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Published: December 17th 2012
Top of the table!
Me and Rafael after hiking up the mountainSince leaving oceans I have tried to tick of my list of things to do in South Africa. One of these was to walk up Table Mountain in Cape Town. I made it on my third attempt and through no fault of my own since the very characteristic table cloth (a cloud) was capped on top the other times I tried. But anyhow after three days in CT at the River Lodge BP I and Rafael made the walk to the top. After a two hour walk, rather steep, we reached the top and were greeted by a magnificent view of the city from 1060 meters above sea level. If you ever get here get to the top!
Last weekend After this short time in CT I took the bus back to Mossel bay to meet up with the people at Oceans for one more Friday at flames followed by the planned excursion with car eastwards to Knysna and Plettenberg bay. However we never made it to Knysna but took the road north to Outdoshorn were the spectacular Cango caves are located. A 90 minute guided tour took you through these massive chambers and since we
Cango caves
Brightly lit and pretty... choose to do the somewhat more difficult route there was a bit of crawling and squeezing. Might be a bit difficult to make out in the pictures but the smallest place to get through was 27cm. Had to exhale to get through and after listening to some complaints from the ladies of the group I’m rather glad I don’t have breasts…
After this it was time for the next thing on my list which was to ride an Ostrich. Drove to a farm close to Outdoshorn were you can do this and after a short guided tour it was time to mount up and hold on for dear life. Managed about 15 seconds before I slipped off in a not to gracious manner as you can see in the video, fun though!And if you're qurious as to why I'm wheezing it's because my voice gave out the day before for no apparent reason... Also tried the strength of the eggs, no problem standing on one and according to the guides it would have held three of me. As long as you apply the pressure without forceful jabs it could stand up to 200kg of pressure standing up.
Wild Meet the ostriche
Stupid looking big chicken, still cool though Spirit Lodge Backpackers
Well after this we started driving towards Plettenberg bay were we had accommodation booked. Rather a long drive and when we got there we eventually found out that we had about 20 more minutes to get to the right place which was not in Plett but rather in Natures Valley. Arriving after dark and driving on small mud roads in the end while discussing the perfect scenery for and African version of the movie Hostel we finally got to Wild Spirit. The six of us took to this place immediately, a very relaxed, quiet eco accommodation with a wonderful hippie feeling over it. Beautiful dorms, no bunk beeds and a balcony which we used to enjoy the sunrise on Sunday morning. Drove to the Bloukrans bungee which for me this time only involved the bridge walk to watch Jackie, Caitlyn and Eva go of the edge. Some silly feeling awakens out here though and I was close to do a second jump, but I’ll save that for later. However with three adrenaline high ladies in the car we set of to the backpackers again since I was staying another night and we had decided to chill
it's a LION!!!
Bigger than all of the other big five together, take that! out around the place. Walk to the waterfall and just enjoy the place before the guys had to head back to Mossel bay leaving me behind. Oh and what needs to be remembered from this is that Jason despite his brown hair is really a blond, proving this very well when during a blond moment he managed to look the car keys into the trunk. Fortunately there were guys around who had the tools and know how to get the car open so they could go home.
Port Elizabeth After that the nice people got me to the gas station 6km away and I was fortunate to catch a local minibus to the big bus stop in Plettenberg bay I waited for 6 hours for my coach to arrive, nice day in the sun reading and eating burgers. Have to focus on the positive sides of these days!
Well in PE my plans were a bit thwarted since the person I was there to meet had traveled to the US… But on the other hand I got a happy surprise when Maria and Mark happened to make it into port the day before I was to leave.
Kalin en Kalal
If that is the way to spell it? The got a bit delayed on their sailing around the world, our hopes were to meet up in Mossel bay but fortune has it this worked out just perfect. Two and a half years since they left I got extremely interested in sailing, well see what the future holds… But now it’s time for another wonderful bus ride of 17 hours to Joburg followed by an eight hour wait and then another eight hours flight before…
Cairo Currently the city of madness and bloodshed if you want to believe the news. However I found it to be a wonderful place with loads of happy people, if maybe a little starved for tourists. Thus looking the way I do blending in was out of the question. But no bad attention, people were happy and helpful. Now seeing as I only had three days the big market (Kalen en kali) was an obvious choice since Christmas is imminent… Lovely for every shopaholic, guilty as I am I loved it! Got away with some nice things though. But what requires more mention are the cafes, old med sitting around everywhere drinking tea or coffee over a shisha both of which cost
Tharidh square
Lot's of people but currently calm the same to order (1,5 SEK). Marvelous! Also took the time to visit Tahirih square to see if I could practice my skills in throwing Molotov’s and cobble stones. But no, BBC did not deliver on the picture they painted on the news, well another time perhaps. And yes I’m making fun of the situation a bit unjustly I know, there has been horrible things happening here with dead people and riots. However when I was there the demonstration was rather quiet, no big military forces showing and no angry people. So I guess the moral of this story is as always, don’t trust everything you hear on the news…
But now it’s time to fly home. In summary of this trip I never made it to Victoria Falls, nor did I follow in Livingstone’s footsteps but I’ve had one hell of a year, even though not all of it was spent in Africa... Great friends and amazing experiences!
To everyone reading this, merry Christmas and travel more!!!
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