water is cold enough for the sharks and they just hang around near an island covered in seals, their favorite food. Once anchored in 'Shark Alley', a smelly oily mixture is thrown into the water to attract the sharks. Once one is sighted, everyone slips into a wetsuit and waits for their turn in the cage hanging off the side of the boat. Speaking of the cage, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I thought it would be completely covered in mesh, totally protected, but no, the metal bars are far enough apart for you to stick out arms, legs and head if you were feeling suicidal...
The water that day was fairly calm, but even so, our guide from the shark diving place warned us that at least some of us would be seasick, there is almost always at least a few. Until we anchored in Shark Alley, I was smugly confident that I wouldn't be one of 'those', since I hadn't ever really been seasick and I'd had a good breakfast that morning (supposedly one of the tricks against being seasick is to have something in your stomach). One of the girls from the hostel who'd also played drinking games the night before was already puking her guts out on the side of the boat before we even anchored, and I was still feeling fine, so all was good. Once the sharks arrived, I 'slipped' into my wetsuit (Huh. Wasn't easy, nor fun) and waited for my turn in the cage. I was in the 2nd group to go in the cage, packed in with 4 other people. The water was pretty cold (13-14C) but no too bad so far. When the crew sighted a shark, they'd yell "Go under! Go under!" and you'd take a deep breath, grab the bars of the cage and go down to see the shark. Crazy, but not as scary as I thought. The first time I went under, I barely lasted 5 seconds. The combination of nerves and cold water made me lose my breath in no time at all, but I got the hang of it after a few tries. The sharks we saw seemed huge to me, but really not aggressive at all. All they seemed interested in was the bait and only got close to the cage when the bait was brought there to attract them. The scariest bit for me was actually when I was floating above water and saw the shark fin floating by. Now that was scary, and all I could hear was the doo-doo, doo-doo, ... of the Jaws theme song.
Halfway through my 1st time in the cage, things went a bit awry for me. We were just bopping up and down in the cage, not having sighted a shark in a few minutes. I was cold and the queasiness I had started to feel instantly turned into full fledged nausea. I had about 30 seconds or so to warn the others stuck in the cage with me that I was about to hurl, and I tried climbing above the bars to puke over the side of the cage. The guy next to me was nice enough to drag me back inside the cage and tell me that maybe it wasn't really a good idea to have body parts hanging outside the cage while adding chum to the water... For lack of a better option, I just went under water to throw up there. Charming, isn't it? Lovely. Throwing up in a cage, stuck with 4 other people while a boat load of people are watching above me. What fun ;-)
By the time my 2nd turn in the cage came around, I could care less about seeing another shark. I was done. Fini. Finito. But still, it was a really great experience and made you realise that sharks aren't that scary... And it did make me a little bit infamous for a while there. The rest of the week, while traveling further down the Garden Route, I kept meeting people who said: "Oh! You're the girl who was sick in the cage while shark diving!" :-)
Howzit - part 2
OK, so I've been requested to republish this post in the correct order, since it originally showed up after an older message. Got a bit confusing and I'm not sure anyone besides Johanne actually read this thing. I posted it a week or so ago, so I've moved on since then. Watch out for more posts in the next day or so, before I head out on a 2-week safari. Yay!!!
*I'm taking a little time out from my current 'vacation' to finally update my blog a little. I'm amazed that I've been in South Africa a month already. Better update now in case I start forgetting stuff...
My first few days in South Africa were spent in some sort of 'reverse' culture shock. My first impressions were so different from what I was expecting, I realise I was pretty clueless about what South Africa would be like in the first place. The first thing that surprised me was how expensive it was compared to Asia. Now, compared to home, South Africa is still a bargain in many ways (accommodation, some food), but after having spent around 5 months in Asia where everything is dirt cheap, I spent the first week absolutely obsessing about the cost of everything. The other thing that surprised me was that South Africa wasn't at all what I thought 'Africa' would be like. Not all wild nature, safaris and black faces. Lots of cities with rich areas and plenty of white folk around.
The first stop was a short stay near Johannesburg, where I met up with Melissa. It was pretty cool to see her after 7 months away, and I really appreciated the hugs she gave me on behalf of my sisters. Now, for everyone who was worried about us being in Jo'burg (supposedly THE most dangerous city in Africa), we didn't actually stay there. We were staying in a suburb nearby. I'll admit to being intimidated to being in South Africa, especially with all the recent news about the xenophobic attacks happening here. And it didn't help my nerves any when the hostel people urged us not to walk outside at night and also liked to keep track of our whereabouts, even in the daytime. I walked to the grocery store with a young American couple my first day there and I was so stressed and paranoid, I felt I would be mugged at any minute. Thankfully, that feeling has lessened over time. There are still plenty of precautions you need to take and sometimes the advice you get from the locals seem a bit exaggerated (ex: taking a taxi to go 2 blocks at night, don't take the train that arrives in Cape Town at 6:00 PM, take the one that arrives at 5:30 PM at the latest...). It's hard to say if it's all really necessary or if there is a little paranoia involved, but whatever advice we were given, we followed, so no worries.
While near Jo'burg, we visited a lion and rhino park where we did a mini-safari. We were driven around the park trying to spot some animals (we did see an adult male lion, pretty cool) and afterwards were brought to a 'creche', where we could play with lion and tiger cubs. I thought by 'cubs', they meant small little kitty cat sized animals, but no, these cubs were already pretty big at around 4 months old. A little scary to play with, but wow, what an experience. Melissa now has a bite mark on her t-shirt as proof of our thrilling afternoon :-)
We also spent a day visiting the cultural highlights of Jo'burg. We had a driver and guide take us to Soweto, short for South West Townships, where most of Jo'burg's population reside. It was an interesting glimpse into an area that came to exist because of apartheid and how it has changed since the official end it. Our guide explained to us that Soweto is now one of the safest places to be in Jo'burg, with 'rich' and poor living side by side. We followed this up by a trip to the Apartheid museum. Even if I'm not usually a fan of museums, this one was definitely worthwhile and very interesting.
Up next was Cape Town, a city with the most impressive scenery around. The sight of the sea and Table Mountain makes Cape Town a very pretty place to visit. We were lucky enough to have excellent weather the day we went up Table Mountain, so the views were breathtaking. Can't wait to show you all some pictures, but it's going to have to, since the Internet connections here aren't up to it. We capped off our time in Cape Town by visiting Boulders Beach, where a huge penguin colony lives. Penguins, penguins everywhere, we even followed one for a while on the walkway meant for the humans. Melissa got to help a woman who worked there to catch the penguin and put him back on the beach.
That's it for now. I'll post more updates about our shark dive and what I've been up to the past 3 weeks. As of now, I'm still in a small place on the Wild Coast of South Africa called Port St Johns. I've been here already 2.5 weeks and it will have been my longest stay in a single place during all of my trip. I've been having a great time sleeping all day and dancing all night, but am feeling ready to move on again. I'm sort of 'stuck' here for the time being, waiting to receive a new credit card that was shipped to me after mine was duplicated somewhere and used to buy around 10K$ worth of stuff...
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