South Africa

Oh, South Africa. Where to begin? Like in Spain, I had to trip or plan that took up all of my time in the country. My South African adventure was a collection of numerous small trips, but they added up to one of the best experiences ever. I could write pages and pages about each one, but then this blog would go on for years. I think I’ll skip out of some of the detail, but try to capture the essence. You’ll have to talk to me in May to get the entire story.
When I got off of the ship, I walked around the waterfront area for about an hour before meeting for my trip to Robben Island, the political prison where Nelson Mandela was held. The ferry took about half an hour to cross the water. There was a bus ride around the island, to see the warden’s village, quarry, leper colony, and WWII era equipment. Then we went into the actual prison, where one of the highlights was Nelson Mandela’s cell. The guides inside are all former political prisoners. Our guide spent nineteen years on Robben Island, merely for being part of the ANC political party. When he talked of the prison, it was his life story, not just a history lesson.
The next day was a pretty laid back day in the port area of Cape Town. It is very well developed and tourism orientated, but it was fun for a few hours. The highlights of the day were seeing the under construction soccer stadium, for the upcoming World Cup, and hearing the noon gun go off from Signal Hill.
My third day of South Africa, I went “kloofing” or cliff jumping. We drove to a guest house for a traditional breakfast, and then set out hiking into a canyon. The area was beautiful, scrub vegetation landscape. There was abundant evidence of fire. We went to our first jumps, seven and ten meters up. After jumping, we hiked to the second set, and then up to our lunch spot. While eating, baboons began to appear on the tops of the rocks. They are incredibly aggressive, and will steal your lunch. After moving around to avoid them, we eventually had to jump in a lake and leave our bags. Baboons cannot swim, so we were safe while they opened up everyone’s pack and spread our things out on the ground. After our guide chased them off, we gathered up our things and left the area. Since lunch was taken by the baboons, the cooked us dinner at the guest house where we started.
Saturday we went wine tasting. My friends booked a tour yesterday, and knew I wanted to go, so they put down my name and I paid later. We took a bus to Stellenbosch, a small town in the center of the winelands. From there we went to four wineries in Stellenbosch, Franschoek, and Paarl. I knew nothing about wine, but at the first stop they took us on a tour of the facilities, and then showed the proper technique for wine tasting.
I awoke early the last morning and we hiked Table Mountain, the signature of Cape Town. We met at five in the morning, with the intent of seeing the sunrise from the top. Our taxi driver took us to his favorite trail, and we started climbing. As we got up, the clouds that usually blanket the mountain began to roll in. We missed the sunrise, but still got to see Cape Town lit up for the night, and then begin to wake up. At the top, it was considerably colder and windier. The clouds parted somewhat, for excellent views of the city. We took the cable car down the mountain, and then went back into Cape Town for breakfast. I bought the last of my souvenirs that afternoon, and then we had to get back on the ship. With all of the other ports, it was somewhat sad to go, but we always looked forward to the next stop. With Cape Town, people generally did not want to leave, but the consensus is also that we will come back. Perhaps for next year’s World Cup.