We had never expected to touch Africa as part of our round the world trip. We love Africa and we've been on several
trips here already, but visas, difficulty travelling overland in some places, the amount of time needed and just generally not being equipped
for an African trip had meant we'd steered clear of the continent while planning our round the world trip. We knew we'd come back to Africa
just not part of this trip. However once we started looking at options and cost to us ending our round the world trip in the Caribbean and
also reassessed how our attitudes had changed during the previous year we decided to look for other options to continue on our epic adventure.
Primarily we did this by looking at where you could fly from each of Brazil's major cities and for how much it'd cost. It came as a surprise to
us that a flight from Sao Paulo to South Africa was not too badly priced and once we looked further we found a very long flight from South Africa
back to the UK via Dubai. It would be a 27 hour journey home and have almost 9 hours layover and involve us flying the indirect way but we just
couldn't refuse this offer. So instead of us spending one week in the Caribbean we managed to spend two weeks for the same budget exploring a
bunch of gems in Southern Africa.
South Africa, what a place. We knew we wouldn't be able to afford to rent a car, or otherwise get out to Kruger etc on this trip. Our budgets
were nearly empty and we had to focus on what we could afford to do and had time left to do. So we focused on two major cities and the surrounding
areas: Cape Town & Johannesburg.
We immediately fell in love with Cape Town, it had a relaxed feel to it, peaceful and western in places, not mentioning it sits on the ocean front with pretty beaches, vibrant blue oceans and is surrounded by mountains. All we could think of as we sat out eating pizza and drinking South African wine and beer was how nice a place Cape Town would be to live. It has all the amenities one could need, felt safe and the style of life seemed to be something we could relate to at this stage in our years travels. Even the weather despite being warm was never too hot and the mornings and evenings were pleasant with the sea breeze.
Table Mountain Hike
No visit to Cape Town would be complete with visiting the towering feature on the landscape that is Table Mountain. It
was summer here in Cape Town and there was no way that we were going to hike up it in the heat at this stage in our travels
and with limited gear and only trainers to do it in. Instead we joined the tourists and caught the cable car up. Exploring the
flat summit and looking over the views out for a while before we decided to descend it on foot. How hard could a walk down a
mountain be? Well as it turned out very. We met several people just as we left the summit who had no water at all and were
clearly in a very bad way, I've no idea how anyone could ignore the warning signs on the way up and continue without water in
above 30°C heat. We were well prepared and had plenty of water and the descent took us over 2 hours and we drunk through all of
our water and had to ration it towards the end. Eventually though we completed our ordeal and reached the bottom where we were
pleased to find ice creams and fresh cold fizzy drinks and water for refreshments that were so sorely needed. My advice to all
just get the cable car up and down the trek isn't worth it either way even if you are very fit and able.
Seal Snorkelling
How could we miss such a great opportunity as this. As it turned out we almost did. The weather was unsettled on the day
and the boat crew were not sure we'd be able to get out to the rock due to the conditions and even if we did we might have
been unable to swim. After some pause we were eventually given the go ahead, which may or may not have been a good thing.
Despite us not having to wear life jackets the waters were very rough. Kat ended up not being able to snorkel for too long
simply due to how rough the conditions were, not that the little boat was a much better place for her. I on the other hand
managed to enjoy the full experience even if it was a bit rough for me. I supposed this is why the seals like it though
so they can play in the swell and waves, and play they did. The seals seemed to enjoy are very presence choosing to swim
up to us and do dramatic turns as they showed off their agility as we bobbed around semi-helplessly in the water. This
experience is certainly not for the faint hearted and should really only be undertaken by confident swimmers. You should
expect water in your snorkel from the splash of waves as well. Would I miss this experience though, never! Not many places
can you have the experience to do this and in even less would you only be out with a group size under ten and no other boats
in sight. Yes the waters cold, but that's why you are provided dry suits and can rent go pros from the guides.
Train to Simons Town & Penguin Beach
As if Cape Town hadn't already had enough to offer we set about a day trip to take the train over to Simons Town.
It's a slow local commuter train which trundles at times precariously close to the ocean all the way to Simons Town.
The reason we'd come here, not for the beaches, but for the Penguins that call it home. Yes that's right Penguins in
Africa. Thousands of them as it would turn out call this slice of South Africa home. From Adults to babies to teenagers
all sizes of Penguins were here even including eggs. This place is also even better because on some of the non-nesting
beaches you can approach them on foot and it's so cool to be so close while also respectful. Seeing the Penguins play
with each other as they rode the waves into the shore, so calamitous and entertaining. If you ever make your way to Cape
Town you should never pass up an opportunity to come here.
We ended up trip in Johannesburg with a local guide taking us around the township of Soweto an infamous place in South Africa following uprisings and resistance to Apartheid. We visited locals, a very random Zulu museum with large self made statues, Mandela's house and Desmond Tutu's house. Our guide travelled around the local way meaning we rode South African colectivos around town as all the locals did. We also visited by ourselves the Apartheid museum and Constitution Hill (a prison for those who resisted Apartheid). It would be an educational and sobering end to our 14 months of travel as from here we were due to fly home, back to cold England. Johannesburg is certainly no Cape Town and it really is all about the history here over the sights and things to do.
To continue our African adventure from here we flew up to Zambia and Victoria Falls.
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