This past weekend we
all went to the garden route and it was probably the best weekend of my life.
First of all, I really enjoy being in the car and listening to music, and given
that we were travelling for about six hours, I definitely got a decent amount
of that in on Friday. After that, we made it to the caves and we got to go on a
tour through them. If you know me, you know that I have a very strong passion
for cave-y things like stalactites and stalagmites, so being able to see a lot
of those was amazing as well. It also opened up the opportunity for some great
awkward photos of people trying to squeeze through all the slimy passes. After
caving, we arrived at Paradise, our first hostel. It was beautiful and felt
like we were in little tropical bungalows, complete with banana and lime trees.
The only bad thing was that we were staying with a British Bloke about 70 years
old, who clearly enjoyed sleeping scantily clad and without blankets.
On Saturday we woke
up early and went to an elephant reserve. I was the only one in the group who
was not freaking out about this, because I knew that we would be seeing
elephants later on in the trip. Also, I knew that there’s nothing really fun
about watching a bunch of elephants walk back and forth across the side of the
lake, yet I still ended up doing it because I didn’t want to be left out in the
van alone. Once this photo op was over with, we continued our journey and went
to go bungy jumping at the highest bungy bridge in the world. I was planning on
doing the ziplining alternative, but once again, I somehow got coerced into
staying and jumping. I have to say, I was also probably one of the least scared
people on the platform, and I was also the last one in the group to jump. When
you’re up on the platform, the staff is just playing dance music and it’s easy
to forget you’re 216 meters above the earth.
Actually performing
the jump was one of the best and coolest views I have ever experienced. There
is really no way to describe the feeling, other than that the first half second
is the scariest half second of your life, and that the following three of four
seconds are the best of your life. You feel totally weightless and there was an
overcast that made the vegetation look ethereal. While I was hanging waiting to
be brought back up, it began to drizzle which just made everything seem even
cooler. In other words, I would one hundred percent recommend jumping to anyone
who is even considering it slightly.
We ended up the night
at our final hostel, which was perched right at the edge of the beach. The
night consisted of a lot, but most memorable were the late night swims, and the
new friends made. The weekend ended with an amazing game drive through an
enormous private reserve. Here we got to see a family of elephants that were
much livelier than the oppressed ones at the elephant bush walk, along with
many other exotic creatures. After this weekend, I can understand why so many
people said that the garden route is a must when going to South Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment