South Africa's Garden Route: Where am I?!

Where am I?! I spend my nights sitting around camp fires drinking Savanna's (really good South African cider), roasting marshmallows, braii-ing (equivalent of a bbq) and talking to other travelers. Everything is absolutely gorgeous. The streets are perfectly paved, the hostels better than any other country I've been to, and the people incredibly nice. Last I checked, I did not sign up to be in Europe, the US or some other first world country, but South Africa's Garden Route (from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth) is basically that. I'm definitely enjoying backpacking in relatively cheap luxury, but I also can't wait to see the real Africa.

Below are the cities I stopped at on the Garden Route after leaving Cape Town. Working with limited time, I did not make many stops because I heard things would get better as I went on. Still, even just passing through places by bus furthered my belief that the Garden Route is scenic and filled with great destinations. In the words of my South African friend Shawn, "You don't need to go everywhere. Wherever you go, you are guaranteed to have a good time."

OUDTSHOORN:
Pronounced "Oats-worn" in their special version of English ;), Oudtshoorn is famous for 2 reasons: Ostriches and the Cangoo Caves. Unfortunately, I did not get to ride an ostrich because the weather did not permit it. But, I did enjoy standing on their very tough eggs (1 ostrich egg = 24 chicken eggs). I also learned a few facts like how they eat rocks because it helps them digest, and are attracted to shiny things so have also been known to swallow lipsticks and coke cans (whole). My favorite part was Betsy, the "nice ostrich". The chances of an ostrich being a nice and friendly one are VERY slim, but this ostrich farm got lucky, and so did I by meeting such a funny, lovable ostrich I could get as close to as I wanted. As for eating them, that was good too. Ostrich meat is no fat white meat. It's really healthy, but if given a choice, I'd prefer steak or chicken.

The Cangoo Caves were the most impressive stalagmite and stalactite caves I can remember going to. I did the adventure tour and climbed through some really small holes in that cave. It was really tight, but the workers don't discriminate by size so, naturally, some years back, a woman got stuck crawling through.

TITSIKAMA:
The hiking trails around Titsikama aren't that special, but what is, is seeing baboons on them. It was kind of frightening because I was alone on the trails, but these baboons ran off unlike the ones in Cape Town that raid houses, steal food and attack people.

In Titsikama, I also went zip lining. It's been one of those things I've wanted to do and didn't think I would get a chance to because Costa Rica is not on my itinerary. Sure enough, the zip lining here is exactly the same as in Costa Rica, so I got what I wanted along with some speedy zips between trees.

PORT ELIZABETH:
There isn't anything that exciting about Port Elizabeth, but it did give me the opportunity to book a tour to Addo Elephant Park. And, since they did a double Elephant Park/Scotia Safari tour, I went for it. With a lower price than Kruger, I jumped on the opportunity.

Unfortunately, I didn't know much about game viewing. As I later found out, Scotia is a small, but densely populated park. Unlike Kruger, Serengeti or Masai Mara, there are gates. The animals stay within a confined area and big as that is, I'm not happy with the idea. I'd much prefer to go to a place where animals have always roamed free naturally. That said, I can't wait for my Kenya or Tanzania safari.

Still, I had a blast seeing 4 out of the "big 5" with only one other person because of low season. All I kept thinking on the safari was how lucky I am to be seeing animals in their natural environment. After getting the "I'm ready to go home" bug 11 months into my travels, this was a definite wake up call that I only have 2 months left and will soon wake up from this dream, which is a dream even during the slower less exciting times.

Seeing these animals and hearing them is so different from the discovery channel and absolutely breath taking. I can't even begin to describe what it's like to see a giant elephant walk in front of your car.. or a giraffe... or my favorite, the lions, lazy as they are sitting around all day and only getting up for a little play time or their next meal.

As for the Elephant Park, thank god for it! After my SE Asia elephant experience, I thought happy elephants didn't exist. It was traumatizing enough almost getting rolled on by an elephant and seeing my guide beat it and hook it with a giant hook, not to mention how discolored and diseased they looked. If only those elephants had it like these in Africa.

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