Final Stop Abroad: South Africa
Mike and I survived our extensively long journey from Tanzania to Cape Town and proceeded to crash for a 4 hour nap. We walked down to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, had a delicious dinner at Harbor House on the water and got great views of Table Mountain in the distance. South Africa is quite the change from Kenya and Tanzania, it is totally Westernized, and we were able to walk down the streets in peace without being cat called at by everyone we passed. It also has the largest wealth disparity I have ever seen. We passed essentially Hooverville tin shack neighborhoods on the way to the city from the airport, and then not even 10 minutes later are passing extravagant town houses.
The next day we rented a car and did a road trip around the Cape. We saw penguins in Simon's Town at Boulder Bay beach, hiked up to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope - the most southwestern point of Africa, then returned north via Chapman's Peak drive and Hought Bay. Despite the weather being a bit gloomy that day, the whole area was very beautiful!
The following day my illness got the better of me and the crappy weather made it an easy decision to sleep in and stay in bed all day. I haven't had a lazy day like that in ages, so it was kind of nice and I was feeling much better for shark cage diving the following day. After a 2.5 hour drive to the Hermanas area, we took a boat ride 15 minutes away from the bay. The day became a HUGE bust, we didn't see a single great white shark, only a large short tailed sting ray. The crew caught two little bottom feeder sharks on the fishing line so we got to touch one but aside from that we were nauseous and cold for several hours. It was a major disappointment, especially given the fact that it is supposed to be the high season for sharks right now - it was a very expensive boat ride.
The next day we were very successful in tasting wine :) we went to 5 different wineries in the Stellenbosch region. The South African climate is best for red wines so that was the majority of the tastings. They also did some paring with chocolates and cheeses. The group we were with was a lot of fun as well, mainly Americans. We ended up going out downtown after the tour, which expectedly didn't last very long as we had been drinking since 9:30am.
The ensuing hangover the next day was quite possibly the worst one I have ever had. We tried to kick it out by hiking up to the top of Table Mountain but it didn't do the trick. Mike left that afternoon to return to the States and I began my final week of travel abroad solo.
The next day we rented a car and did a road trip around the Cape. We saw penguins in Simon's Town at Boulder Bay beach, hiked up to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope - the most southwestern point of Africa, then returned north via Chapman's Peak drive and Hought Bay. Despite the weather being a bit gloomy that day, the whole area was very beautiful!
The following day my illness got the better of me and the crappy weather made it an easy decision to sleep in and stay in bed all day. I haven't had a lazy day like that in ages, so it was kind of nice and I was feeling much better for shark cage diving the following day. After a 2.5 hour drive to the Hermanas area, we took a boat ride 15 minutes away from the bay. The day became a HUGE bust, we didn't see a single great white shark, only a large short tailed sting ray. The crew caught two little bottom feeder sharks on the fishing line so we got to touch one but aside from that we were nauseous and cold for several hours. It was a major disappointment, especially given the fact that it is supposed to be the high season for sharks right now - it was a very expensive boat ride.
The next day we were very successful in tasting wine :) we went to 5 different wineries in the Stellenbosch region. The South African climate is best for red wines so that was the majority of the tastings. They also did some paring with chocolates and cheeses. The group we were with was a lot of fun as well, mainly Americans. We ended up going out downtown after the tour, which expectedly didn't last very long as we had been drinking since 9:30am.
Mike bringing all the class... keep that pinky up!
The ensuing hangover the next day was quite possibly the worst one I have ever had. We tried to kick it out by hiking up to the top of Table Mountain but it didn't do the trick. Mike left that afternoon to return to the States and I began my final week of travel abroad solo.
The next day I flew to Durban and rented a car to drive 4 hours to the Drakensberg Mountains. Unfortunately my time here was shortened and I was only able to do one hike because I became quite ill and had to go to Johannesburg to see a doctor. My final week was spent on the couch in Jo'burg so it was not the most ideal ending to my year abroad but it was nice to do nothing for a little bit. Time to go home!
Drakensberg Mountains
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