I had heard a lot about the Garden Route, but didn’t really
know any details about it. The Garden
Route is from just east of Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, and is a tourist route
for people to visit small towns, each of which has a unique attraction. Thanks to a quick overview with Alexa, I had
a general idea of what the big towns on the Garden Route were famous for.
I first head for Hermanus, hoping to have another few hours of whale watching bliss, but unfortunately
moved on quickly as it was very windy and there were only a few whales. Leaving Hermanus I headed for
Oudtshoorn, where I did a meerkat safari (watching them come out of their holes
in the morning, greeting and grooming each other), went to the Cango Caves and toured various
stalagmites and stalactites (I may finally know which is which… I think) and
visited an ostrich farm where I fed them, stood on the eggs (they don’t
break if still full), and had the opportunity to ride one. As they put the bag over its head to calm it
down and reminded me for the second time that they did not claim any liability
and the nearest hospital was 30 km away, I decided it wasn’t for me.
I later stayed in Knysna, and then headed to Tsitsikamma to do some hiking over the suspension
bridges it’s famous for. As I left the Garden Route, I visited Alexa’s family
in East London, where it was great to spend a night with a family away from my
own J. 
Lesotho was next on the itinerary. Lesotho is a small country, completely
encompassed within South Africa. It was
a quick trip, including catching up with a friend from Dar who now lives in
Maseru, and spending two days in Semonkong in the highlands where I complete
the Guinness Book’s longest single commercial abseil (repelling) and then
received an education on South African 90’s pop over a few beers. It was only 3 nights in Lesotho, but it was
the scene of my first, and only, snow in Africa (thank goodness I decided to spring for a
room after camping the first night at Semonkong Lodge)!
From there, I raced to Joburg where I met up with four
friends from. Our long weekend consisted
of wedding dress shopping (Dar doesn’t quite have everything), a Soweto
township tour set up by our friend Kate (who used to live in Dar), more
shopping, and an oil change for Baby Blue.
We stayed at our friend Anna’s house and it was great to feel like home
came to me while I was traveling J 
It was sad saying goodbye to friends (or see you later since
I’ll be in Dar in 3 weeks), but fortunately, Jessie stayed to drive to Harare,
Zimbabwe with me. We first drove to Musina,
10 km away from the border, to cross the Beitbridge border early in the morning,
when we thought it might be better to cross (we heard it could be between 2 and
10 hours). I now realize I have been
Africanized. I had a beetle like insect
fall on my pillow from the ceiling, and I would probably still recommend the
place we stayed at – it was relatively clean.
We crossed relatively painlessly (it took 2.5 hours for us),
and with a small stumble (my second traffic ticket on the trip), we headed to
Great Zimbabwe, Africa’s 2nd most important archaeological site
after the Egyptian Pyramids (there’s a pretty big difference between first and
second place in this ranking). We took a
guided tour (it was interesting, but maybe not worth a long drive just to see
it), patted ourselves on the backs for negotiating a 50% discount on our hotel,
and then cursed ourselves for falling for a $25 brunch… ah well. Onto Harare where we sampled the best
Portuguese
Jessie flew back to Dar, and I spent my final day in Harare at
Wild is Life (an animal orphanage/rescue) and then experienced an everyday
scene – driving back into Harare and witnessing a complete city blackout around
me. But I still got a good night’s sleep
and set off for Mana Pools. That will be
saved for a different blog, as it justifies its own…
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