South Africa - Day 12

• Woke up at 7 a.m. still feeling the previous day and night's 14 hours of drinking. Picked up by shuttle driver Ramone and transported two hours to Gansbaai for our day of great white shark cage diving. 
• Ate breakfast during orientation, then fed birds while taking 15 minute boat ride to Dyer Island.

• P and I were in the first group of 8 divers and the first thing we noticed was the FREEZING water, despite wearing hooded wet suits and booties. We both had two 15-minute rounds in the cage and saw sharks numerous times. One rammed our cage which I found terrifying (!) but we both loved the experience. While we weren't in the cage, we were watching the show from the top deck of the boat.

Click the link for a composite video of footage we shot while in the cage! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03h8UZtC_zg

• Visited Seal Island, home of 30,000+ cape fur seals, on return boat ride. 

• On drive back to Cape Town, we stopped in Hermanus Bay to watch two southern right whales, and then at various scenic overlooks to enjoy the beautiful views.

• Dined at a nearby sushi restaurant and had our fill of may delicious rolls! 

South Africa - Day 11

• Ate a quick and small breakfast of fruit and yogurt at the hostel before being picked up at 8:45 a.m. by guides Francois and Reanne of Wine Flies for a day-long wine tour of the Stellenbosch and Paarl regions. The day-long tour included a visit to five wine farms, some 32 tastings, lunch, biltong, chocolate, champagne and all-we-could-eat cheese at the last wine farm. P and I, of Team Red, White and Drunk, also won a bottle of wine in the trivia contest which we shared w/ everyone! 

• Following the tour, we went out for (more!) drinks w/ Francois, Reanne, and two friends we had made during the tour, Rudi and Cathal, until after midnight. 

• Grabbed a hot dog each on Long Street before hailing a taxi back to our hostel and finally crashing.

South Africa - Day 10

• After skipping breakfast, taking a share taxi a few miles to Long Street and walking/running nearly two miles (due to a bum address given), we finally made it to Abseil Africa, albeit a bit late.
  
• Rode taxi to Table Mountain, then hiked to top in 1:15 w/ British guide Matt in warm, sunny weather.

• Abseiled 367 feet from the top (3,558 feet up) -- what a thrilling experience and stunning views!

• Hiked back to the top where the tram was and we saw a rock hyrax, aka dassie. Seemingly out of nowhere, it started misting, then raining, and soon it felt like we were essentially inside a cloud.

• Began hiking down, but turned back and rode tram down due to wind, rain, and not the right clothes.

• Rode w/ Abseil Africa crew back to Long Street and took a share taxi back to our hostel. We then walked to a nearby Thai restaurant for lunch and scarfed pad Thai and green curry, followed by a walk across the street to a lovely park and Green Point Stadium, mainly used for football matches.

• Walked along coastline to Waterfront, strolled along pier and picked up dinner from grocery store.

South Africa - Day 9

• Ate omelets for breakfast at Mighty Bite in St. Lucia before departing at 10 a.m. for the three-hour drive southwest to Durban, where we first visited the Natal Sharks Board (a shark museum). 

• Visited Durban Botanical Gardens and admired numerous different species of flora.

• Drove to Durban International Airport which had been shut down for two years, though it was unknown to us as not our GPS, Avis Atlas nor guidebook made us aware of the change. We had to drive 40 minutes to "new" airport (King Shaka) that had been in use for four years.
• Ate lunch/dinner in airport before catching our flight at 5:35 p.m.
• Arrived in Cape Town at 7:30 p.m., took a taxi to Sunflower Stop and we enjoyed a beer and conversation w/ Renal, the hostel's bartender on a work visa from Brazil. 

South Africa - Day 8

• Left Hluhluwe-Umfolozi at 6:15 a.m. and on the way out saw an elephant, the giraffes from the previous night, buffalo, impalas and nyalas. Drove 1.5 hours south to St. Lucia.
• Met with Justin, our guide, and then enjoyed a three-hour kayak trip on the St. Lucia Estuary where we saw hippos (including a baby), various birds and a crocodile (pretty small, but fairly close).

• Self-drove iSimangaliso Wetland Park and saw waterbucks, buffalo, zebras, hippos and vervet monkeys. We then snorkeled in the warm Indian Ocean at Cape Vidal and saw various small fish.




• On our way out of the park, we stopped at a hide at sunset and saw our one and only black rhino.

• Dined on moussaka for me, and cajun chicken with veggies for P, at Ocean Sizzler in St. Lucia. Slept at Bib's International Backpacker, a manky little hostel, but it sufficed for one night.

South Africa - Day 7

• Self game drive from 6:15 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. Saw rhinos, elephants, herd of 80+ buffalo, nyalas, wildebeests, giraffes mating at dusk, warthogs snorting around the tent at night, a cheetah, zebras (one walked right by the car), and animals in a hide (zebras, a giraffe, warthogs, impalas and nyalas).

• Ate another gourmet dinner of Ramen-type noodles and what we dubbed "Elephant Dung Soup" (spaghetti and "meatballs") that P chose to buy from the camp's curio. 

South Africa - Day 6

• With an early start to the day, we ate leftover pizza for breakfast on our way out of Ezulwini Valley, then continued the scenic drive south through Swaziland and back into South Africa.

• In the early afternoon, on the outskirts of Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, we stopped at Shop Rite for food for the next two days and nights, purchasing items such as chips (P chose Fried Chicken flavor), hot dogs, nuts, bread and wine.
  
• Arrived at NE gate at 1:30 p.m.. During drive to Hilltop Camp picnic area for lunch of chicken drummies, we saw baboons drinking from a stream, nyalas and buffalo.

• Along the drive to  Mpila Camp two white rhinos crossed in front of our car, and we saw impalas, wildebeests and giraffes. At dusk, about 15 minutes outside of camp, a lioness emerged from the bushes by our car and walked along the bridge in front of us -- words hardly describe the experience!


 

 

• Drank wine and ate gourmet dinner of chips and hot dogs in our camp kitchen to stay out of the wind.

• Slept in sturdy safari tent while the intense wind storm raged on.

Swaziland - Day 3

• Woke up after a semi-restful night sleeping in the cave and ate breakfast of scrambled eggs, veggies and toast prepared by Jared. While we were eating we learned that Deyame, one of the horses, had escaped the pen at some point in the night and another guide, Paul, had to return her to the mountain.

• Rode horses three hours to base camp and learned to canter, which actually turned into a gallop!
  
• Drove to Swazi Trails to meet Sipho, the AWESOME guide for our four-hour mountain bike safari. While riding through a township on our way to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, the majority of the kids in the area waved, smiled and said, "Hello! How are you? Hello! Hi!" One boy around eight years old told P, "Hello! I speak language for you." Some of the happiest, friendliest kids we've ever met.

• Sipho gave us a fun, informative tour as we rode through woods, on red dirt roads and through grass as tall as us. We saw zebras, wildebeests, roan antelope, nyalas, blasboks, a crocodile and impalas. 

• Ate delicious St. Louis pizza (BBQ chicken, bacon, pesto, olives, feta, roasted garlic) at a fantastic pizza restaurant w/in walking distance of our hostel, Legends Backpackers.