You Want Me To Do What?
Trip Start
Nov 14, 2007
1
16
20
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
Sabie,
South Africa
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Point of Entry: at some random restaurant in Sabie.
When: November 25th, 2007 - early evening.
The decision to drive from Jo'berg to Hazyview last night ended up being a great decision. We would have probably gotten on the 10:30am flight over here and wouldn't have gotten into the lodge until roughly around 2pm. Then, we would have missed on a great day of site-seeing and adventure.
But before we get into that - I just want to say how much I have grown attached to our host, Philip Nichols. He is like the grandfather we all have or had or wished to have had growing up, only with a cool South African accent. As I said on my previous entry, he is very reminiscent of Alan Rickman. When you speak to him, he engages you with his wit and disarms you with his charm. Angela has taken a liking to him as well. He cooked us a wonderful breakfast this morning - an omelet of our own design. Along with the omelets came a superb homemade ketchup. He also served us Rooibos Tea, the best tea I have ever tasted in my life.
Back to the story at hand - we started the day out slowly, as usual - the common theme of our trip thus far. Our balloon ride safari was canceled this morning because the weather wasn't stable enough. Apparently, it isn't much fun getting blown around when you're hundreds of feet in the air. With that said, we decided to take a drive through the panoramic route. Fortunately for Angela and I, the weather was much better than what we experienced yesterday.
The first stop was Graskop - a very small town, well know for their silk. According to Philip, they predominately use African silk to create these beautifully colored and hand painted fabrics. That's all very interesting, but that's not what attracted Angela and I to Graskop. It was the amazing gorge and the bungee/swing/highwire platform that sits on top of the gorge that attracted us most. At first it didn't look so bad. But when we parked our car at the bar that sits across the platform over the gorge, we finally had a chance to measure the immensity of this thing. The only thing that I was able to mumble out of mouth was "Fuck. This looks scary." Like anything that requires courage, you can't think about it. You just have to do it. The more you think about it, the more time you let fear and doubt creep in. Which will then lead to the eventual demise of your situation.
So we march our way through the muddy red South African dirt towards the platform and signed ourselves up. At first we were going to do the tandem bungee swing - whereby, two participants drop from one end of the gorge and swing across to the other end of the gorge. We're roughly about 300 to 400 feet above rocks, jungle foliage, and river monsters. But "It doesn't look that tough," we both thought. That was until we saw the couple that went before us do it. It looked shitastically scary. I say shitastically scary because... well... because I'd probably shit my pants after that kind of a ride. Even Angela, who is by far the most daring person I know, was scared. So, we decided to the highwire jump instead. This jump, isn't really a jump mind you. It's more or less a running jump into slide across the gorge. And so we did that. Not at all frightening, but fun nonetheless. It was a probably the best way to view the gorge. I highly recommend it. One a side note - there was this poor German young man who was doing the solo bungee swing. He must have been up there for at least an hour, trying to psyche himself to do it. He didn't. To quote a line from one of my favorite movies, Last Samurai, "Too many mind... no mind."
Next up - was our scenic site seeing drive. We encountered the occasional family of baboons and grazing cows on the ride - things that you don't typically see on your way to work in LA. Anyway, the eastern side of South Africa is certainly something to behold. We drove along side Africa's version of the Grand Canyon - The Blyde River Canyon. The only difference is that this canyon is green. It was brimming with life. We passed by the Potholes and the Three Rondovals - both were spectacular view points. We both had to take a minute to breathe it all in.
Now - we find ourselves in Sabie. Another small town 40km directly west of Hazyview. This is a much bigger town, with more tourists going in and out of it. In looking around this town, seeing the faces of the locals, the everyday grind that is evident in the wrinkles on their faces, I'm finally beginning to feel like I'm in Africa. And it feels like home. It's probably because it reminds me of the Philippines so much - except the people are darker and they speak a different language. But it's all just the same when I really think about it.
Tomorrow, we are going to be introduced to the king and the wonderful animals that reside in his kingdom. So, if you don't mind. I need to stop writing and brush up on my curtsy skills.
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