Finally - The Photos from our trip!

Well it has been a long time coming, but the photos from our tour of South Africa are finally ready! The photos are up on shutterfly. We should warn you that the album is pretty long, but it was very difficult to narrow down our selections since we took nearly 3,000 pictures. We have tried to select the pictures that do the best job telling the story of our trip. We look forward to your comments and would be happy to tell anyone many more stories about our trip. Hope you enjoy!

Our Trip to Africa

Coming to an end

I really can't believe that I am writing this post today knowing that Amy and I will be leaving South Africa tomorrow. It is strange to think that we planned this trip for nearly two years and that now it has already come and gone. We have been here for 3 months already and yet the time has passed so quickly.

I should probably catch up on our travels since our last post. We wrapped up our projects at the Kurland Village township a week ago on Friday. While we definitely faced our share of frustrations, I think both Amy and I left realizing that is had been quite an eye opening and worthwhile experience.

After leaving Plettenberg Bay, we rented a Ford Ikon and decided to spend the long weekend driving back to Cape Town. Our first stop was in Oudtshoorn which is the Ostrich capital of South Africa. We had a wonderful dinner at Jemima's which is one of South Africa's top restaurants. On Saturday we went to visit the Cango Caves which is a massive series of cave located just outside of Oudtshoorn and then we stopped at an Ostrich farm where Amy went for quite an exciting ride!

From there we decided to make our way along the windy and beautiful Route 62 through the Overberg mountains and down towards Cape Aghulas. Many people think that Cape Point near Cape Town is the southern tip of Africa, but in reality it is Cape Aghulus which is the southern most point in Africa and the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. There isn't too much to see, but it is a beautiful beach and we have some fun photos to prove that we drove all the way to the end of Africa. Before we reached the Cape, we took a small detour through some very rural farm land to experience a ride on the only hand drawn pontoon in South Africa. Our boss at WWISA gave us the inside scoop and it was neat to see our car being pulled across a river by two men without mechanics. Not many people, let alone tourists, know about its existence so it was neat to see their reactions when we told them where we were from. Quite a new and unusual experience!

After Aghulas, our next stop was a small fishing / holiday town called Hermanus. Hermanus is known as one of the best places in the world for Whale Watching. In fact, you can see whales without even getting on a boat. We saw 4 different whales including 2 which couldn't have been more than 100 yards away from the cliff where we were sitting. After an afternoon of whale watching, Amy and I decided that we hadn't had our fill of marine animals. So on Monday we decided to go out on a boat from a a nearby town called Gansbaai to go cage diving with Great White Sharks! I couldn't believe that we actually had the courage to do it, but when we got on the boat and the sharks starting swimming up to eat our bait - they were such amazing creatures. So Amy and I both put on wet suits and got into a metal cage to literally swim face to face with massive sharks. All in all we saw 9 different sharks including one that was 4 meters in length. The sharks were remarkable, but unfortunately the boat trip made both of us quite sick - nonetheless it was worth every minute.

Then our final stop before returning to Cape Town was at a small town called Betty's Bay which is home to a very large colony of African Penguins. So we spent about an hour watching penguins. They are such fascinating creatures - it is wonderful just watch as they jump in the water or waddle around on the rocks. Then after all of our marine animals watching we made our way back to Cape Town where we spent the past few days visiting with family and enjoying a relaxing few days before leaving South Africa.

Overall our trip has been an amazing success and while I am missing home, I am also very sad to see it come to an end. We have done so many new things and seen so many places we had never even heard of before our trip. Most of all we have gained an understanding of many of the complex issues that are facing South Africa today.

For now we must say goodbye to our South African adventures, but we will post again soon - next time from America - to tell you more about our next series of adventures. We will also do our best to upload a photo album over the coming weeks.

WWISA: Life at Kurland Village and Rocky Road

Again, many apologies for the length of time since our last post. Due to a massive storm that moved through here two weeks ago, power went out for a while and the internet has been very moody.

We left Cape Town about two weeks ago to head for a town on the eastern coast called Plettenberg Bay. Before we left home, we made contact with an organization called Willing Workers in South Africa (see the link to their website under our "links" section) and planned to spend the last four weeks of our trip volunteering our time to people who need help. Our hope was to use some of our education and skills to try to make life better for some people of this country. Unfortunately, that hasn't completely worked out as planned, but we're making the best of our time here.

WWISA is actually headquartered just outside of Plettenberg Bay in an area called the Crags. We live at the end of a dirt road in a beautiful home called Rocky Road. It's a very communal place, as we live with our "bosses" Mac and Rocky as well as several other volunteers from the US, UK, Denmark and Holland. Rocky does a fantastic job tending the massive garden which makes the atmosphere very peaceful at times. Mac is a great cook, so we definitely eat well every night. Unfortunately, the place is usually full of people - many of whom are friends of Rocky and Mac so sometimes, especially on weekends, it feels more like we live in a Real World house than with a volunteer organization. Once you get past the drama and drinking, it is a pretty neat place to live. We've done a few hikes, visited some amazing beaches, and swung from tree to tree on a zip line canopy tour in the Tsitsikamma National Forest. We even had the pleasure of tasting the brandy tart at the hotel in Storms River (thanks for the recommendation Will - delicious!).

Our first night here was a bit awkward, as we were still getting to know everyone. There wasn't really an orientation so we were left to fend for ourselves for the most part. Little did we know that would be a sign of things to come. Rocky Road runs on what we like to call "Africa time" - meaning things happen whenever they happen so don't worry about it and just have fun while things sort themselves out. That's a fun attitude to have for about a day, but then it can quickly develop into frustration.

The volunteer projects are based in a township just down the road called Kurland Village. The township houses mainly coloured (which doesn't mean the same thing here as in America) and Xhosa people who work in the neighboring areas. While it is one of the only townships in the area that is of mixed race, there is still a lot of segregation within the village. It's continually growing and many of the new citizens just build small shacks wherever there is space. It's definitely a tough place to live. The streets in the squatter areas are filthy and the kids play alongside the pigs in the mud and sewage. The people seem to be friendly and happy. We feel pretty safe walking around and while I know that isn't the case in most townships I'm glad I have the ability to really see what it's like inside a township.

When it came time to work out our projects there wasn't much discussion or direction. WWISA works well for people who have a project planned out and come here to put it into place, but since we only had a month it was difficult to develop something that could really help the people in Kurland. On our first day of work, we were dropped off at the creche, the daycare, where about sixty kids on average are cared for by one teacher, one cook, and a few volunteers. While playing with little kids is fun, without structoure or a set curriculum the place was just chaotic. We both quickly learned the creche was not for us.

David heard through another volunteer that the Kurland town manager, Anthony, needed help wtih a housing development project. Though there are sound housing structures in Kurland, many people still live in squatter style shacks. There are funds in place to build homes and Anthony has the task of deciding who gets the homes as they become available. Given that development and planning is an interest of David's this project sounded like a perfect fit for him. Unfortunately, the day David was set to start working, administrators from the municipality decided Anthony's computer needed repair work. David's project fell through before it even began and he now has to wait until the computer comes back. That was about three weeks ago...so much for that idea! David is now lending a hand to the librarian at the primary school, John. The library is very new and is in the process of being organized and catalogued. John is also on vacation this week, so David is running the library while he's gone.

After deciding against the creche, I have spent the last few weeks working at Grace House, a safe house for kids from tough family environments. I spend my mornings tring to teach a few kids some math and English skills. There are twelve kids in the home at the moment - seven girls and five boys. All have pretty tough stories and come from difficult situations. While the safe house founder seems to have good intentions, in reality I've been quite frustrated and disappointed by what I've seen. The school is about two years old and has yet to have a permanent teacher. The kids learn from volunteers like myself who cycle in and out and various lengths and times of the year. There also isn't a curriculum to use or reference, so I pretty much teach off the cuff. Currently I work with two volunteers, though one left last week and the other leaves this week with me. The language barrier is another struggle, as the kids' first language is Afrikaans. Though they speak English well, learning in English is a struggle. The kids are fantastic and are desparate to learn and make their lives better. However, they have no support, structure, or resource in the Grace House. It seems to serve the very basic purpose of providing a safe roof over their heads. Of course that is necessary, however there seems to be no attempt to provide these kids with life skills, job skills, or a therapeutic environment in which to develop. The woman who runs the place seems to feel that their spiritual development is more important than anything else and hasn't seem to make anything else a priority. I have nothing against religion or religious organizations that care for and support children in need. However, I believe that we have to provide these kids with more that a relationship with God in order to help them survive in life. Most of these kids have very few coping skills, social skills, or life skills and without any direction they'll likely struggle with adulthood. I'm frustrated by the fact that there isn't much I can do in this short amount of time here, but it's also hard to know that I'm leaving to go back to normal life and these kids will be left here without direction or support. The other volunteers and I hope to pass our concerns on to other community members who may be able to help long term - I guess that's the best I can hope for at this point. The struggle is that there is little to no infrastructre, so I wouldn't even know who to go to for help. I hope I can find someone who will take action.
Overall, our time here as been quite a learning experience. More of a disappointment than an enjoyment, but we both feel enlightened to life in a township and a developing community. We've both not only gone through feelings of frustration, apathy, anger, sadness and defeat but also joy, excitement, optimism, and hope. It's been a roller coaster of a ride! We've gained an understanding of how frustrating it can be without support, an education, resources, a vehicle, food, or a roof that keeps out the rain. We also understand how easy it is for people to want to give up, because we've reached that point a few times this month. But we value the experience we've had, as most people who visit this country or live in this country haven't experienced what he have.

From the Mountains to the Ocean: 2,500 km in a Toyota Tazz

All apologies for the length of time since our last post. Things have moved rather quickly during our travels and sometimes it's difficult to find time to write....not to mention the fact that internet has either been difficult to come by or too expensive to use. To update you on the last couple of weeks...

David and I left the comfort of our hostel in the Drakensberg mountains to head toward the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho. My parents run a foundation and several months ago they became involved in a gardening project at Mants'ase Children's Home near the town of Mohales Hoek. Because David and I knew we were going to be in the area, we decided to stop in and check the place out. Not only was the journey into Lesotho a learning experience for both of us, but spending five days with these kids was fantastic!

Third world travel is always an eye opening experience. In the past, I have worked with orphanges and children's homes in both Russia and Nepal, so the third world nature of Lesotho wasn't so new to me. David, however, has always wanted to see and experience a developing nation, so he was excited to both travel in the country and visit the children.

Though everyone was shy the first day, David and I tried to use non verbal communication (mainly making funny faces and funny noises) to get the kids to open up a bit. They don't have much at the home, but soccer and frisbee were daily activities, and we even had the opportunity to watch a couple of World Cup games with them, as they recently acquired electricty. The younger children were easier to bond with, as teenagers are naturally more aloof, but by the end of our five days we definitely felt we had bonded in some way with all 44 kids (ages 1 to 16), the three house mothers, and the director, Alice. We also had the opportunty to meet several of the board members, including several South Africans who run some of the local businesses. Overall it was a fantastic week, and it was nice for David to finally understand what I'm talking about when I reference my previous experiences. If anyone ever has the opportunity to travel in a developing nation and work with the local people, I absolutely know you will have the experience of a lifetime and your eyes will be opened to things you never could have imagined.

From Mants'ase, we decided we wanted to see a bit more of Lesotho, so we made our way to a backpackers lodge called Malealea. It's a fairly popular place for travellers to visit, as they lead pony treks from the lodge into the local mountains. We were a bit strapped for time, but we took an overnight trip from the lodge to a local village where we slept for the night. We each rode on a famous Basotho pony (which we really just call a horse...check me out on mine!) up and down the cliffs and mountains for about six hours until we reached our village accomodations for the night.

The picture below is the view out of our hut.

The experience was amazing and it really provided a glimpse of what real Basotho life is like. We ventured where no cars can travel and to where life really is simple. We carried everything up and down the mountain ourselves (via a pack horse) and slept on the floor of the hut. Though it was a cold night, the stars were out in full form and the silence was spectacular. Truly a moving experience and one we'll never forget. Plus, we have proof there really is snow in Africa!

After almost two weeks in the mountains, sleeping in huts and taking cold showers, we were ready for the sun. Fortunately, we were due to meet David's family on the coast for a two week family vacation. His father hired a house on the beach in a town called Southbroom with room for everyone...David's three sisters, two brothers-in-law, and his parents. The only hurdle in our way was the long drive through the mountains from Lesotho to the coast. We were so sun-deprived and delerious we thought we'd make the trip in a day, but a three hour trip over the dirt road mountain pass between Lesotho and South Africa, after getting lost in rural Lesotho, shook us back into reality. We spent so many hours on a dirt road that when we finally reached tar we had to stop, take a picture, and celebrate with a happy dance! We had to stop at a fantastic B&B for the night and made our way to Southbroom on Sunday 9 July. The palm trees, sugar cane, and ocean were definitely sights for sore eyes! Our week in the sun made for great tans, wonderful R&R and the family was fantastic company after weeks of strangers. We slept in, lounged on the beach, played cards, and at fantastic food! It almost felt that we were back in normal life!

After our week in Southbroom, everyone flew together to Cape Town for a week long family reunion of sorts with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins of SA. And that is where we are today. Our week in Cape Town has been filled with wine tours, shopping, movies, and numerous dinners. We even climbed Table Mountain on foot, waterfalls and all! From here, we travel up the coast to Plettenberg Bay where we will hook up with our volunteer organization for the next few weeks. We have no idea what to expect but we're excited and ready! The last several weeks have been so fast paced and busy, plus we've covered a lot of mileage! It will be nice to settle in one place for a while and really get to know the people and the culture there. Wish us luck on our nine hour bus ride tomorrow!

Namibia, Botswana, Vic Falls

It has been two amazing weeks since out last post. Internet is pretty rare in rural Africa and when it is available loading even a simple website can be extremely slow - but who needs internet while traveling to such amazing places?

So since we left the dunes of Namibia we made our way through northern Namibia, Bostwana and up to Victoria Falls (on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe). Since it would take forever to go through every day of our exciting trip - I will just say something about a few of the highlights.

In Namibia we spent 2 nights camping and 1 full day of game driving through Etosha National Park. Etosha is a massive game reserve known for is large Pan that floods in the rainy season. We saw plenty of Rhinos, Elephants, Wild Beasts, Impalas, Springbok, Kudu, Giraffe (it is so cool watching them drink from a waterhole), Jackals. We were also lucky enough to find an Earth Wolf, a Hyena, a poisonous black mambo snake, 2 female lions (including one that was eating a dead Rhino) and rarest of all a leapard.

In Botswana we spent 3 days in the Okavango Delta which is one of my favorite places I have ever been . The river spreads out into a massive delta of small streams, marsh and islands. It reminded me somewhat of the everglades, but much more beautiful. We enjoyed relaxing Mokoro rides (dug out canoes that are pushed with a pole rather than paddles) and spent a night camping on a Island hidden away in the middle of the Delta. The Okavango may just be the most peaceful and relaxing place in the world - I only wish I could have stayed for longer.
While in Botswana we also went to Chobe National Park, we we stay more animals than I could have ever imagined in one place. There were giraffe, impala, kudu, wart hogs, wild beast, buffalo (which rounded out our search for the big 5 - Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Leapoard and Buffalo) and of course hundreds of elephants. We even got charged by a baby elephant and had a massive male come within 5 feet of our truck. We also so hippos, crocodiles, monitor lizards, sable antelope, a hyena and the infamous African python. It was really an incredible game experience.

After Botwana we went up to Victoria Falls, which is even far more beautiful that I had ever expected. The width of the falls and sheer volume of water is incredible - I had no idea how wimpy Niagra Falls really is by comparison. It is amazing the amount of mist that rises from the falls. There are some places were you can't see 10 feet in front of you because there is so much water! I can't wait until I have a better high speed internet connection (in Cape Town) so that I can post some pictures.

The next day we decided to get a first hand enjoyment of the mighty Zambezi River so we went white water rafting down the rapids below the falls. It really amazing and since the water was so high the rapids felt like we were floating over massive ocean waves. It was such a blast - definitely worth the 18.6 Million Zimbabwe dollars!

After Vic, we went back to Joburg with our Nomad Tour and then spent the night on a farm in Benoni outside of the city. Then we rented a car and made out way east to the Drakensburg mountains. We spent yesterday hiking to the top of Sentinel Peak and to Tegeula Falls (the second highest only to Angel Falls) which has a vertical drop of more that 900 meters. It was really impressive even though it was mostly frozen over. Well we are still here for a couple more days before we head to Lesotho. Can't wait to tell you more about the trip.

Cape Town to Swakopmund - Week One "The Desert"

The last six days have been some of the most incredible experiences of our lives, and the best part is that there is so much more to come.

David and I are writing to you from Swakopmund, Namibia - an old German port city. We have spent the past week with twenty one other adventure seekers on an overland truck driving through the mountains of South Africa and the deserts of Namibia. We started in Cape Town on June 4 and spent the first night just outside of Citrusdal in South Africa. Since we are on a camping tour, almost every night of our three week trip is spent in a tent; we spent our first night surrounded by beautiful mountains and glorious citrus groves. It was a beautiful place to see the sunset and get to know our new friends and travelmates for the next three weeks. We are on this trip with several young people, mostly Dutch students studying at Stellenbosch and English medical students on holiday. There are also a few Americans, honeymooners from South Korea and a fantastic Australian couple in their late fifties who remind me a lot of my parents. They have been traveling the world for the last eight months and have the greatest stories and experiences to share. We were nervous about spending three weeks with twenty-plus random strangers, but we have been so lucky with this group, in that everyone gets along well. We also have three great guides from South Africa who are very experienced, knowledgeable, and fun to be around!

Day two took us on a long drive to the Namibian border where we camped along the Orange River and watched a glorious sunset. Some in our group arose the next morning and took a canoe trip down the river, but we decided to sleep in a bit and just enjoy the view. In the afternoon, we crossed the border into Namibia and made it to Fish River Canyon for a most spectacular sunset. Fish River Canyon is the second largest in the world, behind the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It was amazing to sit along the canyon's edge, have a few beers with new friends, and look up and the thousands of stars visible in the Namibian sky - a most rewarding view for an astronomy buff like myself who has been living in the city for the last several years!

Driving is a common theme on this trip thus far, and our fourth day was no different. We drove many hours, all day in fact, from Fish River Canyon to a town called Seisrem, home of another marvelous, but small canyon. More importantly, however, our campsite was just a few minutes drive from the famous Dune 45 in the Namib Desert. At 4:45 the next morning, Wednesday, our entire group awoke and ran to our truck to drive the ten minutes to the gates of the Namib Desert Reserve. There were a few other overland groups at our campground, but our guides told us it was important to be first in line. When the gate opened at 5:15, we drove to Dune 45 in time to be the first group to climb up it and watch the sun rise over the entire desert. It was one of the most incredible, moving experiences I've had in quite a while. The climb was exhausting and took about thirty minutes. But when we got to the top, dunes were visible for miles! The sunrise was beautiful, and it was in that moment that I realized where I was standing and how awesome and amazing this world actually is. There is so much to see and experience, and I hope that each of you is able to see something as beautiful in your lifetime. In the afternoon, we were led on a guided tour through the desert to learn more about how dunes are formed and how the desert functions.

That evening, we spent the night in a bush camp. While that may sound rustic, it actually was one of the best accomodations we've had thus far. We spent the evening socializing and David was exicted to have potjiekos - pronounced poykeykos - a traditional South African stew. We've eaten very well on this trip so far, but that meal took the top prize!

Day six was another day of driving - all day in fact. We have spent so much time looking out the window and it's amazing to see just how open and vast Namibia is. There are very few people and we hardly passed a car on the road - and a dirt road at that! It's a beautiful sight and it's reassuring to know that there are still open spaces left in the world. We've also been fortunate enough to see some wild animals along the way, mostly Springbok, but also ostrich, kudu (a type of antelope), and jackels.

We arrived in Swakopmund yesterday and are enjoying the luxury of a bed, bar, and satellite television to watch the World Cup openers. This morning we spent on the sand dunes, riding quad bikes out to a place where we were able to sandboard down a large dune. It was fantastic - such a rush!

It's been an amazing trip and we can't wait to see what's yet to come. We know we'll hit a few game parks along the way to see some animals and are excited for our time at Victoria Falls. Until then, we hope everyone is doing well. We probably won't have internet until Vic Falls, so it will be a couple weeks time.

And the beat goes on...

We've been here in Cape Town for about five days now, and though the jet lag has been more difficult than we realized, we have had a great introduction to life as a native Cape Townian. We've spent quite a bit of time just chatting with David's family members and getting to know each other better. David hasn't been back to Cape Town for about four and a half years, so it has been neat to see him reconnect with his birthplace. Since his family is coming in July to spend a week here, and his newest brother-in-law hasn't visited yet, we promised to save some of the "tourist" sights for their visit. In that case, we have spent most of the week just walking along the beach and getting to know life in Cape Town as a local. Today was the most toursity day of all. Granny and Grandpa Bank were our tour guides for Muizenberg beach, Hout Bay, and the famous Cape Point (the southern most point of the Cape Town area). Hopefull pictures are soon to follow...It was a beautiful drive and we loved seeing new towns and the great oceanic views. It was also a pleasure to hear stories from David's grandparents about summer vacations and weekend trips to the beach. This evening, David's cousin Jeffrey served as a fantastic tour guide through the nightlife of Cape Town. Overall, a glorious week!

We've enjoyed our time here in Cape Town, but know there is plenty more to see of this beautiful African region. A few days ago we were lucky to book a last minute tour with Nomad Tours and we will be leaving tomorrow morning for our newest adventure. We will start here in Cape Town and by three weeks time we'll be enjoying the roar of Victoria Falls. We'll catch a few days in the dunes of Namibia (though probably won't catch a glimpes of baby Shiloh Jolie-Pitt unless we can sneak past the armed guards!) and hope to hit a couple of game parks before ending in the glorious Vic Falls. All the while, we'll be camping out under the stars in the Namibian desert and enjoying the company of up to 18 wonderful strangers...let's hope they're t0lerable and sane :) If you' like to check out the itinerary for the tour, click here. Otherwise, we'll try to post as often as possible so that you can follow along on the next adventure.

A fantastic thanks to the Cohens and Banks for being wonderful hosts and tour guides for the last few days. We are sad to leave, but know there will be more good times with the rest of the family come July. Love to everyone at home, and Happy Birthday to my mother who is off on her own wonderful adventure in Ireland!