A day of good - and bad...

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THE GOOD

Got up bright and early to go and see the Meerkats. We met Devey on the side of the road and then followed him 8km to the sight. We/I had a cup of hot tea while Devie talked about everything. Really interesting guy, has done so much in his time, everything from trapping game for reserves to starting up the first rodeo in South Africa.

Then we walked a bit until we came across a few mounds of dirt. Devey set up 2 chairs for us and then we waited. After another gorgeous sunrise, the first Meerkat popped it’s head up, then another and another. Eventually we had 13 in total. Devey explained their behaviour and mannerisms. As they warmed up we followed them as they started to make their way across the reserve. We watched them until after 9am when we couldn’t see them anymore.

Back at the car, we saw 2 springbock - our first official (after the Meerkats of course) African animal in the wild!

HELLOOOO, HELLOOOO, HELLOOOO

We then went up to Cango Caves. The caves were 5.4km long, 1.2km being available to tour. They had 2 different tours that you could do, a Grandma/Family tour that you walked nicely through and an Adventure Tour that went a lot further into the caves and you had to crawl and squeeze your way through, some spots were as small as 27cm. Tim didn’t feel confident getting through (too much chest work at the gym or too much good food????) so we did the normal tour.

Amazing caves, some of the features were over a million years old! Our guide sang something in African, it sounded awesome, he had an almost operatic voice and the echo made it sound even better than probably singing in the shower!

There was still a lot of walking and stairs, had a few older people in our group and they were struggling a bit.

I could have stayed in there all day, it was beautiful and warm!

Had lunch upstairs with a view of the mountains and fed the birds bits of waffle. Had about 10 birds, 4 different types. I’m sure waffle is a natural part of their diet...

THE BAD…

We went to the local shopping centre to stock up on Tim’s goodies and some milk for me.

Went to an ATM to get some cash and again we were declined, saying we had already reached our daily limit. This happened a fair bit in Cape Town but we presumed the daily limit was set differently overseas, having never used ATM’s outside Australia.

I ended up phoning Westpac and asking when we would again be able to access our account, to be told our account had been accesses plenty! Well in excess even of the $1,000 Aus limit. We then discovered our card had been skimmed in the very first machine it was used in Cape Town. They had taken everything all bar $1,200. Our hearts just sunk into our stomachs, we are only 1 week into a 19 week holiday!

Westpac cancelled our cards, but then I had to phone South Africa Mastercard to arrange a replacement. This would normally be quite simple, but after getting disconnected once and then having a language barrier to get through, and then working out where we would be when an Emergency Card could be delivered made it a 3 hour affair. All sitting in our car in the shopping centre car park, because remember we have no phones at the hotel available. Eventually, when we were nearly done, my battery went flat!

Drove back to the hotel, the reception was closed (a note on the door with a phone number to call if you need anything - but remember we have no mobile reception to phone the number), so I threw myself on the mercy of the restaurant and asked (ended up begging) them to let me finish my phone call there.

We shall (hopefully) have a card waiting for us when we arrive at Addo Elephant Park, fingers crossed. Tomorrow I still have to phone Australia Credit Card Fraud people to have them investigate and return the money to our account.

Even though this is a horrible, terrible thing that has happened it has not changed our views on South Africa or the people. This kind of thing happens everywhere (thinking back to McDonalds in Perth last year) and it’s not like we were harmed physically, we were not personally robbed, it was purely wrong place wrong time. And it is fixable!

The younger dog Chloe, followed me back to our room and ended up staying the night, she even climbed on the bed and snuggled in. Apparently she quite often sleeps in guests room if she is invited - although she doesn’t normally sleep on the bed, we’ve ruined her!

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Photos

Great way to start the day!
Cup of hot tea in the middle of no-where South Africa watching the sunrise

Meerkats #2
Sentry duty

Sam and Chloe
Our adopted dog