Last Days in SA

I can see why most South Africans stay on the garden route for multiple weeks. Each town has its own feel and different things it offers. You could spend a few days in each town. Since we're trying to fit the whole country into three weeks, we haven't had that luxury. But we have seen quite a bit. I think we saw the best thing Plett has to offer this morning as well. We got to go to the Robberg Nature Preserve for a morning hike to the seal colony and surrounding beaches. We encountered about 4 other people in our three hour hike as well as pristine beaches with crashing waves, and some gorgeous landscapes. The hike was a bit challenging as well, we hike along a rock wall and had to pick along some difficult and steep terrain for a few parts. It was really enjoyable. The seals were fun to watch for a while too, but they smelled to high heaven and most of them were asleep in the sun. There were a few playing in the water and I kept replaying the Planet Earth footage of the Great White chomping down on one of them in slo-mo. Poor unsuspecting seals.

The garden route was well worth the two full days of driving it took to get there and back. We came across lots of charming seaside towns, did some fantastic eating, and had wonderful vistas the whole way. We went through a lot of farm land and saw ostriches, sheep and even some other game preserves. I would have wanted to spend more time out there though. It's a holiday destination, not a sightseeing destination. The whales and the Robberg hike were great though and I think our time on the Garden route was well spent.

Coming back to Cape Town we decided to live it up a little for the last two nights of the trip and stayed in Camps Bay. It's like the St. Tropez of Africa basically. Everything is expensive and chic, and it's all a bunch of high-priced real-estate crammed along the gorgeous coastline. Since we're still on the Atlantic the surf is a bit rough and there's lots of kelp so it's not really good swimming. Plus, it's winter here, so that doesn't help water temperatures. But other than that it's a very nice seaside town.

For our last full day in Africa, we checked off the last three things on the Cape Town to do list: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope, and Boulders Beach (African penguin colony). Kirstenbosch was the first stop and it's an oasis of calming sights and aromas. Being winter, we didn't see all that much in bloom but we did have a lot of good views of Table Mountain. One of my favorite flowers blooms in SA in abundance, the Bird of Paradise flower. And they have tons of HUGE ones all over Kirstenbosch so that was very nice. I got very excited about the "Otter pond" thinking that they would have some real otters. But it's just a sculpture of an otter they say represents the rare otters that still inhabit the streams around Table Mountain.

After Kirstenbosch it was on to Boulders Beach to spot some penguins. We had a great drive down looking at all the 19th centure colonial architecture. It was very reminiscient of Martinique and New Orleans. I get the European feeling everywhere I look here. It's amazing the lasting influence it has over a continent that, from its origins, is so wholly different from Europe. Ah colonialism. The penguins are very accustomed to humans. They had a bunch of juvenile penguins who were molting their fuzzy coat for the glossy feathers of the adult penguin. The mom penguins were guarding the openings of the burrows from the humans who were all peering in to take photos, myself included. But sometimes the youngsters would waddle out for a stretch in the sun. The other penguins without young ones to guard were out and about on the rocks and paid no mind to the people around. They just went about their business. You could get within about three feet of the penguin before he would start to run from you or look at you funny. Penguins are such silly birds, we could have stayed for hours of entertainment.

Next it was the Cape of Good Hope. The most striking thing about this fabled nautical destination is the contrast between the calm of the Indian ocean and the chaos of the Atlantic. Looking on one side of the peninsula to the other you can see why sailors would dread the passage. The Indian ocean is like swimming pool compared to the cauldron of mischief the Atlantic has been throwing at navigators for centuries. It was interesting to see the exhibits about the different shipwrecks and the symbolism of the Cape of Good Hope of mariners and shipping companies alike. It's also a place of unparalelled beauty and dramatic cliffs with turquoise blues and greens at their feet. They have a huge nature preserve surrounding the areas which has a lot of indigenous shrubs and flowers. It's nice they preserved everything but it is pretty barren other than the view points. We were so tired from hiking and walking around a lot that we didn't do any of the optional hikes down to the various points and beaches, but there are a lot of options. It's uncharacteristic of us, but I'm starting to feel the effects of three weeks of non-stop travel.

Our last night in Africa consisted of a few loads of laundry, a beautiful sunset in the town just north of Camps Bay, Sea Point, and a delicious three course meal of fresh prawns, some fresh caught Cap Salmon ( a hearty white fish, not far off from the Petty family's beloved Chesapeake rockfish) and a delicious peppermint chocolate dessert which I'm still really not sure what it was other than a fabulous end to one of the best culinary weeks of my life.

We had to get a very early start for our Cape Town flight and when I woke up in the morning I heard a steady stream of water. It sounded like someone taking a shower, so I checked the oceanview balcony and was greeted by a solid wall of sideways rain. I was grateful for it otherwise I probably would not have been able to leave such a wonderful city.

We flew back from Cape Town, had an easy time at both airports other than it taking forever for our baggage to come off the plane, and met Amy who took us off to lunch with a pastor and his wife from her church in Johannesburg. They were such a lovely couple. 5 kids of their own and two adopted children, one with very special needs as he was severly abused as a child. I think that's been one of the reasons why I have loved Jo'burg so much is that Amy has shared her community and her work with me in a way that makes the town a lot more than just a really huge city or a place where I watched the world cup. Getting to know the children she shelters at Child Haven, and meeting the people behind the ministry (their home also doubles as Baby Haven where they house unwanted or discarded children) really made a difference in making the city more human and less just a stopover. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness, generosity and hospitality of the people I have met in Africa. Oddly enough, the rudest people I have encountered have been in the service industry. It doesn't make sense to me as an American, and also as a former service industry employee. You really do have to dig deep at times in your encounters with people. In my experience in Africa, people genuinely take an interest in you and they earnestly wanted you to love their country as much as they did. They would always provide good information about what to see, although they didn't usually know the specifics.

I felt very fortunate to see as much of Africa as I did end up seeing. Amy said that often, because of the economic situation of a lot of its residents, people in South Africa only end up seeing a very small percentage of the country where they live. And in my travels, I found it to be one of the most rich, diverse, and beautiful places on earth. It's not a well-oil machine of tourism either. I think my experience in the islands prepared me well for the inefficiencies and the quirks with a country less developed than the US. I have to love it for that too. It's wholly different but it's not a place where you feel alienated or so out of place that you could never be at ease. Sure, it's dangerous to walk around at night and you definitely have to be on the alert, but it's easy to get over the bad parts when you've seen as much good as I have.

I am so sad to be leaving this country. I will never forget my time here and perhaps my travels will lead me back eventually. I hope and pray that it will, and until then, I am very happy to be coming back to life in the US and excited to see what my last semester at GWU and beyond holds.