Zuid Africa

Our trip to South Africa got off to a rocky start, but we made it! Our original flight was to leave Abuja on Friday night at 6:30pm. The night before leaving, we got a call from our travel agent telling us that our 6:30 flight got cancelled, but we might be able to make a different flight. She told us there was a 2:30, 4:00 and 5:00 flight. We had decided to fly Arik, a Nigerian airline, being that it was the cheapest by almost a thousand dollars. We had heard good and bad things about the airline. As we got ready for our 3 week winter break, we realized that Arik doesn't accommodate when they've cancelled a flight. "You're own your own" is the mentality. We were told that if we didn't make our connecting flight in Lagos, we would have to pay for another flight to get to Johannesburg. When we got to school on Friday, we talked with our administrators and they tried getting us on the earlier flights, even though we would have to leave school early. With no luck, our director suggested we leave at noon and just get to the airport and try to figure it from there. So, we left school early, got to the airport by 1 and sat there until 8:30. We were told we were on the 3:30 flight, which used to be the 2:30 flight but got moved. To make a long story short, they kept delaying flights. We finally made it onto the plane at 8:30 with our 3:30 departure tickets in hand. Once we got to Lagos, were were told that the Arik flights were delayed and cancelled due to plane movement being suspended because the president and governors were flying in and out of Lagos. Who knows...either way, we made it to Lagos and made our connecting flight to Johannesburg.

Once in South Africa, our first stop was Wilderness, a small town on the Garden Route. We were staying in a place that overlooked the Indian Ocean as well as a lagoon.

(For my Oklahoma friends and family, the owner of the B&B we stayed at is from Oklahoma City and has family living in Enid...such a small world!)

View from the front porch of Mont Fluer B&B

After a four hour drive from Wilderness, we had made it to the cape.

We rented a house in Simon's Town, which is a small beach town 20 minutes south of Cape Town on the cape peninsula. We stayed there for two weeks and traveled all throughout the Western Cape.

Indian Ocean with the cape in the background

The view from our front porch in Simon's Town.

The view of Simon's Town.

The hills of Constantia

Steenberg winery in the Constantia area

Brian, Jordan, and David scoping out the perfect spot at Boulders Beach.

Boulders Beach is known for its penguin inhabitants and its unique beach.

Strolling past our stuff

David peeking through

Boulders Beach

These penguins are known as "Jack Ass" penguins because they are as dumb as a jack ass. They are officially called African Penguins though. Boulders Beach is part of Table National Park and a place where you can enjoy the beach and the waters of the Indian Ocean along side these magnificent penguins.

A ten minute walk from our place in Simon's Town.

We attended the Civil Twilight concert at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

We were under the impression that the twilight concert at the botanical gardens would be a small venue where we would enjoy a quiet picnic with some lite music, but were surprised to show up to such a crowded concert. The band, Civil Twilight, is a popular South African band playing their first concert on home soil. They sound a lot like U2, so much so that we thought it was them for a while.

Kirstenbosch Mountain

Baboons crossing the road

Baboons wresting on the side of the road

The view north east from Cape Point lookout

Distances from Cape Point...

Cape of Good Hope Point.

(the southern most point on the cape peninsula)

The farthest south Jess has ever been

A baboon cleaning his wound

Thick marine layer over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Indian ocean side, where we were staying, was clear.

A wonderful sight from the top of the mountain pass.

GQ men

The Arra Selection

Enjoying lunch with Arra wine owners, Niel and Monica.

We were introduced through mutual friends from Abuja. Niel and Monica also have a house in Lagos where he imports his South African Wine. It was an enjoyable afternoon at their winery.

Stellenbosch region...absolutely gorgeous

Overlooking the Arra winery.

Jordan and Brian playing a game of boules (aka padunk or batchi ball)

After our stay in Simon's Town was over, we made our way back to the Garden Route. We stayed in a cute B&B perched on top of a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Jordan exploring the loft in our cottage.

The view from our place in Wilderness.

Salt water pool right outside our thatched roof cottage

Playing Boules on the beach

Our road trip through South Africa included driving over mountain passes, through tree farms, along the ocean, and across farm country. The vast landscape was gorgeous. South Africa is an amazingly beautiful country. We just scraped the surface on this trip...We'll be back to explore some more!