The South of Africa

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So this is a very delayed post- but a highly deservant one. This is our trip to Africa!

'Be Careful,' they said. 'It's dangerous, especially two girls alone,' they repeated. 'Don't go out at night,' was echoed.

So on the 27th August 2017 we headed off on a bucket-list-trip-of-a-lifetime holiday. We felt this was deserved having stayed in one place and doing the whole 'job thing' for 18 months. First stop was Amsterdam! Now everyone's first thought of Amsterdam is all the goings-on and social side that attracts hen and stag do's from all over the world and groups of people generally behaving badly. Unfortunately, this part of the city is the main attraction and what we felt was 'Brits on tour'. Sure, it's great fun! It's energetic and it is an eye-opener and definitely worth a visit. However, Amsterdam has so much more to offer which I do feel is overlooked. The general beauty of the city is everywhere. The buildings are beautiful on both sides of the canal, very tall, old and elegant. Pure European beauty. The weather welcomed us and it was the warmest of the weeks we were away. So what did we do and what do we recommend? Okay, so there is Anne Frank's house which is so sad but definitely different to what we were expecting. Such a tragic story of how a young girl with huge dreams was born into a difficult, complicated world. Her dreams were to someday be a successful author and without knowing, her diary has been published across so many different countries and nationalities. I think its fair to say her dreams were succeeded - just with such sad consequences. Her father was the only one of the family who survived and subsequently the one who decided to get Anne's diary published.

Van Gogh museum - interesting but we couldn't personally spend hours there. Vondel Park was beautiful. We struggled to get around for a while getting on trams thinking they're buses and buses thinking they're trams. Obviously not our fault 😉 One of the highlights of our time in Holland was a genuine Dutch experience. This involved hopping on a train to somewhere and hiring bikes and cycling around a 4 mile route of windmills. Can't really get more Dutch! Being in Amsterdam didn't really have a foreign feeling due to all the Brits that go there, particularly on a bank holiday so it was nice to get out and feel like we had seen a little bit more of the country. When we arrived we were pretty tired so went on a canal boat cruise. This is highly recommended as there are so many canals within the city and it lasts for an hour and is a cool and different way to admire the city.

So onwards from the 'Dam and we had a long flight ahead of us for Cape Town (on a brand new, fresh-from-the-hangar-in-Seattle plane - woo!). Upon arrival in South Africa, we had our transfer waiting for us. He was a really friendly, local man. He understood our excitement and humoured us. We travelled along the highway which had a sign saying 'High crime rate, do not stop at any time'. I think at this point we both felt the same - a little bit anxious but excited still too. The darkness added to our anxiety levels...

So he dropped us off at our hotel in Camps Bay and ensured he would wait with us until someone from the hotel arrived - they do look after you! And...Oh Camps Bay!! Maybe we are biased, but it has to be the best spot in Cape Town. 50m from the beach, seaview room, amazing restaurants and bars (shout out to Blues Bar). Table mountain looking over us and Robben Island in the distance. The beauties of Cape Town all in one place!

So day one, we decided we wanted to get our bearings a little bit more so we hopped on to a Hop On and Hop Off bus where we stopped at the V&A Waterfront. What a place! Amazing food, nice little quirky African stalls and plenty to look round. This is the area that a lot of tours go from too so was a place we went back to a few more times.

With the time of year being the first few days of Spring in SA, it wasn't the warmest but this also meant that tours like Robben Island and shark cage diving were at risk due to rough seas. Sure enough, both were cancelled. A bit of improvisation on our part was needed but we just juggled a few plans around so day two we went to see the penguins!!!! This was a tour to Boulders Bay where hundreds (maybe even thousands) of penguins live. This was such a lovely experience admiring these beautiful animals in their own habitat. The boardwalk was raised above the land so you could look over and see them at ease. On this trip we also went to Cape of Good Hope which is the most South Western point of the African continent. Rocky headlands and mahoosive (really!) waves welcomed us. We also ventured to Cape Point which is where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet. Along this tour to all these spectacular points we had a very scenic coastal drive where we saw (no proof) a whale breaching, most likely a Humpback. En route home, we were passing through Llandudno (yes named after the Welsh town) for one of the best sunsets we have ever seen.

Day 3 - due to another ocean cancellation, we went for tour visiting Langa Township (basically a shanty town) which is the oldest one in South Africa. This was the real eye-opener. Up until this point, the divide wasn't that noticeable. Poverty was around but poverty is everywhere, right? I felt like we had stepped foot into a Comic Relief video. It was tragic. What was worse was the people we were meeting live like this. The waiters that served our dinner, the shop owners, the taxi drivers. You can't help what you are born into. Now this is where we really understood the South African history and the devastating consequences which are still endured. The one nice thing about this was that it was very much back to basics. Children were outside playing, hopscotching and playing tig. Might make us sound old but these are all games we used to play and it was good to see people embracing the fresh air. There was none of this smart phone, video game society. The poverty we experienced was truly heartbreaking. Families living in one room with another family, 4 people sharing a bed, thousands sharing a portaloo and a limited amount of water and no electricity. Some people lived in the shacks that you see on the telly. It was dirty and dusty and litter was never collected which obviously attracts rats and with rats brings disease. Despite this, everyone was so friendly and seemed to be happy. It put things into perspective. You walk around London or some big UK city and everyone is in their own little bubble, not looking up from their phones, going home to a very nice house and some yummy food yet this is really happening on the other side of the world. The divide between race was massive and to a degree you could still feel the tension between the two races. I struggle to understand how in this day and age this can even be happening. The country has come on leaps and bounds in the past 20-30 years. However, they have gone so far the other way now that the white people are the ones banished to the townships. When does it stop?

This made us realise POVERTY IS REAL and it needs to be helped!!

Okay, so, on to the next day. After a HUGE storm with massive waves, we went to sleep slightly defeated knowing that our chances to swim with sharks in South Africa were basically over. We woke up wondering what to do and drew the curtains. We were welcomed with glorious sunshine and flat seas. Sure enough the sharks were ON! Obviously this was a good thing - but it didn't feel like it at that moment in time (our bowels knew something was happening). Having not psyched ourselves up, this was the longest morning ever! When our driver FINALLY arrived it was a 2 and a half hour journey which again we weren't aware of. As soon as we got to the shark base Marine Dynamics, which was at Gaansbai, the nerves were gone and exchanged with excitement. What an experience! We were fed well and then went out to the water. We did not do one of these human entertainment dives. We went out with marine biologists and learnt a lot about these giant beauts! So we arrived and there was already a shark waiting and swimming round so it was all go go go to attach the cage and get the first load of divers in.

We didn't entice them with bait and neither were we fully immersed in the water. There's no need. The bait actually angers the shark and its not healthy to anger them and stress them out just so humans can get their photo. Furthermore, the bubbles of diving actually scares the shark so to go fully immersed wouldn't be effective. So we got in the cage as the second group and were so fortunate enough to watch these graceful creatures swim past us. 7 in total, including infants and the largest being 3 and a half metres which was bigger than our cage. Unfortunately, due to the storm the previous night we didn't have amazing viewing underwater due to the silt. Still an unforgettable bucket list experience! Once again, it was shocking to hear how endangered the sharks of all breeds are. For every human killed, 400,000 sharks are. I know I can speak for myself but, the idea of any possible children or grandchildren that we might have having to grow up in a world where they see all these amazing animals in text books and never in person, is terrifying. An ocean without sharks is not what we want. They are the boss of the marine world and it terrifies me to think that this is a possibility. How can we help? Check on all moisturisers and make up for an ingredient called 'squalene'. This is an oil that comes from a shark. Unfortunately, the shark is killed to obtain this and it is totally unnecessary. It doesn't make the lipstick that much better. Another huge thing particularly in countries such as China is shark fin soup. The sharks are killed so inhumanely just for some very supposedly bland tasting soup. Is it worth it? We don't think so. It is all an awareness thing and people don't really realise or understand the seriousness of it. The shark is captured, loses his fin and thrown back in the sea for him to die as without the fin he is unable to survive. Rant over.

Final day in Cape Town which happened to be Gems birthday! What a day it was too! Easily the nicest day and Table Mountain actually decided to show his face. So it started with a delicious breakfast (it really was incredible) and on to Robben Island. This again was hugely sad. The torture that Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners went to was horrendous. It was a very interesting visit. To see Cape Town and Table Mountain would have been torture enough. The way the prisoners were treated was added on to this. The tour was very interesting particularly as the tour guide is an ex political prisoner so you could hear some first hand life-changing stories.

Once we had done this tour it was finally time to go up Table Mountain. Onwards we went. We didn't have time to walk up it, which was our original plan, so went up on the cable car which rotates on its way up (not our favourite part). The views when we were up there is difficult to truly describe. You could see for miles across South Africa's vineyards one way, looking out to Lions Head, looking out to sea and Antarctica and across Table Mountain National Park. We were so lucky with the day. Unfortunately due to the weather the world and his wife also thought it was a good idea to go up. Needless to say, looking out in all directions was just the perfect end to such a wonderful time in Cape Town. Obviously the night ended with some amazing cocktails and we got up raring to go the next morning for our flight to Port Elizabeth.

It was touch-and-go for a while with a few crashes and massive backlash of traffic. All a bit worrying but we got there on time. From PE airport we were met by our transfer to take us to Pumba Bush Lodge about an hour a halfs drive away. En route there we had the best taxi driver/tour guide ever pointing out animals in the distance. We shed a few little tears. Driving along a normal road and just going 'oh look, a giraffe!' is very surreal. Having arrived there early afternoon we were in time for our first safari.

All in all, we had 8 game drives. Safari-ing is out of this world. Our guide Jade had a serious eye for it. She could spot things you would just look over even with binoculars. So we saw the Big 5 - elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo, lion (both tawny and white) and leopard. On top of this we saw the savannah full of zebras, giraffes, impala and even hippos. We also saw some very confused hyenas as they are usually nocturnal. Each game drive consisted of a 30 min break of drinks and snacks (yum). We were so well looked after and this lodge itself I cannot recommend highly enough. We were given hot water bottles to go out with and were welcomed back with warm damp flannels. This was one of the best things we have ever done! We could go into the poaching stories and how very few rhinos and elephants there are left in the world. All we will say is be super careful what you buy and what includes ivory. Is it worth these incredible mammals to die for something to look nice on our window sill or kitchen?

So after bidding farewell to our safari friends we were heading back home and back to normality. How was this possible? What's normal?

After a crazy long journey we were home and planning the next trip. Due to all its history South Africa has this reputation. Sure, there is violence. Isn't there violence everywhere though? Keeping your wits about you and not flashing about expensive objects are an obvious must but we would urge anybody to go! Help their economy with tourism, and go to see the country for its beauty yourself!!

Thanks for reading!

Gem and Bef xx

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