Garden Route Excursion

I've just arrived back from a five day backpacking excursion along South Africa's famous coastal Garden Route. I'm exhausted, and the thought of trying to get my blog up to speed is daunting to say the least. I still don't feel there is any way I can do justice to my experience so far. But I'll just briefly outline my past week.

Friday - My 21st birthday! I had a perfect day, and in the evening my housemates and I cooked tacos together. Everyone then went to a Mardi Gras party in Obs (a district next to Rondebosch), and I didn't have to pay for a single drink all night. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday with my new friends.

Saturday - Crawl out of bed at 5:45 AM for a 6:00 AM taxi departure. (Yes, it was brutal). The taxi took six of us to a bus station in Cape Town, and we then boarded a bus for a ten hour ride to the charming town of Knysna. The bus ride was everything you would expect from an African transportation adventure. Massive delays, broken air conditioning. However, we arrived safely and checked into our hostel, Island Vibe. Dinner was at the waterfront - fresh seafood and game including ostrich and springbok. 

Sunday - Beach day! However, the hike to the beach ended up being a ten-kilometer hike including dodgy abandoned railroad tracks and bush-whacking. At one point we seriously tried to hitch hike. But eventually we landed on one of the most stunning beaches I've ever seen. Dramatic cliffs, lush vegetation, white sand, craggy rock formations...and we had the place almost entirely to ourselves. We swam, we napped, we played baseball with some Argentinians we met. Everything was pretty perfect (except for the scorching sunburns that resulted). We caught a shuttle back to the hostel in the evening followed by a sunset dinner of oysters. One of the highlights of the trip came that night when we introduced s'mores to all the European travelers staying at our hostel. 

Monday - Bungy jumping. The Blouk

rans Bridge jump is the highest in the world - over 700 feet. Three of us did the jump, and it was absolutely crazy. The location is the most beautiful gorge imaginable. I'll let a few of my pics tell the story:

Too bad the camera couldn't come down and show me at 700 feet! Anyway, it was a crazy experience - biggest adrenaline rush possible.

That night we braai-ed at the hostel and made a ridiculous amount of food. I feel disgusting eating so much meat while I'm here, but I really feel like I would be missing out otherwise. For our last night at Island Vibe we slept outside on the porch under the stars. It sounds better than it actually was - I woke up to some huge bug bites. 

Tuesday - We caught a minibus to Plettenberg Bay. Our hostel there was called Albergo's, and it was much closer to the beach than Island Vibe. A few of us went to visit The Elephant Sanctuary, where you can take the elephants for a walk, ride on them, and feed them. Elephants are definitely up there on my list of favorite animals! In the afternoon we spent more time on the beach, and dinner was at a Mozambique restaurant followed by a group split-up so we could have respective girls' night ins and guys' night outs.

Wednesday - For the last day of our trip we went zip-lining in Tsitskiamma, a national preserve that looks like it's straight out of Jurassic Park. We went over waterfalls along a deep ravine that winds through the misty rainforest surrounding Storms River. It was raining lightly, but they gave us rain jackets, and the grey skies provided the perfect backdrop against the gorgeous vegetation. 

We bummed around in Plet in the afternoon (we had to check out of our hostel that morning), and our overnight bus left at 10:30 that night. The ride was massively uncomfortable - no reclining seats, overcrowded, bumpy. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep. However, it was great to be back in Cape Town this morning. I finally figured out where and when my classes are, and introductory lectures actually begin tomorrow! Unfortunately I still feel like I'm on vacation, but once classes start hopefully things will finally begin to calm down. Time to go enjoy another fabulous, warm South African evening.