So to elaborate on my horrible previous post, I spent the first week in Cape Town with three other Americans. We toured the city and surrounding areas and I tried my best to arrange for them everything I had loved from my previous trip, as well as include what I had missed out on the first time.
Our first day we did a lot of nothing. Upon landing the other Americans truly experienced what "African Time" is all about. Our plane touched down a little early, so we expected to wait because of that, but after two hours of sitting outside the airport we grew tired, hot, and hungry. For those who know me- you know it is a horrible combination for me to be in! It doesn't take long for heat or hunger to make me very cranky. Nonetheless, I was experienced in African Time and knew that our ride had every intention of picking us up on time, but that it was unlikely to happen.
That night we stayed at a backpackers conveniently called Cape Town Backpackers. The two best things about this backpacker was that it had prime location in a trendy, upscale neighborhood and that it had a nice ambiance (clean, quiet, friendly, etc). Actually, one might also add the hat parties as a definite plus. Whenever five or more people were in the bar/eating area it became a mandatory hat party as pictured below. With humility out the window, conversation definitely flowed more freely amongst those who had never met. And I even found a hat perfectly suited for me! (Not the pirate one... :) the Alaska one!)
Next on the agenda was Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden for a Sunday night concert. The artist was a South African Jazz singer, Simphiwe Dana, but that seemed secondary to the beautiful views and sunset going on around us. Such a beautiful place!
Hard to miss from anywhere in the city, we decided that Table Mountain was our next destination! We rode the tram up (hiking can be hectic if you don't have proper maps, plus muggings have been common recently) and hiked around atop the mountain and we traversed some other peaks, as well.
Journeying to Oudtshoorn was beautiful in itself. It was my favorite place along the Garden Route, so I had to share it with the others (plus, I had been dying to go back and pet the Cheetahs again!) The first thing we did while here was traverse into this long, elaborate tunnel system, called the Cango Caves. Some parts were huge, others were a bit tiny for my enjoyment.
That night we settled down at Backpackers Paradise (where I had previously stayed) and we had a nice ostrich steak and sausage dinner, followed in the morning by our ostrich omelette breakfast with ostrich bacon. (Did I mention that Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world?!) After all that eating, we set off for the Cango Wildlife Ranch! After the usual tour we shelled out the big bucks (560 Rand = 56 US Dollars) to pet the cheetahs, cheetah cubs, and tiger cubs. Yay for big cats! (jealous dad? savanna, I bet you are, even though they weren't cute little puppies!)
And the meerkats!
And the white lions! The most beautiful creatures, it is so sad they are so close to extinction!
((((Sorry about the layout... trying to figure out this web code to fix it!!))))
On our way back to Cape Town, we decided that the first thing in order was to go wine tasting in Stellenbosch. All of us are huge winos, so we spend two full days tasting and visited approximately ten wine estates. The conversation got progressively trivial as the days progressed, but laughter was never in short supply.
Check out the boot (trunk) of our car after almost a full day!
Here are some pictures of the different wine estates:
After some delicious wine, gorgeous views, and many unforgettable friendly conversations with estate owners we decided to hit the road for the Cape of Good Hope and Boulders Beach (where the penguins are! - you notice every mention of animal is followed by an exclamation mark...)
Next post --- ObzFest -- A large music festival in the area of Cape Town where I lived previously, called observatory.
1 comment:
Pretty much every pic here makes me jealous of your travels. I wanna swim with penguins and pet tigers! And yes, I emulated Beastmaster as a child. If that's wrong, I don't want to be right.
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