This weekend some friends and I traveled along the Garden
Route, which makes up part of the southern coast of the African continent. We
set out early on Friday morning for the 5-hour trip to Oudtshoorn, the ostrich
capital of South Africa. Along the way, we passed through a great deal of the
primarily Afrikaans-speaking countryside, which is full of gorgeous mountains
and hills and tons of vineyards and wheat fields.
When we reached Oudtshoorn, we visited the Cango Caves,
which make up a millions of years old rock formation.
We chose to go on an “adventure”
tour that involved climbing through tiny holes and tunnels and army crawling at
times. Many of the rock formations we passed along the way were around 1-1.5
million years old!
One of the large caverns was previously used as a concert
hall because of its incredible acoustics. To demonstrate, the guide asked me to
sing. I sang an excerpt from Purcell’s “Flow my tears” and the acoustics were
truly incredible! It was probably the first time someone had sung Purcell in
those caves….. Below is a photo of the “choir area,” which is no longer used
for concerts because of incidents of vandalism in the caves.
Then we went up to the top of a mountain pass to take in the view!
We then went to the backpacker in Oudtshoorn for the night
and we had a traditional South African braai! Although for me it was just
vegetables…. But still wonderful! The staff was so sweet and we met lots of
interesting people from all over the world. Even though we slept in a very cold
10-person dorm, I would still so much rather stay in a backpacker full of
interesting people than a comfortable hotel room. The next morning it was time
to visit an ostrich farm!
We learned lots about the birds and got to feed and
pet a few. Then we got to sit on the birds for a bit and a few lucky ones (not
myself, sadly) got to ride them!!
We moved on to Tsitsikamma and Storms River, where we hiked
through a beautiful national park and I got to touch the Indian Ocean!
It was
an amazing and exhausting day. We stayed in a backpacker in Tsitsikamma that
night and hung out with some students from Switzerland and Germany who had done
the Storms River bungee jump earlier that day. Some of our group wanted to
bungee jump in the morning, but I decided to wait until Victoria Falls (if we
do end up making that trip). Instead, I went ziplining through the African
canopy the next morning! We had an amazing adventure that was plenty thrilling,
since we were 30 m high!
Next we went to Knynsa Elephant Park, where 9 southern
African elephants are left over from a previous herd of hundreds. Although not
many are left from the original Knysna herd, African elephants are still considered
to be overpopulated. In fact, many times entire herds are killed off due to
overpopulation and the prohibitive expense of moving them to another reserve
elsewhere in the world. These elephants were tame and are used to human
contact, so we were able to feed them and touch them!! As you can see from the
photos and videos, I was pretty darn excited.
Right after seeing the elephants, we sped off toward the
Garden Route Game Reserve, where we jumped out of our van and immediately into
a game drive jeep. We saw their two semi-tame elephants, whose herd was killed
to stop overpopulation. Usually the entire herd is killed, since leaving
orphans can cause permanent mental damage. These orphans certainly did seem a
bit aggressive, since the male elephant charged at the vehicle next to us! Here’s
the video:
Then he started acting very strange—so much so that our
guide called the large animal vet. It turns out he was fine. Perhaps he was
just showing off for us!
We then drove off toward the lion camp. They are kept
separate from the rest of the reserve since they would kill the other animals.
We saw the male lion and his wife feasting on a cow carcass. As we got closer,
the male lion noticed us and charged!
He ran after the jeep for a bit, but
realized we were leaving them alone and eventually stopped. He went back to
snuggle with his wife. They both seemed to be suffering from a minor food coma.
We also saw the cheetah and her 4-month old cubs. So cute!!
Meanwhile, the sun was setting on the reserve and the colors
were absolutely beautiful.
That night we stayed in private huts overlooking the
reserve. They were absolutely gorgeous, with a thatched roof and amazing
African decorations. Also--- fantastic buffet dinner and breakfast!
The next morning we went on another game drive and saw many
of the animals again, including some giraffes very close up! They just had a
baby that the volunteers named Inca. So cute!
Oh, and we had a rhino roadblock!
Then, our wonderful guide who happens to be married to the
manager took us to their home, where they are taking care of two cheetah cubs!!
They brought them out on leashes and let us play with them!
We are the only
guests they let play with them :D Apparently they are just like big kittens,
but very, very mischievous.
On our way home, we drove through Hermanus to get a glimpse
of the whales coming in from Antarctica and then saw a penguin colony at Stony
Point!
So much fun……
Then it was back to work! More updates to come very soon!
