Around Cape Town

In Cape Town, we stayed at the Penthouse on Long Street, which is centrally located and, conveniently, has a rooftop bar. After dropping off the car and saying goodbye to Alex, we walked down to the Waterfront to do some shopping and have dinner. I was very surprised by the types of stores there: Prada, YSL, Mont Blanc, Gucci, and other high-end stores that are way out of my price range. I stuck to Woolworths.

The next morning, while we checked in the car, a very nice older couple offered us their Hop-On, Hop-Off bus passes. The tour itself was not all that exciting, but it was a good way to see all of Cape Town. Cape Town is located under the shadow of Table Mountain. On the other side, is the Swank Camps Bay, where all the celebrities shop and sunbath. It was too cold, though, for any sunbathing.

Instead, we got off at the District 6 Museum, which recounts the process of ejecting black residents from their homes in District 6 and bulldozing their homes to the ground in order to gentrify the area for white Cape Town residents.

That night we ate at the Ethiopian restaurant right next door to the hostel. It was so good and made us regret that we had not made more of an effort to find an authentic Ethiopian restaurant in Ethiopia.

The next morning, we picked up Regina’s sister, Alla, at the airport and headed to Hermanus, famous for whale-watching and shark diving. On our way, we stopped at the penguin reserve

and in Betty’s Bay to do a hike through the botanical gardens and the biosphere. The hike was much more fun than the one in Wilderness, but pretty short. It required three river crossings and ladder climbs. The waterfall was relatively small, but the red water was pretty and the overview of the ocean was pretty. We read later that this color was caused by the Fynbros, plants native to this area of South Africa.


In Hermanus, we walked along the rocky shoreline, easily spotting several Southern Right Whales. We had dinner at Lemon Butta, which was decent. It was the first sushi place in South Africa that we found that actually had eel as an option. Also, it had a true rainbow roll. In other sushi places, the rainbow roll is avocado and salmon. That’s it! Also, most sushi places had salmon, shrimp, and crabstick only. I was very happy to have the options of tuna and eel even if the sushi was only so-so. We finished the evening off with gelato, calling it an early night so that we would be well-rested for shark diving the next morning.

Buffalo Bay and Wildernes

Our first official stop on the Garden Route—other than the McDonalds in George (our first trip to the golden arches of the trip)--was Knysna and Buffalo Bay.
We arrived in Buffalo Bay at the tail-end of the most beautiful sunset, and after checking out the stars and our accommodations, we decided it was worth staying another day just to see the sunset again.

The Buffalo Bay Backpackers was by far my favorite camping spot of the whole trip. We parked our truck right on the beach. The hostel itself had a nice central fireplace, which everyone gathered by. It also had free wi-fi—a luxury after the lack of internet at the campsites in Namibia.

We spent an afternoon shopping in the nearby Knysna. The town was cute and had some adorable shops. After three months of wearing the same clothes, I went kind of crazy.

That night we made sure to make it back in time for the sunset, which was nothing short of breathtaking.

Earlier in the trip, I had seen an Ernest Hemingway quote that said, “I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy.” Thinking about all the mornings I had woken up on freezing cold or miserably hot buses or all of the poverty in Africa, I wondered if Hemingway had ever really been here. But, if you modified that quote to read, “I never knew of a sunset in Africa that did not make me happy,” I would have to agree. The sunsets here are spectacular. The sun moves quickly from low to huge bright-pink orb to gone completely in a matter of minutes. Almost every night of our trip—certainly of the camping portion of our trip—we would drop everything to watch the sunset.

After sunset, we took advantage of the cooking facilities to make curry and the campfire to introduce Alex to the joys of s’mores.
These s’mores were made all the better by the yummy coconut-crusted marshmallows and hazelnut chocolate bars that are standard fare here.

Our next stop was the aptly-named Wilderness. We started by exploring the Kingfisher trail, which involves a pontoon crossing and ends at a waterfall.

(By Regina)

(By Alex)

Although the area was beautiful, especially the birds, the trail itself was kind of boring. It was a boardwalk almost the entire way. We managed to keep ourselves entertained, though, with Alex demonstrating the famous french move, making fun of the bird people (Alex and Kaitlin),
hugging trees, and taking a nap at the waterfall.
(Photo by Regina)


That night we stayed at my second favorite campsite, Wild Farm.




It is a hidden gem that has not yet made it to the Lonely Planet guidebook. We had another amazing campsite at the top of a mountain with ocean views. Among other amenities—satellite tv, free wi-fi—the Wild Farm has a huge garden that its guest can freely pick from. We went crazy pulling beets, carrots, onions, and strawberries. Needless to say, we ate very well that night. And, the next morning, Wild Farm provided the best free breakfast of the trip—lots of fresh fruits, yogurt, and cereal.
We supplemented it with the fresh-baked banana bread we had bought in town the day before. While Regina and Alex explored another trail, Kaitlin and I took a lazy day to journal, download photos, and read.

That night, we ended our journey together with dinner out at the Blue Olive. The sweet-pickled figs with blue cheese were the star of the dinner, but the mussels were nothing to sneeze at either. I made the mistake of ordering the Blue Olive martini, which did me in pretty early. Luckily, I was in good company. It was sad to say goodbye to our truck and Alex not just because we had, had such a good time with them, but also because it was a painful reminder that our trip was coming to an end.