Surfing the 'tubes & breaching whales

In the surfer's paradise of Jeffrey's Bay, as featured in the movie 'Endless Summer', we stayed at a backpacker's lodge next to the beach at Supertubes, we woke up early every morning to catch the sunrise and watch the experienced surfers catch perfect tubes. Stunning every morning! We were so inspired by those surfers, we decided to take surf lessons ourselves in J-Bay. Although Bryan and I have both dabbled in surfing, we've never had real instruction, and before moving to Santa Barbara we figured we better learn so we can hit the waves more comfortably at our new home. We had so much fun learning to surf, it was a great sunny day and our teacher was enthusiastic and energetic, rooting us on as the waves rolled in, calling out, "Who wants this one??" in his South African accent. Surfboards in Jeffrey's Bay are about ¼ the price as boards in California, so we actually ended up buying a couple new surfboards to use in CA, which we strapped to the top of our rental car.

Our next destination was Tsitsikamma National Park along the famous 'Garden Route.' Tsitsikamma was beautiful!! Waves crashed forcefully against the rocks along the beach, verdant forests lined the cliffs, and we took a beautiful hike along the Loerie trail. After Tsitsikamma, we headed to the coastal town of Plettenberg Bay, where we ate seafood and went on an awesome 4-hour hike around the Robberg Peninsula. Along the peninsula we saw Cape Fur Seals, a breaching Southern Right Whale, endangered black oystercatchers (birds), and gigantic (up to 20-foot!) waves crashing against the rocks of the peninsula. The hike had been a suggestion by a South African friend, Hugh, that we'd met on the Wild Coast- and his tip to hike the peninsula was well worth it- a spectacular adventure.

On our way out of Plett Bay, we made a stop in Knysna to take a tour of Mitchell's Brewery, a small brewing company with completely natural beer- no preservatives. In fact, the beer only has a shelf life of two weeks! While there chatting with the staff, we learned that the place we had reservations to stay at that night – a cool backpacker's lodge in old train cars on the beach - had burned down the day before! Good thing they told us! It was late in the afternoon, so we had to make other arrangements for the night. Our running joke during the trip was everywhere we went in South Africa burned right before we got there- Blyde River Canyon's hiking trails were all closed due to fires, Kruger still had fires going while we were there, Swaziland had just put out the biggest fire in their country's history, and now the place we were supposed to stay at for the night had burned down the night before! Strange!! Our weather/fire luck was about to change, though, as the last week of our trip had more rainy days than not (winter in South Africa).

We spent the next morning driving to the southernmost point on the African continent: Cape Agulhas. As a geographer, I had to go there; it's where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet! It ended up being a nice side trip with pretty beaches and scenic drives. We arrived in Hermanus, a coastal town dedicated to whales. The town used to be a whaling harbor, but now caters to whale watchers and is arguably the best whale watching spot in South Africa. We were lucky to be there during the Southern Right Whale breeding season. The whales were very active- breaching all over the place! It was amazing! I'm used to seeing whales spout or show their tail fluke in California, so it was quite a treat to see these huge marine mammals catapulting themselves out of the water in dramatic breaches. Hermanus is a nice place to go whale watching, as the town is perched on cliffs, and they have a nice walking trail along the cliff's edge where you can easily spot whales. Along the trail we also came across many rock hyraxes, and were treated with a beautiful rainbow over the bay, just before sunset. Now getting into South Africa's wine country, we decided to visit a couple wineries just outside Hermanus and were rewarded with no tourists, free wine tastings, delicious wine, and gorgeous scenery. It was raining for most of the day, so it was perfect for wine tasting! We spent the next night in the gastronomic capital of South Africa, Franschhoek, where we did a little wine and cheese tasting in a valley surrounded by picturesque mountains.

Far Flung Coasts

After a long day of driving, we left tiny Swaziland, making our way to Kosi Bay- a small, sleepy village on the coast of South Africa bordering Mozambique, where we spent the next two nights. We were hoping for a full day of relaxation at a remote beach, and that's just what we found. We spent our time walking along a vast, deserted beach, swimming, reading, and snorkeling in tidal lakes. The tidal lakes were fascinating! Although only about 8 feet deep at high tide, the inlets were filled with lionfish, pufferfish, colorful triggerfish, and many other kinds of Indian Ocean species. Since we were in protected coves, it was very easy to snorkel, making sure to avoid collisions with the stinging lionfish. We really needed that day of relaxation, as the next day was to be one of our longest drives.

The following morning we woke up around 3:30 a.m. in order to pack and be on the road early- we had over 900 kilometers to drive to our destination for the next 4 nights: Bulungula Lodge on the scenic Wild Coast. Before the sun rose, we had a couple hours of careful driving through the wetlands, which were shrouded in early morning mist. Dodging meandering cows and goats in the road was an added obstacle … Our long drive took us through towns and cities that we'd been advised by many South Africans and fellow travelers to skip, as they were mostly just developed suburbia. 10 hours into our drive, getting closer to the wild coast, we were surrounded by sweeping vistas, threatening rain clouds, pothole-ridden roads, and the occasional rainbow: it was lovely! Taking the last hour of our drive on poorly graded dirt roads was an adventure; we passed colorful Xhosa villages nestled in golden hills, pastel-painted rondavel huts and cows dotted the landscape. We were following an interesting map given to us by the lodge, with directions like "make a right after the twisted tree to get to Lulama's store. Ask any local where Lulama's is to make sure you're going the correct way…" Somehow we made it to Lulama's "store" a half an hour early for our land-rover pick up coming from Bulungula Lodge- the rest of the road they said would only accessible by 4x4 vehicles. To kill time, we entered the store and were greeted with about 50 Xhosa people waiting to buy food and looking at us intently, probably wondering what the heck we were doing in their remote village. None of them spoke English, and they kept giggling at us, so we began to leave when Lulama came out and told us we were in the right place for the pick-up, our car would be safe, and to just wait outside. Later we found out everyone had just received their pension checks (it was the 15th of the month), thus the crowded store. The land-rover arrived at 5:00 exactly to take us the remaining hour to the lodge- they weren't kidding when they said only 4x4's could make it: this road had to be the worst road I'd ever seen in my life!

After a 15-hour travel day, we made it to Bulungula Lodge: a beautiful, community-run, eco-friendly lodge for backpackers, situated on land with a stunning view of the coastline. We were given a tour of the facilities, which included rocket showers (paraffin heated and pressured, which made a rocket sound when the pipe was ignited- ingenious!); the solar-panel powered community building, decorated with driftwood and shell mobiles and brightly painted walls; the compost toilets; a small windmill to create power on rainy days; rain water cisterns; and our private rondavel hut situated on a small bluff on the Xhosa River, close to the ocean. What a fantastic place!! Each night we had nutritious, delicious Xhosa meals prepared by the local women, after which we would chat in the comfortable community room with locals and fellow world travelers. One couple of travelers were inspiring- a young Swedish couple that had been traveling in Africa for over a year- they'd started in Morocco, had made their way down through west Africa, bought bicycles in Cape Town, and were now bicycling up to Ethiopia for the next year. Amazing people! We spent the next few days on the wild coast canoeing on rivers, hanging out with locals in the village drinking homemade beer brews from paint cans, getting up early every morning to catch the sunrise over the ocean, collecting beautiful shells on the beach, and taking long hikes along the beach and cliffs. The wild coast reminded us of the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo county coasts in California, with sweeping golden hills dotted with oak trees, beautiful pristine beaches, and a coastline relatively uninhabited.

Our four days at the remote Bulungula Lodge were great, but we only had 10 days left in South Africa, so we continued on our way with another long day. This time we only had about 6 hours to drive, but with unforeseen car troubles again, we had a much longer day. We were headed for the surfer's paradise of Jeffrey's Bay, when we were stopped at a police checkpoint. No big deal, they just checked our drivers' licenses and asked to see in the boot (trunk) of our car. Unfortunately, the boot of our rental car only opens with the keys, so we had to turn it off to go show the policemen: thus, our mistake. As had happened a week before with our last rental car, the car wouldn't start. Great. We were in the middle of nowhere. The policemen helped us push the car out of the road, and instead of trying to help us further, they just wanted to see what U.S. dollars looked like, so we passed one around. While they examined our currency, we called the rental car company, and they sent a tow truck with a car, which was supposed to arrive in 1-2 hours. We specifically asked for a different type of car- no more Nissan Tiida's for us! Four hours later, long after dark when the police roadblock had been dismantled and everyone left hours before, our new car finally arrived and we were ready to hit the waves at Jeffrey's Bay…

Swaziland

Our two days in Kruger National Park were some of our best in Africa, leaving us with fantastic memories, good times, … and a sniffly nose. Unfortunately, for the next few days I battled a cold while we traveled, but not to let a little cold keep us down, we headed to the tiny kingdom of Swaziland the next morning, a country nestled between Mozambique and South Africa. Swaziland is one of the last few absolute monarchies left in the world where the late king of had over 60 wives and 300 children in his lifetime! A very interesting place to say the least. Actually, it was refreshing to be in Swaziland after a week in South Africa- the people are more friendly and laid-back, and the culture lacks the racial animosity and tension that we'd experienced throughout South Africa. Swaziland was not conquered by the Boers as South Africa was, so they don't have the turbulent history of apartheid. We found Swaziland to be a peaceful, beautiful country.

Now, what's a good road trip without a few bumps? On our first afternoon in Swaziland we stopped in the picturesque mountainous area of Phophonyane Falls Nature Reserve where we planned to do a little hiking. However, once we stopped at the entry gate to pay our fees, we couldn't get the car to start. Thus began a daylong ordeal with our rental car company, as the tow truck couldn't bring us a new rental car from South Africa over the border of Swaziland. So the tow truck met us at the nature reserve, picked us and the defunct rental car up, took us back to the border we'd crossed earlier that morning where we had to register the new car, and completed our third border crossing of the day (by now it was 9:00 p.m. at night). What a day! Despite the car drama, the nature reserve was a lovely oasis to spend our afternoon, and taking the 2-hour border drive three times that day was a good opportunity for Bryan to admire and collect the oldest known rocks in the world (and collect a few more stamps for our passports). For you geology buffs out there, the oldest rocks in the world are gneiss formed 3.8 billion years ago! Bryan was so amazed by the mountains, that he started to question the impressiveness of the rocks in the Andes that he'd studied last summer. Relatively, he said the mountains in Swaziland made the mountains in the Americas look very young.

We arrived very late that night at our backpacker's lodge, where we slept in a rondavel hut and awoke with a view of the Mlilwane Nature Reserve – a place teeming with wildlife. Ostriches, warthogs, and antelopes wandered freely outside our hut. We took a long hike around the nature reserve that morning, coming very close to herds of zebra, wildebeest, and impala- and were treated to a rare, close encounter with a Nyala (an elusive species of antelope). We spent the rest of the day browsing the local markets and visiting the oldest mine in the world- a place where humans have mined iron and hematite since 40,000 B.C.! Bryan collected some rocks there, too; and although small, they were extremely heavy to lug around since they're heavy with iron. Leaving Swaziland on our third day, we visited another market, this one the largest in the country, where I bartered for unique Swazi fabrics, and admired handicrafts while chatting with local women.

Canyons, Caves, and Rhinos!

After a restful sleep following the busy tree planting, Bryan and I loaded up our rental car to officially start our road trip in South Africa. We headed to the Mpumalanga province in the East to explore the Blyde River Canyon- the third largest canyon in the world! Bryan and I were surprised to have never heard of it before, but it turned out to be a gem of a place! Sweeping views, tall waterfalls, and pine forests characterized the area (although the pine forests are man-made, the largest man-made forests in the world). We took in the sights- a geologist's dream, and went on a caving expedition in the evening. We hadn't been caving since Jamaica; it was pretty rustic caving, using candles to light the way (although using headlamps would have been more environmentally-friendly). :-/ Blyde River Canyon is right next to Kruger National Park, so we headed there next, driving down the steep escarpment into the Lowveld.

The last couple days we spent exploring Kruger have been awesome! On the other game drives in Africa, Bryan and I had to go with guides in their vehicles. Here we could go where we wanted to, and spend time observing an animal for however long we liked! The one animal Bryan and I didn't get to see anywhere thus far in Africa was a rhino... but in Kruger we've seen more than 10 in two days! One was a mother white rhino with her baby! Some of our other favorite wildlife encounters were watching secretary birds, an elephant herd interacting with a white rhino, huge herds of impala, elephants walking in the road (causing a traffic jam and a scare), and observing the beautiful lilac-breasted roller (a type of Kingfisher). We are having such a great time here in South Africa, we've extended our tickets home for an additional 10 days, so we'll be able to spend almost a month here. We head to the country of Swaziland in the morning...

Planting Trees in South Africa

After leaving Soweto, we headed toward the small town of Dennilton, a poor farming community with a high rate of AIDS, orphans, and unemployment - but full of warm, dedicated, and giving people. Days before we left for Africa, back in June, a colleague of mine had mentioned a non-profit and orphanage she helps support in South Africa and suggested we contact them for a visit. While traveling, I'd e-mailed with the group, and it worked out that they had received funding to purchase trees for the orphanage (Youth with a Vision) and needed help with planting trees. The orphanage had just received the grant money to plant trees, but they didn’t know which ones to plant or how to plant and care for them. I saw an opportunity to help this community, using my experience working and planting trees for the non-profit TreePeople in L.A., and began to create and plan for a tree planting workshop. Whenever I had a moment to use the internet while traveling, I organized and prepared for the tree planting at the orphanage, calling on colleagues from the U.S. to help.

By the time I arrived overland in South Africa, most of the preparation for the tree-planting workshop was ready, and the community was too! The orphanage and supporting community was so thankful for our help, they fed us and arranged for us to stay in a family’s home. Upon arrival, we began the on-the-ground preparation for the tree planting event, suggesting the purchase of certain species of trees to plant, and arranged for the orphanage to receive a large drum of water to keep their community garden going and water the new trees (their water supply had been shut off for a week as their subsistence garden wilted). Of course, it was much harder to find the right equipment and supplies to plant trees in rural South Africa than it is in the U.S., but I improvised and found equivalent materials for mulch, tools, etc. Then, came the workshop where I organized about 30 people (adults and children) into tree planting teams and taught them the steps of how to plant trees. Over the course of three days, we planted over 60 trees by digging into the hard, red earth and coming together as a community. Through this experience I learned how important networking with former colleagues and staying in touch with old friends is, as it just took one person from home to connect me with this small African community that needed assistance. Although I had just met these people, we found mutual respect for one another to improve their community and formed friendships.

I <3 Soweto

Our first night in South Africa was spent at a backpacker's hostel in the outskirts of Johannesburg- it was nice to finally sleep in a bed after a month on the ground in a tent! Although the area was peaceful, Bryan and I wanted to experience a more "authentic" Jo'Burg, so we spent the next day and night in the township of Soweto (population est. 3-4 million people).

South Africa, and Soweto in particular, has a turbulent history- we learned so much while we stayed there. Although much of the travel literature warns visitors about the dangers of Soweto, we figured it couldn't be any more dangerous than Kingston, Jamaica- so we headed into the township. Bryan and I found the people to be friendly, warm, and happy- especially Lebo, the owner of Soweto Backpackers, the only backpacker's hostel in Soweto and one of only a few black-owned hostels in South Africa. During the day we went biking with Lebo through the streets of Orlando East, Orlando West, and the Meadowlands neighborhoods of Soweto. It was great exercise and we talked with locals, visited famous places (Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu's homes, memorials, museums), and bonded with Soweto's locals in shebeens (unlicensed drinking establishments in townships). Lebo introduced us to the township's local brew, which was a strange sour beer made from maize served in big yellow buckets, passed around in the tiny zinc-roof shack of a shebeen. Quite an experience to say the least... Everyone was very friendly with us - I think they were just excited to see white visitors not afraid of a township, so they made special care to treat us well, and taught us to dance to Kwaito music. We really had a great time in Soweto, and were sad to have to leave so quickly, after only one day and night, but we had responsibilities to attend to...

Bungee Jumping & Botswana!

Soon after my last post, I took the plunge off a 111-meter bridge at Victoria Falls bungee jumping! I wasn't scared until my toes were on the edge ... I had a brief moment of hesitation ... but did a swan dive off the bridge to be welcomed by a rainbow over the Zambezi River as I bounced by my ankles. Jumping was exhilarating and beautiful; my stomach was in knots for days afterward and even now when I think about it I get a mini-adrenaline rush. After jumping, one of my new travel buddies, Kia, gave me a little Zambezi river necklace carved from the same stone Victoria Falls and the Zambezi River are formed from. Later that afternoon, Bryan and I took flight over the falls in microlights, which was an incredible experience in itself- what a view! Our time in Zambia and Victoria Falls wasn't over yet... we were incredibly fortunate to be at the falls during the Lunar Rainbow on our last night there (what timing!). After the full moon had risen, we returned to the falls after dark to see rainbows forming over the cascades- from moonlight refracting on the water droplets. Bryan figured out how to set my camera on slow exposure, so I was actually able to get a couple (dark) pictures of the lunar rainbow.

The next day we headed to Botswana. After a complicated border crossing (ferry issues across the Zambezi and border issues with the overland vehicle), we arrived in Chobe National Park in time to go on an evening boat trip around the wetlands on the Zambezi River. Hippos, Nile Crocodiles, and beautiful birds were everywhere. The next morning we woke up early to go on an early game drive in Chobe, where we were very lucky to see a leopard with its kill up a tree. Leaving Botswana briefly, we headed into Namibia to take a shortcut and drive through Caprivi National Park, then back into Botswana to get into the Okavango Delta! To get to our camp in the delta, we were on motorized boats for an hour, zipping through wetlands full of hippos and crocs. Although it was nice to get to camp early, I much prefer quieter sailboats and kayaks- the motorized boat scared so much of the wildlife. That night at our camp in the Delta, we heard elephants feeding on and pulling down trees- they sounded so close ... I got a little scared when one trumpeted! :-) The next day was one of my favorites in Africa! We spent the day in mokoros, dug-out canoes used by Botswana fishermen in the delta. Mokoros are shaped like canoes, by are moved by a poler- a man who stands behind two passengers in the mokoro with a tall pole pushing off the bottom to propel us forward through the water and reeds. The day was so relaxing and beautiful, gliding through the delta with water lilies surrounding us! The only time I got a little harried was when we were in an area thick with papyrus, I heard a hippo surface very near but couldn't see it; our poler was cautious and propelled us toward another direction quickly. During the day we saw elephants and beautiful water birds – we felt very fortunate to be spending time in the Okavango Delta. That night at camp, a local traditional dance group came to perform- it was interactive and Bryan and I soon found ourselves grooving with the Botswanans! We had a great time dancing and laughing that night! The following morning we caught a short 45-minute flight in a bush plane over the Okavango Delta, spotting elephants, giraffes, and hippos from the air. The next couple days were pretty uneventful, with a long drive across the vast Kalahari Desert, eventually crossing over the border into South Africa.