The “Real” South Africa

It’s not to say that the South Africa you see on my blog, or the South Africa that I write about, is not the “real” South Africa, but I know for a fact that the expat version of the story and experience is much different from those that actual live here and were brought up here. Those that have seen the changes and transformations over the years, that in many ways are good, but in many ways leading South Africa in a bit of a downward spiral.

I wish I had more insight into it, but I learn as I go and I think it’s only fair to direct readers to a blog that shows and tells more of the “real” South Africa. My good friend Liani travels around SA by pedal bike or hiking in a movement that her and her friend Maria started called Go4Good.

Unfortunately some people that were helping them out stole their idea and everything of the past few years they have put together. The new website that stole their ideas and all the stories and what have you called themselves 4good and although Liani and Maria are not doing it first hand, they have an amazing attitude towards it regardless because in their minds the website is doing what it was intended it to do: To spread good and to help people help each other.

Anyway, I digress a bit. They have since persevered and found a new direction to do the same thing and spread more good and help people become aware of the issues that this country faces. I urge all readers of this blog to go see Liani’s blog at http://www.lianig4g.blogspot.com/. It’s a fantastic blog and has a little something for those passing by wishing to learn more about South Africa and for all the locals that want to make a difference.

To give you a bit of flavour and to follow in my plagiarising ways, here’s a taste of what it’s about:

“We have travelled a total of 13 515kms around South Africa, in 1 year and 7 months. We have done so on bicycles, accompanied by a dog in a basket in front. We have also hiked the Drakensberg, Magaliesberg, Transkei Coastline, and canoed the Orange River. We left, in search of enlightenment, change and purpose, and found so much more. We continue along our journey, hoping to share what we have learnt.”

It's South Africa Unplugged as she likes to say!!

Liani, this one’s for you!!

Maimed by a Cheetah

OK – so they don’t lie when they say South Africa is NOT for sissies!! We headed out to the Cheetah Park for the day. The tour was all good and dandy until the end of the day when you can “pay extra” to pet the cheetahs and boy did I get my “extra” for my pay as when I went to pet the cheetah, it decided to pet me instead!!

Can you believe it?

You really shouldn’t. I just felt that all of you back home were used to the near-death experiences as opposed to the classic me injuring myself that I didn’t have the heart to tell you that I actually just minorly injured myself. For all those that do not know me, injuries are an important part of my life. In fact they make me who I am today – a 30 year old walking, arthritic, tendonitised, ligament torn mess. I suppose you could say I am a 30 year old with the body of a 60 year old, but it’s all good though because I feel 16!!

I am not sure if you can relate at all, but I manage to injure myself more getting onto and off of my bike or getting it into or out of my car than I do actually riding my blasted bike. I actually maimed my arm (ok scraped) on the pedal crank while loading my bike into the car. I like to tell people that I was attacked by a cheetah though. I mean really, how often do you get a wound that would actually let you pull off a story like that?

Vic, this one’s for you – thanks for laughing at me. It was actually his suggestion that I go into a long detailed story about getting mauled by the cheetah, but that’s all I could manage. Didn’t want to give them too bad a wrap as they are really stunning creatures.

Just back to the Cheetah Park for a minute though. It truly is a place worth visiting if you’re in the area. (http://www.dewildt.org.za/wcpbackground.htm). Their mission statement that I took from the website is, “To ensure the long term survival of the wild cheetah and its ecosystems through the implementation of a National Management Plan by means of integrated conservation programs, research and education.” That picture is an actual one I took, but from a safe enough distance. We did get to pet them and they truly are amazing creatures. My favourite in fact – the fastest land animals alive!!

INCLUDING the ones with arthritis and tendonitis I imagine!!

30 Years Old…Seems Cause Enough to Jump Off a Bridge, No?

I’ve completely lost track of order, but that’s ok – an adventure that is for certain an adventure is definitely an adventure to tell.

I only remembered about the bridge and my birthday when I was posting about the many different self-induced, near death experiences I’ve had in SA and for some strange reason, doing the highest commercial bungee jump in the world followed by a helicopter tour of the coast came back into memory. It seems so long ago.

This one goes out to my good friend Julie. Thanks for taking the plunge with me!!

This story actually goes back a few days before my birthday. I suppose going back to New Year’s Eve is the best place to start. My friend Julie had just come back from holidays in Canada and wowza was I glad to see her. Christmas was long and lonely and it was fantastic to see a familiar face and have some good company. Exhausted as she was from her trip she still came out and ventured with me for the rest of the holidays and somehow the weekend after for my birthday as well. We weren’t really sure what to do for New Years, but knew we wanted to stay in the area so we did a quick search and shortly ended up with a packed two days…One of the joys of living close to the Magaliesberg!!

There’s so much to tell, but I’m just going to jump into it, hopefully with few words and lots of pictures. The plan was to head out to the Elephant Sanctuary on the 31st of December and then to do the Magaliesberg Canopy Tour on the 1st of January before heading back into work on the 2nd. We had a pretty chill New Years Eve at the sanctuary. Had an amazing lunch, a few drinks, learned about elephants (amazing creatures), and even took them for a little stroll. We finished the night with our “last supper” for 2007.

Julie Walking an Elephant

Last Supper for 2007

I’ll get to the bridge just now, but first the canopy tour!! I can’t really say enough about the Magaliesberg. I know I have a lot of South Africa still to explore, but WOW, there’s something about it that just keeps me coming back and it’s so close to where I stay and work that it really doesn’t seem fair to be so spoiled with such breathtaking views and things to do. The Magaliesberg mountain is said to be 2.4 billion years and the second oldest in the world.

This next part is a bit of a plagiarism from the canopy tour pamphlet, but I figure they know it better than anyone…"The Magaliesberg Canopy Tour consists of 11 platforms built high within the rock faces of the kloof (cliffs) and joined by 10 slides up to 140m long and 30m above the stream below."

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the canopy tour and the stunning kloof!!

All in all it was a fantastic start to the New Year and little did I know that soon enough it was going to get a whole lot crazier. We met some people who were in our canopy tour group and they began talking about other canopy tours in South Africa. They were telling Julie and I about how they went to one in a place called Knysna after which they headed to go bungee jumping off the highest commercial bungee jump in the world. The bridge is called Bloukrans Bridge. I informed everyone having the discussion that as crazy as I might be, bungee jumping is something I will never do – EVER – doesn’t seem right if you ask me, the physics of it just doesn't seem sane, but what’s that saying? Never say Never?

Ironically enough I had concert tickets to see a phenomenal South Africa band called Watershed in Plettenburg Bay, which isn’t too far off from Bloukrans Bridge. By this time our friend Jessie had also just come back from a European Christmas vacation and somehow, for some reason unbeknownst to me, Julie and I devised this interesting plan…

Work on the 2nd and the 3rd to catch up a bit, fly to George (on the coast close to the concert and the jump) on the Friday, pick up a rental car, tour the area, see the concert on Saturday, jump off a bridge on Sunday, take a helicopter ride along the coast right after, and then drive back home for work on Monday, or was it Tuesday? Can’t remember really, but the pictures below tell some of the story.

The concert was at a place called the Barnyard theatre. There are many all around SA, but this one in Plettenberg Bay was the original one from what I understand. It's a fantastic concept. Small venue, picnic tables, bring your own food and booze and party it up!! The lighting is a bit crap in some of my pictures, but hopefully you get the idea. That's Jessie "cutting the cheese" and Julie tucked in behind.

We spent the day shopping, visiting the monkey sanctuary, headed down to the Bay for a while and then off to the concert. Here are some pictures of the area for you.


The next morning was the heart attack 30th birthday. All I have to say is 216m. They say you actually get three of the highest jumps in one jump. The first is 216m and the fall after the initial recoil is equivalent to the second highest bungee jump and then the fall after the second recoil is equivalent to the third highest jump in the world.

To be honest with you I had no idea if I was going up or down or even alive for that matter. All I could remember was seeing valley, ocean, valley, ocean, valley, ocean x about 1000!! It was amazing though. I have to do it again I think. I didn't really know what to expect and it was so crazy that I don't really remember all if it. Below is a picture of the bridge. You take a slide (like the one on the canopy tour) to the center of the bridge below the actual road and they have a whole system set up including a DJ pumping the music to get your heart going a bit faster!! It is really amazing. To be completely honest with you, the scariest part of the whole thing was walking back after the jump alongside the bridge. The grating was the thinnest they could find I'm sure and all you see is rock and water below.



On our way out we saw a building that said helicopter rides along the coast and thought - why not? Can't really say too much about it outside of breathtaking.

Best everyone gets used to me saying things are breathtaking, because sunny SA may not be for sissies, but breathtaking it is.