Cape Town - The Beginning

Drum Roll Please . . .
The verdict is in. We have a substitute plan for Kenya. We’re going to stay in Cape Town for two extra days and then head to the island of Mauritius off of the coast of Madagascar for three days. From what I’ve heard, Mauritius is beautiful, but pretty much just a beach resort. I was a little disappointed. However, last night, I booked a two day safari with a few people for those last three days. It’s a three and a half hour drive from Cape Town, but they say there’s the possibility of seeing all the big five game there. It’s not Kenya, but at least it’s something and gives a purpose of staying in Kenya for two more days. After so much time being so active in Cape Town, a short stop on a little beach resort may not be so bad.

Impressions of Cape Town
From what I’ve seen so far, Cape Town is a beautiful and modern city, entangled in tons of natural beauty. It makes me a little sad that everyone speaks English and things are so Americanized. However, there is a lot to see and do here. And, I have to be honest that it’s actually a little nice having people speak English again for a little while.

My First Day in Cape Town
For this first time this trip, I had a day trip. It was a required field program for one of my classes called Geological Overview of Cape Town. It was actually a lot of fun. Basically, all we did was stop at beaches and mountains and discuss the natural beauty and geological traits. It was quite interesting and we got a good tour of the city. We actually saw a very active whale pretty close to the shore at one of the beaches. At that same beach, I collected some very pretty sea shells and did a little hike up the side of a mountain to get a better harbor view. We also got to stop by and visit Cape Town University, which is where the local Geology professor leading our trip taught. It was a gorgeous campus, with old, ivy covered buildings. All in all, it was a very nice little trip. My sarcasm cannot, however, stop me from listing the contents of the box lunch that we received from the ship on our trip. There was: a Capri Sun, a sandwich (made with one piece of white bread, one piece of multi-grain bread, a piece of baloney, a piece of salami, a piece of cheese, and some shredded lettuce), a chicken leg, a hard boiled egg, an apple, a piece of banana bread, and a package of Oreos. Who came up with this idea???

Anyways, our trip came back around 3 p.m. and I basically spent the next few hours having drinks and food at the harbor side. I also spent a while working out the safari that we booked for Saturday and Sunday. We are docked in an ultra modern, beautiful harbor side area. It’s basically a combination of the biggest mall in America and Navy Pier. It’s pretty cool. There are tons of restaurants, bars, internet cafes, and shops. I was actually super super tired from getting no sleep the night before, so I made it a relatively early night and got a good nights sleep.

Today, I am heading to the wine lands with a group of people. We don’t really have any solid plans. But, my roommate and I are up now packing our things. The plan is to spend the day cycling the wine lands and stopping at different vineyards for tastings and then staying the night out there. Unfortunately, I have to hightail it out of there early in the morning because I’m going sky diving tomorrow morning. That’s all I have to tell for now.