The adventure begins in Windhoek. With a long drive ahead – about 7h – until we reach Etosha National Park. We did a couple of stops on the way, one of them being Okahandja, the woodcarving market. We had lunch near the B1, the highway that goes from Cape Town to Angola going through Namibia. On arrival to the park, we started our first game drive from the gates to Okaukuejo, our first night campsite.
Gabriel, our guide, made us bet which animal we would see first. Choosing the wise one (not the one we wanted to see) I said springbok and won! We were also lucky enough to see 4 male elephants only 5m away from the road. One of them even walked inside a small waterhole and played around the water with its trunk. First one of the big 4 that we can find in the park spotted!
The big 5 is the reference to rhino, buffalo, elephant, lion and leopard but in Etosha we cannot find buffalo.
After an 1h30 game drive, we arrived at our camp. We saw elephants, zebras, blue wildebeest (which are considered inside the top 5 most ugly animals inside the park) and a of springboks. Forget camping the way you know it, this is luxury camping! You get assigned a campsite, which has a barbecue facility, some light and a kitchen. Yes, with sinks and water. Oh and don’t forget the toilets with proper showers and bathrooms. We all needed a deserved shower after so many hours on the road and we enjoyed rice with stir-fry chicken for dinner. I thought it would only be sandwiches but it kept getting better with every meal.
After dinner we spent about 3h in the cinema. Not literally obviously, but that’s what it looked like. All the camps inside the park have a waterhole illuminated so you can have a sit and wait for the animals to come at night and drink water. We were waiting for any animal to come, but apparently its quite common to see lions and rhinos, so we were hoping big. We could hear the lions roaring really close to us, but we didn’t get to see them that night, only 3 zebras.
Did you know lions only have a 40% success rate when hunting in groups? If they do it alone it’s even lower.
Day 2: Game drives around Etosha National Park
We woked up at 5:30 (before our guides) because we wanted to go to the waterhole and try to see an early animal. We weren’t lucky but we got cool pictures of the sunrise from the camp. After breakfast and dismantling the camp we started the morning game drive. From Okaukuejo to Halali, 75km.
Right after exiting the camp we approached a waterhole with a giraffe and some zebras going to drink water and there was a lion lying close. Until the lion left they didn’t come close to the water. We continued our day and found a group of 6 lions lying quite close to the car and the road, maybe 10m away. We were there for about an hour cause they are so beautiful and look like cats sleeping. After a while they came to the shade of the car in front of us, 4 lions not even 3 meters away.
When we were about to leave we saw an elephant coming from the other direction so we stayed with the elephant for maybe another hour while he drank water. We got to also see him 8m away from the truck. After more hundreds of springboks and zebras we arrived at Halali camp for lunch. While the tour guides were preparing lunch we got a free hour to go to the pool and chill, and it was so refreshing after a morning from 6am to noon in a car watching animals, it felt like paradise. To top it up we had burgers with all the toppings for lunch, and I had a Smirnoff Storm as well.
We started the afternoon game drive and we saw a group of black face impala working out around a waterhole: they were literally racing and jumping for at least 5 laps around it. Even our guide said it was the first time he got to see such an event! And afterwards we saw a group of 25 elephants, with a lot of kids.
Did you know elephants that go almost underneath the mums legs are less than a year old and the ones that go separately are still kids but they at least have 1 year. We got to see them really really close.
Our day was all about highlights. After the afternoon game drive we got to Namutoni camp, our next campsite. After setting up the tents we went up the German fort to see the sunset and had a beer with the views, and on top of an amazing subset overlooking the Namutoni camp and the Etosha National Park we saw a rhino. The only shame was that we were quite far away but it was the first rhino se we were all quite excited about it.
Another amazing dinner by the campfire eating mashed potatoes, sausages and Greek salad. We had a jackal that was literally in between our tents and not more than 3 m away from us. It’s usual to see jackals around the campsites and that’s why the rules of not feeding the animals are so important.
Day 3: End of our trip in Etosha National Park and drive back to Windhoek
We got up really early to be ready to leave the camp at 6am for a 2 h game drive. We saw three cheetahs quite close and one of them even chased a jackal for a bit. It is true that you can catch the cool animals right by sunrise and sunset. After more giraffes and zebras and springboks we returned to the camp to pack everything and started our long journey back to Windhoek.
We did the safari with Wild Dogs, they offer a quality product with good service, and I’ve already spoken about the food, right? The guides were explaining facts and details whilst watching the animals, and we had the best time thanks to them.
I’m back! My last weeks in Cape Town have been hectic hey? See, I use hey as much as they do.
We went to Hout Bay and enjoyed the market, eating Turkish food, waffles and craft beer. Two friends of mine tried oyster and their faces were so funny whilst doing it.
It was farewell week as well. Two of the girls I lived with were leaving, so we did a lot of nights out and dinners out, and not a lot of cultural visits. I’m deeply in love with Lower Main Road and all its restaurants, and the bars in Station Road. Observatory is a really cool neighbourhood.
Between Easter public holidays and my birthday I almost got two weeks off, and they couldn’t have been better. We spent a lot of time playing Dark Souls II and Life is Strange with my house mates and it was amazing. I even tried to play myself but I’m so bad with the play station controls that I quit and enjoyed cheering them and finding tricks to beat people. Quote of one of those days “Easter Sunday collecting souls”
We also went to Muizenberg and Sant James beach, where the coloured houses are, and took all the tourist pictures possible. We ended the day in Kanky’s having amazing fish and chips, so tasty!
It was my birthday! Yes I am 22 now!
And I had the week off so I could spend it going out and celebrating for an entire week and spending the days watching movies and playing video games in bed with the homies. My goal was to be tipsy by 12 o’clock on my birthday, so we went to Armchair in Obz and were chatting and playing Jenga until 12, where my friends made the entire bar sang me happy birthday. It was probably the most embarrassing-cute thing ever. Then they played Macarena for me to dance… Cheesy I know…
On Thursday we went to the Of Monsters and Men concert at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Before the concert we strolled around the canopy tree walk and enjoyed the views of the city, and afterwards we sat down in the gardens with our jumpers underneath our asses to be comfortable and saw two bands, the Gangs of Ballet and Of Monsters and Men.
And this weekend has been amazing we were out both Friday and Saturday to celebrate my birthday and I wouldn’t change how tired I am for anything you could offer me. I actually met with a friend of a friend twice during the week and she was like: wait, is it your birthday? We celebrated your birthday on Tuesday night! So yes, I basically had a birthday week and it was dope!!!
I can’t believe I’m leaving Cape Town so soon… time flies by and I’m so thankful of my time here and the amazing friends I’ve made… I’m still in denial about it, because the second I start accepting it I will cry. It’s been so amazingly different and I’ll always cherish the memories.
4 more days and my solo trip to Namibia begins.. Stay tuned for my new adventures!
This weekend mostly took place in the Table Mountain National Park.
First time discovering the Cape point or Cape of Good Hope, the most south-western point of the African continent.
We were organising a picnic lunch for a group of clients. We set up two tents and some blankets and pillows 4m away from the sea. It was beautiful. When asking for the permit to have an event on the National Park, you get assigned “baboon monitors”. Baboons are monkeys that have their habitat in the park. We had two monitors for the day that chased the baboons away when they were trying to approach our location. I got actually quite scared of the baboons couple times.
By the end of the day, we were dismantling the tents and the baboon monitors weren’t there anymore. Three adult baboon approached us and we ended up just putting all the tents inside the car without the box. Hey, they can be pretty scary!!
If you haven’t read my previous experience with monkeys you can read my Bali experience.
After the event we drove to the Cape of Good Hope and took turns with everyone to take the tourist Picture in the most south-west point of the African continent.
The views to and form the Cape Point were stunning. It reminded me to the Great Ocean Road. I also learned that The Cape of Good Hope is part of the Cape floristic kingdom and has over 1100 species of endemic plants.
On Sunday we got together with some friends and did the famous Table Mountain Hike.
We started on the Constantia Nek hiking trail, which is supposed to be one of the easiest but longest ways up. Don’t ask me how, we ended up taking the Nursery Ravine trail up (there are so many routes) and guess what? It was a massive bum workout. Thousands of stairs up. First the trial goes underneath the trees and by the moment you go out you have views to the Kirstenbosch gardens and can see Proteas (national flowers) everywhere.
When we got to the top there was two more hours until the Cable Car. In addition it was foggy all the time. Table Mountain has been known with many names like Mons Mensa, Tafeiberg or Umlindi.
Some friends later, a hoodie on and after meeting the Dassie’s we made our way to the bottom. Dassies are like little rats, but they come from the elephants.
I’m so glad I can cross the Table Mountain hike from my things to do in Cape Town.
What should we do on this sunny Saturday? Finding our way from the minibus station in the city centre to the Bo-Kaap, taking as many pictures as ideas in our heads, walking 4 km of avenues and streets to get to the Waterfront, enjoy the breeze on a bench over the canal and resting our feet and running out of vital energy when trying to shop around. Ready?
Some background…
Bo-Kaap is one of the suburbs of the city of Cape Town. Formerly known as the Malay Quarter, it is tucked into the fold of Signal Hill, just a short walk from the city centre. During the colonial and Apartheid it was an area exclusively for coloured Muslims, and today this group still makes the majority of the residents. In the area we can find the first Muslim Mosque established in South Africa.
Bo-Kaap is an area known for the brightly coloured houses and the cobble stoned streets, and a must visit from the city. All tourists go there to visit the streets and take a copious amount of pictures, and I couldn’t be less.
Whether you are looking for fresh food, grab something to eat, play with your kids, enjoy a coffee on a terrace, eat seafood in a fancy restaurant or go shopping, Victoria & Alfred waterfront is your place to be. Oh, and all of that overlooking the harbour!
After finding our way and walking from Bo-Kaap to the Waterfront, we discovered the V&A food market, a cozy building with stands and food trucks where we had quite a few problems to decide where should we have lunch. I decided for Fish&Chips (cliché, I know) and my friend a Hungarian bread with salmon and veggies.
For you to understand what happened next, I need you to do a small imagination work. We’ve been walking all day, our feet are sore, our stomachs are now full but there’s one more thing we must do: Crumbs & Cream. The only think we knew about them is what they do, so we HAD to find it. News? The only thing we had on them was the name and the V&A Waterfront area. Everyone we asked pointed as onto a different ice cream shop. After going from side to side we finally found this little food truck.
Yes, it is a food truck. What makes them special? They make Ice Cream Sandwiches. You get to choose two cookies (oreo, vanilla, brownie..) and one flavour of ice cream. They scoop it in the middle of the cookies, making it a sandwich. Eating one is an event itself, and I do love ice cream as we all know. But remember what I said about the imagination work? I was full and tired, and finishing it was difficult so I need to try it again.
When I finished, I was on a food coma. Well-deserved and enjoyed, though.
It’s a windy Sunday morning, the sky looks blue and clear, and I meet with my now amazing friend Deon at 8:15am. He’s the CEO of Volunteering Africa.
Yes, I know you are thinking, why is she awake that early on a Sunday? Well, when you have a chance to skydive, the time is not an issue any more! Here’s how I managed to cross another thing off my bucket list: Skydive. Everyone that has skydived has been there, just like I was couple days ago. We we’re all afraid and excited. Scared (not too much) but daring. And we all said YES.
Yes to a 15 minutes scenic flight. Yes to a harness around your body and maneuvering inside a tiny plane to sit on your tandem instructor’s lap. Yes to opening the door and letting my feet float on the air. Yes to 35 seconds of free-fall. Yes to feeling deaf afterwards for at least half an hour. Yes to paragliding and trying to push it left or right with my arms. Yes to pushing my knees up my shoulders so I land soft on the sand.
Skydiving was amazing. I had this song in my head as I was free falling and seeing Table Mountain, Robben Island and a vast extension of land at my feet kept signing it in my head. If you listen to the lyrics, you’ll understand why it was my soundtrack for the day. “Flying, climbing, this is what I feel when I’m reverse skydiving”.
Wind, sun, and adrenaline rush. That’s my new definition of perfection. And I wasn’t a bit scared, just on the two seconds before starting to fly when my feet where floating I thought “make it quick, or I’ll get scared” and we jumped. And this was it for me. I’m addicted. I can’t wait to do it again. And I can perfectly understand Deon when he told me “I need to jump every 14 days. If I do not, I get grumpy”.
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