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.