The Garden Route - Swaziland to Cape Town

 

COUNTRY: Southern Africa Combo (Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa)
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching and Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Danielle Edwards

Okay so here we are.. looking at the downhill run of our placement with just over six weeks left! We have only a short time to go in Swaziland which means we will then be setting off on our new adventure and travelling down to Cape Town.

Our last few days in Swaziland were spent working at our NCP's, bonding with the children while knowing that it would be a long time (if ever) until we were re-united with them. By this point we all had those few children with whom we shared a special bond. Some of us had already organized sponsorship for one or two of the children that will be on-going once we return home.

It was not only the children which we found it hard to part ways, but we all found ourselves pretty emotional when it came to saying goodbye to the other volunteers that we had grown to know and love, as well as the staff members!

We met our new guide Mpho who would be taking us on our tour all the way from Swaziland to Cape Town for the next 11-or-so days. We had a short orientation and found him to be really nice and easy to talk to, which made us all that much more keen to start the next part of our adventure. The next day we set off after a morning of emotional good-byes and last minute packing on route to St. Lucia where we would be spending the next couple of nights. The travelling group consisted of us Aussies as well as two other girls (Joyce and Sanne) from the Netherlands who would be joining us for the travels to Cape Town.

When we arrived in St. Lucia, there was another group of volunteers who had been working for a month prior - and were heading off to Swaziland the next day. They were from a variety of places including Canada, United States, England and Scotland. The next day we went to the crocodile/reptile park where we learnt about the lifestyle of the crocs and their abilities. That afternoon we went on a hippo tour in the river at St. Lucia where we got to see lots of hippos up close and see them interact in their natural environments.

After two nights in St. Lucia, we drove to Durban where we stayed at a modern lodge. From there we ventured out to sea world, where some of us had close encounters with sharks, all types of fish and marine life, as saw a group of string-rays being hand fed. We also watched a dolphin show where the production was kind of lame but the dolphins put on a good show! We spent the entire afternoon going on all the watersides at 'Wet n Wild' before returning to the lodge to pack and prepare for our long travels the following day.

After a long and tiring 9.5 hour bus ride the following day, we ended up at Wild Coast in the evening, staying at quite a large backpackers lodge with out own unit. Here we did a cheetah interaction activity, but had the opportunity to also do an elephant interaction before-hand. Only Jessie and Will took this opportunity though, but we all got the chance to pet a cheetah and get up-close and personal with them, which was pretty cool!

The next destination after Wild Coast was Port Elizabeth. The hostel where we stayed was really nice and comfortable. There wasn't much to do in the area tourism wise, so for the day that we were there we went and took a look at the Main Street with shops. It was a pretty cruisy full day spent there with not many obligations which was a nice change of pace.

The following morning we arrived at our last destination before Cape Town, Tsisikama. It was here where the worlds biggest bungee jump bridge exists, which Jessie, Will and myself took the opportunity to take advantage of. This was a truly amazing experience! We also went to other tourist attractions here which included a place called 'Monkey Land' where we went on a guided tour through a monkey enclosure home to 10 different species. Following that, we went to a snake and reptile park where we got to hold a massive yellow python!

It wasn't long before we were enduring another 10 hour bus ride (which was thankfully our last) to Cape Town where we said goodbye to our guide Mpho and took taxis to Hout Bay, which is where we will be staying for the remainder of our trip (4 weeks). Until next time!

Danielle.