South africa

Arrived to South Africa

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Was easier than I thought to spend a lot of hours on Dubai airport and just as quick as a thought it was time to board the plane to Cape town. I confess I was not in my best condition and before the plane took off I was sleeping like baby. I woke however up to the smell of food and I still think that the Emirates food is one of the better when we are talking about airplane food. With some food and a glas of wine in my stomach I fell asleep again. Both the flight to Dubai and to Cape town was with an 777-300 which means you sit in groups of 3-4-3, on both my flight I was lucky though so I had my 3 by myself and I could use the extra two seats as a bed, really nice!

Once in Cape town Jonatan met me at the airport with our rental car and we drove off to Hermanus. Here we stay at a small hostel filled with Australians and Germans. I didn’t get much view of Cape town but more of that later but the view over cape town from the mountains we drove past was really beautiful. According to the signs the are driving along the “Whale route” so if I’m lucky I might even see a whale on this trip, so far its been most beer and beef jerky those few hours Ive been to Africa.

Greetings mr great white

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We went up early today and left our hostel to get to the coast and go out on the sea and do some shark diving. The weather couldn’t be any better with blue sky, shining sun and almost no wind at all. The waves were kind a big but come in a slow set and none of us got seasick. Normally this kind of tour takes up to 25 persons but since it low season right now we were lucky and it was only 14, that means more time in the water for us.But to the honest I’m not really impressed. The sharks were tiny, the biggest were somewhere around 3m and they couldn’t care less about us. The swam around our cage and a couple were really close (you could poke it) but my heart rate didn’t raise for that. The dream would be to be inside the cage while an huge great white attacks the cage and trying to get a bite of the swede but I guess I have to continue to dream about that. The Atlantic water was not really warm but our wetsuits help some and at least I can say that I took a bath in the Atlantic this year too.After our little shark adventure we continued west and got to the soothest point of Africa. A rocky beach and a tiny landmark showed us were we where and its also here where the Atlantic ocean meets the Indian ocean, I should get into the water just to be able to say that I took a bath in both oceans. We decided to stay here over the night at a really nice and cozy hostel, unfortunately we are the only guests.

Designated backseat driver

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Today we been driving, a lot! We did however started the day at the local brewery in Struisbaai. It’s a tiny microbrewery and can discuss if its really a brewery or just home brew right now but they are moving to a bigger location, expanding and the beer, its really good! Their pale ale was pretty popular yesterday and since the brew master was on site we got invited to the brewery and sure, why not.

After a short tour and some tasting we got into the car and drove east. We have some loose plans but nothing really decided so we just drove as long as we wanted and after a lunch in Mossel bay we continued to Krysna where we are now. The the scenery reminds me of southern Sweden but with more hills and its really beautiful to drive with the ocean on one side and mountains in the distance on the other side. There between is a tiny road and large green and yellow files! We haven’t seen much of the wild life yet though, but at least I saw some antelopes, a baboon, a lot of ostrich and a lot of different fun and creepy birds I cant name. Today we also saw our first elephants so I got the first of the five big now, all completely random from the highway

No driving for me though, instead I’m the designated backseat driver drinking beer and eating biltong (like beef jerky). The reason for this is that they collected the car before I arrived so I couldn’t sign any paper but it’s OK for me, I’m having it really good here in the backseat.

Bungy jumping

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I guess we all do different things to wake up during the morning and today I added a bungy jump to the classic cup of coffee. It is actually one of the biggest bungy jumps in the world and the base is the 216m hight bloukrans bridge. My first bungy jump ever and it was really fun and a nice wake up method.  Bungy jumping do have a taste of the 90’s but I recommend it anyway.

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After our jump we decided to drive into the Tsitsikamma national park. Really awesome nature and after a short but steep hike to a viewpoint we got awarded with an absolute stunning view over the area. Once back down we took lunch at a whale and two dolphins came by. I’m not good at speaking whale in the ecstasy of seeing whales i took some really bad photos but the baboon we met on our way to the hostel, he did waited until i got my camera and posed so nice. No more picture than this thou because I misplaced my usb cable and the internet is so freaking slow ere.

Rainy weather so we drive instead

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The weather forecast promised bad weather and just as promised we woke up to rain. That’s totally ok thought because our plan was to spend the day in the car and drive back to Cape town, well actually a little bit further to Simon’s Town which is located close to Cape of good hope. The driving went fine and as we approach Simon’s Town we were greeted by a couple of whales playing just a couple of hundred meters from the shore. Really cool and fun to see but damn they are hard to shoot with the camera.

At the evening I went all in on the African kitchen, Kudu, Crocodile and Impala and surprisingly enough the crocodile was the best one.

 

Cape of Good Hope

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The day has been mostly been spent on the cape of good hope but first we drove by the penguins who more or less lives in Simon’s Town. The penguins were really cool and it’s no coincidence that we ended up in Simon’s Town but such a tourist trap it was. I would never, ever set my foot here during peak season and there were a lot of people there today, but manageable as long as you don’t pay the entrance fee to go down to the penguins which we didn’t.

One ice cream later and a little bit high on the sugar rush we drove to Cape of Good Hope. As time is an limiting factor we decided to first walk up to the lighthouse and check the view and after that walk out as far as you can go on the actual point. Wonderful view and even if it was a bit windy I really liked it. On our way to the point we found a lovely beach, just to bad that the more or less  vertical stair pretty much kill you when you want to leave the beach.

You want to get some coke?

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I never got so many question about buying coke as here, in Cape Town. Wherever I go and where I stand people show up and ask me if I want to buy some coke, weed or anything other that makes you high. It might be because we live on one of the major bar streets but I mean come on, this is worse than Amsterdam.

More or less the whole dale yesterday was about traveling. From Livingstone to Johannesburg and then onto Cape Town. It feels kind a bizarre but I paid more for my tickets Livingstone-Cape Town than for my tickets Stockholm-Cape Town but now, after I did the trip I know it was worth every penny. Today I spent the day walking around in the center /Waterfront area and I realize that it doesn’t feel like Africa, more like any  big city in Europe and besides its a lot colder here. Well its not cold, around 25 degrees during the day which makes it perfect to walk around in the city and besides, its a good way to get used to the cold weather back home. During the nights though it gets colder and the temperature drops to around 10-15 degrees.

The flight here was a new experience by the way. Its the first time ever for me that I been told not to use my seatbelt or do anything that may cause a disturbance since they were refueling the plane. Once we arrived they once more got on the speaker and this time they told the people back in the plane to hurry to get into the front since the plane was about to tip over. Really? Is this really British airways?

Some pictures form the day, spent most of the time in Waterfront which is a really nice area, however a bit touristic.

 

I fell in a trap, the tourist trap

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As it was the last evening in South Africa we decided its time to go meat frenzy, South Africa is almost as famous for their barbecue as Argentina and its so cheap here so lets enjoy our last supper. After a way to big plate of mixed barbecued beef, pork, chicken and ribs it was time for desert, a 200g steak.  You only live once or what do you use to say and even if we had meat overload it was so good and the meat sweating, they never came.

The last day in Cape Town where spent on Table mountain. We did however cheated some, we did the hike up to the cable car but then we took the cable car to the top and to be honest, I’m not impressed. Both according to commercial and tourist information the Table mountain is one of the natural wonders of the world but I think it was just a big tourist trap, on the top of a mountain so you cant escape it. It do however really gives you a amazing view over Cape Town and the surroundings and I do believe that if you hike all the way up to the top you will have another opinion of the mountain. Whats really cool though is how the mountain is perfect located from the Ocean so it “creates” wind that clears the smog and pollution from Cape Town and creates rain which makes the whole region really fertile. This is however not something you really can see so I guess you have to satisfy with the views and the kind a cool form of the mountain.