ROAD TRIP!

Hi everyone!!

Sorry that I have been so bad about keeping up with my blog! I realize that over a month has passed and I have yet to update it. Oooops. However, you should all just take it as a sign that I have been having an absolutely amazing time in Cape Town- so amazing that I haven’t had the time (or the reliable internet access) to post much!

I have been doing all sorts of amazing things that I have never had the chance to do before- I have learned to scuba dive and am now open water certified, I have seen zebras and baboons, I am working at a children’s home here in Cape Town, and tons more. However, this past weekend has been by far my favorite experience yet and inspired me to reopen the old blog.

Midway last week, a few of my friends and I decided that we needed a little road trip to get out of Cape Town for the weekend. We started googling things and decided that we really needed to drive along the Garden Route, which is a scenic highway that goes up the eastern coast of South Africa from Cape Town, so we rented a car, booked a hotel, and were off.

Our first order of business was to ride ostriches, so we headed to Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital of South Africa and quite possibly the world. Our rental car, which we promptly named Mashinga, was dropped off at my friend Sarah’s house on Friday. We headed to campus to get everyone else and off we went on our merry left-side-of-the-road way! On our trek out of Cape Town, we managed to buy two cowboy hats from men who were running up and down the street selling everything from beaded keychains to bows and arrows. Having obtained the “ultimate American hats” we were now ready for the trek.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. The landscape here is so different from anything that I have ever seen in the states, with tall rounded mountains and vast grassy plains with the occasional cow or ostrich stretching as far as the eye can see. After only an hour of driving, we realized that we were already in a place that was pretty uninhabited. Cape Town is gorgeous, but this was a very different landscape from what we had already seen.

After stopping for lunch, we continued along our way. The road got closer to the ocean and the drive got even more beautiful as we looked down at gorgeous bays full of deep blue water and adorable seaside towns. When we got to George, a larger town, we turned off our main route and headed up to Oudtshoorn for our date with the ostriches.

The road to Oudtshoorn was amazing. We drove up, down and through mountains, at times driving along cliffs with enormous drop-offs.. so large that we were afraid to look over the edge for long enough to guess exactly how high we were. Sarah, our driver, definitely handled it like a champ. Once we descended from the mountains, the road became rough and windy. While it was a welcome change from hanging off the edge of a cliff, our car did not enjoy climbing hills on basically a dirt road, so we had to take it really slowly.

Because of this, we ended up a little behind schedule. We began to fear that the ostrich farm would close before we got a chance to ride, so we stepped it up a notch. We finally ended up pulling into the farm at the last possible moment. We missed the last tour but the woman who both pitied us for being this upset over ostriches and thought we were mildly hilarious in our hats decided to let us ride. We hopped in our car and drove over another dirt road to the pasture to meet our new feathered friends. Riding the ostrich was probably the most ridiculous experience of my Cape Town trip thus far. They are so fast! I just leaned back and it took off, with the men who run the rides screaming things at it in some language I couldn’t understand, urging it to run as fast as it can while I was screaming that it should stop. I have some hilarious pictures.

We next went to feed them, which was creepy. They really do look like little dinosaurs. After that, smelling like ostrich and pleased with ourselves for doing something that we definitely NEVER could have done in the states, we hopped in our car for another two hours and headed to our hotel in Knysna, an adorable town on a lagoon. We went to a nice dinner and then went to bed early. We had a hot date with elephants the next morning!

On Saturday, we woke up early and went to the Knysna waterfront for some lunch, which was delicious. We then hopped in the car and drove toward Knysna elephant park. There were more forests in Knysna (it is known for this), and we were surprised at how much like home the terrain looked. We went around a bend and I had just finished saying to everyone, “Wow, this really looks like America” when suddenly we saw a large black.. thing in the middle of the road. As it got closer it scamped to the side of the road and sat down with it’s family.. of BABOONS. Sooooo yes, we really weren’t in the US anymore. It was pretty funny.

We got to the elephant park, watched a video about the elephants, and then got down to business. All of the elephants in Knysna Elephant Park were orphans rescued from various parts of South Africa, usually Kruger National Park. Because elephants need to be mothered for a long time, they would not have survived on their own. We met a mother elephant and her two month old son, which was absolutely adorable. After that, our guide escourted us to three elephants, two huge adults and a smaller adolescent. These were the beasts that we were going to ride!

The ride was so fun! It was not nearly as frightening as the ostrich, even though elephants are much taller. My elephant was named Namibia and I rode him with my friend Laura and a guide, while wearing my red cowboy hat of course. The elephants were very docile, calm, and extremely well-trained. When we were done we got to feed them, which was my favorite part of the experience. Our guide told us to tell them “Trunk up!” so that they would lift their trunks and let us feed them straight into their mouths. Namibia listened to me! He also really enjoyed the pineapple that I gave him. I think I made a friend!

After the elephants, we headed back to the hotel to relax and shower for dinner. We hung out in front of the TV for a while, which was really nice, since we had many many channels in our hotel. We went to a delicious little Italian restaurant in town, then headed home for a swim in the pool. After that, we went to bed fairly early so that we could get up tomorrow for the next leg of our adventure.. the Tstiskamma National Forest.

The drive to the forest was gorgeous and very different from what we had experienced before. The landscape in South Africa is so varied.. it really is the “world in one country” as all the tourist info says! My friend Sarah and I went on a canonpy tour which was amazing. We ziplined through the trees over 30 meters from the ground.. definitely not something I had ever seen myself doing before I came to South Africa. Our friends went off in search of another activity while we were on the tour. And whoaaa.. they found one! The largest bungy jump in the world! Amazing! I really want to go back and try it.. kind of. ;-)

After that we headed back on the long drive to Cape Town. About seven hours later (ouch) we arrived exhausted but happy after an amazing weekend!