South Africa Part 1

Hey everybody!

I know that it seems kinda odd to post stories while we are coming back in 3 days (can you believe it? Because I am still having a hard time doing so. Where did the year go?), but we really wanted you guys to be up to date. Even though it is last minute. So without further intro, let's continue our travel:

So we boarded our first plane to Sao Paolo where we were picked up by Dennis, a guy I met on the Death road in Bolivia. He was so nice as to give us a place to spent the night, since we had to wait 30 hours for the next flight. The day we spent with him and his 5 Mexican friends walking around the city and getting a taste of the World Cup craziness. Our second flight took us to Togo, where we were ground bound for 1 hour, and then a third flight took us to Addhis Ababa. There we spend the night in a hotel before boarding our fourth and final plane to Johannesburg. We got quite a scare when Fleur's backpack wasn't there and we had to go through a lot of security checks, but then, finally, we were allowed into South Africa to greet our newest travelbuddy: My brother, Maarten! It was so nice to see him again! He was going to travel with us for 3 weeks to experience the life of a backpacker.

Our first stop was Johannesburg where we did a sightseeing tour by bus, visited the Apartheid museum (very impressive) and watched the first match of the Netherlands in orange shirts that Maarten brought us. Not that you could see them with all the sweaters that we had to put on...Man, it is cold here in winter!! One day before we left Johannesburg Fleur's home (backpack) arrived as well, what a relieve. Better late than never!

From Johannesburg we went to the Northern Drakensberg by Bazbus, a very popular and safe way of transportation through South Africa because they pick you up and drop you off at the hostels. Although if you ask the different members of our little group the opinions about our first driver are slightly devided...Anyway, at Drakensberg we stayed at a phenomenal hostel with stunning views, good dorms and the best food I've had so far in a hostel. Maarten went on a tour to Lesotho and came back with very nice pictures and amazing stories and the three of us went on a guided hike to the Amphitheater. The view from that mountain was stunning and the hike had some good obstacles and challenges, for example climbing down iron ladders hanging next to a cliff with a lot of wind.

Our night in Durban is not even worth mentioning (loud music, weird people, horrible beds, etc.) so I will move straight on to Warner Beach. That was a nice place, very calm and relaxing. We walked along the beach, saw some monkeys, baked green pancakes and did a disappointing township tour which was so bad that it was almost funny.

The next stop was Coffee Bay and that was unbelievable...the hostel was great and we had so much fun playing beerpong, chatting with people, hiking and trying to surf. The hike to the hole in the wall was very nice and we even spotted some dolphins and whales from a distance! Maarten was the brave one, he endured the cold ocean water to swim to the hole in the wall. Fleur and me were happy staying on dry land. In the evening there was a group of girls showing us a traditional African dance. I could never do it for so long as they did, what a exercise!, but it was a lot of fun to watch.

On the way to Buccaneers we passed the final resting place of Nelson Mandela. He was such an inspiring and great man, yet if you see this place you would never guess it. It was very sober and humble, but still special to see. At Buccaneers we relaxed a little bit, participated in a volleyball tournament with very strange (drinking) rules, saw beautiful sunsets and finally did the number one African thing to do: A game drive!! It was fantastic!! The jeep was huge and when it picked us up it turned out there were no other people. So it was just for us. Right at the beginning of the park we spotted impala's, zebra's and some Buffalo's. At the fence with the lions we had to wait for a while because they were lying next to the gate, making it to dangerous to open it. But we had some nice drinks and the ranger tolled us some interesting facts about these albino lions, and when they strolled of we were able to enter the gate. We were so lucky seeing the whole family including the cubs, it was great! This is exactly what I imaged doing in South Africa. And it got even crazier when we were allowed in an enclosure with 3 tame cheeta's. In the beginning they have to get used to you, but eventually they came up to us purring and licking our hands...how insane is that?! Definitely something I will never ever forget.

From Buccaneers we went to Port Elizabeth, the final stop in South Africa for Maarten. We met some great people, walked around town, drank cocktails at the beach and watched the World Cup game in a bar. It was the perfect way to end 3 weeks of travelling together. Maarten, it was so great to have you there! Thank you for an awesome time. New experiences that can be crossed of the bucket list, it goes quickly this year :-)

Normally this would be the perfect ending of a story, but in the places we went I did some really cool stuff that I would like to tell about myself.

So we went to Jeffreys Bay, the surfers paradise in South Africa. The first couple of days we were a bit off, it always takes some time to re-adjust when somebody that is close to you leaves, and we just watched some movies and did some shopping. There were some people in the hostel that we already met in Coffee bay, so it was nice to see them again. We also met a really nice girl, Stefania, and she tolled me about here plans to get a tattoo in Jeffreys Bay. I talked some time with a guy who worked for the artist and the next day went by the shop. I have been thinking about getting a tattoo for more than a year now and he agreed to draw the design for me that I had in my head. It took some time, but in the end he got it exactly right and I decided there and then to get it. I'm not going to describe the whole process or how it felt, because that is different for everyone, but I am extremely happy with it. For me it is a reminder of how I felt during this year of traveling and how lucky I have been in the past, and that nothing can take that away from me.

After Jeffreys Bay we left for The Crags with our new travelbuddy Stefania. She was going to travel with us for the next 2 weeks. The hostel was eco friendly, which seems like a nice purpose, but they took it a bridge to far. The first day we were there I dragged Stefania and Jack (a really nice guy from America that I just met 5 minutes) with me to the most famous bungeejump place in Africa: The Bloukransbug. Within 1 hour all three of us were strapped in a harness and walking towards the middle of the bridge through a seethrough cage-bridge, trying not to look down. The bungeejump itself was an amazing experience!! The crazy adrenaline rush the moment you jump, the free fall, thinking: WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST DO?!, floating from side to side before someone pulls you back up....Wauw! Should you ever be there, do it!! The rest of the time in the Crags we spend hiking. 1 hike we did with the four of us and it was very nice, going through hills, forest, beach, dunes and lagoons.

And with this I leave my story, handing the rest of South Africa over to Fleur. The pictures will have to wait till we are back, but that gives you a reason to come back to the blog ;-)

See you soon!!