Holiday Travel in Southern Africa!

Hello faithful blog followers!

I hope that everyone had a joyous Christmas Day and were able to spend as much time as possible with family. I was able to spend Christmas yesterday with some friends I made early on during my stay in PE. They were gracious enough to invite me over to have Christmas with their family and have an absolute feast. We had turkey, chicken, salad, beef, pies, pig tongue (!), and an assortment of other delicacies.  I felt very blessed to be adopted into a family even though it was hard spending my first Christmas away from my own family. However, I was able to skype family at home and Haley at the end of the day which made me feel very close to home.

The past two weeks I have been travelling with my good high school buddy, Drew Reese. This post will document our travels to Lesotho and Mossel Bay.

LESOTHO
12/14/12-12/19/2012
Drew Reese is here with me in Lesotho along with some fellow GRS interns (Kait, Casey, Ally, Jessi, Lynn, and Shane). On Saturday we hired rental cars and along with Shane's parents-minus Lynn we all headed to Semonkong, Lesotho to do some hiking and sight-seeing, mainly Maletunyane Falls. Semonkong is a small village nestled in the mountains in the middle of the country. The trek from Maseru took about 3 hours with the first half of the trip on paved roads, and the second half filled with bumbling pot holes. Although bumpy, the landscape was magnificent and it is very easy to see why Lesotho is nicknames the "Mountain Kingdom". The mountains are lush and verdant and the surroundings are so tranquil and peaceful you try to be careful to not interrupt the splendor by speaking too loudly.

Me and Drew on our way to Semonkong

We hired the two rental cars and split the cars into boys and girls (classic), so while the girls were jamming out to usher and NSYNC, we were rocking along with Bruce Springsteen, Lupe Fiasco, and an occasional Gotye classic. When we entered the small village of Semonkong we were greeted by African cowboys and herd boys shepherding sheep. A very strange sight in Africa to say the least. Drew with his vast experience in East Africa had seen nothing like it. He continued to say it felt like Scotland in the medieval times except substituting the Scots for the African locals. Once we found the Semonkong Lodge we had a quick bite to eat and headed for the falls. The journey to the falls took a little less than 90 minutes with stops to snap pictures of the landscape and my new favourite gardening technique--"Ampitheatre Farming", globally known as terracing, as Drew was quick to point out.

Amazing landscape on the walk to the falls

We stopped at a "cafe" on the way to falls which was really not a cafe, but more of a shack that housed local brewed beer and small trinkets including bags of chips and toothbrushes. Shane was brave enough to buy a 6 rand bottle of beer whose alcohol content was probably more than ethanol. The locals wanted Shane to bring the bottle back when we returned from the falls and even sent two youngsters with us all the way to the falls to ensure that the bottle safely made its way back to the cafe.

Made it!

When we made it to the falls our mouths dropped, the scene was utterly amazing. The scene reminded me of Paradise Falls in the critically acclaimed pixar film, UP. After hiking to and fro we drove a short distance to the orphanage where we were to spend the night in an old-abandoned hospital. Creepy is an understatement when describing the venue.

We cooked some local grub that we brought with us which included Chakalaka (can of mixed veggies), chicken and some pasta. We were completely exhausted from the day's journey and were ready to hop into bed, however we seized the opportunity to scare the girls when they all ventured outside to use the facilities. Drew, Shane, and I turned off all the lights and for the next half hour strategized and implemented our favorite scare tactics.

After a surprisingly wonderful night's sleep we were put to work the next morning. The orphanage wanted to erect two signs near the path leading to the orphanage to make it easier for passerbys to know what they are looking at. So we were tasked with digging three separate holes to put 10m poles into. The holes needed to be a meter deep and we found that our task would not be as easy as expected when we ran into a sheet of rock and had to dig again. However, after three hours of labor the poles were in place and sufficiently cemented in.

After eating a light breakfast we wished the glorious mountain kingdom good-bye and headed home to Maseru. That night we were able to head to Kick4Life's offices (partner of GRS where Shane and Lynn work) and play some soccer with the locals. They were very skilled and consistently made me look foolish, but throughout the night we were able to put some balls in the back of the net.

TUESDAY 12/18/2012

For our final day of activities in Lesotho we decided to drive to Thabu-Bosiu for a hike. The mountain top actually is rich with Lesotho history as the famed and iconic King Mashoeshoe claimed the mountain as his residency. He used the leverage of the mountain to fight off the Boers which eventually lead to independence for the Basotho people and the formation of the country of Lesotho. The steep climb took about twenty minutes, but the top of the mountain was so vast and open we spent a couple hours perusing the landscape. We found the grave of Moshoeshoe and some of his descendants (rumor has it he had over 100 wives). At one point Drew was separated from the group and once we found that he was not at the bottom of the trail, Lynne and I had to perform a rescue mission. Initially my thoughts turned to the worst, however after a little bit of time we found Drew at the top. He had decided to take a little bit longer hike, and his pictures proved that it was well worth it. When we got back to the house we just relaxed and finished the night off watching Emperor's New Groove and tried to imitate Cronk's amazing character.

Sign speaks for itself

Tomb of Moshoeshoe's son

WEDNESDAY 12/19/2012

Last day in Lesotho! We started the day off slow, sleeping in until 9:00 and not doing much of anything until 12:00. Around that time we went back to the Football for Hope Center to kick around the ball. We played against a much younger team, however they were very skilled and the African sun took its toll on us. However, we played well and it was a fun, competitive match.

Although our bus was not supposed to leave until 9:50 from Bloemfontein we decided to leave the border at 3:00 to give us ample time to make it across. Crossing the border was easy, but getting a taxi to fill up took a little longer than expected. Once into South Africa we were stopped by local police to make sure we weren't smuggling in any illegal goods. Once the policeman realized that we were Americans, he made some impressions of Obama and didn't even check our passports. One more victory for Uncle Sam. The rest of the drive was very uncomfortable as we were all squashed in the back and at the mercy of the taxi drivers "all-consuming" sub-woofers. To compound problems my hamstrings were as tight as iron rods after playing so much soccer in the morning and the cramped space was not helping them. Always stretch before you board a mini-bus! We made it to the station in plenty of time and were delighted to find out that we only needed to pay 7 rand to get from the taxi rank to the tourism centre where our Greyhound bus was leaving from.

Next to the Greyhound Station we sat down for one last meal together before our diaspora. The waiter was atrocious, Ally found gum in her water, the food came cold, but other than that it wasn't half-shabby. As soon as our bus was supposed to arrive it started to pour, but Drew's company kept my spirits high.

MOSSEL BAY
THURSDAY 12/20/2012

The bus ride was long, but bearable and we ended up making it to Mossel Bay at 10 am (12 hour ride). We decided to stop at the mall in town to eat a light breakfast at Wimpys. We then decided, using our Lonely Planet Guide, to trek the 10km from the mall to where our backpackers was. Although, it was over an hour walk, it was quite fun just chatting away with Drew. Plus the sea-breeze equalized the December heat. When we arrived at the backpackers we were pleasantly surprised with the room and accommodations,  however I realized that during our walk  my sleeping bag had come off its straps.

Drew and I quickly changed into our swimwear and re-traced our steps, but our search was in vain and we are unable to locate the sack. **Apologies to Haley and the Mertins family for the wonderful present, from this point on I will always secure my belongings better!** With our search proving fruitless and no schedule set in stone we decided to head for the beach. We hung out for about an hour and then headed to the Bartholomeu Dias maritime museum which our book advised us to visit. it was another pleasant surprise with a full size replica of the ship that Dias used in the 1400s to sail from Portugal to Mossel Bay. The replica actually sailed in 1988 from Portugal to Mossel Bay (500 years after Dias' expedition). The ship is a large part of Mossel Bay's history! Exhausted from our overnight bus ride we made our way back to the hostel and napped for a couple of hours. When we woke up we walked up and down the main street of the town in search for dinner, but settled on a mom/pop shop and ordered the Thursday special: A humongous burger and chips. Fully satisfied with our meal, we gladly made use of the free wi-fi and headed to bed.

FRIDAY 12/21/2012

Last night we received a text from Great White Sharks telling us to come prepared with Courage and Bravery for our shark-dive at 615am. We set our alarms for 550 and as soon as we woke up we were hyped for our swim with the sharks. We were given breakfast which I took full advantage of, but would later come to regret. The boat ride out to where the sharks are known to resides was choppy, but bearable. It was about a 30 minute ride from the harbour, but was surprisingly close to the shoreline! Once we lowered anchor we were at the mercy of the massive Indian Ocean swells which did not take kindly to my toast, muffins, and second helpings eaten just 45 minutes prior. We waited over an hour for the sharks to arrive, but the wait was well worth it. Over ten different Great Whites visited our boat including our guides favorites: Judy and Shakira. We snapped loads of pictures of the majestic animals and took turns in the cage to view the sharks underwater. Six divers could fit into the cage at once, and although I wasn't part of the first under-water viewing, I made sure to be included in the second and third. We were offered wet-suits, however I dove right in with my bathing suit. The water was cold, but seeing sharks literally an arm reach away makes it easy to forget the cold.

Ahhh so close to us!

Judy

 We stayed out in the water for probably an hour gawking at the maritime beasts and were giddy like little school boys on our walk home recounting the uniqueness of our adventure. I don't know if I will ever be able to see Sharks so close up again, but the experience was well worth it. We headed back to the hostel to catch up on some more sleep and I sat fully engrossed in The girl with the Dragon Tattoo as I enjoyed the African summer heat.

Sunset on our last day