Wow! It has been weeks since I last blogged thanks to the difficulties of trying to blog from an iPad and the ever so reliable wifi service that exists outside the Western world. So once again I need to backtrack...to the beginning of October where my Eurpoean journey ended and the next part of my adventure began.
Welcome to the beautiful continent of Africa! Although my first few hours spent on this continent were not so beautiful...after hearing that my parents flight had been canceled and not knowing when they would arrive, buying what I thought was fish and chips for one and looking ridiculous carrying what ended up being enough for the entire Meek family (all 8 of us), and having to pay off a shady man to get me to the front of the line in order to make my flight it all ended up being alright.
Soon enough I was in a van driving up to Zambezi Sun Resort in Livingstone, Zambia with giraffes and zebras casually standing around grazing on the lawn. After checking in I decided to explore a bit since my parents were still hopping flight to flight country to country to catch up to me. I walked around the property along the electric fence by the river that had signs warning of crocodiles. Then walked through the gate after a nice chat with the security guard, John, and followed the path with the hot beating sun to the grand Victoria Falls.
(Victoria Falls)
My parents still hadn't arrived and as I got into bed that night and as I looked up at the ceiling..right there above me was a gigantic spider! Knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep with this spider in my room (not knowing if it was dangerous or not) I proceeded to attempt to catch the spider with a glass cup and piece of paper which ended with me jumping on the bed and the spider panicking and escaping to hide beneath the bathroom sink. So I stuffed a towel under the bathroom door and hoped that I wouldn't wake up in the night to a spider on my face.
The next day my parents finally made it! We went ahead with our plans enjoying a gorgeous sunset cruise along the Zambezi River where we were able to enjoy drinks while watching hippos in the water. We did an elephant back safari on giant African elephants (tusks and all) where we saw lots of baboons playing and slowly sauntered down to the river.
(Zambezi River Sunset Cruise)
(Baby Elephant that kept grabbing my feet with his trunk as we rode on a larger elephant)
Our next stop was a safari near Kruger National Park in South Africa. After being the only 3 people in the airport and on our 20 passenger plane we were off. We saw water buffalo, hippo, black rhino, bush buck, as well as many other African bush species. It was exciting riding through the bush in our open jeep wrapped up in blankets in the bitter morning with our rugged safari guide.
(Donald, our Safari guide standing on a termite mound)
On the evening safari we passed a herd of elephants. Our guide didn't hesitate to get us as close as possible to them. Our spotter, Difference, who sits in a chair connected to the front of the jeep was charged at by an elephant while an elephant attempted to whack me with its trunk as I sat in the back.
After the excitement of staying in the lodge and going on safaris we headed to Cape Town. We did a Peninsula tour getting to see the penguin colony, seal island, Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Point (the most Southern point of Africa where the Indian ocean meets thePacific).
One early morning we set off to go shark cage diving! The boat that took us out to sea rocked and swayed deeply in the rough waters with a majority of the boat leaning over the sides emptying their stomachs. We went in four or five people at a time in full wetsuits and they would use bait to draw the shark close to the cage. We saw three great whites and my dad even got hit in the face with a shark's powerful fin. It was an exciting trip!--too bad I only realized after that my camera was not working so I have no way to show that we were there.
After shark cage diving we took the long steep cable car to the top of Table Mountain where we were able to witness some spectacular views of the city and sea from far above.
(Top of Table Mountain)
Cape Town is a beautiful city, very similar to San Francisco in a lot of ways. We went the movies, enjoyed seafood, saw the District 6 museum, visited the old palace, and even experienced a dinner and show complete with drummers and dancers. I can't wait to go back someday and explore more of Africa! Maybe even find a film job in Cape Town??
