Blogs from Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa

Nach einem geschillten Frühstück sind wir direkt an den Beach gefahren und haben uns bei Ocean Adventures gemeldet... Und dann ging es los: Flossen aussuchenund die Schwimmweste aussuchen und anschnallen. Mit einem Speedboot raus... Gleich die ersten Delphine gesehen. Echt cool!! Und einen Pinguin in freier Wildbahn. Wir sind bis zu einem Felsen Gefahren und haben dann die ersten Robben gesehen... Aber da waren nicht nur die auf den Felsen, sondern auch die im Wasser, links, rechts, vorne, hinten.... Wir haben also die Brille und den Schnorchel angezogen und die Flossen und ab ins Wasser. Mitten zwischen den Robben. Man wusste nicht, ob man lieber unter Wasser oder über schauen sollte. Ein besonders vorwitziger Geselle hat sich gerne Kopf über präsentiert: die Schwanzflossen über der Wasseroberfläche und den Rest unter uns mit großen Knopfaugen anschauend. Manchmal ... read more

Nach einem langen Frühstück haben wir uns auf zu den Afika's Kätzchen gemacht - einem Wild-/Rescue Park. Angeblich werden dort verletzte Katzen ( Geparden, Leoparden und andere Wildkatzen gerettet, aufgezogen und anschließend wieder in die Wildness entassen). Wir haben einen wunderschönen Leoparden, eIne Art Lux und einige Geparden gesehen, die allerdins sehr an den Menschen gewöhnt waren. Bei den Geparden durften wir sogar ins Gehege und haben sie aus direkter Nähe sehen können. Auch Bettina konnte ich schließlich zu einem Foto mit 2 großen Geparden überreden. Ansonsten war die Tour nicht annähernd so spannend wie unsere richtige Wildlife Tour durch den Hluhluwe Park. Weiter ging's nach Plettenburg Bay, wo Bettina ihre erste Erfahrung mit einem echten Hostel machen sollte. Keine Sorge sie lebt noch.... Mittlerweile war es so warm, dass wir selbst beim unserem Mitt... read more

At the house... our internet connection is far too slow right now to attempt uploading more photos... Tomorrow in between giving tours at Monkeyland, I will try to jump online in the office and add more photos of our recent times here at Monkeyland and the surrounds... I have spent the last 5 years travelling on and off throughout South Africa and it's neighbours. I have come toknow the smiles of the people all over this great land. I has wandered through the rolling hills of Natal and gazed at the sky that seemed so close... The people of the rural lands and townships has very little to their name yet will give you all. How many times have I been invited into someone's home, having just met them half an hour before and they offer ... read more

Just over a week ago, Neil the Professor picked Elisha, myself and Maya (our Israeli house mate) up in his giant bakkie that he never drives to work, instead driving his beat up mutt car, and took us on what he called an assignment... you see, with Neil, everything has to be an assignment or lesson or some type of top secret mission- I guess this makes life interesting... and which it does!! Life is but a sequence of steps and decisions and to make a game of it often times makes things more enjoyable and life more intriguing... So Neil gives us our instructions. We are to be dropped of at Keurbooms River and take two canoes, one for Elisha and I, the other for Maya and make our way upstream towards who knows what- ... read more

So six weeks into our stay in the tucked away Crags suburb located outside of Plett. Monkeyland has been interesting, if not strange in many ways... There are good and bad things to every situation and this is no exception. Each day we wake up to sounds of over a thousand birds calling in the giant bird sanctuary outside of our volunteer house. As we begin to eat breakfast, have coffee and put on our khaki ranger uniforms... we listen to the call of Atlas, the lar gibbon marking his territory by song. He is doing the same thing the gibbons all over Southeast Asia do. Their whooping call can be heard up to 4 kilometers away and it is quite relaxing in a way. Once we are somewhat awake finally, ready to head out the ... read more

Three weeks into our stint at Monkeyland. times are good- sometimes too much spare time- the volunteer house is very basic... and as sad as it sounds, sometimes it is just nice to sit back and watch mindless (or mindful) TV. We keep ourselves busy though- or we try. During our days- well, in the morning- we clean out the "rehab" monkey's cages...tell them you cleaned up monkey poo : says Neil!! we give them fresh water and food... the squirrel monkeys jump on your back and urinate on you, as the howler digs into the bucket you just poured poo and old food into- and pulls out something that was once hers... but honestly- this is fun. and educational. very much so. I am hoping to start doing tours of the forest soon, taking guests ... read more

So after some rough times- Cape Town was a good cheering up dosage- the beautiful mountains and green goliaths that tower over the city, beautiful itself- a mixture of old architetcture of blues and pinks- Cape Dutch- BO KAAP- fizzling into tall skyscrapers and streets filled with hipster coffee shops and over priced Urban Outfitter look a-likes... but wow is it fun!! Indeed, the Mother City lives up to all of its' stories- Cape Town has always treated me well and I do enjoy it. We both loved our views from the rooms, we loved strolling on the beach and picking up the sparkling, gorgeous shells- writing random sayings in the sand and taking photos of things that most people would probably roll there eyes at... standing so close to the towering World Cup stadium was ... read more

What a day! This morning we were up early at 6:15 to go walking with the elephants at the reserve next to the hotel. The reserve takes unwanted elephants from zoos and private collections and rehabilitates them back into herds. Meg got to feed one of the orphaned babies with two bottles of milk but I think it was more than happy to feed itself. The guide was very knowledgeable and Meg can now answer any quiz questions on elephants. After returning to the hotel for breakfast we headed off to Monkeyland. This is a self contained reserve that rehabilitates monkeys back into the wild; a lot of them are unwanted pets. We were escorted through the reserve and we even managed to get Meg to walk over the first rope bridge of the day. We ... read more