First Look at South Africa *

Helicopter tour

Oh holy South Africa. My only regret is that we couldn’t have spend a crap load of more time there. We woke up before the sun to watch us pull into port, cape town was lit up bright down below table mountain which takes hold of the scenery. Our first day we pretty much left up to exploring the waterfront, which was the area where we were ported. We did some shopping at the local craft markets and found some great buys. That night we had an amazing dinner and had our first taste of South African night life.

Cape Town from a helicopter

The next day I took a trip to a township, walked around and interacted with the people who lived there. The kids were so cute and loved us taking their pictures. After we headed over to District six, which is a area of cape town that during the apartheid was totally demolished, and everyone living there was evacuated. A museum in its memory has been filled with street signs, photos, and other memorabilia from the sight that is now just rubble. Our last stop was a trip to Robbins Island, which was where Nelson Mandela was held for 19 years. All the tour guides were ex prisoners and still currently live on the island, where we were told the ex guards still readily visit. We saw Mandela’s cell and were told a lot of interesting history of the sight. On our ferry ride we saw some whales, dolphins, and seals which was a pretty sweet added bonus. The next day I left for my safari at Kruger park. We stayed at Sabie River resort which was so gorgeous. They treated us wonderfully. The food was all traditional African food and was so delicious. We tried ostrich and had a whole lot of barbequed meat and all kinds of other goodness. Out on the Safaris we saw a lot of animals. We were especially looking for what are known as the ‘big five’ which are lions, buffalo, elephant, rhino, and leopards. We only saw two of the five, which was a bummer but we also saw giraffes, zebras, a whole lot of impalas, croc, hyiena however you spell that, and a few other random animals. All in all it was a great trip and how could you ever complain about taking a safari in Africa? Exactly.

Dancers during our dinner

So moving on. On the last day of our safari we had some free time before our flight back to Cape Town so someone took the initiative to set up a trip to a township. I’m tempted to say that this was the best part of my safari trip. Our guides first took us to a spiritual healer. She performed some of her rituals and our guide explained everything to us, then she let us check out her house and surrounding huts. It was such a cool thing to get to see. Our next stop was Ringetani village. There the boys and girls performed their dancing rituals for us. The girls sang beautifully and the boys danced, and pulled us up with them and showed us some of their moves. Everyone was all dancing together. Then they showed us all of their daily chores and activities, the games they play, and how they spend their time. Some of us tried out their chores and realized how much hard work is put into keeping a village together..These were such amazing once in a life time opportunities and just makes me realize how amazing lucky I am. Getting back from Kruger we headed straight out from the ship to a dinner our friends had reserved at Moyo, which was a tree top restaurant that was soo good.

Township women

Our table was up in a tree, there was great music being played by African people who would come by our table and play for us. The whole thing was amazing and it was fun to get back with the group and tell each other all our stories from our different trips. That night we went to a club with no semester at sea kids which was awesome and met a bunch of locals. Our last day in port we had a million things we wanted to do.

Cape Town, South Africa township

Table Mountain

Hike Table Mountain, skydive, see penguins, and a list of other things. Unfortunately none of this actually happened. We did however get some good meals in, took advantage of some free internet, and hung around until we had to be back on the ship- explanations for all this to be given at a later date. Back on the ship we had an amazing opportunity to watch a high school choir perform for us. They were so amazingly talented. All in all, Africa was great, and leaving it was tough. But next stop is Mauritius and its looking to be like spring break semester at sea. Cant wait. Xxoo Keg on the high seas.

Mentally preparing for the helicopter ride