Adventures in Africa

---

Hi everybody! I just left Cape Town, South Africa and am now on my way to India! South Africa was amazing. I got the chance to do and see a lot of really cool things that I will probably never be able to do again. The first day there I was supposed to go visit Robben Island which is where the old prison that held Nelson Mandela is located, but unfortunately it was too windy for the ferry to make it to the island. So I ended up going to what was supposed to be the 2nd best aquarium in the world, but it wasn’t as great as advertised. It was still pretty cool because they had a lot of fish that I had never seen before, and there was also a bunch of penguins there and a pretty big tank that had a bunch of sharks and manta rays and tuna swimming in it. After that Michael and I walked over to Long Street which is the happening part of downtown, and we ended up running into a bunch of our friends down there and doing a little exploring with them before we headed back to the ship for dinner. The next day a group of us got a cab to Stellenbosch, which was about 30 minutes from Cape Town, and we went on a tour of Bergkelder Winery. It was really interesting going through the cellars where they store thousands of barrels of wine. At the end of the tour we got to try a few of the wines that they made, which were all pretty good. Later that day there was a rugby match between Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town, so we went and checked out the campus in Stellenbosch and then went to the game. It was really fun talking with all of the local students about life in South Africa, and it seems like that would be a really fun place to go to school because there are a ton of mountains to climb in the area, and there is also the beach real close by and a lot of other fun things to do. Anyway we all went back to the ship that night and I left for Pilansberg Safari the next morning. There was a two-hour flight up to Johannesburg, and then another two-hour bus ride after that, but we got to the lodge (which was incredibly nice) and ate a really good lunch and then went out on our first game drive! I saw tons of animals in the three days that I was there including lions, elephants, rhinos, wildebeests, hippos, giraffes, and many more. It was awesome being so close to some of these animals that I could basically reach out and touch them. The coolest parts where when a full grown male lion walked within a foot of our car, and also the two times that 10 to 20 elephants crossed the road right in front of our car! We got back to Cape Town at about 6 p.m. on September 30, and after eating dinner on the ship a big group of SAS kids all went out to a club called Mitchell’s where there was karaoke going on. It was really funny seeing all of the people I know butchering funny songs, and near the end of the night Michael and I sang Build me up Buttercup, and pretty much everybody in the place was singing it along with us. It was really fun and hilarious at the same time. Anyway the next day I went shark cage diving out in the middle of the ocean. That was absolutely insane! It was probably one of the biggest thrills I've ever had in my whole life. One of the great white sharks was chasing the bait that they put out for it, and he caught it right in front of my face and then he slammed face first right into the cage directly in front of me! I was within inches of having my face torn off! Thank god I was in a cage huh? That was pretty much a whole day ordeal, but the next day I hiked Table Mountain in Cape Town, but it was kind of a joke because they had basically built a staircase out of rocks all of the way up to the top, and once we got to the top it was totally built for tourists. There were walls and walkways all over the place, and a cable car that most people rode up and down in. It was really cool looking over the city from there though, and it was definitely worth it to go up there. Unfortunately my camera stopped working while we were hiking though, and I haven’t been able to figure out what is wrong with it yet, so I guess I’m gonna have to have other people take pictures of me and then get them later...But besides that, everything about South Africa was absolutely awesome! I was able to use the Internet while I was there, and I posted a few pictures on flickr.com if anyone is interested. The pictures are from Brazil, Namibia and South Africa, and to see them simply go to flickr.com and search my name and that should work. I miss all of you and hope that everything is going well!

---