Highlights -

• meeting up with Warren at the airport
• wine tasting tour
• Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point tour
• District Six Museum and visiting the townships
• Visiting Robben Island
• couchsurfing with Hannes for 3 nights
• couchsurfing with Christal for 5 nights
• climbing Lion’s Head at sunrise and walking around atop Table Mountain
• people watching at cafes
• lunch in Camp’s Bay
• whale watching in Hermanus
• cage diving with Great White sharks in Gansbaii
• riding an ostrich in Outdshorn
• petting cheetahs
• Rasta homestay with Brother Paul in Knysna
• horseback riding in Storms River
• sandboarding, partying, and shopping in Jeffrey’s Bay
• Addo Elephant National Park safari
• wineball and hanging out at Buccaneers hostel in Chiantsa
• Xhosa village tour at Bulungula
• dinner and dancing at a Xhosa village in Coffee Bay
• hiking to rock art in the southern Drankensberg Mountains
• riding in a Land Rover up the Sani Pass, hiking and exploring the Kingdom of Lesotho (including a beer at the highest pub in Africa)
• 5-day safari to Kruger Park (seeing all the animals, especially the lions, and buffalo during the game walk)
• staying at Bob’s Bunkhouse
• touring Soweto township near Johannesburg
• Apartheid Museum
• eating a smiley (sheep’s head) to complete a dare
• 7-day camping trip to Botswana’s Okavango Delta (mokoro rides, seeing lots of elephants, hanging out with Dion (guide), and getting to know Ingrid, Richard, and Peter)
• Johannesburg city tour

Lowlights -

• being forced to buy an onward ticket upon arrival at the Cape Town airport in order to enter the country.
• almost having my pocket picked while waiting for a bus on the sidewalk in Cape Town
• not seeing a leopard in Kruger Park (to complete the Big 5 sightings!)
• my first night camping in the Delta - little sleep, cold and wet

Eating -

South African wines, capuccinos, kudu, eland, ostrich (eggs and meat), malva pudding, bobotie, smiley (sheep’s head), pap, sausage, Jungle (granola) bars, braii (BBQ) foods, avocados, salads w/chicken.

# of Days Couchsurfing -

8

Average Cost Per Day -

$77

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I used my last few days in South Africa to tie up loose ends and explore a little of Johannesburg, the city which inspired plenty of fear in me and most people who pass through it. I organized a custom tour with the same guide who took me around Soweto. We visited Constitution Hall, the site of an old prison which held the likes of Nelson Mandela and Ghandi, and currently features the country’s constitutional court (akin to The Supreme Court in the United States).

I wanted to enjoy a great meal as well, so we went to Gramadoelas in the theater district. It has played host to many notable people, including Bill and Hillary Clinton! When the guide first asked the host if there were any tables available, he said no, however we managed a table outside without any sense of being rushed the whole meal. In fact, we were the first to hit the buffet which was a beautiful sight inside the restaurant. At $19, it was costly, but worth it.

In particular, I enjoyed the tandoori chicken, bobotie (traditional Cape Malay dish of mince meat topped with fried egg), potato salad, chocolate mousse cake, and malva pudding (traditional Capetonian dessert). The ox tripe was about as awful as it sounds (but hey, I tried!). Samp (beans and corn), reportedly Mandela’s favorite, was also not my style either.

After lunch, we visited the top of Africa’s highest building at the Carlton Center. Peering up at it, I had trouble believing a 50-story building was the tallest on the continent, but maybe I’d lost sight of how much more developed South Africa is compared with any other country in Africa. The 360-degree views of the metropolitan area were worth the dollar or two admission, though hills obscured Soweto.

I finished the day with souvenir shopping at the Broma Crafts market a few blocks from Bob’s Bunkhouse. There were masks from all over Africa, but some of the ones which looked cool in the shop would probably be an eyesore at home. I opted for a small, black mask with inlayed beadwork from Ghana.

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Dion, the guide/driver/cook for my Delta adventure, was sipping coffee in Bob’s kitchen a full 20 minutes earlier than my scheduled 5:30am pickup. He looked comfortable in a raggy t-shirt and shorts, his feet would remain bare for the entire journey.

I grabbed my bag and Bob opened the driveway gate for us, walking out to the van to see us off. I slid open the door and was greeted by Ingrid, a student from Norway touring a little of southern Africa after a semester abroad at the University of Cape Town. She broke the good news to me. The two of us were already half the customers for the 7-day Okavango Delta camping trip.

An hour later, we were at the HQ of Livingstone Trails, which also functioned as a hostel, picking up Peter (Holland) and Richard (England). Both guys were booked for Livingstone’s longest tour (16 days), having begun with a 4-day Kruger Park safari, and set to end with Chobe Park (in northeastern Botswana) and Victoria Falls (on the Zimbabwe side). Ingrid was visiting Vic Falls too, so I was the only one signed up for just the Delta. It was a purposeful decision. Going to the falls meant $300 more for the tour, plus at least another $100 for the main attraction, Class V whitewater rafting on the mighty Zambezi River. Besides the money, my flight out of South Africa had already been changed once, and it was too costly to mess around with again.

The first day was all about driving. Fast. Straight. With purpose. We stopped every few hours for food, gas, and toilets, covering about 1,200 km in 12 hours. By noon we had crossed Botswana’s southern border. By 5pm we were spotting wild ostrich and elephants along the side of the highway. And by 5:30pm, we had pulled into Elephant Sands, a small, open air lodge and campsite without fences. We set up four individual tents at sunset. I sampled Botswana’s very own St. Louis lager, which reminded me of the mass market American brews. I drank three to celebrate the start of a new African adventure.

After the sun went down, we sat by a fire and watched the nearby watering hole which is frequented by elephants, and to a lesser degree, lions. It wasn’t long before we began to hear the splish-splashing of an elephant in the water. A few flashlights were used to confirm its presence about 50 meters from us.

The buffet dinner consisted of steaks, fries, salads, and a tasty local bread. We were in our tents by 10pm, and despite the potential for a late night visit from an elephant or lion, I was asleep by the time my head hit the mat.

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#17 - From Matthew:

Ok here’s one for South Africa. Try an apparent South African delicacy called Skop:

“Skop. Head of a cow, sheep or goat. The head is first scrubbed with a sharp instrument like a razor to remove skin and unwanted parts like ears and the nose are then cut out. The head is then boiled and allowed to simmer. Favored by African men.”

Reward: $20

Status: Completed

At first, I wondered how on Earth I could track down sheep’s head. It sounded like an old tribal meal. I learned they were still popular amongst the urban poor after reading Steven Otter’s “Khayelitsha – An Umlungu In A Township.” Nicknamed smiley because of the grin which develops on the sheep’s head as the hair is burned off it over a fire, I knew my Soweto tour would be the one and only chance to get one.

Luckily, the guide was all too happy to make an unscheduled stop. It was Sunday morning, and the queue was at least 20 minutes. At $2 a head, they were half the price of a McDonald’s meal. The guide gave my money to someone further ahead in the line so we wouldn’t have to hold up the tour too long, and brought the head, wrapped in plastic and newspaper, back to the van. Before we entered the Hector Pierson museum (a young boy whose untimely death at a peaceful march sparked major momentum against apartheid), the smiley was unwrapped over the van’s center console.

The guide began to show us (me and a horrified Spanish couple) how to take the head apart. It was already split in half down the middle, but apparently there was a special way to pop the pupil out of the eye before eating the latter. I couldn’t stomach an eye, but I did try the tongue which tasted like chicken, and a bit of the brain, which was mushy, and tasted just as bland as the pig’s brain I sampled in China. Two brains to my credit, I no longer felt the need to eat them going forward. The flavor is bland, so it is more the texture I find unappetizingly gross.

To our surprise, the Spanish couple offered a little of their own traditional food. From a bag, they produced thin slices of raw pig’s leg on buns. A stopover in Spain suddenly seemed more appetizing!

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I spent my day after the safari at one of the big malls outside Jo’burg uploading photos to Flickr, buying a new rain-resistant jacket to replace my deteriorating North Face jacket, and catching a matinée showing of “Quantum of Solace.” The mall was decorated for the holidays, with cheerful music playing over the sound system. It reminded me of home.

The next day was spent touring Soweto, the 4-million person mega-township of Johannesburg. It is so large, it has two or three professional soccer teams and stadiums within its borders. I used the opportunity to complete a dare (which will come in the next post), much in thanks to the flexible and jovial guide. Unfortunately, I didn’t get under the skin of Soweto as I’d wanted. I knew it would require at least one night at Soweto Backpackers, but I was so happy to have five straight nights lined up at Bob’s Bunkhouse before my camping excursion in Botswana, I decided to stay put.

The Apartheid Museum was also on my “must-see” list for the area, and I spent two hours walking through it, learning more about the genesis of the movement and the notable figures of resistance.

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Myself, Lea (Belgium) and Moira (Canada) awoke before dawn for a 3-hour game walk near camp with two armed park rangers. It was my last chance to see a leopard, or maybe even a lion, though the idea of encountering any of the animals up close was concerning. We started with a thirty minute drive as the fuscia sun slowly rose up from the horizon. The first animal was a spotted hyena crossing the road a few hundred meters in front of us. The driver sped up to see if we could get closer. Luckily, the hyena had stopped in the brush on the left hand of the road, giving us enough time to spot it dart down an embankment and across a dry riverbed.

Next, we turned down a dirt road with a “do not enter” sign, and proceeded to drive across the same sandy riverbed, only we got stuck three quarters of the way. We all got out and helped to push the truck free. Once on the other end, we receive the rules of the walk – single file, hand signals instead of talking, don’t separate from the group (herd) lest you want to stick out like easy prey for a local lion, and follow the rangers’ instructions. We set off, one ranger scouting ahead at all times, while the other waited with us for his report.

Ten minutes into the walk, we stumbled upon a group of bachelor buffalo, nicknamed Duggaboys. Hang around safari guides long enough, or read a book by one as I had done in Laos, and you’ll learn bachelor buffalo are the most feared of the Big 5, or perhaps any of the animals in the bush. While other beasts give one or more warning signs before a charge or attack, the buffalo has perfected it’s poker face.

The scout walked a little to our left, while we stood nervously by the other ranger who whispered to us the “OK” to take photos. I was the only one who managed to move around enough to get one, asking Lea to take it. We left after two or three minutes, one of the guides saying there was a 50-50 chance the buffalo would’ve charged us. Later, we learned these odds were coming from a guy who had previously been charged and trampled by a black rhino in the park.

We proceeded to walk further into the bush, an area the rangers said was new to them as well. Given Kruger Park is the size of Israel, I believed them. If they were playing up the experience for us tourists, I couldn’t tell. We passed all kinds of animal prints – zebra, elephant, giraffe, buffalo. A light breakfast was offered amongst some rocks in an otherwise open field. While eating cheese and crackers, I asked about some large birds of prey circling in the distance. The scout said they could either by circling a fresh kill, or riding thermals. Either way, it was a point of interest so we headed straight for them.

Once we reached the line where the open grass turned to thicker bush, the scout turned around to us and said “if a lion charges us, don’t run.” My heart was thumping, and adrenaline coursing, as we followed the rangers. Earlier, they informed us 99% of attacks happen to the front of a group, which explained why they both walked in front of us. Also, if one guide was in trouble in front, and the other was at the rear, he’d have to shoot over the customers which could get messy! Regardless, it was hard not to fantasize about a lion knocking off the last person in the line with a surprise pounce.

We crept along, wondering what the eagles were so interested in ahead of us. I wanted to see a lion, but I didn’t want to have to remain still if I saw one running straight toward us. The chances were slim the rangers would need to shoot anything though, as only 1.2 animals are killed per year in Kruger Park, a statistic which speaks to the experience of the guides and their respect for the wild animals. Ten minutes later, we left the birds behind, one of the guides saying either the kill was too fresh for there to be a scent in the air, or the birds were innocuously riding thermals. Back at the truck, we traversed the riverbed with no trouble, and were dropped off back at camp.

Elson, our guide from the previous day, drove us back to Timbavati Lodge, where we had a nice buffet breakfast, before motoring the five hours back to suburban Jo’burg. I opted to stay at Bob’s Bunkhouse, the hostel Lea had chosen

Upon first sight, it was far cleaner and friendlier than Gemini, and as I surmised, the other big hostels of the area. Lea and I bought some South African wine and cheese and toasted a successful safari while Bob and wife Joan, and their friends and adult sons, cooked up a braai in the backyard.

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I arranged to stay a full third day in the park since I had yet to see a rhino, let alone a leopard. Luckily, Livingstone Trails could accommodate my request. It was also nice to relax into the rhythm of each day, now that I knew the routine.

Highlights on day 3 included a black-backed jackal sniffing around a dwarf mongoose hiding in a dead tree. The mongoose would pop its head out of a small hole each time the jackal move away. These interactions are a lot more interesting than watching impala stand motionless under a tree during the mid-day heat!

We also spotted the same lions as the first day, only they were about 100 meters back from the road this time, meaning they were barely visible without binoculars.

Despite being so far away, they were still fun to watch, and we stuck around a good 15 minutes. The lead truck, which I was in on this day, stalled again. Stuard bravely stepped out of his truck, cited how highly illegal it was for him to exit the vehicle in the park (let alone in the vicinity of 5 lions), and gave the truck the necessary push start.

At the end of the day, I overheard another guide telling Stuart about how his truck saw 2 lionesses kill a zebra and drag its body down a river embankment (and out of view). It must’ve been quite a sight!

Hippos, elephant, zebra, giraffe, impala. The usual suspects were all present on Day 4.

In the lead truck, we were entertained by Elson, the Livingstone guide. Being the first truck meant we had the best chance to see wildlife before it potentially ran away from the road and further back into the bush.

I caught a glimpse of a white rhino towards the very end of the day. Through my binoculars, I saw its full profile with the big horn, but it didn’t stick around long, and soon all I saw was its butt chugging further back into the dense bush.

Back at camp, I saw a much better sunset from atop the water towers then I did on the sunset game drive.  We heard and spotted a hyena patrolling around our campsite as well.  Shining a flashlight out into the darkness, its glowing eyes peered back at us.

Still hoping to spot a leopard, I signed up for a 3-hour morning game walk my last day, rather than another drive.

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It’s amazing how much of a sense of security a chain link fence provides. I slept well my first night in the park, if only for 5-6 hours. Around 6am, we received our new arrivals while several people left. Since Livingstone Trails offers daily departures from Jo’burg to Kruger Park, there is a constant rotation of people in and out of the camp.

The morning drive was always going to be our best chance to spot the more elusive animals such as the leopard, and I was hopeful to see a black or white rhino as well, though neither presented themselves. We did happen upon an elephant eating right next to the road which was cool.

See enough giraffes, antelope, and zebra, and even the smallest new creature becomes more exciting. The lead guide stopped his truck so we could all peer down at a slow-moving chameleon.

Seeing “a kill” first hand, where one predator takes out the prey right before your eyes, is almost completely dependent on luck. The Swedish guy whose tent I shared had been on safaris all across Africa and never seen one, while other people can luck out and see it their first time in Kruger. Coming across a freshly wounded buffalo was as close as I got to the real action in Kruger Park. The gaping, lion paw-sized, chunk of hide missing from the buffalo’s back was a clear indication of violence the night before. Through my binoculars, blood could be seen dripping down the buffalo’s side. He was literally licking his wound from time to time. Stuart (the guide) said it would heal within a week, and was likely the result of a lion attack the prior night.

We stopped by the local hippo pool again, though this time we spotted a small crocodile right next to the road.

Livingstone Trails had one truck, and it clearly wasn’t working properly. It often required a push start, which was not the safest situation in a park filled with 2,000 lions!

After the third game drive of the second day, I had my 3-hour sunset/night drive, making for upwards of 9 hours searching for wildlife. On one hand, it’s easy to sit on your butt while the guide does the driving. On the other hand, it’s very hot once the sun comes up, you’re exposed to the dirt from the roads, and it’s hard to remain attentive when you’re not seeing any new animals.

The highlight of the night drive was a couple of Mozambique spitting cobras we saw slithering across the road. To our collective disappointment, we saw no leopards, no lions, and no cheetah.

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