Garden Route

Since the dawn of time here in Cape Town, people have been telling visitors to take a trip and drive the Garden Route.  It is a “high way” that is a one lane road that drives straight down the coast and inland with lots of activities to take part in.  Finally I went the other week.

I rented two cars with 5 other friends, packed an abundance of snacks, and we hit the open road towards new adventures.  The first stop was Mossel Bay but we only stayed there for a night.  They had beaches but we had bigger and better things ahead- also apparently no coffee shops open in the morning so we wanted to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.  Our first activity was communing with elephants.  We got go out into a field and walk/pet them and feed them food.  The food they gave us smelled wicked good- it was pineapples and carrots- delicious.  It was pretty fun, but they made you a little nervous.  They were trained so when they brought us out into the field they called them by names and the elephants lined up behind this railing and reached their trunks out to take the food from your hand.  The baby elephants would try to sneak around the railing b/c they could never get food, but if you threw it on the ground they were the quick and could get it before the bigger elephants nabbed it.  After feeding them we got to walk with them and pet them. They felt a lot different than I expected.  When we finally started to get used to them one little guy rammed his head/tusk into my friend Whitney’s side.  It looked quite painful and after that we all back to being nervous.

Our next stop was what everyone had been excited for since day one—BUNGEE JUMPING!  This place claims to be the tallest jump in the world: 216meters.  Two girls were afraid of heights, but wanted to conquer their fear.  One was successful and the other’s height phobia is now even worse, but all six of us jumped.  I was pretty calm through it all.  The worst part for everyone, except for me and the boy Jordan, was walking along the catwalk to the actual jump.  I could not understand why people hated walking over an open catwalk with a wire bottom that you could see through, but to each their own.  They played pumped up music and everything- but I still was pretty calm and relaxed, until it was my turn.  They wrap your legs into a harness thing and you have to kind of hop to the edge with the help of the crew.  My downfall was looking over the edge right before my jump. When they counted to 5 I did in fact jump and it was right after my feet left the bridge that I was gripped with fear and understood why people do not go bungee jumping.  But after you let go and relax it was absolutely amazing.  Jumping was my favorite part of the trip.

The View right before you jump

 

Hating it-- it the first few photos if you click through them wicked fast it's just my arms windmilling trying to stop

And now loving it

We stayed at another hostel by the beach, but the next morning it was pretty cloudy and we headed out without really lounging at the beach for too long.  We took an unexpected stop at a wolf sanctuary we saw by the side of the road.  We were greeted by a baby goat (a kid) in the entrance and had a wonderful old time at the sanctuary.  The wolves were pretty sleepy/bored but there was a petting farm where we got to feed pigs, goats, ponies, and all the like.  I made best friends with a white pony who I absolutely loved. He loved me if I do say so myself.

 

That afternoon we went to an ostrich farm and got to ride on the back of an ostrich.  This was sickanating and very odd.  They bagged the head of the ostrich and put it into a gate thing where you sat with you legs behind the wings and gripped the top of the wings with your hands.  It felt like you were going to rip their wings off.  In all honesty the ostrich didn’t seem to care that much/ or just forgot about it a second later because their brains are smaller than small.  The jockeys that helped guide the ostriches jumped on them at the end and showed us how to steer them in races which is basically using their necks like a joystick. After this I’m not as afraid of them as I was.  They are quite stupid in the head.

The last hostel was a lot of fun, but again we left early in the morning to see more animals.  We went to a zoo place with lots of endangered animals and all sorts of cats. The only problem was this awful euro-trash looking couple kept distracting me.  I watched them the whole time instead of the rare, exotic birds and what not. We did get to pet some cheetahs, which purred the whole time you pet them. After that we departed back to Cape Town to our own beloved animals- the pigeons.  Cape Towners were right: when in Africa you must go on the Garden Route.

The Euro-trash couple.  I swear they were more entertaining than the animals

I thought these were extinct

Botswana and Zimbabwe Spring break part III: part C

Walking with the Lions

I literally looked nervous and awkward in every photo

 

The next day was walking with the lions!  Now this sounds cool, and it was, but it was a bit awkward too.  They told you how to deal with the lions and had us take meter long sticks to distract the lion with if ever they wanted to “play.”  The sticks kind of reminded my and wands from harry potter but in reality they had no real power and it was all the guides controlling the lions.  So we got to see them up close in their sanctuary and walk with them.  They were being raised there to be released to breed and then those babies would be put into the wild to help the dwindling lion population.  So the lions we dealt with would never truly be “wild” but they still kind of were in a sense- the sense that they could rip our faces off and all.  The guides would take your camera and have you walk with the lion.  This meant petting the lion, while walking, while smiling at the camera- awkward.  In many of the pictures I look like I either am as awkward as anything or very distrustful of the lions.  All in all it was pretty cool though. 

Their eyes are enormous!

The Lions were huge!  But it was their eyes that were the best part of them.  They were giant and they looked straight at you.  The guide told us to NOT look away from them and don’t turn away when they’re looking at you.  You have to stand your ground and my confident.  The Male lion was cooler and had spots on him kind of like a leopard.  He also had a mane that was a Mohawk just like teenage Simba.

I am NOT looking to sure about this lion!  in reality i was more nervous of the guides and their photographing strategies

this is the best pic i could get- every other one was even more awkward if you can believe it

It looks like they are stalking their man prey

the Lions got exhausted after a little while- they're nocturnal you know

After this it was time to go home.  I really had so much fun with everyone and will miss both Botswana and Zimbabwe.  At the airport I met up with friends who had gone on different trips and had so much fun (surprisingly I missed these friends- crazy) so I know I’ll be traveling some more, HOPEFULLY!

I literally had so, so much fun!

At least in this one i'm kind of smiling!

Botswana and Zimbabwe Spring break part III: part B

White Water Rafting

I'm either screaming in every single picture or gasping to hold my breath

That pool down below is where it all started

 

Next day, as usual, we were up before the sun for white water rafting down the Zambezi River.  These rapids ranged from 3-5 level rapids-- 6 is the highest level.  In fact there was a level six but we weren’t allowed on it.  We got out and walked around the cliff ledge and our guide did it solo.  Anyways, we got dropped off at the falls and walked down a bunch of steps, around some cliff ledges, to the bottom of the falls.  It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.  Our rafts were tethered at the bottom in a pool of water surrounded by rock walls reaching up to the sky.  Behind the pool were the waterfalls.  We couldn’t take our camera bc it would have gotten soaked but I desperately wish someone had taken a photo.  

AND I'm hooked

The guide taught us how to row together and what his orders meant then we were off to face the rapids.  Let me just say that white water rafting is one of my biggest fears ever.  This concept of putting ourselves in a position to get water thrown in your face is very foreign to me but it was one of the most fun, more accelerating things I’ve ever done.  Our first rapid, The ‘Boiling Pot’, had me white knuckling my oar, but once we were through I was hooked.  Our guide was amazing and got us through every rapid fairly well.  The rapids all had cool names like Stairway to Heaven, The Terminator, Oblivion, The Washing Machine, Judgment Day, Devils Toilet Bowl and Oblivion. On Stairway to Heaven the other raft in our party flipped so our raft went into rescue mission and collected three of the people who were thrown from their boat.  After this my raft thought we could take on the world so we decided to choose the hardest rapid when given the choice- bad idea.  At the ‘Gullivers Travels’ rapid our raft flipped and my face was used as leverage by someone’s shoe for them to get to the surface.  Luckily, when I reached the surface, gasping and crying for air I saw Liz laughing her insane face off.  She grabbed me and the guide pulled us both onto the raft quickly.

Guys this is really stupid

I was right we are all going to die

Yup, I was right- we're dead.

I'm underwater being kicked in the face- not having the best time here

All Hope is Lost.  we are all going to drown in Africa

After this incident I did not like rafting quite as much.  This was a level 5 and then next level five was called the ‘Three Twisted Sisters and the Mother’.  It’s said that if your kind to your mother it will be kind to you but if not you’ll be punished. It took forever to get to this rapid and I nearly cried with the anticipation.  I’m sure I enraged everyone with my cries of anxiety and pleas about us turning back.  Turns out my love for my own mum paid off and it was a fairly easy rapid to get through.  I knew I was my mum’s favorite!

Seriously the longest wait to get to our next level 5. I'm honestly shocked they didn't just throw me out of the boat- I was in quite a tizzy after the guide said we would probably flip again

definitely screaming here and probably begging everyone to turn back

Probably screaming for my mum

MADE IT! love it again!

 It was sad to end the white water rafting.  In the end I loved it.  At one point we were even allowed to jump out on a level 1 rapid and go through it with just our bodies in the water.  It was even sadder to end because we then had to climb 750 (literally) stairs up to the top of the gorge.  We were all exhausted and I’m surprised we all made it up to the top after conquering 19 rapids.  But lunch was delicious and beer was served so def worth it. 

everyone jumping out to swim down a level one rapid and rejoicing that we are all alive

we survived!! we even survived 750 stairs!