April Vac: Rhode Trip to Cape Town

Hello Everyone,

Last week we had fall break here at Rhodes. Basically all of us exchange students went to Cape Town in different groups via the garden route. I was in the group with 2 other girls and three other guys, two Europeans and three Americans. It was amazingly beautiful and i had a great time. We left on Saturday morning and arrived in cape town on Monday morning. Along the way, we stopped in Mosselbay and Plettenberg Bay. On the first day we did ziplining and boy was that exciting. I was actually pretty scared but i mustered up all the courage in me and did it. I screamed on the first two ropes but after that i think i got the hang of it. (YIKES). But overall it was a great experience.

Ziplining Left to Right: Victoria, Jantina, Me, Pierce, and Brian

Me ziplining

Thumbs up from victoria and I

Cool Kids

After Zip lining we went to the Tenkwai Cat museum and saw leopards, wild cats, cheetahs, mere cats and other types of cats. The funniest and most scariest thing happened at the cats museum though. We were told how scary the leopard was and how to not get too close to it because it is the most ferocious of all cats. When we were getting a tad bit closer to the cage, the thing leaped at me and i yelled like i was mad. If that cage was not between us, i would not be here to tell this story today. Boy was that the most scariest moments of my life. Right after it happened to me, Jantina walked by and he leaped at her as well. I will never get close to a leopard. You could barely spot it and when you did, it was because it was literally staring at you through the fence.

Cheetah

Mere cats

Us with our tour guide

After this we drove to the hostel for the night in Plettenberg Bay which was about an hour away at the most. The hostel was neat, all six of us shared a room, got pretty cosy in a six person room i tell you.  But we managed lol.

The next day 3 of the ones who were travelling with us went to bungee jump while us "noncrazy" ones decided to sleep in and have a nice French breakfast. The food was delicious and i didnt have to worry about it coming back to haunt me later lol. After the others finished bungee jumping, we all met up and decided to split up. Us girls decided to head on to mosselbay while the boys decided to hike. It was my turn to drive and let me tell you that driving on the other side of the road is a bit weird at first. When i backed out the parking space, i started driving on the right side of the road and Jantina said "Ashley, other side". I had immediately forgotten that i was supposed to drive on the left side. Sitting on the passenger side while driving was already bad enough but i got used to it. I just had a hard time at first with getting used to how close i was on the left side to the lines. Once we got to Mosselbay we went to our hostel, checked in and ate a late lunch. We stayed on a train for the night. Yes the hostel was actually a train. It was fun though.

Mosselbay beach

The next day we drove to cape town and boy was i excited to finally be there. Although the garden route was gorgeous, it was reassuring to finally reach our final destination. Along the way, we went to Cape Agulhas, which is the southernmost tip of Africa and the place where the indian and atlantic oceans meet. During the week, we went to Table Mountain, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned), cape of good hope, Boulders Beach, Capes Bay, and went on a double decker city sightseeing tour. Cape Town was as beautiful as i heard it was and worth the wait and time getting there.

Cape Alguhas

Cape Town

Robben Island

 Cape Town

 Cape of Good Hope

 On top of Table Mountain

Boulder's Beach Penguins

AND we saw BABOONS!

Some of my pictures are out of order i see but i tried to include as many captions as possible.

Until next time,
Ashley