Vipond Adventures: South Africa from Kelly's Perspective

Ryan has a tendency to "hog the blog" so I have wormed my way in here to write a personal perspective on Africa.

First things first, Africa has been in my travel dreams for a long time. I have dreamed of African safaris, open air markets and meeting fabulous people from the various walks of African life for so many years I have lost count. When I look back at my middle school journal entries on "places I want to go"... mine always says Africa. So you can see how the expectations were high.

South Africa fulfilled my expectations because we got to experience typical African tourism. We did the "tourist route" of Africa's richest country. However, upon arrival in Cape Town we discovered that South Africa is not what one pictures a typical African city to be. Cape Town is an ultra modern coastal city with extremely friendly people and a European feel. This has been the easiest and most relaxed trip we have done. It has also been my favorite. I would go back in a heartbeat.

When Ryan finished off our last blog, he mentioned that we had 3 things left to do: A Wine Tour, Great White Cage Diving, and Table Mountain.

Wine Tours in South Africa are like a religion. South Africans make some of the best wine in the world and they know A LOT about making it. So when we departed on a wine tour at 9:30 am, I was naturally quite ready for an educational tours of wineries and a chance to taste an assortment of fabulous wines. With that in mind, I had never been on a South African wine tours and was not prepared for what was to come.

We ventured off with our tour group of 7 to start off to our first winery. We got a tour of the cellar and learned a TON about how they make wine and champagne. It is an amazing science. The tasting part came next. Then we stood up... and realized that we had each had about 6 glasses of wine. That's a large quantity of wine for anyone but it is especially large amount for those living in a dry country for 6 months. We giggled our way to the next and the next eating and drinking merrily throughout the journey. The cheese was just as good as the wine!

We managed to keep ourselves going and got along very well with our tour mates. So by 4 pm, after "tasting" wine for 6 hours, we decided it would be a great idea to go back and party for a bit with our new found friends. We went to a place called "Mama Africa" and got to eat an assortment of wild meats; Springbok, Kudu, Ostrich, Eland, and even Crocodile! And of course, we drank more wine. We decided to make it an "early night" when we looked at the clock at 11 pm and realized that we were dancing to African music in the middle of a restaurant. We needed to be "responsible" because we had to get up at 5 am for a Shark dive. 5 am came very early the next day....

We managed to drag ourselves to the Bus and sleep for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Gaansbaii where we met up with our Captain. The water was rough and the visibility was terrible. It was cold out and not what we had in our minds as ideal but it was down to the wire and we were NOT going to miss this opportunity. We set out on the high seas and bashed through the waves for 20 minutes to reach the reef where the Great White sharks frequent. The crew on the boat was amazing and began baiting immediately. We learned a ton about sharks and how to bait them so if you want to try and get some to come out for a rum cruise on Rocky was can try our luck!!

As we waited for the sharks to show up the waves began to take their toll on my stomach. I wasn't as bad off as some who were with the on the boat... they spent the entire trip hanging over the side of the boat. I lost my breakfast and donated to the shark bait (You know me... always trying to help out and do my part) but it was the shakes that were overwhelming. I could barely stand up! A very strange feeling indeed! However I am convinced that it was my donation of bait that worked the best... Great Whites must really like toast and orange juice because within 5 minutes one showed up at the boat!

He jumped out of the water and grabbed the bait right beside the boat. Needless to say... we screamed. They are huge fish! He came around a couple of times and that's when the captain asked, "Who's going in?" Even though I was shaky and very nervous to jump in the water with a hungry Great White, I volunteered to be in the first group to go in the cage and it was worth it! I was second in the cage and as the others were getting in the cage that big bugger came back and I got to meet him up close and personal. I think he smiled at me but that didn't really put me at ease as much as the cold water that numbed all nervousness. Because the visibility was terrible I was lucky that I got such a good view. We didn't get to see much beyond shadows besides that while my crew was in the cage. Ryan went in later and got a good view of a shark about an hour after me. What a great day!

The next day Ryan and I got up and decided to hike up Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a 3500 ft Plateau in the middle of Cape Town. We had been warned it was a tough hike up the gorge but we were ready. Ryan took it like a champ. I'm so impressed but I credit his long legs for helping him out. Basically it's like taking really huge stairs the entire way up the gorge. I last for 65% of the hike without a problem but hit the wall for the last part. I made it up but my lungs felt like they were bleeding. It was worth every second because the view we got was beautiful and it was a great workout. Just goes to prove that doing aerobics and running on a treadmill only gets you so far!

We made the 18 hour journey home yesterday and arrived home at 5 am this morning. We are back to school tomorrow and then our next big journey with be the one to Canada in 4 months!