For most Americans, the holiday season conjures images of tree decorating, gift-giving and wintry weather. It is difficult for many of us to imagine Christmas without also thinking of snowflakes, sleigh bells and a yearly visitor from the North Pole. And, though I remember very few years in which we actually had a white Christmas in Oregon growing up, the cold winter weather did not make it difficult to imagine a snowy wonderland outside.

It rarely occurred to me that, for those, living South of the equator, Christmas and snowflakes do not necessarily go hand in hand.

Until 2013, when Dan and I spent the holiday season in South Africa and our notion of Christmas was flipped upside down.

Once we learned that we would be spending the 2013 holiday season in South Africa, Dan and I figured we might as well spend it in the sun at a beach–since finding a winter wonderland nearby seemed an unlikely possibility. Besides, I was excited to fully immerse myself in the Christmas experience of those hailing from the southern hemisphere.

So, on Christmas day, Dan and I ventured toward a beach near the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in St Lucia and prepared for a day of soaking up Vitamin D in the warmth of the African sun.

But Christmas decided to throw a curveball our way.

Shortly after we arrived at the beach, we locked our keys in the car. And thus began a day-long process of finding a locksmith in the area that would actually be open on Christmas Day. Finally, with the help of police officers, we found a locksmith in Richards Bay–a city more than 150km away. We took a seat outside of the police station, twiddled our thumbs and waiting for the locksmith to arrive.

Despite the lack of cold weather and holiday cheer, it was hardly the Christmas we’d imagined.

***

Hluhluwe Imfolozi: The Best Place to See Rhinos in the Wild

Perhaps our South African Christmas didn’t go exactly as planned, but spending December 26th at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi National Park more than made up for our misadventures the previous day. Hluhluwe Imfolozi is the oldest nature reserve in Africa and spreads for nearly 1,000 square kilometers over the hilly, lush terrain of Kwazulu-Natal. The wildlife reserve is known for its remarkable rhino conservation efforts.

If we had come to South Africa and only visited Hluhluwe-Imfolozi National Park, it would have probably been difficult for us to understand the country’s dire rhino poaching problems. The park is chock-full  of these beautiful animals.

In the early 1900s, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi spearheaded a preservation campaign that is largely responsible for bringing the white rhinos back from the brink of extinction.

Yet, rhino poaching is still a major problem in South Africa. Every year, poaching claims the lives of hundreds of animals whose horns are sold in Asia for medicinal purposes. Though rhino poaching is illegal, the demand for rhino horns is so great that selling them in the black market remains a lucrative business.

Hluhluwe Imfolozi has not entirely escaped poachers, but the park still boasts the highest concentration of rhinos in the world. It is the best place to see rhinos in the wild and a safari in Hluhluwe Imfolozi will undoubtedly result in numerous rhino encounters.

During our Hluhluwe Imfolozi safari, we encountered upwards of forty rhinos.

Other Animals in Hluhluwe Imfolozi

Although the park is known for its robust rhino population, many other animals find a home in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi as well. The game reserve houses Africa’s Big 5 as well as a diverse array of small predators, herbivores and birds. Throughout our self-guided game drive, we had many wonderful wildlife encounters, despite the thick foliage and tall grasses of the rainy season.

Our most prized animal sighting came toward the end of our drive, while Dan and I were finishing our loop of the park. We were meandering along one of the park’s smaller roads when, all of a sudden, we encountered a line of cars stopped near a dry riverbed.

Dan and I rolled down our windows and craned our necks to see what was going on, but found nothing except for grasses and shrubs. We asked the passengers in the stopped car in front of us, but the driver merely shrugged and pointed at the other cars, suggesting they knew something he did not. When the cars lined up in front finally continued on their way, we pulled up into their places and scanned our surroundings.

And then we saw the prize. Sitting under a tree in the distance was a pack of rare painted dogs, whose patchy brown and black fur camouflaged perfectly into the surrounding area.

The dogs were far away and I had to sit on the car’s window ledge to see them. I took out my camera and screwed on the 300mm zoom lens to try to capture an image of the animals.

Though the quality of the image is compromised due to the extended zoom and significant cropping, I am happy that we were able to at least capture a photo during our safari in Hluhluwe Imfolozi.

Seeing the dogs was a belated Christmas gift that nearly made us forget our misadventures the previous day.

It rounded out an incredible week of wildlife sightings and was a great finale to our whirlwind three-week tour of South Africa.

***

Note: To read more about the endangered painted dogs, check out Carol’s article about the poaching and conservation of painted dogs in  Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. 

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While safari-going may rank toward the top of things to do on a trip to Africa, I admit that prior to setting foot on the continent, animal viewing fell somewhere near the bottom of my travel list. After all, I’d been to plenty of zoos in my life and seen many of Africa’s prized animals up close in captivity. How different could it be to see these animals in the wild, I wondered?

My first encounter with Africa’s animals in the wild came during a month-long adventure through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi with some of my WorldTeach friends. I vividly remember the exhilaration I felt during our outing in the Okavango Delta, when we found ourselves face-to-face with dozens of elephants, giraffes and wildebeest. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my trips to zoos growing up were in no way comparable to visiting a wildlife reserve.

I visited numerous parks throughout my time in Africa and soon discovered that, just as seeing animals in zoos cannot be compared to witnessing their interactions in the wild, so too was it difficult to equate my experience in one park with my experience in another. Each has its own unique species and ecosystems. Each brings its own set of adventures.

With this in mind, I decided to include three game parks into my South Africa itinerary with Dan. I wanted him to experience the thrill of seeing animals in their natural habitat, as well as the diversity of wildlife that can be seen in the different parks throughout the continent. We kicked off our wildlife viewing adventures with a self-guided safari in Kruger National Park.

South Africa’s Kruger National Park consistently ranks atop the list of Africa’s most impressive game parks. It is one of the world’s biggest wildlife reserves and houses more species of big game than any other park in Africa. Due to the sheer magnitude of species in the reserve, Kruger has often been deemed the crown jewel on South Africa. For a country with rugged natural scenery, plentiful wildlife parks, ecological diversity and world-class cities, such a distinction certainly means a lot.

Unfortunately, Dan and I visited Kruger at the height of the rainy season, when trees were in full bloom and the dense vegetation made it difficult to spot animals. Aside from the thousands of impala that we spotted throughout the park, we would sometimes drive hours before spotting a solitary elephant, a group of giraffes or a zebra herd. Driving around the park for two days with such sparse sightings could be frustrating at times, but I soon realized that the beauty of our experience lay in the quality of our sightings rather than the quantity.

Sometimes, our lack of big game sightings would cause us to become complacent in the car. I would get tired of pointing out lions and giraffes, only to realize a few minutes later that the shapes I was seeing were merely branches or tree stumps.

It was just at those moments that we would have some of our most impressive and exciting wildlife encounters.

One of the most memorable experiences during our self-guided safari happened toward the end of our first day in the park, when we were experiencing a significant drought in animal sightings. We had followed the roads through dense thickets of vegetation for a while and crossed countless rivers and swamps without spotting much more than the occasional impala or zebra.

Eventually, Dan and I grew distracted and took our eyes largely off the road when, all of a sudden, we hit a large pothole, slammed on the brakes and found ourselves being sized up by a furious rhino that had been enjoying a solitary mud bath until we invaded its privacy.

For a moment, we panicked. I felt completely vulnerable in our little rented Fiat 500 and knew very well that our tiny vehicle stood a poor chance of escaping the wrath of a charging rhino. I looked at Dan and his eyes told me that he had felt the same momentary jolt of panic.

We turned off the car engine and sat in silence, trying our best to remain motionless and calm. To our relief, the rhino grew disinterested in us and eventually waddled away from the waterhole, disappearing through the thicket of trees.

That evening, Dan and I decided to sign up for a guided night drive in order to try our luck at spotting some nocturnal animals. Considering the sparse sightings we had seen earlier in the day and the fact that we were prohibited from driving ourselves around the park at night, we figured a ride around the reserve with the well-trained eyes of a guide might boost our chances of finding the elusive animals.

During the night drive, our guide pointed out many nocturnal animals. At one point, just as he was in the middle of explaining the diet of scrub hares, he received a page on his walkie-talkie and began talking loudly and at length with a co-worker. The passengers in our vehicle began growing restless and glancing at their watches when, all of a sudden, our driver zoomed off down an empty road and called out “leopard!”

And there we saw it. The prize of nearly all African safaris, slinking along the road in search of prey. We followed the beautiful cat down the road for a few minutes until it slunk behind a bush and disappeared from sight.

I fumbled with my camera settings in order to capture the leopard in the darkness, but had very little luck due to the lack of light and the fact that I didn’t bring a tripod. In the end, I put my camera away and decided to admire the majestic animal without the obstruction of a lens.

Spotting the leopard was a perfect way to cap our first day in Kruger and refueled our excitement for another day of wildlife viewing.

The next morning, Dan and I woke up at the crack of dawn in order to maximize our day inside the park. We expected another day in which we would have to drive long distances before spotting animals but, to our surprise, luck struck immediately. As soon as we turned the bend away from Skukuza camp, we spotted a family of six hyenas (including four cubs) along the side of the road. The hyenas were so close that I could have practically reached my hand out and touched them.

Despite the bad rap that hyenas often receive, they really can be quite charming. The playful babies were so adorable that I would have been tempted to hug them, had I not known any better.

For the rest of the afternoon, until the park closure at six, Dan and I wandered along the park’s roads, pointing out animals here and there. We rounded out our sightings of the Big 5 with a glimpse of two lionesses that were well camouflaged in the tall golden grasses and saw a variety of other animals along the way, including baboons, birds species and dozens of antelope.

We may have visited at the wrong time of year, but Dan and I had a wonderful experience during our self-guided safari nonetheless. Whenever I became complacent or discouraged due to our lack of animal sightings, the park would surprise me with some of my best wildlife encounters to date. Over the course of our sojourn in the park, we saw not only the Big 5, but also a wide array of plains species and predators indigenous to the park.

As we said our final goodbyes to Kruger, we headed down the highway toward the tiny landlocked Kingdom of Swaziland. Visiting Kruger fueled my excitement for our upcoming visit to Hlane Royal National Park in Swaziland and confirmed what I had come to learn all along–that going to zoos simply isn’t a substitute for a safari and that, no matter how many days I spend adventuring through the continent’s game reserves, spotting animals in their natural habitats never gets old.

***

Note: Johannesburg’s International Airport is the gateway to Kruger National Park. Travelers to the Cape Town area who wish to see animals in their natural habitat, may want to consider visiting the Gondwana Game Reserve near the town of George.

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South Africa’s Blyde River Canyon, also known as the Motlae Canyon, sits at the confluence of the Blyde and Treur rivers. It is a remarkable geological icon, made even more beautiful by the lush greenery that clings to its walls.

The Blyde River Canyon’s mist-shrowded rock formations tower above the verdant canyon slopes, providing birds-eye views of the river below. It is among the most beautiful canyons in the world and one of South Africa’s most awe-inspiring natural attractions.

Visiting the World’s Third Largest Canyon

Everyone has heard of Arizona’s stunning Grand Canyon—one of the seven natural wonders of the world and arguably the planet’s greatest geological treasure. Even those who have not visited this natural wonder can tell of its staggering depth, its layers of color and its international renown. Yet, just as olympic silver and bronze medalists are often overshadowed by those who take home the gold, so too are the world’s smaller canyons often overshadowed by the grandeur of the United States’ number one natural attraction.

But just because the Grand Canyon has claimed the gold medal, doesn’t mean that silver and bronze medalists are very far behind.

I visited the world’s second largest canyon—along Namibia’s Fish River—while road-tripping around Southern Namibia. The views were splendid, the colors magnificent and, best of all, we had the national park largely to ourselves.

A few months later, I found myself once again standing at a viewpoint, taking in the colors of the world’s third largest canyon in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Dan and I flew to Johannesburg from Cape Town during our two week South Africa itinerary. We planned on spending a week in the eastern provinces of South Africa and decided to stop by the Blyde River Canyon en-route to Kruger National Park.

The Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve spans nearly 30,000 hectares in the northern province of Mpumalanga, at the edge of the Drakensberg escarpment. The canyon weaves its way through red sandstone cliffs that are carpeted in greenery. It is one of South Africa’s ultimate bucket list destinations and a must-see attraction for anyone travel en-route to Kruger.

Top Blyde River Canyon Attractions

The Blyde River Canyon has a host of noteworthy lookout points that should not be missed. Each viewpoint is stunning and unique. By encompassing a variety of them during our visit to the canyon, Dan and I were able to see the geological diversity of the area, which included lush mountainsides, stratifications of color and unique rock formations.

Among the canyon’s top attractions, are God’s Window, the Three Rondavels and Pinnacle Rock.

• God’s Window

When we pulled up to the God’s Window Lookout it was so overcast that all we could see was a blanket of white before us. Dan and I explored the paths around the canyon rim, winding through the thick vegetation and hoping that the skies would clear enough for us to catch a glimpse of the gorge below.

From God’s Window, the sheer cliffs of the canyon plunge over 700 meters into the lowveld. From the escarpment, spectacular views of the sweeping scenery extend outward, toward Kruger Park and into Mozambique.

With time, the clouds parted, giving us a sweeping panoramic view from God’s Window.

We soaked in the canyon views from God’s Window for a while and, before we knew it, realized that we would need to pick up the pace if we wanted to visit the remainder of the famous lookout points before sundown.

• The Three Rondavels

The Three Rondavels are three round, grass-dusted mountain tops that are said to resemble the traditional rondavel huts that populate the South African countryside. They constitute one of the Blyde River Canyon’s top attractions and can be viewed from a lookout point that branches off the R-532.

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The Western Cape of South Africa is home to some of the Africa’s most awe-inspiring scenery. Defined by its wildlife-rich coastline, its towering flat-top mountains, and its vineyard-clad valleys, it is a place where exploration and relaxation go hand in hand.

Cape Town justifiably gets much of the area’s tourist attention. The city is one of the most dynamic and scenic in the world. It is steeped in history, pulsing with nightlife, encircled by beauty, and inhabited by a diverse population.

But the area’s charm’s don’t end with the confines of the bustling Mother City.

For beyond Cape Town, the coastlines and mountains of Africa’s southwestern corner invite whale watchers, wine-lovers, adrenaline junkies, and all in between.

THE WESTERN CAPE OF SOUTH AFRICA

Our Western Cape road trip began and ended in Cape Town. From the Mother City, we traveled the wild and scenic coastline, toward the unmissable Cape of Good Hope, before continuing eastward to the cage-diving mecca of Gaansbai.

After facing our fears and coming face to face with Great White Sharks, we continued to Cape Agulhas—the southernmost point in Africa.

Then, after strolling along one of Africa’s longest beaches and taking in the sunset from the end of the continent, we returned to Cape Town via the idyllic and vineyard-speckled Franschhoek Valley.

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

One of Cape Town’s greatest advantages is its proximity to the dramatic coastal scenery of South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. Even for travelers with limited time to spend in the Western Cape, a visit to the landmark stretch of coastline is an absolute must.

As Dan and I left Cape Town, we followed the spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive toward Boulders Beach for a chance to spot the colony of penguins that inhabit the sandy cove.

• BOULDERS BEACH

Boulder’s Beach is an undeniable highlight of the Western Cape. The beautiful stretch of snowy sand is strewn with large rocks and littered with seemingly thousands of sunbathing tuxedo-wearing birds.

Penguin-spotting on Boulder’s Beach is one of the top things to do along South Africa’s Western Cape. The adorable penguins are everywhere—swimming in the ocean, lounging on rocks, frolicking on the sand, and hiding under nearby shrubbery.

• THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

From Boulder’s Beach, we continued onward to the Cape of Good Hope—one of the top attractions in the Western Cape, and a location that is wrongly associated with being the southernmost tip of Africa.

Despite being mired in misinformation, the Cape of Good Hope is historically important, scenically wonderful, and entirely worth visiting.

GAANSBAI, SOUTH AFRICA

I’ve never been much of an adrenaline junkie, but when Dan mentioned his desire to cage dive with the Great White Sharks, I cautiously agreed.

The little sleepy fishing village of Gansbaai, South Africa is a well-known launching pad for cage diving with the Great White Sharks. The bay is situated strategically between two islands that house large colonies of African Penguins and Cape Fur Seals. These animals draw thousands of sharks from the surrounding area into a narrow channel that is commonly referred to as “Shark Alley.”

• CAGE DIVING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS

At around seven in the morning, after a breakfast and short briefing on what to expect, our boat full of anxious passengers set off in preparation for a face-to-face encounter with the Great White Sharks. We put on our wetsuits, goggles and booties and took turns cautiously descending into the metal cage that was attached to the side of the boat.

In order to draw the sharks toward our boat, our guide concocted a mixture of fish innards and blood called “chum” and tied it to the end of the line. “Chumming” has drawn a significant amount of criticism in recent years for drawing sharks toward people without feeding them. Yet, despite the criticism that many shark-diving tour groups have faced in recent years, there is no doubt that the mixture of fish guts is a powerful draw for these keen-sensed creatures.

We visited Gansbaai at perhaps the worst time of year for spotting the Great White Sharks, since many of the deep sea predators had migrated elsewhere, to more plentiful hunting grounds.

Nevertheless, merely minutes had passed before the first shark—a massive four meter long female—moseyed up to the line, gave it a tug and then retreated back into the opaque waters. Within minutes, a handful of other sharks began tugging at the line and surrounding our boat.

It was utterly terrifying, but so, so worthwhile.
 

CAPE AGULHAS

The thrill of coming face to face with Great White Sharks in Gaansbai, propelled us to continue onward, toward the sleepy town of Stuisbaai in Cape Agulhas. We took the scenic road to Struisbaai and arrived at the Cape Agulhas Backpacker Hostel in time for an evening stroll by the beach and a lovely seafood dinner.

There is a common misconception that the southernmost tip of the African continent lies at the Cape of Good Hope. In reality, however, it sits nearly 300km to the East—where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans collide at Cape Agulhas National Park.

• THE CAPE AGULHAS STINGRAYS

The beach at Struisbaai is one of the longest white sand beaches in the southern hemisphere and its waters were dotted with fishermen, kite-surfers and holiday-makers.

Dan and I spent very little time at the beach, however. Our main objective in visiting this tiny fishing village, was to swim with the giant stingrays. And, while our first few visits to the harbor proved fruitless, we returned before sunset just in time to see a large dark patch in the water drift toward us.

The waters around Cape Agulhas National Park are blessed with a unique array of marine species due to the confluence of the cold Banguela current to the West and the warm waters of the Indian ocean to the East.

Initially, I kept my distance in order to avoid the stingers. Eventually, however, I realized I could have probably relaxed. Nobody else seemed concerned at all. In fact, some children even bought raw squid at a nearby shop and fed the stingrays out of their hands.

• THE SOUTHERNMOST TIP OF AFRICA

After wading in the crystalline waters with three meter long stingrays, we decided to cap off our day by standing at the tip of Africa and watching the sun set behind the silhouette of a shipwreck off the cost.

Watching the waves lap against the skeleton of the rusted ship was nevertheless a hauntingly beautiful sight.

Cape Agulhas is beautiful—a tiny gem overshadowed in many ways by the much more well-known and touristy Cape of Good Hope. We would have loved to spend a few more days enjoying the beaches of Cape Agulhas National Park but, due to our upcoming flight to Johannesburg, we continued our road trip back to Cape Town via the Garden Route.

THE GARDEN ROUTE

The Garden Route is high on most South Africa bucket lists for good reason. After all, who can resist verdant valleys,  towering mountains, and some of the world’s best wine?

Running parallel to the coastal road, it passes through some of the country’s most spectacular inland scenery. The towns of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are among the most popular stops along the Garden Route. Our itinerary didn’t have enough days to include visits to both cities, so we decided to spend time in Franschoek and forego visiting Stellenbosch.

• FRANSCHHOEK WINE COUNTRY

Franschhoek—which translates to “French corner” in Dutch—seems like a cross between Europe and America, plopped right in the southern part of Africa. The city has a stunning setting in the shadow of jagged, green mountains, and its streets are lined with quaint coffee shops, bakeries and gastropubs. The town is replete with fine dining options, but it is most famous for the many wineries that can be found throughout the entire surrounding valley.

With only one day in Franschhoek, Dan and I strolled the town’s pretty streets, admired the surrounding mountains and sat down for a tasty, delicious meal. Then, we pick two of the wineries in the city and pretend we knew a little bit about sampling wines.

I admit I know very little about wines, but the wine and cheese pairings at the Franschhoek Winery were delicious and, with the million dollar view from the terrace of the Dieu Donne winery, I immediately understood why people so often fall in love with the area.

*****

Our Western Cape road trip contained equal parts adventure, exploration, and relaxation. It gave us the opportunity to discover the beauty of South Africa’s rocky coastline, admire its diversity of marine life, and revel in the seductive beauty of its winelands.

With our return to Cape Town at the end of our road trip, Dan and I closed the chapter on the first part of our South African itinerary and geared up for phase two—a thrilling road trip through the national parks of Eastern South Africa and Swaziland, that would once again bring us face to face with some of the wold’s most intriguing animals and breathtaking scenery.

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The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the southern end of South Africa’s Cape Peninsula.The spectacular cape has long been associated with the southernmost tip of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans collide.

A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope lies at the southernmost tip of the African continent. The misbelief has led the area to become one of South Africa’s most popular tourist attractions.

In reality, however, the southern terminus of Africa lies 150km East, at Cape Aghulas.

But I don’t think the technicality matters much, because the area is special, no matter its latitude.

CAPE PENINSULA ROAD TRIP

Dan and I explored the Cape Peninsula on a road trip from Cape Town, following three memorable days in the Mother City. Our road trip brought us to many of the most popular attractions along South Africa’s Western Cape and allowed us to make the most of the area’s pristine beaches, abundant wildlife, and jaw-dropping coastal views.

The first stop on our journey, was the wild and scenic landscape around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

The Cape of Good Hope lies at the tip of the Cape Peninsula, along South Africa’s Western Cape. It boasts a dramatic wildlife-rich coastline and is a highlight of traveling to South Africa.

Taking a road trip around the Cape Peninsula is the best way of exploring South Africa’s wild and scenic Cape of Good Hope. From Cape Town, Dan and I rented a car and followed the road southward—past beautiful Camps Bay and Hout Bay—along the scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive.

From there, we admired the sun-basking penguins at Boulder’s Beach and soaked in views of the infamous Cape of Good Hope.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES IN CAPE TOWN

When we left Cape Town in the early morning, the sun was shining and the clouds lifted from the mountaintops in time for us to see a spectacular view of Cape Town’s Twelve Apostles.

The soaring mountains form a breathtaking backdrop to the city’s lavish oceanfront property and white sand beaches and, had it not been for the fierce wind and flying sand, I’d have probably plopped down on the beach and convinced myself that I needed another day in the Mother City.

CHAPMAN’S PEAK DRIVE

The road encircling the Cape of Good Hope brought us through stunning coastal scenery.

Much like Oregon’s beautiful highway 101, South Africa’s Chapman’s Peak Drive cuts through sheer cliffs and twists around emerald-green mountains. Each bend of the road affords abundant views of rocky outcrops, sapphire waters and soft, white sand.

But the unrelenting winds pummeled sand into my eyes, nose and mouth, embedded in my hair and virtually swept me right back into our little car and down the road to the Cape of Good Hope.

BOULDER’S BEACH PENGUINS

Our first planned stop along the Cape Peninsula route was Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town–a beach aptly named for the large boulders strewn about its milky sands. The beach is well-known as a breeding ground for the small and charming African penguins, so we spent time scrambling over boulders and wading through the shallow ocean waters in order to get a closer look at these charismatic, flightless birds.

The penguins at Boulder’s Beach were everywhere–playing in the waves, tanning on the open rock faces and crouching under boulders to stay cool.

After a bit of time photographing the penguins and observing their unique personalities, we hopped back into the car and continued along the coastal roads toward the Cape Of Good Hope National Park.

 

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

Throughout history, the Cape of Good Hope has been historically significant to sailors and explorers. Bartolomeu Dias, the 15th century Portuguese explorer, was the first officially recorded person to have successfully navigated these turbulent waters and was instrumental in setting up trade routes between Europe and the Far East.

The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point lie less than two miles apart. When we arrived, we elected to first climb up the stairs to the beautiful lighthouse at Cape Point in order to view the Cape of Good Hope from above. The area around the lighthouse was fun to explore. We walked out to various lookouts where we could see sweeping views of the lighthouses, coastlines and pristine scenery. Looking North, we were able to see the mountainous Cape Peninsula stretching toward Cape Town.

In all other directions, the blue waters spanned as far as the eye could see.

_________________________________

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After a year of living in rural Namibia, Cape Town hit me with a large dose of culture shock. The city seemed, on the surface, to be everything my dusty, northern corner of Namibia was not—cosmopolitan, diverse and teeming with things to do.

My friends and I fell in love with Cape Town immediately. The food was tantalizing, the air was crisp, the mountains were stunning. It was difficult to believe that just a few days prior, my friends and I had been navigating the dusty streets of Ovamboland, and that we now stood in one of the world’s great cities, at the foot of Table Mountain, soaking in the balmy weather, the abundant greenery and the crashing waves.

It is no wonder Cape Town is considered one of the greatest cities on Earth, I remember thinking.

Three Days in Cape Town

There are a million and one things to do in Cape Town. Unfortunately for my friends and I, we were not be able to do them all. Our limited three days in Cape Town meant that we had to pick and choose what we wanted to see and do. After all, Cape Town is largely considered to be the number one place to visit in South Africa. To do the city justice would take weeks, if not months.

Over the course of our three days in the Mother City, we found ourselves continually crossing items off our list—not because we had completed them, but simply because we had no time to fit them into our packed itinerary.

Nonetheless, thanks to the effortless transportation provided by Cape Town’s Hop on Hop off Bus Tours, we were able to pack in a whirlwind visit to some of the city’s most remarkable neighborhoods and beaches.

• The Hop on Hop Off Bus

I’m not usually a proponent of Hop on Hop Off tours. In general, I find that I can navigate cities easily using a mixture of walking and public transportation. But not in Cape Town. Cape Town is one of two places in which I was truly grateful for the ease at which the tours allowed me to navigate the city (the other place being Shanghai). In Cape Town, the tourist bus is so convenient, that my friends and I were even able to access some of the city’s most far-flung attractions.

The Hop on Hop Off Bus in Cape Town consists of four routes: the Red Line, the Blue Line, the Yellow Line and the Purple Line.

The Red Line highlights the essential places that one might visit if they only had a day to explore Cape Town. It goes through the V&A waterfront, past Table Mountain, over Kloof Nek and back up the Atlantic Seaboard past Camps Bay and Clifton Beach.

The Blue Line includes farther destinations, such as the Kirstenbosch Gardens, the Imizamu Yethu Township and Hout Bay.

With the yellow and purple lines, travelers have the opportunity to navigate downtown (yellow) or peek into wine country (purple).

Using a combination of the blue and red lines, we enjoyed a whirlwind visit to South Africa’s splendid coastal city.

Day 1: Delving into Cape Town’s History

On our first day in Cape Town, my friends and I took the opportunity to explore the city’s downtown and visit some of its most eccentric neighborhoods. It was a whirlwind day that gave us an overview of the city’s historical core, while forcing us to think about the forces at play in this diverse and complex part of Africa.

• V&A Waterfront

During our first day, we walked the streets of the V&A Waterfront and gaped at the extravagant malls and boutique shops. Situated on South Africa’s oldest working harbor, the lovely waterfront contains a mixture of residential and commercial buildings.

The waterfront is one of the main places to visit in Cape Town. It is the city’s tourist showpiece—a place where locals and tourists come to eat, shop, and soak in views of Table Mountain.

• Tour of Robben Island

The V&A Waterfront is also the launching point for tours of Robben Island—a UNESCO-recognized prison that once housed the likes of Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma.

Our visit to South Africa coincided with a period of tragedy throughout the country. Just a few days prior, the world had received news of the death of a man who was the face of South Africa’s transformation. Nelson Mandela, the country’s nonviolent leader and political activist, passed away at the age of 95 and left a country in mourning.

To reach Robben Island, we took a ferry from the waterfront. Onboard the boat, we admired sweeping views of Cape Town and the surrounding mountains from afar.

The Robben Island prison was founded in the 17th century as an internment place for political prisoners from the Dutch colonies. Later, the island became a leper colony until, in 1961 it was used as a place where political prisoners and opponents of the apartheid regime would be brought to carry out their life sentences.

The comprehensive tour of Robben Island took a better part of the day, but it was a worthwhile and necessary excursion that gave us a greater perspective of life under Apartheid.

Upon reaching land, the passengers from our boat were shuffled onto a bus and taken around the island for a briefing on the sights and significance of Robben Island.

I was amazed by the scope of the island. Though today it is largely a ghost town, Robben Island once contained a functioning school, a permanent population and many of the conveniences of an ordinary town. The bus ride around the island gave us a foundation of the island’s history as well as magnificent views of Table Mountain from across the bay.

The second part of our tour consisted of visiting the high-security prison itself. We were met by a charismatic guide and former political prisoner who took us around and provided us with a human perspective of life inside the prison walls.

My friends and I spent time meandering the empty hallways, reading poems and personal accounts that had been framed on the walls of individual cells and listening to our guide’s accounts of the daily life he experienced as an inmate. At the conclusion of our tour, we were brought to Nelson Mandela’s prison cell. In light of his recent death, his cell was adorned with candles, flowers and newspaper clippings.

• Bo Kaap Neighborhood

After our tour of Robben Island, we headed to the historic Bo Kaap Neighborhood. The Bo Kaap is a vibrant Malay neighborhood that sits at the foot of Signal Hill. The surrounding mountain peaks create a backdrop to the beautiful rows of multi-colored houses.

The Cape Malay community has its roots in South East Asia. Many of the residents are descendants of enslaved Indonesians and Malaysians brought to the Cape by the Dutch East India Company in the 1600s. The population is predominantly Muslim, which is reflected in the many minarets scattered throughout the neighborhood. Today, about 165,000 Cape Malayans inhabit Cape Town and most of them live in the colorful neighborhood of Bo Kaap.

This historically significant community adds a vibrant piece to Cape Town’s colorful patchwork of cultures.

Day 2: The Blue Bus Line through Contrasting Cape Town

Cape Town presents a facade of glitz and glamor, but digging deeper reveals a city full of contradictions in an area of the world that still feels the deep scars of Apartheid.

It would certainly be easy to get a one-sided impression of Cape Town. It would be easy to overlook the four million Capetonians who live in squalid conditions, in shantytowns that stretch as far as the eyes can see, merely a stone’s throw away from the multi-million dollar mansions that overlook the Atlantic Ocean.

Our journey along the Blue Line brought us face to face with Cape Town’s contrasting realities and made us aware of the country’s stark race-and-class-based inequalities.

We took the city sightseeing buses around Cape Town, beginning along the ritzy beachfront areas of town, and continuing with a tour of one of the city’s townships. In the late afternoon, we hopped back on the bus and ventured to the Kirstenbosch Gardens, where we would enjoy a Christmas concert among the beautiful flora at the foot of Table Mountain.

• Cape town’s Beaches

We began our day with visits to the Cape Town’s luxurious ocean-side neighborhoods. The coastline that extends past Clifton Beach, Camps Bay and Hout Bay houses some of South Africa’s most opulent real estate. And with its windswept white sand beaches that lie in the shadow of towering mountains, it is no wonder why.

As we left downtown and headed toward the beach, the houses seemed to get more and more extravagant. Sea Point blends into ritzier Bantry Bay and Fresnaye, before culminating in the prime real estate of Clifton and Camps Bay, where white modernist villas climb the slopes above windswept beaches.

We got off the bus at Camps Bay. With soft white sand and a backdrop of the spectacular Twelve Apostles, the beach at Camp’s Bay is one of the city’s most popular.

From Camps Bay, the bus route continues to Hout Bay. We didn’t stop in Hout Bay, however. Since we planned on exploring the area by car while visiting the Cape of Good Hope, we chose to cut inward and visit the Imizamo Yetho Township instead.

• Imizamo Yetho Township Tour

My friends and I were beginning to feel that we were getting a skewed impression of Cape Town, so we decided to visit the antithesis to the city’s chic coastline.

Imizamo Yetho Township sits at the foot of the mountains, just a stone’s thrown from the upscale beach community of Hout Bay.

Visiting the township was a reality check for my friends and me. We had been accustomed to living amongst poverty throughout our year volunteering. We had visited townships in Namibia and knew of the realities. But there was something about Imizamo Yethu that hit me as though I were witnessing this level of poverty for the first time. Perhaps it is because of the contrast between the township and other areas of the city just a few miles away. Perhaps it is because the sheer number of inhabitants and the fact that houses are practically piled on top of each other.

It all reminded me so much of Hebron in Israel and of the stark differences between haves and have-nots in the Occupied Territories.

During the remainder of our stay in Cape Town’s ritzier areas, our experience in the township kept our perspectives in check.

• Kirstenbosch Gardens

My friends and I finished our second day in Cape Town with a visit to the sprawling Kirstenbosch Gardens. The Kirstenbosch gardens are among the most magnificent worldwide. They showcase indigenous flora from five of South Africa’s biomes and are a wonderful place for a casual stroll or for an afternoon picnic at the foot of Table Mountain.

While standing at the base of a mountain, among the artistic arrangements of colorful plants, one would never know that they were smack in the middle of one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities—much like a visitor to Hout Bay could be completely unaware of the Imizamo Yethu township just a few paces away.

With two solid days of sightseeing behind us and only one full day left to explore, we hesitantly scratched items off of our list and focused on maximizing the time we had left, prioritizing what we deemed to be most important.

Day 3: Exploring Cape Town’s Nature with the Red Bus Line

Cape Town is unique in that it is both an urban retreat and an outdoor escape. Defined by its beaches and mountains, it is a city blessed with a one-of-a-kind setting.

Unlike the lingering polarity between race and socioeconomic status in Cape Town, the opposing forces of nature and industry have found a way to integrate beautifully into the landscape of the city.

• Table Mountain

No visit to Cape Town would be quite complete without a climb to the top of Table Mountain, so we decided to spend the beginning of our third day in the city with a stunning and arduous trek up to the summit.

Though I like to consider myself an experienced hiker, the truth is that my year of living in Onantsi whipped me out of shape faster than I would ever like to admit. Climbing the mountain proved to be a strenuous ordeal. I wanted to attribute this difficulty to the weather conditions, my unaccommodating footwear or something else out of my control, but could not. I was simply out of shape and keeping up with my friends proved to be a challenge.

Nonetheless, in order to keep up with my friends, I made it up the hill rather quickly. In fact, the hike only took us about half of the suggested time.

Now, looking back, I wish I’d taken a few more moments to soak in the fantastic views.

On the day we climbed Table Mountain, the wind was so fierce that I could feel it lashing against my face, tousling my hair and drying out my eyes. At one point, it even blew my sunglasses right off my face, resulting in one cracked lens and another that flew straight through the air and disappeared halfway down the mountainside.

The wind we experienced on our vertical climb, however, was nothing compared to the gusty blows upon the table top. At first, we tried to fight through the cold and took some time to appreciate the stunning views of the beaches, coastline and Cape Peninsula. From the top, we could see many of Cape Town’s neighborhoods and beaches. We admired the craggy, green mountains around us, the jagged coastline and the azure waters.

Standing at the top of Table Mountain, I felt far removed from the hustle and bustle of the city. The dramatic scenery reminded made me of an urban version of Lesotho-by-the Sea. I imagined how nice it would have been to spend an afternoon with a picnic lunch atop the mountain, soaking in the views and watching the thin layer of clouds cascade down the mountainside and into the City Bowl.

Despite the beautiful view, however, it was only about half an hour before the biting cold got the better of us and had us running back down the mountain in a hurry.

• Signal Hill

Though we spent a few hours that evening experiencing the pulsing nightlife of Long Street, I feel that my adventure with my fellow volunteers effectively ended here, at the top of Signal Hill, while the sun was setting over the Atlantic Ocean and drenching the surrounding mountains in golden hues.

***

South Africa is a land of contrasts, and Cape Town is a microcosm of the dynamics at play in this varied country. It is at once a city of prominent architecture and magnificent nature—a place where a fusion of architectural styles from different epochs collides with mountains, beaches and forests.  It is Western yet African, historical yet modern. It is a city where rich and poor live side by side, yet isolated in their own realities. A city with racial divides between black and white are still quite evident, despite progressive laws that have abolished segregation.

Yet, as the elements of society and nature have meshed to form a varied and dynamic city, I believe that, so too, will the polarities between races and classes fade over time. The toughest battles for equality and justice have already been fought and the elements for a harmonious future are there.

It is now up to the next generation of South Africans to see it happen.

The post Cape Town in Three Days: A Land of Contrasts appeared first on Erika's Travels .