South Africa.
What an experience-and a learning experience at that. Even though some bad things happened I still loved it and I know for a fact I will travel back there.
Alright, my first morning still cruising into Cape Town I woke up realll early. I mean the sun wasn’t even up. Thus the point of why I was up so early. I was getting up to watch the sunrise cause I had heard from past blogs that it’s beautiful-which it was. I was up so early that it was just me and my Global Studies teacher Don up at one point. He told me since I was up so early that he would tell me something. He pointed off in the distance to a light that would shine every few seconds. He told me that was the Cape of Good Hope. How cool! I was one of the first people on the ship to see it and I got to see it from a different angle than everyone else who went to see it from the land.
Anyways I was up so early and enjoyed the sun rise behind table mountain-very gorgeous. Then I had breakfast where I scored not one but two boxes of fruit loops. This is major on the ship and apparently it pays to be up that early.
So, after getting cleared off the ship I headed off the gangway and was met by a tour guide in a blue shirt with Lauren, Kelcie, Steph, Liz and Lindsey. This is because we were headed 2 hours away to cage dive with great white sharks. Yes, I, cautious Jess, went cage diving with great whites. We drove to the place, which was a beautiful drive, and once we arrived we were served a delicious meal that was prepared for us. Upon arrival we discovered that Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Anderson Cooper, Leonardo DiCarprio, One Republic and Prince Harry have all done shark diving with this company. I took a picture of their “autograph” they had signed in the guest book-pretty sweet. After our meal it was time for us to divide up into 3 boats and head out. My friends Chris, Conner, and Patrick were there as well and we were all on the same boat with some other SAS kids too. Surprisingly I wasn’t nervous at all. I was more nervous for the boat ride they were warning us about. He told us what to do if we got sea sick which I warned our captain that it would be me cause I have such a sensitive stomach to sea sickness on a giant ship.
Though the boat ride out to the shark area was rough I actually felt fine. We went about 20 minutes out into the water and all got into our wetsuits cause the water is pretty cold. It’s hard to describe the cage but I would say it looks like it’s from 1970 and its made of wire and there are holes you can reach your hand out of throughout the entire cage that are about 6in by 6in and the bottom is the same but the top is open with like 3 cross bars to hold onto. You’re lowered into the cage which is already almost fully under water with a mask on and when a shark comes you are instructed “divers down” (in a south African accent) and you go underwater and hold yourself down by holding onto the bars. They also put weights on you to weigh you down.
I was in the second group of kids who went into the cage and right as I was getting my face mask and being lowered into the water I got nervous. I was next to Steph in the water and once I was in the cage I wasn’t nervous anymore. It was actually really really cool. I was literally inches away from great white sharks. It is so crazy to think about.
After my group went another group went and the shark was looking for the bait and I guess missed or something and bit the cage and got stuck! He could have easily bit the part of the cage where the divers fingers were! Luckily it didn’t and everyone was fine but wow it was so crazy and the pictures I have are amazing! It was an unforgettable experience and I’m so happy and proud I did it.
On our way back I was getting sea sick (typical) but it wasn’t too bad. We got another snack once we got back to the docking area. I got a sweet shirt and a DVD of my group and me shark diving that day. So, if you’re ever at my house and want to see just how close I got, you can. And mom and dad we can watch the DVD on my computer on Florida if you want- it’ll probably scare you Mom. After we were done with our snack and such we headed back to the ship to get ready for the night.
Side note: my captain took Matt Damon out shark diving and he said “you know how he’s so buff in the movies, well he’s not like that in person” And Matt Damon visited exactly a year after I did so apparently he’s chubby.
We met up at the ship and got ready for the night. Lauren, Lindsey, Steph, Kelcie and I went out to dinner at a place called Quay Four (if you goggle V&A waterfront in CapeTown, South Africa you can see it in the skyline). It was really good food, I got calamari and chips, and the view was beautiful as it was right on the water with a gorgeous view of our ship.
We were supposed to meet our friend Mackenzie at 11 on the ship so we came back to the ship and met her then. We then found Lis, Kerry and Jimbo and we all left the ship and went out. All the SAS kids congregated in the same place which is called Long Street. It’s a long street filled almost entirely with bars- really fun. So we stayed out pretty late and I decided, because my safari was leaving at 3:30 that next morning that I just wouldn’t go to bed.
So we left Long Street around 3:00 and I got back to my room packed for my safari and was off to the Cape Town airport. Once at the airport we headed to the gate to prepare for our flight. I didn’t know anyone in my safari but we were on the flight with 2 other SAS safari groups and I hung out with Kerry (Lis’s roommate) for my flights. I say flightS because after our first flight we had a second flight that was on our unmarked private chartered flight. Not bad SAS, not bad. I suppose that made up for the 2 hours we spent in the terminal trying to deal our boarding passes that they messed up like 6 times.
Anyways as our chartered flight was landing on the runway there were 2 cheetahs laying next to our plane! How cool is that? And that was just the beginning. So our flight landed. It literally landed in the middle of nowhere on this thing that looked like an empty parking lot. Once the plane stopped we spotted like 6 vans and then 3 open sweet looking safari cars. Yeah, the safari cars were for my safari and I’m pretty sure the other safaris were jealous. Our safari place Kapama River Lodge was about a 15 minute drive from the airport-not bad. We drove up to our resort/spa and it is absolutely the most gorgeous place I have ever stayed. Hopefully I can send a picture to my blog. Its out in the bush and everything is like open and out door. Our spa suites were a walk from the reception area, not a long one, but everything is spread out and the walkways are so modern and beautiful and so are the rooms and all the facilities. My type of roughing it for sure. We checked into the resort and we get our roommates alphabetically and my roommate’s name was Katie and we were on the plane together so had already talked. She was really nice and we got along really well. She’s from California and goes to Chapman.
Anyway, we checked in and made our way to our room to freshen up before lunch. Our room was SO beautiful and modern. We had a balcony (even though we were on the first floor) and there are literally safari animals roaming right out by your balcony. It’s so amazing.
We made our way to lunch cause we were all starving. Lunch was DELICIOUS. It was definitely one of the best places I’ve eaten yet. They spoiled us with fresh fruit and fresh cooked foods and sauces and smoothies. It was incredible and buffet style.
After lunch we had a few hours to relax before our evening game drive. I decided to take a nap cause I hadn’t slept the night before and only slept like 45minutes on the airplane. The beds weren’t huge but they were soo comfy and the comforter was even better than the one I have at home! After my nap Katie and I headed to afternoon tea and biscuits which happens before every afternoon game drive. Once again the food was SO good. They had carrot cake which I usually don’t like but this was literally the best cake I’ve ever had in my life. They had lots of different juices, such a guava juice, too. They had other snacks to chose from too.
After our snack we were off for our game drive. Due to a lack of pictures (which I’ll explain later) I don’t exactly remember what animals I saw on our first drive. I know we saw a giraffe and a baby giraffe that was only like 3 days old and its umbilical cord was still attached-that’s how young he was.
We also saw Zawzu, Pumba, and Nala. And yes I do refer to them by their Hollywood Lion King names. AND yes we did all sing the lion sleeps tonight at one point or another in our journey.
That’s beside the point. The drive was amazing and it started getting dark. We stopped off for some drinks. It was awesome. Our driver John and our spotter, who sits at the very front of the car (like on the hood) in a special chair, Stanley took a break in the middle of the African bush so we could relax for like 45minutes. It was awesome. Though this is where I lost any and all faith in the safari car I was a part of.
There were 10kids total. 5 guys and 5 girls (this is rare considering our ship is like 70% girls). One girl and I were the only ones who weren’t from the east coast. Which I suppose is sort of common, there’s a ton of east coast kids on this ship. Usually on these trips you make new friends or at least people you say hi to back on the ship and what not. Though, every single person but 2 of the girls were really unfriendly and clearly had no interest in getting to know people who didn’t have that common east coast bond. It was so strange, but whatever. It put a damper on the safari, but it didn’t change what an amazing experience it was.
So anyway after our break we got back into the car and headed back to the lodge for dinner. Our spotter, Stanley, in the pitch dark with only a quick glance using a flashlight spotted a chameleon which, if we wanted to, got to have our picture hold it on a stick-I passed. After this we were back at the lodge in a beautiful dinner facility. Again the food was amazing. I can’t explain the place we ate so that you’d understand how beautiful it was. It was open but there were separate tables for each car and a buffet in the middle of the open area and it had African décor with a fire pit in the middle. It was so amazing. After our dinner was done I was completely exhausted and decided to head to bed because I had an early morning ahead of me as well.
I woke up the next morning at around 5:30 am. Our morning game drive was at 6am but we had tea and biscuits before our drive from 5:30 until 6. So I headed over to the main lodge and got some juice and fruit. Then our morning game drive began.
It was awesome seeing the sun come up and it was really nice weather as well. We saw lionesses, elephants, giraffes, buffalo, various birds, rhinos, hippos and so much more! I also saw the biggest spiders I have ever seen in my life. They were seriously 3 to four inches long (including their legs). Sick. Our driver John would go off-roading if necessary to see an animal and sometimes we’d drive through spider webs and we would all have to duck. Or we would seriously take down full trees with this open land cruiser and we would have to scoot in to avoid being scratched by these thorn tree deals. It was like a tree with thorns on it that looks like a lion’s claw.
After our morning drive we headed back to the lodge to eat breakfast at around 8am. The breakfast was amazing. I had the best omelet I’ve ever eaten in my entire life there. They make it in front of you and let you pick what you put in and how much. They had tons of fresh fruits and pretty much any breakfast food you could imagine.
After breakfast we had a bunch of free time until our next activity which was lunch at I believe noon. So during my free time I decided to take another small nap and shower. I also checked out the spa area which was amazing as well. It has an outdoor infinity pool that looks out to a watering hole that a hippo has been known to frequent. Because a lot of these kids on the ship and especially my safari have more money than they know what to do with they all booked spa appointments and such. It sounded like a nice idea but after you’re spending the ridiculous amount of money that my parents did on this safari it’s unnecessary.
So, after I did all of that Katie and I were hanging out in the room, which has no TV by the way, and we saw a Kudu roaming around out by our back porch! How crazy is that!
Then time came around at about 4:30 for us to head back to the breakfast area to eat our afternoon tea and biscuits. They had chocolate cake this time. It was really good as well and so rich. This cook must have been flown in from somewhere or very well trained. All the food was great. 5:00 rolled around and it was time to begin what would be our last evening game drive.
It was the same as the night before and I won’t repeat what I have already said to spare your eyes from unnecessary reading (because I despise unnecessary reading). BUT we were missing one of the big 5. Except, we did get to be about 4 feet away from a male lion who looked JUST like mufasa or scar. We also got to hear him roar which I got a video of (useless now). But I guess the memory of the roaring lion is what really counts.
Let me explain. When one goes on an African safari they are most likely looking for the big 5. This consists of: lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhino. These are grouped together because they are said to be the top 5 most dangerous animals in Africa to hunt.
So, like I was saying, we were missing one of the big 5. If you’ve been reading carefully you would have noticed that I hadn’t seen a leopard yet. Well, john was on a mission and we got a call on his walkie-talkie deal that one had been spotted by another car. Needless to say, we fully off-roaded it in the dark and finally found the leopard. She had just made a kill and we got to sit and watch her eat her dinner. That was really awesome. After watching that for a while we drove around a bit more and finally headed back to the lodge for dinner-which some of the wasted east coast kids in my car most definitely needed.
Again, I’m repeating myself but its true, the food was so amazing. We got fresh stir fry and got to pick what we wanted in it and with what sauce-delicious.
After dinner it started raining but no one really wanted to go to bed. So a bunch of us met up in the check in area and played cards and hung out. After a while of playing cards (its super popular on the ship, let me tell you) I decided to call it a night ‘cause I would again have another early wake up call.
The next morning I did the same routine. I woke up for early morning biscuits and tea while shortly after I proceeded to the safari car for our morning drive. Some of the kids in our car were gone for the morning because they did an elephant back safari (another extra like the spa). We saw lots of animals on our morning drive but nothing we hadn’t already seen. We couldn’t go offroading because it had rained so hard the night before, which was okay with us since we had seen the big 5.
After our morning drive we headed back to the lodge to eat breakfast and then pack our stuff and head out to our flight back “home”. We got on our chartered flight (yes!) with all the other safari kids. I met up with Kerry again and we compared stories and pictures and decided we both had a great time.
We landed in Johannesburg but we had a layover. So I did almost all my south Africa shopping in the airport in fear everything would be closed the next day in port because it was Easter (I was wrong on that one). So after our shopping, FIFA stuff and all, we ended up getting an earlier flight and rushing everyone back to the gates.
Once I got onto the plane the man by the plane door told me my bag was too big and he needed to check it. I grabbed my iPod out of the bag and didn’t think anything of it. I stupidly left my camera and phone in my bag. Yeah, you can guess where this is going. After our flight and not till later that night did I realize my camera and phone had been stolen. Not only was I out a camera and a phone but I was out all of my shark diving and safari pictures as well. It’s really unfortunate and I pretty much haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened. I guess it’s a lesson learned and a test of my memory with none of my own pictures to share.
I made it back to the ship and got ready to go out for the night. I met up with Kelcie who then met up with Lis, Liz, Lindsey, and Lauren. We all got a cab and went down to Long Street where we later met up with Steph, Mackenzie and Kerry. The night was fun but 2 of my friends got money taken from them and one was held and knife point. Petty crime in South Africa is high and ever more so at night. It was all a lesson learned I guess you could say.
The next morning I was pretty upset about my camera and phone and needed to call my parents to let them know. What a great easter morning huh?
Though, my friends and I (Lis, Liz, Lindsey, Lauren, Kelcie, Steph and Mackenzie) all went to breakfast and had a delicious Easter breakfast together. It was right on the waterfront and still had a view in to the bay area where there are a lot of small shops. It was awesome!
My friends and I just hung around in the harbor all day till on ship time. We got some errands in and I got to buy a new camera luckily. I also learned electronics there are not cheap and that when you buy a camera the charger is NOT American, its European. Luckily I have a European outlet in my room on the ship!
So that was my stay in south Africa. And as I typically procrastinate this blog right before I arrive in the next port of call, I’ve done it again.
I’m like 7 hours away from Ghana. I’ll be up at 5:45 am to see the sunrise. Wish me luck and hope that none of this petty crime happens again. I hear the police are corrupt here which scares me, but we’ll see.
I cannot believe I have one more port of call before I arrive back in the States. How weird.
xx
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