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Published: December 10th 2008
So Sunday night we were in Oudtshoorn at the Backpackers Paradise. Oudtshoorn is surrounded by mountains: the Langeberg and the Outeniqua. It was our first night back in tents! Weird. Sarah and I are sharing now and we took over Warthog, Tom and Will's tent because they said everything worked on it. Sure enough, it was easy to set up, but then we tried to open the zipper and their padlock was still on it! So we were locked out of our own tent! Luckily Pat and James knew the combination...
Monday morning we had ostrich eggs for breakfast. Chicken eggs are better. The ostrich eggs were too rich, almost fishy tasting. After breakfast we went to Cango Caves. They have some of the biggest stalagmites in the world. Some of us went on the adventure tour so we went in the massive caverns and then also further on where we had to squeeze through tight spaces and crouch down through corridors. It was really cool! Caves are amazing! Then we went to the Cango Ostrich farm. We got ostrich hugs and got to see some hatching babies. We also had the chance to ride them but the ostriches obviously didn't like it and it was somewhat brutal so most of us didn't go. And it was really hot! 42 C in the shade!!! That's 108 F!!! In the shade! Insane! Plus it was only for about 5 seconds so it wasn't worth it.
From there we drove through the mountains to Plettenberg Bay. At one point I was sleeping and woke up and we were in the mountains crossing the Outeniqua Pass in the mist. It was really cool to wake up in the mist. I love driving through the mountains! In Plettenberg we stayed at Albergos for Backpackers, camping again. The next day we went to the beach for a while but it was cloudy and not very warm so we wandered around the town. There is literally nothing in the town! We wouldn't have been able to spend much time there. In the afternoon we stopped at Bloukrans Bridge for bungy jumping! The highest in the world at 216 meters. 5 of us went. It was my first time bungy jumping and it was brilliant! I was kind of nervous beforehand but it was amazing!
After that we went to Stormsriver, Tube 'N Axe Backpackers, near Tsitsikamma National Forest. Today (Wednesday) Sarah, Eve, Ivanna, and I went to the national forest for the day. We hiked along the coast through the forest to a waterfall. It was gorgeous! Nice and sunny and good scenery! This area looks a lot like the Oregon Coast. Most of South Africa looks similar to Oregon. It's similar weather too: warm inland and cooler on the coast. Good day!
Guess what I saw in a newspaper??? They might almost have a malaria vaccine! That would be amazing for Africa!
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doug eby
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What is an ostrich hug? We need more details about the bungy jumping. Marlaria vaccine would be amazing -- but what about the deadly cholera epidemic in full swing right now next door in Zimbabwe?