Sorry for the lack of updates recently….I’ve been busy working and playing. And my playing was in places that had no internet connection. So I had to wait until I returned to update on all the fun I’ve been having. It seems I have more than a month to catch you up on.
Back in early April, I got the chance to go to a lion park, which is basically a lion sanctuary as well as a mini-game park. They have the lion prides separated from each other and from herbivores. So we first drove thru the section with the herbivores and saw a lot of animals up-close Zebra, bok (Gemsbok, Blesbok…all in the antelope family), wildebeest (another of the antelope family), giraffe, ostrich, and meerkat. They recommend you stay in your cars, but sometimes we got out to get a better picture. It was so cool to see these animals standing right next to the car! Then we moved into the carnivore section. They had several prides of lions – white lions were the highlight, in addition to cheetahs, hyenas and African wild dogs. We saw the lions drinking out of a puddle on the side of the road and doing a little bit of mating…although the lioness’ face didn’t look like she was enjoying it! After touring several of those enclosures (we didn’t dare get out of the car then!), we went to the caged areas where we could pet baby lions and see other juvenile animals that were in the process of being integrated into the herds of existing animals. I really enjoyed my time at the park…getting up close to these animals…where they were in their natural environment and able to roam freely. I think maybe I was in a cage (car) and they were free!
We had a 2 week Easter break from BSF (they don’t call it spring break here because…well, it’s the fall). So the first week, a leader from our class invited me to go down to Cape Town with her. We rode the cable car up to Table Mtn, hiked around the top, took pics and enjoyed the 360 view of the area. It was a clear day (but windy and cool) and we could see a long ways down the coast. The next day, we drove along the coastline to Cape Point (the southernmost tip of Africa). Unfortunately, it was the only day that was windy, really cold and overcast, so we didn’t actually go into the park b/c visibility was about 0. But we were able to see beautiful scenery along the way (the clouds gather around the mountains..they call it a “tablecloth”). We did stop at Boulders beach to see the African Penguins – there was a whole colony there. It was pretty cold and windy so they weren’t up and about too much, but we did see a few go for a swim and I even caught 2 doing a mating dance (or maybe it was 2 males deciding who was king of the sand dune). It was pretty interesting.
I enjoyed seeing the Indian and Atlantic Oceans along the way and all the little beach towns that we passed. Because you have two oceans here, they have labeled one side the “cold side” (that’s the Atlantic…maybe with a water temp in the low 60s, at best!) and the “warm side” (the Indian Ocean side with water temps in the low-mid 70s). You’d think the warm side would be crowded, but it’s not. The problem with the warm side is the wind is pretty strong over there, so it’s good for things like board surfing, wind surfing, etc. but it’s pretty chilly on the beach. The Atlantic side is much better if you’re planning on doing mostly sunbathing. On the way back, we stopped at a beach and spent some time sitting on the boulders, watching the waves crashing in, the lifeguards training on the beach and the surfers riding the waves. It was quite nice! The beaches here remind me of California…mountains leading right up to the beach, a lot of rocks (boulders) scattered along the shore.
The next day we went back to Cape Point and it was a beautiful day…with only a little bit of haze. The wind was pretty strong down there (I understand it’s like that all the time) so I was glad we didn’t try to do it the previous day. The beauty of the area struck me…I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the beautiful blue water and the white beach…it was so lovely.
The next day was a “free” day as I decided not to go out to Robbin Island (where Nelson Mandela was jailed for 30 yrs). I was told there wasn’t much to see there so it wasn’t worth the time or money. So I had a choice…take a tour of the wine farms in Stellenbosch or spend the day on the beach. Those who know me well know that wasn’t much of a choice. I spent the day at Camps Beach (Atlantic side). The day was lovely, warm but not too hot. When I started to get really warm, I only had to stick my feet in the water for a few seconds (after a half-minute, my feet would ache!) and I was cool (maybe even cold). So there was no chance I was going swimming and I didn’t have a costume with me anyway (cozzie, or as we would say swimsuit). That night, we walked along the coast at sunset and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Atlantic. The next day we left to come back to Joburg. Next update will be about the game park.
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