Monkeys, snakes, birds, cheetahs

I started out the day with a visit to Monkey Land...  It was cool to see about 5 or 6 different monkeys swinging from branch to branch right in front of you! I took a video trying to film a monkey and then he started peeing almost directly on me! LOL Overall though, it was nice. We had a guide take us around and told us about all of the different species.

I then went to Birds of Eden...This guy is my favorite because I love the colors!! Birds of Eden is self guided and you can buy a combo ticket with Monkey Land. 

After that I headed to Lawnwood Snake Sanctuary. I was really excited about this one because I've never dealt with snakes before. It was very informative and they had so many different kinds of snakes!

And to end the day I went to Tenikwa Cat Sanctuary where I got to walk a cheetah!! 

The cat sanctuary cares for many animals who can't be released into the wild. Some of them were bred in captivity from other places so they're not able to be out in the wild. It was an awesome experience! 

Let's go Keisha!

I apologize in advance as this blog contains links that you'll have to copy and paste if you wish to view them. Posting blog updates from my phone comes with it's challenges and this is one of them. 

The place I'm currently staying in is LITERALLY steps away from the beach!

I took a lovely walk this morning and basically had the place to myself... And my little bird friend. 

Later on I went to Knysna Elephant Park. (Knysna is pronounced without the "k")

Here they come... Lining up for a feeding!

They were so pushy!! The one kept trying to knock the food out of my hand to prevent me from giving it to the others!!

And then we got some photo ops..

And then we went for a walk. My elephant's name was "Keisha." She's 13 years old and misbehaved the entire time.  I have a video of part of the walk and the guide saying "let's go, Keisha!" Hence the name of this entry...

here's a sELPHIE:

It was a great experience with the elephants!! Loved being able to interact with them up close!

It's the Xhosa language that so many people speak here !!! The clicks are really hard (for me) so I'll stick to saying, "MOLO," which means hi. :) 

Travel day

Today was a travel day so nothing exciting happened... Although, I did get really sick after being on a bus for 9 hours. I'm feeling a lot better now though and I love my new place where I'm staying! They even left me the most amazing chocolates on my pillows!!! Soooooooo good!!!!!!! Left Cape Town in the morning and am now in Plettenberg Bay!

Someone had asked me about safety the the other day so I thought I would mention it in the blog...at my first hostel there was a wall surrounding the entire building with a key pad for entry. There were wires on top of said wall and there were security guards at night... So it was pretty safe there. I walked down the street by myself to get some food (literally a minute walk) And I ended up walking to and from the waterfront by myself which was maybe a 15 minute walk. I was only approached twice by people, I said "no thanks," walked away and there was no issue. I didn't really understand what either one was saying to me, but they were asking for money of some sort. I did also come across a sketchy character, but with his pants dragging around his ankles. I wasn't too concerned because I knew I could easily outrun that. Caution was and is still to be used at all times, of course. (see below of picture outside of my room)

 

Hostels aren't really my thing, but I love them for a lot of reasons. 

1. Inexpensive-saves a lot of money!

2. Convenience-most have tours set up through the hostel so it makes booking easy!

3. Being with my travel tribe! For those back home -you know how much I talk about travel. I talk travel all the time ... Now multiply it by every single person you come across!! I LOVE it. 

Another question that was asked was about doing an organized tour vs going on your own... I'd have to say I like BOTH!

When I went to China, I had a private organized tour, which was nice and easy. I told them what I wanted to see beforehand and they made up an itinerary. It was scheduled base and had almost everything included so you can see the positives there. No worrying about a lot of things and getting knowledgeable guides to make the experience even better.

In Africa, I'm doing a mixture which is my FAVORITE travel style. I'm on my own which is super nice.. That means I can make up my own schedule and do whatever I want when I want! There have been days that I've joined an organized tour to get me to places that would have been harder to get to so that's also nice. Going with a guide and getting know more from the locals is always a plus.

Sorry for the slow and uneventful entry today, but it'll get more exciting these next two days... Promise !! 

Blessings :)

Today was 1 of 2 days in which I didn't have anything planned during my stay. My work off days are Monday and Tuesday.. Which means I could have started my trip on a Wednesday (and gotten rid of the 2 empty days in my itinerary), but I would have still been docked 2 days at work since I'm off then anyway. It was either sit at home for 2 days or have 2 days to sit in Africa. I chose to sit in Africa. :)

Today was the first day that has been cloudy and just kind of blah outside, but I walked down to the waterfront anyway and...got my fish and chips again! With a smoothie this time! It is my favorite place to eat in Cape Town and it's called Tribakery. 

I was hoping to catch a ride on a jet boat, but they had to have a minimum of 4 people so they sent me away. :( As I walked away from them, a semi annoying salesman came up and sold me on taking a harbor cruise with his company. (This is me rolling my eyes because the "cruise" was really dumb) I paid less than $5 U.S. Dollars for it though, so I guess I can't complain. 

We did spot a seal in a wheel though.. 

And then! Best part of the day was meeting up with my new friend, Jessie! I know her brother from back home so her and I decided to hang at the beach for a bit before grabbing a bite to eat. She is such a lovely person inside and out and I'm so glad I got to spend time with her! Great way to end my time in Cape Town!

Leaving tomorrow for.... Plettenberg Bay!!

Church and Prison

I started out the day by going to HILLSONG Cape Town!! I took a taxi there and it turns out that my taxi driver was also a Christian! He was very nice and we talked a lot on the drive there and also on the way back. 

I've now been to 3 different Hillsong churches on 3 different continents -Sydney, London, and Cape Town. (Need to hit NYC soon if someone wants to road trip with me!)

I was a little bummed because the service wasn't a typical service. Since its Mother's Day, they had a mother and a daughter come up and talk so I was slightly disappointed that I didn't hear the pastor preach, but what can you do... 

I grabbed something to eat at the waterfront... Fish and chips! I usually NEVER crave fish and chips, but being around it made me want it. I also got a free slice of cake for Mother's Day! 

Later I went to Robben Island...

And saw Nelson Mandela's cell along with a tour of the prison. My guide had also been a prisoner here so it was cool to hear him talk about his experience. 

And then on the way back I saw this guy lounging about ...

One more day in Cape Town and I'm off to ..... ?!? 

Last minute planning in Cape Town

Bummer news came yesterday when there was a misunderstanding with my hostel involving my tour for today. Long story short... I had nothing planned for today since the tour I was originally going to do was no longer an option... 

I walked down the waterfront with a friend (first time to the waterfront since I've been here) and the walk was way better/easier than I thought. She left to do a tour, but thankfully I found a 3 hour bike tour that I was able to join. *I even found a new friend who has been to 80ish countries and all 7 continents!!! Needless to say we had plenty to talk about. :)

Walked around for the waterfront for a bit and to kill some time I took a ride on the Ferris wheel. :)

Today stressed me out because I didn't have a plan... I didn't know where I was going... I didn't know what I was going to do... I didn't know a lot of things. Those kinds of things always cause anxiety for me, but that's part of why I travel. Time and time again it has been proven that there was never been anything to worry about. There was nothing to lose sleep over. There was nothing to fear. To be able to look back and say, "yeah! I did that!" is such an amazing feeling. 

And!! Best news of the day was that I found my South African magnet to add my collection! :)

City tour!

Before I start on today... I forgot to mention something exciting from yesterday! On our drive back from the shark diving, we drove past the president of South Africa!!! Literally!! He was on the other side of the highway with his motorcade or whatever you want to call it...How awesome is that?!?? 

Today I took a city tour. It was a nice day, but super windy!!!!! 

We saw the colorful beach huts...

PENGUINS...

This just made me laugh...we were in the parking lot at Cape Point and there were baboons running around. 

Cape Point... It was so windy that when we ran up to see the lighthouse we almost blew away.

And hey! I made it to the most south western point of the African continent!! 

And met really good people :)