South Africa, continued.

I never finished writing about my time in South Africa. I’ll make a long story short so that I can move on to India. I went on a three day safari to Kruger National Park with some other SASers. It was 13 of us total--so it was a nice small group. It was a lot of travel time to and from the safari sites. We flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg, which didn’t take very long but the drive to Kruger took a really long time. Our tour company never specified how long the drive from Johannesburg on our itinerary so when we got in the van we asked our driver. He says 5 hours. Some of us thought he didn’t hear us correctly, and we were like, “No, not how long our safari is. How long to our lodge?”And he repeated 5 hours. Hahaha it was really funny—we laughed and made ourselves comfortable. The drive was a little closer to 7 hours because of all the stops for lunch and gas and such. So we finally arrived to Tresimana Lodge, where we departed for our sunset safari. It was so cool! We saw giraffes and a rhino from a few feet away! We were in an Indiana Jones-like vehicle. Very cool. Then, we drove a few minutes away to our Treehouse Lodge. It was actually a really, really awesome outdoor lodge. We had drove into the lodge and there was water buffalo and impala just hanging out by the gate!

The next day we woke up early for our full-day safari at Kruger National Park. I’m really glad I came to this park because we saw a lot of really cool animals. We only saw four of the Big Five. The Big Five are the elephant, the water buffalo, the leopard, the lion, and the rhino. They’re called the Big Five because they are the hardest to hunt, or something like that. We almost saw the leopard. Our guide saw it but it was hard to see so couldn’t make it out. It was crazy because our guides could spot these animals from really far away. We saw elephants, zebras, more giraffes, cool birds, etc. The lions were the most stunning to see.

The next day some of us got up for a bush walk in the lodge. We walked around and the guide explained some of the plant uses and told us about the animal droppings and all of that. We had breakfast and departed for the airport. We stopped for lunch at the same place (really good food) and stopped at a canyon place for some sightseeing and to buy some souvenirs. We finally made it back to the airport and back to Cape Town.

The next and final day I went on an SAS trip called Operation Hunger. We went to a daycare in a poorer area of Cape Town and tested the kids for malnutrition. We weighed them, took their height, and their arm circumference. Luckily, most of the kids did not meet the criteria for malnutrition, very few were at risk, and about two met the criteria for malnutrition. Then, we visited a feeding center in a township. Here, there were low-income families and homes that were shacks made out aluminum. It was really eye opening to see the other side of Cape Town and I’m glad I got the opportunity to go on this trip. We arrived close to the time we were supposed to be on the ship so I quickly ran to get some postcards and stamps and made it back on time. I went out on deck to watch the ship depart—it was so sad! Cape Town—definitely my FAVORITE stop so far!

Benignant

Benignant. That's the word I missed on the Spelling Bee. So sad. Well, at least I got past the first round by successfully spelling "patriot." Haha. Oh well. It wasn't as bad as the girl next to me who had to spell "cnemial" (the "c" is silent) and also missed. Ok the judges didn't know half the words they had in front of them and could barely pronounce benignant. They had ridiculous words from the 2003 Spelling something something. Um I thought this was supposed to be a fun event. They should have made us spell words related to Semester at Sea. Like: "nautical" or "Aegean" or "Swakopmund", things like that. And the judges took a good 5 minutes to select a word from a random list of words. Out of 10, only 4 people made it past the 2nd round. We're mid-way through the Olympic Games and I think our sea has won 1 event. Haha but it's all fun. I have Jeopardy in an hour. I hope that goes a little better.

Sea Olympics

We don’t have classes tomorrow due to Sea Olympics-this big competition between “Seas” on the ship. Each floor is divided in two section-and each has a Sea name. I’m on the Aegean Sea. Each Sea also has their own color and ours is pink. There’s events like Tug-o-War, Pictionary, Relays, Hula Hoop, Hot Dog Eating contest, Twister, Jeopardy, Sudoku, Spelling Bee, Flip Cup, Limbo, Human Knot, etc, etc. I signed up for Jeopardy and Spelling Bee. Everyone says that they’re the intellectual ones. I didn’t want to do the physical ones because my back and my neck are still hurting a little bit. I’ve never been in a Spelling Bee so I thought it would be fun.  Yay go Aegean Sea!

South Africa Day 3: Cape Town Winelands

The day before I booked a wine tour at the clock tower in the Waterfront. One of the nurses on the ship put a small group together and I decided to join in (yes, Semester at Sea is one of the few places you will probably drink with your professors and staff). So the wine tour would go through a total of six wineries in the Cape Winelands. We went to some of the best ones: Constantia & some in Stellenbosch.

Sunday was probably the best day to go wine tasting out of the whole week because the weather forecast was the best of the week. Our tour guide picked us up outside of the ship and we went to go pick up some non-SAS people who were coming along. In addition to four people from the ship, we had two old men who were really nice and this group of three young Australians (they were quite the entertainment the whole trip).

Our first stop was at Groot Constantia. We had a cellar tour and a tasting there. It was so much fun to see how they process the wine. And out of all the tasting, I think Constantia was the fanciest. Wine tasting in general just feels classy and fancy. So we had the cellar tour and the tasting, where one the ladies who worked there explained the order of drinking the wine, etc, etc. I had a little background on this because of my trip earlier this year to Napa Valley with TRENZA. But I enjoyed the refresher.

We had another tasting at Blaauwklippen Winelands which was outdoors so that was nice. Then, we went to Vrede en Lust, where we had a lunch and a tasting. The food there was absolutely delicious! I enjoyed the change from the food on the ship. Their winelands were also really, really nice-they had horse statues and fountains and a gorgeous landscape. Loved it.

Then, we went to our 4th stop, KWV. We arrived later than we were scheduled because the lunch took a while so it felt a little rushed. The wines here were my least favorite from the whole trip. I think I only drank 3 of the 6.  On to our last stop (I forgot the name of it)! I was happy to see other Semester at Sea students who also booked wine tours independently. So we had our last tasting, we mingled, snapped some pics and went back to the ship. After five tasting, the car ride back was quite amusing to say the least.

South Africa Day 2 - Table Mountain

I grabbed some breakfast and decided to do some solo shopping in the morning. They always tell us not to go anywhere alone but the mall was right by the ship and I didn’t want to feel rushed with someone behind me. I walked around the mall to see if I could find some deals and I was unsuccessful-everything was so expensive! I only bought a Cape Town tote bag because I desperately needed a one. I left the mall and walked around little souvenir shops around the Waterfront and bought a few little things like postcards and some jewelry.

Then, I came back to the ship to leave for Table Mountain. We took a charter bus there and then took the cable car up the mountain. Many people hike it but 1) I still had back pain from my injury, 2) it was a pretty steep hike, 3) it was kind of cold, and 4) the cable car was supposed to be pretty cool-it was a rotating cable car! So we got up to the top and then our guide told us some facts and then told us to take one of the 2 routes to walk around the top of the mountain. There was an easy, shorter route and then a longer one. I took the longer one with some friends. It had a beautiful view of Cape Town and there were lots of photo opportunities. We were the tour guide so he knew all the good angles. And, yes I was extra careful walking around! So after about an hour and a half, we finished the scenic walk and took the cable car back down.

We got back to the ship and it was dinner time and I went out to dinner with my floor-mates. We went to a restaurant right across from the ship called Quay Four. I had a rib burger which was decent. After dinner, a bunch of people went out to Long Street. I decided to stay in and went back to Quay Four that had free Wi-Fi to check some stuff online. It was another wonderful day in Cape Town!

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Studying for midterms has been taking up most of my time lately. I had a midterm for one of my psychology classes today and I think it went well. I have a few more exams and papers due these next few days. Yesterday I had a 50 minute massage at the spa and that was very relaxing! Professors are doing all the exams right now because after India, we only have about 2-3 days between ports so it’s hard to schedule assignments then. So most of us are jammed with homework and studying! But one more week till India!

South Africa Day 1 - The Waterfront & the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa three days after leaving Namibia. We arrived in the early morning so like in previous ports, I get up for breakfast and get ready for the Diplomatic Briefing. The officials didn’t end up showing up for the Diplomatic Briefing so that was cancelled. Getting through customs was not an issue because they didn’t even end up stamping our passport (tear). So the ship was cleared really early (around 9:30am) and we were free to disembark.

I had a trip with Semester at Sea to the Botanical Gardens at 1pm so I had some time to go explore before leaving. Our ship was docked at the beautiful Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. I went with some friends to walk around the dock area and immediately, you could tell it was a major tourist destination. It had a bunch of little shops with postcard stands outside of them. There was also a craft market, an aquarium, and some statues of major activists like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. The dock area reminded me a little bit of San Francisco because a ferry-ride away, it had an island that also used to be a prison, which Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in. This reminded me of Alcatraz. However, when the ship arrived, we were lured by Table Mountain in the landscape. Table Mountain is visible from almost everywhere in Cape Town and it’s this beautiful mountain that has a flat area (hence, Table Mountain). This mountain (among other things, of course) is what set it apart from SF.

We then went to the Waterfront Mall. In the pre-ports, they told us that it was a really nice mall and that we would be able to shop till we dropped. Well, yes, this was true. But only if you had quite a bit of money to spend. They had designer stores like Gucci and LV among other independent designer stores. We window shopped and then stopped at the food court for lunch. By now, everyone is sick and tired of the ship food and most of us like to eat out when possible. I had some fast food Thai food and I was quite disappointed. I was really craving Thai food and we saw a fancy Thai restaurant but it was closed so I had to settle for the food court. But I ate it and then we went back to the ship.

I ran to my cabin to grab my video camera for the Botanical Gardens. We took a motor coach to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. We stopped at the Compton Herbarium to look at some dry plants, then we went inside the actual Gardens. These Botanical Gardens are one of the most beautiful and abundant in the world, and it was clear why. It had a beautiful landscape and Table Mountain in the background added to its picturesque scenery. We were accompanied by a tour guide and he explained the plants and flora. There was medicinal plants, scented plants, and lots of other pretty things! We ended our tour and I stopped by the gift shop to get a few little things.

That evening, we had dinner at the City Grill (also in the Waterfront) and I had a very interesting dish! I had a skewer which had impala, kudu, ostrich and warthog!! A lot of the students have had zebra, springbuck, and alligator and I had yet to try these new foods. They were interesting. I ate all of them except for the impala which I didn’t like too much. Other than that, it was a nice dinner!

Day 1 in South Africa was only the beginning of an incredible visit.