Lee’s World
South Africa
In
November 2005, Mark and I headed halfway across the world to the vibrant
country of South Africa. Neither of us had been there before.
Having successfully met up at Johannesburg airport - our planes had landed only 10 minutes apart from London and Atlanta respectively - we headed out to steamy Durban on the Indian Ocean. I have friends there and it was great to catch up with them - thanks guys!
We stayed at the delightful 164 guest house, high on the ridge above Durban, with amazing views and wonderful hospitality.
From
there we explored Durban and the surrounding areas - visiting the "Midlands
Meander", Pietermaritzburg, and Umhlanga Rocks.
We
also made a visit to the Tala private game reserve - it was amazing seeing
giraffes, rhinos, hippos, as well as warthogs, blesboks in the wild, or as
close to it as we could get. Nearby we also visited the nearby lion reserve.
One highlight that I will never forget though is climbing aboard a four-seater plane for a flight over Durban and the coast.
After a week in Durban, Mark and I flew down to Cape Town for a night
initially in the Winelands, staying in Franschhoek.
This delightful village is surrounded by vineyards in a bowl with mountains on three sides. Food and wine were certainly on the agenda here - lunch at La Petite Ferme (warthog then ostrich) before dinner in the Tasting Room at Les Quartiers Francais (including blesbok and zebra).
On the way to Cape Town, we stopped at the very beautiful Boschendal estate - no room for lunch though!
And
so to Cape Town, Mother City of South Africa.
We were staying in a relatively safe area of town, de Waterkant, but remained cautious. The guest house told us the safe areas to walk in, and that if we intended to cross one of the main roads after dark, to always take a taxi.
The city is dominated by Table Mountain, and it was there that we headed on the morning of my birthday. The cable car took us to the top, and to breathtaking views.
From the top we could see our next port of call - Robben Island. After a thirty minute catamaran ride, we landed at the island for a bus tour taking in Robert Sobukwe's house, the limestone quarry where Nelson Mandela and others worked, the Governor's house before dropping us at the Maximum Security Prison. Here a former political prisoner told of us of his experiences in the prison, and showed us amongst other things,his former cell, and that of Nelson Mandela. We were also taken into Mandela's garden where he hid his writings.
We
spent a lot of time exploring Cape Town and the surrounding area including
driving down to Cape of Good Hope, and visiting the penguin colony at
Boulders Beach. We also drove up to Darling to see Pieter-Dirk Uys perform
as Evita
Bezuidenhout.
To finish the trip, before the long flights home, we drove down the Garden Route to Bloukrans Bridge and the highest bungee jump in the world. I'm not brave enough to do it, but Mark did! Thanks though, Mark, for signing me up for the "flying fox"! I swung across the canyon suspended from a wire. I kept my eyes open - which is more than I did on Disney's Space Mountain!
Sadly, it was all over too soon. I flew back to London and Mark flew back to California. We both left with lasting memories of a very beautiful country, which we both hope to return to very soon.