Is it sad that I have been spending hours on end thinking of how to approach this blog? In a period of 14 days, where more has occurred than in the 2 months in which I have been in South Africa, the only way to recap the past few weeks in less-than-novel-length is not an easy task. Nevertheless, here goes nothing.
My first visitor arrived into Cape Town last Saturday, and thus threw me into a weeks worth of travel, adventure and stories galore. With all of South Africa within arms reach, we managed to pack in as many activities as possible:
- Visiting the Cape Town Markets: A few good hours spent bargaining African-made items from prices as high as R300 down to R50 – “Oh man, that’s too expensive. Didn’t want to spend that much. How much do I want to spend? Hmmm… I don’t know… I really only got 50 rand on me (which of course had been previously removed from my wallet and put in a separate pocket). 150? No man, sorry. Only got 50. 100? No, 50. 90? No, 50. 80? 50. 70? 50. 60? 50. 55? 50. Ok, 50. Thanks man.”
- Partaking on an African Safari: Although the 3 hour drive commenced with approximately negative animals within sight, and resembled more of a golf cart drive through the zoo, we did manage to get a taste of the African wild, seeing everything from Lions, Giraffe, Zebra, Buffalo, Rhino and Elephants, to Donkeys that apparently were pregnant with Zebra offspring = Zonkey – and no, I’m not even joking.
- Climbing Table Mountain: A 5-hour hike that seemingly lasted forever, we climbed a vertical height of 3,500 ft in less than 2 hours, only to spend the next 3 hours walking across a barren, foggy and windy wasteland, frightingly similar to a scene from “The Neverending Story.” And at the end, our only reward for the arduous journey was to end up in the clouds of Table Mountain, unable to see much of anything from our vantage point at the absolutely freezing and windy top. Good times!
- Driving through the Garden Route: An area known as one of the most beautiful in the world, our drive through the Garden Route was comprised of approximately 1500KM of driving, one ride upon the back of an ostrich in Outdshoorn (no trip to Africa is complete without this adventure), ziplining through the trees of the Tsitsikamma National Park, and about 45 minutes at the beach in Plettenberg Bay (as this was all the time we had left to fit in for some good sun-soaking action). Oh yes, and of course a visit to the true southernmost point of Africa (after learning that Cape Point is not the actual southernmost point, although any Cape Tonian will tell you it is).
- Beach, Bars and Bites: As to avoid a stop-til-you-drop itinerary, I made sure we had plenty of time to explore the various clubs, windy beaches, and of course a sampling of just some of the many various foods of Africa.
After managing a 7-hour drive back from the Garden Route, I awoke the next day, only to begin another full-day of activities, as I had officially been enrolled in “The Amazing Race – Return of the Legend.” Similar to a scavenger or photo hunt, the Amazing Race involved running around Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula, attempting to complete as many clues as possible, in the shortest amount of time. With activities ranging anywhere from jumping into a fountain to kayaking in the Indian Ocean, our day was made that much more entertaining as our team was dressed in the theme of “African Maids.” Unfortunately, our outfits did not last long, in-turn, enabling us to win the R200 prize of “Most Naked Team.” While we unfortunately placed 2nd overall in the race, our competition was fierce, ranging from 8 girls running around in mini-skirts (1st place team), to the 1978 South African Badminton Team (best dressed) to the Elvis Impersonators. And although I would love to share photos from the day, the majority of pictures are “blog-censored-material,” as nudity earned your team extra points for each activity performed (e.g. Ride on top of a lion statue = Ride on top of a lion statue… naked).
And FINALLY, I would like to add the exciting news that I have been rehired (and soon to be refired) from the Cape Times! After a surprising invite to a dinner commemorating the departure of five future winemakers of Cape Town, myself and Katie attended a VIP dinner in which the head of the Department of Agriculture spoke about the future of South Africa’s wine industry (it’s safe to say that we felt a bit out of place). And although the picture of three of the “sommeliers” came out quite nice, I later realized I needed all five in the picture, and unfortunately was unable to obtain a “viable” photo of them all. Thus, despite the picture below being published in the paper, it unfortunately was not what was expected…
Due to the length of this weeks blog, I decided to exclude the “Learn Me Something Something About Africa” section, to prevent the inevitable case of "blog boredom."
Onto the pics...
 | On top of Table Mountain - You can tell how warm it is up there | |
 | Elephants! | |
 | Ziplining in the Tsitsikamma National Park | |
 | Male and Female Bob the Builders | |
 | Picturesque view along the Garden Route | |
 | Southernmost point of Africa - Where the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean meets the just-a-tad-above-freezing Indian Ocean -- It is almost guaranteed that you legs will go numb within 5 minutes of being in the water | |
 | Guillllllllll (my old Swiss roommate) was in-town for a few nights | |
 | Gaming some Ostriches | |
 | Katie and I along the Garden Route | |
 | Cape Times shoot - The guys did an amazing job of trying to look as natural as possible in a less than natural surrounding (random wine shop in a hotel lobby) | |
 | The Amazing Race - Team Domestic | |
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