South Africa Trip - Day 8: On the highway (more like road) to Hell (or in this case Lesotho) (6/11/10)

Had breakfast in the hotel which was pretty good and then we started our (prohibited by the rental car company) journey into Lesotho. Crossed over at Maseru (capital city of L and a big bridge crossing) where we had some confusion at the border but eventually got through. 

Entrance into Lesotho.

Some of the scenery we got to enjoy on our ascent to our accommodations for the night. Yes that is snow on the ground.

Some houses in Lesotho on our drive to the hotel. Our hut at the hotel was very similar in appearance. 

There is a drastic difference between L and SA; you could instantly see the increase in poverty while crossing the boarder and throughout the country, while it is also a mountain nation and their mountains are more prevalent and beautiful. Driving on a normal road in L for ~1h and then we get to our road that is to take us to our hotel; ~65 km of the worst road I think I have ever been on (even as of  this transcribing in 9/2015). This road is unpaved, incredibly muddy with potholes, all along the edge of a mountain at times with severe gradients, etc. We had a 2WD SUV and I don't know that I would have thought to try and go on that road with a 4WD vehicle other than a military grade hummer. Part of the mountain road was also snowy as it was their winter and it is high in elevation; icing on this road's proverbial hellish cake. It took us ~2.5hr to go the ~60km. We get to our destination and this lodge seems as remote/rustic as one could possibly imagine. Heat is through wood burning, electricity through hydroelectric from the nearby dam (not a reliable source in the winter as rivers freeze), and the water is non-potable The reason for our trek to this lodge was to do a Guinness record holding abseiling (repelling) next to a waterfall (sounds amazing right???); we find out upon arrival that due to recent snow fall amounts, the river we are to abseil is overflowing, covering the path and making our trek impossible (not so amazing after all :( ). With this heart breaking news, we spend the day/night in the main area watching opening day matches of the world cup (reason for this trip) with other travelers while having some beers (they had .75L bottles of the Castle milk stout – only non lager I could find around the country that was my drink of choice) and eventually having some dinner.

How do you make the best of a crappy situation? you put on a tiny hat and smile. We found these in our room so naturally we had to see how they fit. 

Since our activity was cancelled, the gang met up in the lounge area and had some drinks while watching some footy. 

I was happy to find a beer other than a light lager. I was ebullient that they came in big bottles. Our group drank the hotel out of their supply of these big boys.  

Our hotel had a resident cat that would walk around and see people (and even venture outside), but its favorite place was right there in front of the fire. Smart cat. 

My bro and I enjoying a relaxing night of beers and footy on the TV. 

After that we hike up to our room which happens to be the farthest from the main cabin and the highest up the hill. Get in and find our wood supply is insufficient so we go get more wood and head to bed after making a fire to warm our room up a bit.

South Africa Trip - Day 7: Road Warrioring across SA (6/10/10)

Slow arising after the long night, we packed up and had breakfast where I discovered that an omelet there is not a egg hot-pocket filled with cheese and other items, but rather a stuffed crepe. Finished our meal and did some souvenir shopping before heading out for the 10+h day ahead of us. It was on this day that I say my first double pass; car A being passed by car B and C while car C is passing B. I dont know who thinks this is a great idea but yeah they are crazy drivers there. We eventually get into Bloemfontein (a nice college town) and check into our hotel (Hobbit Hotel) where the rooms are named after the characters from the stories; it is a really nice and cozy place – felt like a B&B. 

Gorgeous sky on our drive.

Entrance to our Hobbit residence

Staying in the birthplace of Tolkien? Yes we are. It was a pretty neat place.

All the rooms had signs like this on the outside. I think I stayed in the Gimli room (appropriate me thinks as I do love the dwarfs)

Rooms were made up so nice and pretty. We were not allowed to take the bears. They charge you if you do. 

My bro and my room. So quaint. 

Walked around the town a bit before stopping at Die Keller for dinner and drinks. We then went back to the hotel to turn in; however before bed, we had a drink with the people there tending to the hotel grounds as they were nice/cool people and we weren't quite ready for bed.  

Die Keller. Grabbing drinks with the gang.

Who would pass up a chance to drink at a bar that looks like this? Not us. It may have been late, and they were not really open, but the staff at the hostel gladly served us and chatted with us. Awesome people and a great end to a long day. 

South Africa Trip - Day 6: Safari in the elephant park (6/9/10)

Had breakfast in the room before heading out for our safari; we took our car and drove around the park for hours. In our time in the park, we came across many elephants and kudu, some buffalo, a mongoose, some foxes, and some coyote type animals. 

Lions around. Does one dare get out of the car??? 

They werent lying. There were definitely elephants in the elephant park. Huge creatures. Dont understand people who can shoot these things for fun. 

Who do Kudu? Love the twisty horns of the Kudu. Loved them so much I had a Kudu steak later in the night. 

After we got our fill of the safari, we head into town to get some internet access and some cash from the ATM. When I say we went into town, I mean we traveled out of the park, and went to the nearest sign of civilization with an ATM which was a hole in the wall restaurant/house thing where we were the only visitors. Some of us got on the single computer to write some emails, others got money; I played with some dogs and had a beer cause why not? Once we were done with our errands, we returned to the park, bought some wine and beer for the night and retreated to the room to play some cards and have a great night. Normal hilarity ensued before we eventually headed to bed.

As everyone was getting money from the ATM and what not, I decided to play with the dogs on the couch. When we got there they were laying by the fire, then they decided to come over and play so I got to enjoy their company while I sipped on my beer. 

Our cabin in the elephant park. Nice accommodations the whole trip.

South Africa Trip - Day 5: X-TREME!!!! (6/8/10)

Heading out on the road for the long day and early on we get a flat (the 2nd of the trip – first being on way to Gansbaai). After speaking to the rental people, they bring us a new car and we continue on our way. Met up with Jim's friend's parents and had breakfast which was delicious. 

Jim's friends house and view. Absolutely stunning!

The gang having breakfast. This was were I first (and last) tried Rooibos tea. I thought it tasted horrible (I think the gang agreed) but thats what they were serving so we partook as gracious guests.

Left there and took the garden route (scenic highway along the coast) to the Bloukrane Bridge where us guys did some bungee jumping off what used to be the Guinness record holder bungee jump. With my incredible distaste for heights, I was terrified from the very beginning when we had to walk out to the platform on corrugated steel platforms that gave a little as you walked on them; everyone else just walked along, I was waddling my way out keeping my feet as close to the supports as possible. Of course the other 2 seemed completely fine. 

Certificate from Guinness records about the bridge we are about to jump off.

The guys suited up and ready for the jump. Claire was probably the only smart one this day for opting not to do it. 

The bridge and the jumping platform we will be jumping from. 

This was the walkway out to the jumping platform. As you can see, the whole thing is perforated which started the racking of my nerves before I was even out to the platform. This walk was probably one of the longest and most anguishing times of my life. 

Being out there was interesting; the platform had stunning views of the valley the bridge straddled, however once I was off, the fall and experience became somewhat of a blur as everything just flew by. After my jump, I was incredibly happy when the guy came to haul me back to the top as all the anxiety from the fear of heights caught up to me and I just broke down. 

View from the platform of the bay side. 

View from the mountain side of the platform. Both sides were absolutely breathtaking (even if you arent afraid of heights).

The jumping platform. It is go time.

Them fastening the rope to me. This is starting to get real. Anxiety level - 9/10

Dont make me do this!!! Anxiety level - 12/10. Look at how I grip them. I am freaking out. But they will not push me, so... 

Cowabunga!!!! Sometimes you just gotta jump. Free falling is nice. Was cool looking around in the valley with the descent. I was still freaking out but among the freak out, I was able to appreciate the atmosphere. 

Ill never let you go. Seriously I am not letting go. :) I dont know that I was ever happier to be done with something. Nerves still high but I did it and lived to tell this tale. It should be noted that Sean and Jim seemed to have no issues with any aspect of this. I was the wimp of the day. This poor guy probably just wanted to throw me over haha

After I got myself together at the top, just thanking all things holy that I was alive, we got back to solid ground, which was such a fantastic feeling I cannot even begin to describe. Once we were all back on earth, we headed through Port Elizabeth to Addo Elephant Park and check into our room (Forest Lodge 2) then had dinner at the on-site restaurant. I had a burger that had beef, pork, and chicken on it – I am the ultimate carnivore. 

The burger with 3 meats. I have had better burgers before, but i felt like it had to be ordered as it is not every day you get the chance to eat a burger with 3 different animals on it. 

Had some wine hanging out before heading outside to enjoy the cloudless night where stars were  plentiful and amazing. We then headed to bed early to enjoy the safari the next day.

South Africa Trip - Day 4: Wildlife Adventure (6/7/10)

Street sign showing how to get to the ostrich safari. I found this sign to be pretty awesome/funny.

Beautiful view from the car. There was a lot of this so I like to include some of these pics to demonstrate how pretty it is down in South Africa. 

Got brunch at Dulce Vida, which came recommended by the cottage, and everything was delicious (especially a SA specialty – the Bobotie). After eating we headed first to the Cango Wildlife Ranch, which is a cheetah rehab place. 

The gang petting some adult cheetahs. If you arent a cat person, these cats would probably change that... 

And if they didnt these little ones would. After the adults, we got to go into the kiddie enclosure and play with/pet the cheetah pups. I decided to let this wee one taste human flesh so it knew what to expect as it got older. :) Its amazing the similarities between these cats and house cats in their behavior. Reminds you that genetics are a powerful tool.

We got a guided tour and then were able to pet cheetahs (adult and baby). The babies were like house kittens; energetic, active, curious, etc. while the adult ones were lazy. Was really cool to be so close to such majestic creatures. After the cheetah experience, we explore the rest of the grounds which let us see a myriad of other creatures; this place is essentially a zoo that also has large cat experiences available. They had wallabies, hippos, lemurs, groundhogs, and numerous other animals.

Got to walk through an enclosure with a bunch of hanging fruit bats. These things were huge. Wish we could hold and play with these bad boys. Maybe if you return at night?

Then we came upon some Wallabies. So of course I had to pet them. Tiny Kangaroos that you can pet? What about that says I would even consider saying no?

This guy was taking a picture elsewhere and the goat, who loves to climb things apparently, decided that he was low enough to be a climbing obstacle. It was pretty awesome as this just happened to Sean and we were all shocked. 

Goats dont just mount humans though. They are equal opportunity. 

We then headed over to Highgate, an ostrich farm. Here we took another guided tour where we were taught all about how ostrich farms operate and eventually get to sit on and ride an ostrich. Before we were able to ride, we had to go through orientation of the do's and don't's of ostrich riding. The guy giving the talk was hilarious; I really wish I had recorded the whole talk as we were cracking up the whole time. Riding the ostrich was interesting and fun, though somewhat challenging as one might imagine and iffy (the pin was full of ostrich dung so had to be careful where one landed). 

The gang holding some ostrich eggs. Apparently these things hold the same contents as like 10-15 chicken eggs. Unfortunately, we didnt get to try an ostrich omelette. 

My bro and I standing on some Ostrich eggs. These things apparently can withstand a great amount of pressure (I am not exactly a twig).

Feeding ostriches. It felt weird them pecking at your hand with their beaks. Like a weird tickling feeling. 

This guy was a BAMF!!! Our tour guide for the ostrich farm, he explained the history/importance of the ostrich and their feathers, eggs, etc. before taking us to the riding stables. Here we got one of the funniest instructional talks probably in the history of spoken word. Some of the key moments was when he was wrapping the neck around itself (flexible esophagus) and then  "do not walk in front of the ostrich - they have a sharp claw and kick forward... they will rape you" 

Me trying my hand at ostrich riding. Natural no?

After a quick lesson I challenged the resident jockey to a race. Look how I am beating him. No actually this was a demonstration of an actual ostrich race. They go fast! Was cool seeing people ride these beautiful birds that until this day, I thought were just Darwinian rejects waiting to go the way of the dodo. 

After the ostrich farm, we got some groceries for the trip and then went to dinner where we got to have some yummy ostrich steaks. Then we went back to the cottage, had some local wines, and played some cards and hung out a bit before bed.

South Africa Trip - Day 3: Hitting the open road (6/6/10)

After packing up, we got our rental car and then headed out on our cross country adventure. Our first stop was Gansbaai for some great white shark diving.  

Our rental car behind us. We are loaded up and ready for the adventure ahead of us.

On our way to our first stop, our tire was gashed (cheap rubber me thinks). So we got to change a tire in hopes of making our boat. 

We made it! The group posing with our boat that is to take us diving.

Get on the boat to do the diving; everyone put on wet suits and waited their turn to get in the cage. 8 at a time, we enter the cage next to the boat and the boat people chum the waters to get them to get in the area, then bait them in front of the cage to get them to surface attack the ham shank which is what we get to watch both above and below the water.

Great white in the water coming to see us.

I am ready to go see my lil shark friend. 

Ok maybe not, he looks angry. :) This is a picture of the shark breaching the surface of the water. Was cool to watch. 

It is cool to watch the sharks swim and attack things in person. After a couple rounds in the cage, everyone gets in the boat (everyone is shivering of course) and the boat people take us over to see a colony of seals on some rocks in the middle of the ocean. 

Rock island with loads of seals (and sea lions?) that the boat captain took us to observe after we watch the sharks in action.

My bro and I chilling on the boat after watching the sharks. Orange is definitely my color. 

As we get back to land we headed to Oudtshorn to stay at the Kadoo soul cottage, which was a nice place owned by a very sweet lady. After checking in, we played some cards and had a glass of wine while we relaxed the rest of the night.