I left the next morning to catch the Baz Bus down the east coast of South Africa towards Capetown. The Baz Bus is a hop on/hop off bus that takes you to different backpacker spots mostly along the coast of South Africa. It’s more expensive than the public buses, but literally takes you door to door, is safe, and usually has some interesting people. I got to South Africa with absolutely no plan after Gwexintaba other than to catch the Baz Bus to Capetown. Between Stefanie’s suggestions, feedback from people that you meet at the backpacker spots, and the Coast to Coast book (distributed free at every backpacker spot that lists the other hostels along the bus route, prices, contact info and a short description) I had a good idea of where I wanted to go within a couple of days. As a solo traveller who isn’t familiar with the country, they couldn’t have made it any easier for me!

Before I got to the Baz Bus though, I was going to need to take a minibus taxi to the Mthatha bus stop. The minibus taxi’s are used throughout most of South Africa to get from city to city. They usually pick up at a taxi stand, and wait until they have a full passenger load before leaving. (Then they might squeeze in a few more passengers – because why not?) The owner of the Kraal drove me to a nearby intersection that the taxis were starting to pick up at now, flagged down a taxi, and helped me get settled. I am glad that I took one while in South Africa, but I can’t say it was particularly comfortable, pleasant smelling or relaxing.

I finally made it to the Baz Bus stop, and my first stop was going to be Chintsa. I was headed toward more developed areas, and was looking forward to better wifi, easy to get to stores, being able to walk more places, etc. Maybe I was biased, but Chintsa was like a watered down version of Port St. John to me. In fact – most of the places between the Wild Coast and Capetown left me a little disappointed. To me the Transkei felt unlike anywhere else. It was beautiful, challenging, and full of personality. As I got to more developed areas they felt more and more like they could have been anywhere. If I had it to do over again I would start at Capetown and work my way up. Instead it was like having the climax of the story at the beginning. Oh well. So between that and the rain, I don’t really have much to say about Chintsa or Knysna.

In Port Elizabeth I did a day visit to Addo and Schotia game reserves – which was pretty cool! I saw a Giraffe, Zebra, Elephant, Lion, Ostrich, Rhino, Hippo, Kudu etc. At the Schotia reserve I rode in a little solo seat on the hood of the truck, and was as close as I could possibly get to the animals! By the time we got to the deadly animal part I had to go back inside the truck though. I wish I had time to do a more remote Safari, but this was a good second best! If you look below you can see the 2 month old baby elephant.

My last stop before Capetown was Stellenbosch. I spent two nights, and took a wine tour (visited Simonsig, Fairview, Boschendal and Dieu Donne).

Tuesday – more rain!!! I hung out at the backpack spot during the day, and caught the Baz Bus that night for Capetown.

The next day I woke up, and as I finished up my breakfast I started talking to my neighbor Michael about what we’d be doing for the day. Turns out he had literally just flown in from London, was also traveling solo and was trying to figure out what he wanted to do. We made a plan to rent bikes, and ride to the waterfront to catch the ferry to Robben Island. Robben Island is a small island in the bay that used to be a prison, and where Nelson Mandela was for 18 of the 27 years he was imprisoned. Now it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site (is it just me or does it seem like there’s a lot of those?). Between boats being cancelled due to weather, and the ferry being booked a couple of weeks in advance, we were out of luck. No worries – we stopped for lunch, and tried to buy jackets to keep out the cold. Then guess what happened? Yes, it rained. So we had drinks at a bar overlooking the water until the rain died down enough for us to bike home. We ended up having a great time despite it all, and hung out the next couple of nights as well.

That Friday I had scheduled a Harley tour around Capetown. I found it in the Coast to Coast book, and it sounded like a much more fun way to see the city than on a bus! At around 9am I heard a roaring engine, and as I was thinking how loud it was I realized – oh wait, that’s for me! I ran out to meet my guide Werner, and hopped on the back of the bike. It was incredible! It had finally stopped raining, and it was amazing driving along the coastal roads. There were moments when it felt like one of those flying dreams…. just floating forward in the air, looking down the mountain to the ocean just next to me. He took me to a ferry to see some seals, Simon’s Town to visit a penguin colony, Chapman’s Peak, Cape Point, and the Cape of Good Hope among other places. There were baboons and ostriches at the parks along the way.

Saturday was my last day, and pretty much the only sunny day while I was in Capetown. I took advantage, and went on a boat to swim with great white sharks! I guess swim is a bit misleading. More like float in an underwater cage hanging off the side of a boat. It was totally bizarre – I felt like I was watching a giant TV. I wasn’t even afraid because the idea that I was in the water with sharks seemed so impossible to me. There was a point though when the nose of the shark got a little too close to the cage and I ripped my hand away from the edge for fear of losing it. At that point I also realized I had my feet resting on the back of the cage, that I thought was against the boat. Only when I actually looked behind me there was open water behind the cage. That was it for me and I got out shortly after. I am too slow with my camera so I didn’t get any good pics, but you can at least get an idea of how close they got to the cage. They breeched a couple of times too which was amazing. We saw a total of 5 sharks that day, but we only saw a max of 3 at any one time.

South Africa in general seems like it was made for extreme anything – bungee jumping, sky diving, paragliding, abseiling, surfing, etc. It’s a good thing those backpacker places are so cheap, because it allowed me to do things I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. I never did get to Table Mountain and Robben Island. Next time….

As I’m writing this it’s 14 hours into my travel headed for Morocco. I’m sitting at the airport in Qatar, and finding myself annoyed that the man behind me can’t seem to stop talking, and sounds like a duck. Headphones.

South African speak – potjie (stew), braai (bbq), bakkie (truck), jawl (good time), pau pau (papaya), lekker (seems to be anything from great to cool to nice), howzit, a general “yeough” sound (wow?), babbelas (hangover), biltong (jerkey), robot (traffic light), just now or now now, shame, hectic, sharp