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Published: April 12th 2007
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I’m sorry I haven’t been very dilligent about updating my blog. My computer broke and so I have to go to the lab to use theirs and it is a little more difficult to make the time when I have to ride to use the computer.
The last few weeks have been such an adventure! I finshed my first term (quarter) in South Africa although only one of my courses ended. Between terms there is a fall (spring) break as well as Easter. I spent my 10 days on holiday and it was excellent!
The first half of the trip was spent on the Garden Route, which is a very famous tourist route througout the souther/easter coast of South Africa. It was beautiful and tons of fun! We had many adventures. I guess the best way to do it would be go day by day? I’ll try to keep details to a minimum as it was a jammed pack trip.
Day 1- Friday. Drove for about 6 hours to a lovely town, that I can’t pernounce nor do I actually remember the name of. It was pretty low key with dinner and a couple of drink and
Ronnie's Sex Shop
I forgot to mention this in my blog but we stoped at this place! It's a very famous bar in the middle of no where! And it's also not actually a sex shop- just bar/restaurant and it wasn't even too untasteful. then to bed.
Day 2- Satruday. We awoke early and headed off to the Cango Caves. They were absolutely spectacular and I enjoyed every moment in them. I took the adventure tour which required some climbing, crawling, and sliding. I think the pictures can show it much better then I can describe, but it has been one of the best things that I have seen since I’ve been here.
After the caves we drove over to an Ostrich Farm. Karoo I would argue is the ostrich capitol of the world. There are farms all over! We had about a 15 minute introduction to the bird and learned lots about them. Afterwards we were taken out and if you wanted to you could be “kissed” by one. I opted out of that one- you held a piece of grain between your lips and they nabbed it. Then we were brought to the arena where some lucky few got to ride them! It wasn’t exactly the most humane thing I’ve ever seen…but it was still fun. I also didn’t get to ride them but I did sit on them. Finally, we got to get neck massages by the birds. For
those of you who don’t know - I hate birds! I decided it might be fun to get a “massage” and tried it. I didn’t think it was much fun actually. You held a bucket of feed up and put your back to the pen and they essentially attack the feed. My face says it all in the photos! Despite not liking the birds they sure do taste yummy and I would recommend anyone who has a chance to eat one. It is a red meat that tastes much like beef. It is very lean and much lower in cholesterol then beef as well.
After the ostrich farm it was off for another 3-4 hour drive to our next destination. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains, and it has been said that the mountains where the Lord of the Rings books is set are based of f of these.
Day 3 - Sunday. This was a very excitning, thrill seeking day. We had the option to several activities, including bungee jumping and tree canopying. The bungee jump is the worlds highest bungee and it was crazy. I opted not to do the jump but many of
my friends did it and had a blast! I decided to lay a little lower, and only climb to about 100 feet and go Tree Canopying. Essentially, you are in this beautiful forest and you swing from tree to tree on zip lines. I had a lovely time and anyone can do it.
After all the extreme adventures were over we headed over to Monkey Land. That was so incredible! There were monkeys EVERYWHERE. A tour guide meets you and takes you for a walk in the forest. ITs’ an enclosed forest but open and very big- not like a zoo. The monkey’s were captive monkeys who have been brought here to allow them to have a fairly close to normal monkey life. There were big and small and they were so fun. We got there at feeding time so there was tons of activity!
Day 4 - Monday. Another early morning- we had a lot of these! Late nights and early mornings but I guess I have the rest of my life to sleep. On Monday- I got up at around 6 to go for a morning kayak in the ocean. You are supposed to see sharks, dolphins,
seals- but we saw nothing. It was very foggy! But the ocean was incredibly calm and I had a lovely time. I was glad to have a guide because you couldn’t see more then 20 feet in front of you and I would have certainly gotten lost at sea without them!
The afternoon we went to the Knysna Elephant park. It was a small reserve with about 10-15 elephants. We got to feed them and got our pictures taken. They were very gentle giants. Knysna Elephant Park rescues elephants in need, such as orphans. I would have preferred to see them in their more wild environment but they were very well off at the park.
Our lodging for the next two nights were fantastic! We stayed in a beach backpackers (hostel). We had the entire thing to ourselves and it was very relaxed!
Day 5 - Tuesday. This morning was a trip to the Featherbed Nature Reserve. It’s a private nature reserve with some incredible views of where the fresh water river meets the ocean. IT was a boat ride to the reserve, then a tractor to the top, and a walk back to the bottom. I would
never have done this on my own but I was very glad we went.
It was a relaxing afternoon, spent at the beach, reading, and napping. That evening there was to be a surprise but we weren’t sure what! We loaded the vans and off we went to some farm- not sure what to expect. We were hushed up and then heard the beating of the drums! We - all 61 of us- would be taking an African Drum lesson. It was A BLAST. We learned some basic beats, and then were split into groups and had to do a performance representing an element of the earth. It was excellent!
The evening was finished up with a great dinner at a nice restaurant right on the bay, and everyone said their goodbyes for in the morning we would all be going to different destinations- I was off to Lesotho!
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