South Africa

The night before arriving in South Africa the whole ship was so excited. We were sea bound for 7 days and ready to be on land. All we kept hearing about was how amazing this country was and we couldn’t wait to see. During sunset a bunch of my friends and I went on the top deck to watch it. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I’ve never seen the sky and the sun have so many colors, it was amazing.
Day 1
Arriving into Cape Town water front was breathtaking. The water was crystal clear, the mountains were beautiful and we were actually walking distance to the waterfront which hasn’t happened since Spain. None of us could wait until the ship was cleared so we could head out for our adventure. My roommate and my friends Riley, Matt, and Kevin decided that we were going to hike Table Mountain bright and early. Table Mountain is a famous mountain in Cape Town and about 1000 meters high. It is extremely hard to hike, but we were told it’s something you have to do when you go to Cape Town, and that the view is incredible from the top. The four of us got our hiking gear on and headed off the ship. We found a taxi driver and he took us up to the starting point. We all looked up at how far we had to go and were all silently freaking out. Wondering how in the world we were going to do this. The first half hour went by pretty fast, and mostly struggle less. Then all of a sudden the mountain got steeper and the path became more and more intense. We literally had to stop for breaks every 3 minutes. Our legs were burning, or hearts were pounding, and every time we looked up we knew we had so much more to go. We kept bumping into other SAS kids, everyone was sweating and tired, but we were all so happy to be there. Every time we looked out at the view it gave us motivation to keep on trekking. After about 2 hours and many stops in the shade we finally made it to the top. The feeling we had was indescribable. We were just so happy to be done but also so proud of ourselves for doing it. We then all looked out at the view and it was just breathtaking. All you saw was blue waters and sand on one side and the city on the other side. We took tons of pictures got some souvenirs, and then decided to head back down. We took the cable car down, there was no way we about to hike another two hours down. We then decided to head to the rugby game that was going on. We took a taxi got our tickets and headed inside. It was a fun experience. I have never seen rugby before and it’s definitely a cool sport. We got some hot dogs and burgers some beer and just relaxed. The game was about two hours long. After that we headed back to the ship to get ready for our night out!
A bunch of my friends and I thought it would be nice to have a nice dinner before we headed to Long Street (which is where all the bars and clubs are). We ate right in the water front, about 200 meters from the ship. There were tons of restaurants. We decided to eat at this place called Karibou, it was South African cuisine, and we were all pretty excited to try authentic food. It had been so long since we had a good meal. I ordered a beef kabob with some South African sauce. It was the most amazing thing in the world. It was huge and tasted so good. Everyone tasted it and wished they would have gotten that. My one friend got ostrich which is what you order when in South Africa. I actually tasted it and it was soooo good. I love going to these different countries and trying all different foods, it one of the best things about traveling the world. After our 3 hour long meal, and many bottles of wine later we all decided to head to Long Street. It was so much fun about 300 hundred SAS kids covered the streets, we went from bar to bar and club to club. We stayed out until 4 in the morning! It was one of the best nights I’ve had in a while.
Day 2
After waking up, my roommate and I found some other friends and started to make plans for the day. We all decided to go to this market that was only open on Sundays. We heard it was a must and you could get some pretty awesome gifts. We all headed out and got ourselves some taxis. The market was outside and it was huge. Every table had so many different things. Anything from pottery to jewelry, to animal skin rugs and pillow cases, paintings and picture frames. It was incredible, and the people were just so nice. I got a bunch of stuff and spent way too much money (of course). We were there for about two hours. We heard there was a soccer game going on and that it was another experience that we were told we had to do. We then headed to the soccer game, and when we got out of the taxi it was insanity! Thousands of fans running and screaming, going crazy. Security was high, and people were getting yelled out left and right to calm down. I have never in my life seen a sporting event or fans so nuts over a team. I thought Yankee fans were bad. We couldn’t get in because we didn’t already buy our tickets, but we found some scalpers and finally headed inside. The stadium was filled to the brims, not an empty seat in the house. You couldn’t even hear yourself think it was so loud. The teams that were playing were Cape Town Ajax and Johannesburg Cavaliers. For some reason everyone was a Cavaliers fan, literally the whole stadium. Every time they scored it was insanely loud with cheers. I left at half time because it was getting late and we wanted to get ready to go out. We later found out the cavs won. After getting ready my roommate, my friends steph kota and aryanna went out for some sushi! We all were craving it since it had been so long! After another nice long dinner we headed to this bar called Mitchell’s which was right on the waterfront. A bunch of kids were staying around the ship because many of them had trips planned for the next day. It was a cool bar, it head an upstairs and played some good music. We all had a really fun night.
Day 3
After finally waking up in the morning my friends Ali, Alyse, and Deb had all planned to go on a wine tasting tour. South Africa has many wineries and we heard the day of wine tasting was so much fun. We figured we would give it a try. We ate lunch and then headed out to try to find a tour. We bumped into three other SASers and we all decided to go together. We had a taxi driver for the whole day who took us from winery to winery we went to four over all. We tried tons of different wines. Red, white, rose, sweet, fruity, dry. It was so much fun. After each winery we also all bought a bottle and shared it as a group. Without realizing it we all kind of got drunk. So the day wound up being even more fun then we planned. The last winery we went to had cheetahs, and you were able to go inside for 5 minutes and pet and touch them. I wasn’t scared at all, but they gave you a big lecture on what to do and what not to do, because after all they are wild animals. My cheetah’s name was Joey, and he was the cutest thing. He was huge but I pet him and he was purring. It was so amazing to be next to and touching a huge wild animal. There were baby cubs too and they were so sweet. After about 2 minutes Joey stood up and I got a bit scared. The trainer said he was sorry but I would have to leave, because Joey was getting annoyed. He stands up and walks around when he’s had enough. I was disappointed I couldn’t stay in there longer, but it was still such a cool thing to do. After everyone got their chance with a cheetah we finally headed back to the ship. We had such a fun day. But we were all exhausted from drinking wine. I decided to go back to my room and pack for my three day safari that left the next morning.
Day 4
I woke up at around 7:00 and got my last minute stuff together. I headed off the ship and went down to where the bus was waiting to take my group to the airport to go to Kruger. Kruger National Park is one of the best safari’s not only in South Africa but in the world. It’s a free range park, which means the animals are free to roam where ever they want, they are not fenced in or captive. They were here long before the park even existed. The whole park is about the size of New Jersey. We obviously were only going to see about a quarter of it. Once on the bus we met our guide for the next three days his name was Graham and he was such a nice man. He got us all so excited! After the 2 hour plane ride out of Cape Town we finally arrived in Kruger. The airport looked like a log cabin, it was so small and it was made out of real logs. It was beautiful. We then got on a bus that took us to our hotel. When we arrived at the hotel our mouths al dropped. It was the most beautiful hotel I have ever been to in my life. It was on a golf course, it had 5 pools, tennis courts, bars, and bungalows. It was amazing. People always tell you not to spend your money doing SAS trips, but the places they put you in are always the nicest so it’s worth it for sure.
When we arrived they had lunch for us and it was so good! Fresh veggies and fruits, all different kinds of meats. We then headed to our rooms threw down our stuff and headed to meet our safari jeep drivers. I was in a jeep with 9 other people and our driver’s name was doctor (yes that was his real name). He was amazing. In the first 2 hours we saw 3 of the big five. The big five are the most dangerous animals. They are the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino. WE saw elephants, buffalo and rhino, along with giraffes so many impalas and other cool animals. It was amazing to see these animals in real life, the only time ive ever seen them were on TV or in books. We were out on our drive until about 6 pm we got to watch the sunset it was amazing. We then showered back at the hotel and got ready for another great dinner. They BBQ’d for us, it was delicious. We all then headed to bed because we had to be up at 4:30 am for our next game drive!
When we woke up we were all so tired but it didn’t matter we were so excited to see more animals for the day! We drove to the park and saw a beautiful sunrise. It was just like the lion king! The rest of the day we spent driving around trying to spot animals. It was like those books you read when you were little. I Spy. We finally saw a leopard, which was amazing, Doctor said they are hard to find and we were so lucky to have seen one he hadn’t seen one in a month! We also saw a bunch of lions, and there were two lions that were walking around our jeep, it was amazing, they are huge and muscular, but such beautiful animals, all I wanted to do was play with them! After about 8 hours of driving around we finally headed back to the hotel. It was probably about 95 degrees outside, and all we wanted to do was jump in the pool! After about an hour relaxing in the pool a bunch of people signed up to go on a night game drive, but about 10 kids including me signed up to go to this place where you could ride wild elephants. I definitely wanted to do that so I was excited. When we got to the place, it was called elephant whispers. They people who worked there spent a lot of time explaining the safety of how to act with the elephants, and they told us all about elephants. I had no idea they were such smart animals. We got to take pictures with them and pet them and feed them! It was such a cool experience. They are such gentle giants. We finally got to get on top and ride them. That was so cool. Much more fun than riding a camel! After our night with the elephants we headed back to the hotel and had a nice dinner. A bunch of us stayed up late drank some champagne and talked all night. Besides having a great experience in the safari, that night was also a highlight of my trip. I got to know and learn things about people that I may have never became friendly with if it wasn’t for this particular SAS trip. It was a great way to end my time in South Africa. The next morning we went on one last game drive and then headed back to the airport. We were all exhausted; we probably slept 8 hours the entire 3 days.
When we finally got back to Cape Town we headed back to the ship to depart South Africa. It was the first time in my 6 weeks of traveling that I really did not want to leave. I loved South Africa so much, I loved everything about it; the culture, the diversity, and the fun. I know that I will come back one day! It had finally hit me that I was actually traveling the world. In every other port I kind of was just going through the motions, and it hadn’t really hit me yet. It is hard to explain to someone that has never experienced this, but it’s true. I don’t think my brain comprehended what it was I really was doing. When I got back on the ship I just had such an emotional moment where I was so overwhelmed and so happy to be having this experience. After each port we have what’s called cultural post port, where people share their stories and experiences. This was the first time I went to one. And it was so emotional to hear everyone’s stories and experiences. In South Africa I did fun things, but there were many people who had visited shanty townships, went to orphanages, and helped build houses for the less fortunate. Hearing all of these stories made me so proud to be doing what I am doing. I am learning more now than I probably ever will for the rest of my life. I really am the luckiest person