Being back on the coast of South Africa has been great, things seem to be getting progressively more civilized the closer I get to Capetown. Coffee Bay was definitely the highlight, with cheap and delicious meals, free surf lessons every morning, and all kinds of fun hikes, tours, people, and parties. From there I stopped in Cintsa, known for Buccaneers' Backpackers, considered the best in South Africa. Although it is mid-autumn here and bordering on the off-season for tourism, I enjoyed the low-key scene in Cintsa, bought some beaded jewelry from the local ladies (lovingly referred to as the "mama's"), hung out on the beach, and got a full body massage for about $15. Life is tough...
From there I moved west into SA's popular tourist scene, the Garden Route. I started at a place called Plettenberg Bay, where I hitched a ride with a Dutch couple to "Monkeyland" - think Sea World for monkeys with no cages. I left Plett early because it was pretty boring compared to the places I have been, and moved on to the next stop on the Garden Route, Knysna, where I am writing from now.
Yesterday i went to the Knysna Elephant Sanctuary and paid about 30 dollars to stand around taking pictures with elephants, but I'm not complaining because I got some amazing pictures. Today i went on a ferry to a nature reserve called Featherbed where we took a jeep ride up to the top then hiked 2.5 kms down then took the ferry back. it was fun except the other tour-goers were a 30 person 8th grade class from London and a bunch of toddlers. Things are getting pretty touristy here.
Surprisingly, this has also been one of the loneliest stretches of my trip thus far. My past two hostels have been completely empty, as in, I have a 12 person dorm entirely to myself. So i have been doing these tours alone, which is fine, but definitely kind of an ironic change considering that the most civilized place I've been has proven one of the most difficult to make friends.
I'm not too worried about it... i'll be in capetown in three days. I'm ready for it!
0 comments:
Post a Comment