We left last Wednesday morning for our vacation. It seemed a bit frivolous to take a vacation when we're already in such a gorgeous place (kind of on vacation), but I was definitely not complaining. Our first stop was the Garden Route Game Lodge (about 4 hours from Cape Town). The drive along the garden route is absolutely gorgeous - lush green meadows, bright blue skies, huge mountains, and fields of flowers - I felt like we were on a movie set most of the time. We stayed in very cool little, one room, one bathroom "villas" which are pictured below. [I must admit, I quite enjoyed having one of these to myself after being constantly surrounded by people for the last 5 weeks.]
Our first drive out was Wednesday afternoon. Rule #1: NEVER get out of the vehicle. Turns out this rule can be broken when your vehicle gets stuck in mud. Just as we entered the area where we are supposed to see cheetahs, we got stuck in the mud. After many attempts by Tracy, our trusty SA guide, we all waited on the road, outside the vehicle, at dusk, in the rain, to be rescued. Pretty entertaining start to the trip. Luckily, the next 3 drives (each sunrise and sunset) were fantastic and we saw all kinds of animals - giraffes, cheetahs, lions, elephants, rhinos, impala, eland, springbok... even a mouse! My favorite was Oliver, a baby rhino.
After 2 days at the game lodge, we drove 2.5 hours north, past Knysa, to bungee off the world's highest bungee bridge - 216 meters. [Most of you know that I bungeed off the world's highest bungee building this past spring in Macau - 233 meters - but this experience was actually quite different because you hang upside down for a really long time while you're being pulled back up. In Macau, you get off at the bottom so the whole thing is much quicker.] Regardless, it was an awesome experience.
[Above, the view looking down from the jump platform.]
We spent the next night at the Tsala Treetop Lodge - which was, by far, the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. Kirsten, Arden, and I shared a treetop villa - situated among the trees and connected to other villas by elevated bridges. Each villa has a main living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms - AND it's own infinity pool that looks out over the forest. There were outdoor showers connected to each indoor shower so you could stand outside and look over the mountains/forest while you showered. After a pretty incredible dinner, we came back to a fire in our fireplace, beds turned down, chocolates on the pillows, and hot water bottle heaters in our beds! I could go on and on about this place, but you get the idea - we didn't want to leave... ever.
Our next (and final) stop was about 30 minutes north in Plattenberg Bay - another gorgeous beach town. We stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast and spent the afternoon wandering along the beach and the evening in a local bar watching the rugby playoffs (Cape Town Stormers sadly lost).
We made our way back to Cape Town on Sunday but luckily, our vacation wasn't quite over. We spent the 4th of July at a party at the Consulate General's house in Cape Town where we noshed on burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, pasta and potato salad, and apple pie - truly American. There were over 50 Americans that attended and they actually brought in a group of children from the townships to join us. We had a great time teaching them our dance moves and learning theirs...
All in all, pretty fantastic week.
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