Last adventures

This Monday was a busy Monday. It was very early in the morning when we left Tsitsikamma. Before we left we saw some monkeys playing around. The ride was a few hours. Halfway we had a stop at Walmer Township in Port Elizabeth where we did a walking tour with local guide. This township tour was slightly different from the other tours we did before. The guide only showed us the township, without telling some special or inspirational stories. But we did visited a kinder garden. The children were first a little bit scared, but after we gave them some balloons the ice was broken. After 1,5 hour the tour was over and we had lunch there. The place of the lunch was very special, namely a parking lot. According to the schedule there was also a dance show planned, but due unexpected circumstances the group of dancers where not there, Africa…

When the tour was finished we went to a big supermarket to do some grocery shopping for the Braai we had that night. In the evening we went to bed early because we had to wake up at 4am because it was SAFARI time!

When everybody was ready to go, around 4:45am, we went to the Addo Elephant National Park. We drove from 5:30am for two hours through the park. The first hour we were a little bit disappointed that we only saw some kudus, pumbas and loads of zebras. But then we saw two elephants! It was really special to see them in their natural habitat. Just before we had to leave we saw another animal of the big 5: the lion, even two! They crossed the road and were only two metres away from us. This was a really cool experience.

When we got back at the Aardvark, we had breakfast and relaxed the rest of the day. It was supposed to be cloudy but instead the sun was burning, we were sunbathing until 3 o’clock. At 4 o’clock we had our last meeting with Johnny about the finances of the cycle tour. We had diner in a small restaurant nearby (the only restaurant in the neighbourhood).

From the Aardvark we moved to Buccaneers, it was a half day drive and the last part was a very bumpy one. The Buccaneers is a beautiful place, it has a lot of green and a sea view. We arrived around half past 3, dumped our stuff and went to the swimming pool and volleyball court for some free games and free wine. This is a daily activity which is organised to meet the people that are staying in the lodges. This night we had our last diner and night with Johnny, we drank some wine and took our last pictures together. The next morning he left us with another guide and driver. After Johnny left we had a presentation from Sean from Buccaneers. He told us about the history of this place. We found out that the company is as green as its view. They are so much involved in community based tourism, which is really important. Not only for themselves but also for the local community. They have started different projects, for example a crèche and a soup kitchen. It is good to see that such small projects have a big influence on the whole community. After the presentation we went hiking on the beach and walked through the township of Chintsa. When we did set our first steps into the township, we got overwhelmed by children and they wanted to hold our hands. It was not like the other tours. We just did go through the township. For lunch we went to Chintsa river mouth, where we had a picnic on the beach. We had a swim in the river and sunbathed for 2 hours. For diner we did go to a small village. Here lives a really old woman, named Mama Tofu, who is a highly respected woman from her clan. Her main aim is to make people familiar with the Xhosa culture. They sang and danced for us, in addition to that Mama Tofu gave us some sexual lessons. She also showed us how to kiss in French style, it was very funny. We could buy some crafts over there and ate some butternut (pumpkin), the tipical cooked dough and a stew. It was nice, but at 5 o’clock we didn’t feel like dining. There was a goodbye dance after diner which we had to join and then we went back to the Backpackers. It still was early in the evening and around 8 we got hungry again so we ate some chips and cookies. We did also do some work for school.

The next day we woke up early for breakfast and at 9am we were supposed to leave for a tour to Transkei, but the guide just started breakfast at a quarter past 9. He drove for about an hour and ended near to the ocean, we had to take a 10 minute hike to get to the ferry. Once we were there it turned out that the water was at low tide, so we had to wait for approximately half an hour. Thobela was telling some stories from the history, about the different tribes that lived in the area and also about the fight between the British and the tribes and how the land was separated. After like an hour of waiting we finally could get on the ferry. It cost the people 2 Rand to go from the one side to the other. To give you an indication, this is almost 15 euro cents. There were a lot of people who tried to get on the boat. While it was only big enough for one car and about 30 people. At the other side of the river we had a very bumpy ride. We had a picnic lunch near the river, which was brown because of the rain. After lunch we went back to the ferry to go to the sea, sadly there was no time to go jumping from the cliffs. The way back with the ferry was a real experience. They wanted to both of our busses at the ferry. We thought that it would sink or that the bus would fallen off the boat. But after some tries and the ferry floating away a few times, in the end both busses were on it. We spoke a boy from Transkei and he was asking where we came from. We answered the Netherlands, he had no idea where it was. He didn’t know Amsterdam and even not Europe. It was so strange, but he probably never went to school because he thought it was in the Eastern Cape somewhere. Around 4pm we drove to the sea to swim and we left around half past 5 to go to the cliffs, but then the viewing point. It was very beautiful, even with some dark clouds surrounding us. We went back to the Buccaneers and had braai for dinner (a braai is a barbecue). After diner we were supposed to have a meeting and work session, but because it was that late already it was just a small consultancy. It started raining very hard and since we had to walk downhill we stayed a bit longer inside and worked on our vlog and blog. We bought some internet and tried to upload it, but due to a miscommunication our time was up before we could post the video and blog.

Finally it was the 12th of December and we went on a game drive in Inkwenkwezi National Park. This time not that early, but at half past 9. Our guide Thobela from Buccaneers brought us to the park where we met our guide Brandon. He drove us to the park and was spotting the animals. Compared with the other safari we did, was this a real bumpy ride. The park consists out of 2 parts. One part with the (white) lions and the other part with the other animals. We saw again a lot of zebras and kudu’s, but also some birds, a turtle, 2 ostriches and loads of antelopes. When we came in the area of the lions, which was a different area with a fence around it, Brandon picked up his gun in a locker. First we saw in distance 6 giraffes, which we had not seen yet! Then it was time to spot the lions. We drove a lot, we saw dead cows, fresh footprints and poop. Finally after half an hour there were unfortunately no lions spotted. We all were very sad, even Brandon. There is a change of 5% that you will not see the lions and we were part of that percentage. After the disappointment we told Brandon that we wanted to see buffalos or rhinos and he went for it. Again we saw fresh footprints and poop, but no animals. Sadly it was time to go back and we finished the safaris with only 2 animals out of the big 5. Thobela brought us back to the hostel, where we had lunch at the pool. We also met our new guide for the coming days. This was Henry, who normally drives schoolchildren to school. At half past 1 it was time to leave Buccaneers and go to next destination: Coffee Bay.

After a horrible ride we arrived at the Coffee Shack Hostel.     Henry had to park the bus, but there was not that much space. Eventually it ended with a broken window, because he drove against a fence. Two of our classmates had some small glass pieces on their body and the rest of the group was a little bit shocked. When everybody was calmed down, we had a tour through the hostel and we got the division for the rooms. At 7pm we had again braai, but none of us was very hungry. After diner we had drinks till late in the evening.

The next morning we had breakfast and a presentation about the Coffee Shack. The presentation was given by David, Belinda and Kate, who are the owners of Coffee Shack. They gave us a lot of information about what they do to be a responsible and sustainable hostel. There are a lot of projects that they support and they work in the hostel with local people. This presentation was a real eye opener of what you can do to support the local community. After all of the information, some of us had surf lesson. This was really fun, but also heavy because of the circumstances of the sea. For the rest of the day we chilled on the beach and had lunch at the hostel. For diner we had rice, chicken and vegetables, which is a standard in South Africa. After diner we played some games and everybody was tired, so we went early to bed.

It was time to leave Coffee Bay and go to The Valley of 1000 Hills. The ride would take 7 hours, which was too long to sit in a school bus. In the middle of our ride, we changed from bus and driver. It was sad to leave Henry, but it was much more comfortable in the new bus. Finally arrived in Valley of 1000 Hills we picked up our new guide, who was already waiting for 2 hours, because we were too late. He brought us to a centre where we had to drop our luggage and had to pick some stuff out of our luggage that we needed for the night. This was because we were going to overnight in a homestay, where there was no place to put our bags. Arrived at the first homestay, we had to split the group in 2. The families were very welcoming and cooked diner for us. After diner it was time to sleep, because it was already 11pm and we had to wake up early.

After a rather special evening and night in the homestays, the day started early again. Around a quarter past six the alarm went off, so we could help the house mama with preparing breakfast. The breakfast consisted of tea and maize porridge, which was not to everyone's taste. Moments like this really bring you down to earth and realize how much wealth you actually have at home. After breakfast we got a real African dance show from the children of the homestay, which was also a good workout for us, because we were asked to dance with them. After some pictures and playing with the kids, it was time to go on our tour through the Valley of 1000 Hills. Before the tour started, we got a presentation from Bushi about the traditions and the community of the Valley of 1000 Hills and about the project Scholarship for young kids. Then the tour started with a hike over the hills to a look out rock, where we had a beautiful view over the Valley of 1000 Hills. On the way back, our guide thought we were hungry from the hike, and thus (believe it or not) we had a ‘braai’ (barbeque) at eleven o'clock in the morning. After this rather heavy lunch, the tour continued to a traditional healer. This is a woman who believes she can cure people in a traditional way. It was a bit of an uncomfortable situation because most of us do not believe these things. We did not stay long and quickly continued our way to a community that gave us a traditional African dance show. Although we have often seen a traditional African dance the past few weeks, it was still little different. We noticed that they had really rehearsed this dance and it is truly a source of income for them. We ended our tour with a music performance from a local man, who played three songs on his piano for us. After everyone was settled in the bus, our journey went on towards Durban. After an hour drive we arrived at Tekweni hostel in Durban. Because we had not showered for 36 hours and everybody felt dirty, the first thing we were going to do at the hostel was to refresh ourselves. After everyone felt reborn, we went to the Waterfront of Durban to buy the last souvenirs and for a farewell dinner with the whole group. Back at the hostel, everyone has packed his suitcase or backpack and we checked in for our flight back to the Netherlands. We hoped that we could sleep a little, but with ten girls in one room, of course you will understand that it was not so easy.

We woke up and packed the last items (always a surprise whether it fits..). For a good 'last' breakfast in South-Africa, we went to a restaurant around the corner from the hostel. With a full stomach we have spent the last hours in the sun at the edge of the pool. Around half past three we were picked up and taken to the airport of Durban. After a lunch at the airport, it was already time for the first part of our flight back home. Before we knew it, we were already at the airport of Johannesburg. Indeed, it was only an hour flight from Durban to Johannesburg. At the airport of Johannesburg we bought the last souvenirs and we had dinner together. For a moment we were afraid that our transition from five hours, would take longer because of a technical problem with the aircraft. Fortunately it was not a big problem and we were flying to Amsterdam without delay.

After a nice, but long flight of ten and a half hours, we landed safely on the Dutch soil. Fortunately everyone's backpack also arrived safely in Amsterdam (always an exciting moment) and it was really time to say goodbye to each other. Yet a little bit crazy to say bye after four weeks spending together. But of course we were also happy to see our own family and friends when we exited the baggage hall.

Now it is time for us to say bye. We hope you have enjoyed our stories and enthusiasm for South-Africa! South-Africa is definitely a country to go back someday!