Happy Women's Day!

**Disclaimer: this is incredibly long winded, and more for my memory's sake than anything else, so feel free to skim or just look at the pictures! 

Last Tuesday was National Women’s Day in South Africa, which means two things- one, Christmas is no longer my favorite public holiday, and two, we had a four day weekend.  It was the first opportunity we’ve had since arriving to really get out of Cape Town, so about a dozen of my housemates and friends and I decided to road trip up the eastern coast of South Africa on what is know as the Garden Route. The Garden Route starts in Cape Town and winds up the countryside and coastline through little South African style beach towns and old Dutch settlements. It was the most beautiful drive I have ever done, and I go to school on the 101.

I’ll start from the beginning.

After making a reservation for a car rental the day before, I got up early on Saturday morning to go pick it up. What should have been a 15 minute process turned into a five hour ordeal involving two incredibly dull and useless salesmen who were clearly taking advantage of our youth and foreignness. It was one of those times where I would have loved for my dad to walk in wearing his I-can’t-believe-this face, throw out a “let me talk to your manager”, threaten to call the PR department, and walk away with whatever he wanted, probably for free. It worked out in the end though, and we drove away with three little white Nissan sedans more ready than ever to hit the road. 

 

It took us about an hour to get beyond the outskirts of Cape Town and when we did it was quite a sight. There were rolling neon green hills for as far as the eye could see, with big patches of an ambiguous bright yellow crop beneath blue skies. Ostriches, cows and sheep roamed the hills freely and the only signs of people were little white farmhouses in the distance. The picture really doesn’t do it justice, but my undivided attention was on staying in the right (meaning left) side of the road, and I couldn’t do any better.

We spent the first night in a place called Wilderness at a hostel with a panoramic view of the ocean. We sat around a bonfire and mingled with some locals in the bar before calling it an early night. The next morning a South African man staying in the hostel offered to take us on a short walk to show us something interesting so we followed him down to the old railroad tracks and started walking. The walk alone would have been worth it. It was perfect weather with the mountain on one side, ocean on the other and some impromptu whale watching to keep us entertained. But the real destination was so much cooler. 

This is the man that lives in the cave. I’m sure he has a name but I don’t remember it and he might not either so I’ll call him caveman. The caveman was homeless when he stumbled upon this deserted cave with the remnants of an old restaurant that closed after the train stopped coming through. He moved in and began making things out of seashells, trash, wood, or anything that people would donate to him and little by little he built up the eclectic work of art that is now his home. He somehow got twelve mattresses donated from a church group, built little rooms around them and now takes in homeless people, giving them somewhere to sleep and crafts to make and sell until they get back on their feet. To call him bizarre would be an understatement- he speaks in a high pitched, kind of fanciful voice and is truly delighted to be living in a cave. But there is something very sane about him at the same time and I found it fascinating. I have since decided that he is probably a retired angel who has just had a hard time adjusting to human life.

We left Wilderness fairly early and headed to Knysna (pronounced Nice-na) where we visited the Knysna Elephant Park. The park is part of the conservation effort to preserve their particular elephant species and while the elephants there are in captivity, they are free to roam around a very large and natural area. Elephants are really remarkable animals. I mean, have you ever stopped and considered how weird the trunk of an elephant is? Or why their ears are so big? Or why THEY are so big? I couldn’t tell you either, but I was definitely in awe when standing right in front of one. I ran my hand over his rough, thick skin and through the deep wrinkles that form an intricate design across his face. It was impossible not to smile in wonder. I think that to watch an elephant is to see Africa, for they are as ancient as the land and their presence holds the authority of time. 

After the elephant park we hiked up to a viewpoint called the Knysna Heads. On one side was the whole Indian Ocean while on the other was the quiet protected harbor and the town of Kynysna. It was a very peaceful place to sit and have a glass of wine and just enjoy the view. 

We left just as the sun began to set and on the drive back down we could see it was going to be pretty. Out of sheer good luck and timing we happened upon this big sand bar with no more than foot and a half of water and sand for 100 yards in any direction. And boy did we happen upon it at just the right time. 

On the drive from Knysna to Tsitsikamma the next day my car decided to follow the signs for a scenic route to a place called Nature’s Valley. We ended up at this great, expansive, empty beach and ran around playing like kids for at least an hour. It was just the four of us, the sound of the waves and untouched sand- how could I not do a few cartwheels?

We got to Tsitsikamma where we made plans to go on a zip line canopy tour through the national forest, but not before having an All American breakfast at the quirky 50’s style diner next door. Zip lining was fun, we had a great tour guide who knew everything about everything in the forest and it was cool to get a Canopy view. The actual zip lining was more of a way to get from tree to tree than anything else, but it was still a good time. It’s just hard to get excited about zip lining now, compared to what came next. 

Yep. I actually did this. I jumped off a bridge. And not just any bridge, the highest bungee jump bridge IN THE WORLD. We hadn’t planned on doing the bungee jump this trip, in fact it wasn’t even on my bucket list yet, but when a few people from our group came back from doing it the night before their enthusiasm somehow swayed me. Three girls from my house and I spontaneously decided to do it the next morning, probably out of a false confidence, but we got in the car and didn’t turn back. Seeing the bridge was pretty terrifying, but it wasn’t until the walk out there that my stomach began to churn. The bridge is 216m tall, the tallest single arch bridge in the world. Luckily there was this deep bass pump-up music playing over loudspeakers on the bridge so I just jumped up and down and danced to keep my adrenaline up. After watching a few people go it started to seem pretty doable, but once it was my turn and I was sitting there being strapped in by the feet all self-assurance went out the window. The fear started to set in. Thank god for Ilana (above right), the only person I know who has forty inspirational quotes memorized and ready to recite in under two minutes (with enthusiasm) at any given moment. Once strapped in they lifted me over to the edge and told me to inch my toes out. At that point the sheer panic started- 3 million years of evolution, every animalistic instinct in my body, was telling me not to jump. I would have done anything to step away at that instant (Lizzie even threatened to sue), but they count down anyway 5..4..3..2..1... 

For two seconds every muscle in my body contracted, my lungs closed up and I thought I was going to die, but then I released. I was free falling, flying, soaring through the air in a swan dive; it was pure unfiltered bliss. I couldn’t tell if I was moving up or down I was weightless and taking in the scenery as fast as my eyes would let me. The jagged mountains, the ocean, the river with its swirling white water below me- it was all simply gorgeous. So much raw emotion, excitement, pride, and happiness swelled in me it was one of the biggest feelings I’ve ever had. A man then came to hoist me back up and set me safely onto solid ground where I was met with a storm of hugs and cheers and a screaming rendition of Pretty Woman (it was after all, Women’s Day). 

Love always, Emily