After an action-packed 10 days, I was ready for a significantly calmer pace for a few days. As such, I’ll cover my last 3 days in just this one entry. :) :) On Saturday, we had our most hectic morning yet. Our last accommodation was completely booked (meaning no opportunity to upgrade to a private room for the 3 of us), and it was the most “hostel-y” of all. There were 12 people on different bunks (only 5 were our group) in the room, and that particular room had only one bathroom. We also were to report to breakfast at 7am (our earliest of the week). Add to that the fact that most of the people played beer pong the night before, and you can imagine the state of the room and bathroom in the morning. ... read more

For our 5thday of the Cape to Addo tour, the major activity was the Addo Elephant National Park. This is a giant national park that was initially developed in 1931 to provide a sanctuary for the 11 remaining elephants in their natural habitat. The elephant population had dwindled in this area because of poachers and farmers (who were trying to protect their farms from being trampled by Elephants). Over the years since it has started, the national park has grown in size, now boasting that they are home to the “Big 7” – elephants, hippos, buffalo, lion, leopard, whale, and great white shark. The elephants have also thrived, and the population is now over 450. This is a major highlight of this trip, both in advertising and in reality. After enjoying breakfast and coffee with a ... read more

This is what I would have posted, if I had a stronger internet connection. :)... read more

My eyes popped open on our 3rdday of the tour at 6am – a full 45 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I think that I was so nervous that I wouldn’t be able to sleep after enjoying too many glasses of cheap wine, that I set my body clock to wake me up at the crack of dawn. I could definitely feel the effects of the wine, but I got out of bed and took a shower. Got ready, ate breakfast, and was ready to go a few minutes before we were supposed to leave. I was feeling pretty proud of myself until later when I realized that I left like half my shower stuff behind. Oops. Even though I was feeling a bit slow and queasy, I was doing better than ... read more

Note: the wifi is way to slow to load all the pictures... I'll add more when I can get a better connection. :) The second day of the tour was pretty packed. We woke up early, and we had a quick breakfast at our accommodation. The standard breakfast seems to be: cereal, yogurt, toast, and fruit. I probably could have slept much longer, and I was slow to wake up. But, fortunately, our first stop was quite cool. We visited the southern most tip of Africa, where the Indian and the Atlantic Ocean meet. The atmosphere of the location felt very remote, rural, almost from another time. It was a cloudy morning. Rather than a beach, this spot has large rocks along the shore. Other than an old sandstone lighthouse, there was nothing much around. It ... read more