In the past week, I…
swam with great white sharks, fed and rode an elephant, jumped off of the highest commercial bungee bridge in the world, ziplined over a ravine in the middle of a rainfall, visited a famous surfing town, enjoyed not one but two safari tours, made eye contact with a leopard, kissed an ostrich, climbed through the Cango Caves, and sang “My Heart Will Go On” to the most dashing bachelor in all of Africa.
Monday (6/6):
We left our Cape Town apartments at 5:00 A.M. in an adventure truck with Machiel Basson as our guide. Our first stop would be Dyer Island, where we braved the cold and jumped into cages to see sharks up close and personal. It was awesome. I may or may not have suffered from my first spell of sea sickness (sincerest apologies to poor Megan Lentz who was swimming in the cage at the time of my attack), but it was worth it to see the sharks so vividly.
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| Robert, our guide |
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Jake (AU), Jack (AU), and Lauren (UGA)
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After the shark cage diving, we continued our journey along the beautiful Garden Route. Otherwise known as Route 62, the Garden Route runs through South Africa’s famous Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest but richest floral kingdom in the world. There are over 8,500 plant species and 70% of them are indigenous to South Africa.
On Monday night we found ourselves in Sedgefield, where we spent a brief amount of time at Masithandane—a Christian organization that reaches out to the local township via arts and crafts. We painted huggables (tiny, characterized pillows) and played in the ceramic workshops with some of the volunteers. I met a girl named Lolita who is 19-years-old as well, and she is studying social work at a nearby college. She’s a gem—I really hope her future is full of success and happiness.
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| Lolita at Masithandane |
After our Masithande visit, we headed to our first hostel (which is called a “backpackers” here) of the week: Afrovibe. Friendships were quickly formed with Lyle, the owner, and Garrett, the barman. The Bafana Bafanas also became best of friends with the adventure guides: Gavin (the owner of Cape Extreme), Machiel (Bus 1 guide from Cape Town), and Martin (Bus 2 guide from Addo). These guys are crazy. The game of icing had been introduced to them the week before by the Springboks, and let’s just say that after Monday night, no one was safe. People were iced by Pringles cans, French fry baskets, ice cream machines, backpacks, and more. Icing took place all day, every day, with the South African “games” they taught us running as well. If you’re in college, you can probably imagine how ridiculous adventure week became. If you’re not, don’t worry about this part of the story.
“You are your greatest enemy if you are a coward. But if you are brave, you are your greatest friend.” - I. Frank
Tuesday (6/7):
Gavin and Machiel took us early that morning to Knysna, a lovely vacation spot that is famous for oysters. We were only there for a few minutes, but it was absolutely gorgeous and I would love to return. We then loaded the truck (where the majority of our time was spent last week) to drive to The Crags and experience the elephant sanctuary there. I was in heaven when I got to meet Maroulo, Jabu, and Thandi.
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| Knsyna |
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| Jabu |
It was either Michelle or Stephanie Tanner on Full House who had an elephant come to her birthday party one episode. I’ve wanted to ride an elephant ever since, and I’m happy to say that my elementary schoolgirl dream came true last Tuesday. I rode Maroulo, but I fed and walked Jabu. “Jabu” means “happiness,” and there couldn’t be a more perfect description for that morning. It was wonderful!
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| Riding Maroulo with Carrie (UGA) and Rocky |
We ate lunch at Monkeyland, which is a restaurant in Plettenberg Bay that is literally surrounded by monkeys. You eat in a treehouse-type of building with monkeys screaming and jumping all around you. It was fun, but not distracting enough to calm our nerves about bungee jumping later in the afternoon. Everyone was starting to get on my level of anxiety that I’ve had for months about the jump.
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Monkeyland with Machiel
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| Spotted: monkey |
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Before we could go to Bloukrans Bridge, though, we stopped in Storms River to meet kids from the community. We were supposed to play a soccer game at the school, but the weather forced into the hostel to play foosball and pool. Some of the guys played soccer in the yard, and others of us learned how to twirl sticks near the fireplace. The kids were great and everyone had a good time, but it was obvious that our nervous energy was building.
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| Storms River |
Finally, after eight months worth of wasteful worrying, I found myself at Bloukrans Bridge—the world’s highest commercial bungee jump. I was so thankful to draw #1 from the Machiel’s hat because I wanted to get the whole thing over with as soon as possible. The #1 meant that I got to be in the first group to go on the bridge, but I ended up being the very last of the group to jump. I thought I would hate being in that position, but it was actually the greatest blessing I’ve had throughout this entire trip.
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| Bloukrans Bridge |
You’ll have to watch the video to fully understand just how terrified I was, but I’m not ashamed to say that tears were involved. Falling 790 feet at a speed of 70 miles per hour is no easy task. Fortunately, though, I had amazing people behind me who encouraged and consoled me. They had already jumped, so they understood the risk I was about to take and the fear I was struggling to face. Group 2, on the other hand, was back at the restaurant—where you can watch everything live on the TV screens—laughing at my dramatic spectacle. I can’t blame them; it’s hilarious to watch now and we’ve all gotten a kick out of the video since.
I was told that someone in Group 2 asked if I’m afraid of heights. Megan, my roommate, told whoever it was that she didn’t think I was necessarily afraid of heights but terrified of not being in control. It’s amazing how much someone can learn about you after living together for a few short weeks.
Relinquishing control is exactly what scared me. Thank goodness I had sweet people like Brooks Pennington to pray for me and Courtney Doran to motivate me. She and I had had a long talk on Monday night about life’s obstacles, and she kept reminding me on the bridge of everything we had discussed. Dustin Harris, our adventure director, came up to me and said “You’re going to be fine. It’s you and the world, Darby.” That’s all I could think about when I was dangling in the air (still crying) at the end of the bungee jump. The first six seconds of free falling were invigoratingly scary, but the rest of the pendulum swinging was simply amazing. It really was just the world and me, and I’ve never felt more aware of God’s glory. I was safe and secure, and I was surrounded by beautiful scenery He created. When a man named Christo came to retrieve me, he took me to a group of people who I barely knew four weeks ago but I couldn’t wait to hug once I was back on the bridge. The power of a solid support system is indefinable.
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| Bafanas Bus 1, Group 1 {Psalm 23} |
The rest of the night was spent celebrating at Storms River. We each made our own bucket list after Dustin’s leadership lesson, and then continued the Ice, buffalo, and double parking games. I stayed in a room with two Texas girls and was woken up with “THE MAVS WON!” at 6:00 the following morning. The energy level on adventure week was out of control.
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela
Wednesday (6/8):
Thursday (6/9):
We started out the day with a sunrise safari and had to change our afternoon whale watching plans due to the weather. Instead of heading out to the open seas again, Gavin and Dustin redirected us to Thikula Wildcat Reserve after lunch at Steers (ZA’s version of Burger King). It is there where I stepped inside the cheetahs’ living quarters, got too close for comfort with an African wildcat, and nearly lost my hand trying to take pictures of a leopard.
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| Good morning, Addo! |
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| Spotted: leopard |
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| #oops |
We returned to Afrovibe in Sedgefield on Thursday night and “linked up” with Bus 2. We dipped our feet in the Indian Ocean, listened to Dustin’s inspirational WOW speech, watched each other’s bungee videos, and played darts all night long. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time and, without a doubt, my favorite night of the trip so far.
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| Indian Ocean with Megan (AU) and Madeline (Bama) |
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| Romo, Courtney, and Gavin {Afrovibe} |
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| Callie Williams (Texas) |
"Big things are expected of us, and nothing big ever came of being small.”
- Bill Clinton Friday (6/10):
The first laugh of the day was provided by Ben, who had his bangs cut/butchered by the hostel chef at some point in time on Thursday night. I was sad that my time with Bus 1 was coming to an end, but we had plenty more memories to make that day. The giant, not so pretty birds at the ostrich farm basically attacked us as we tried to feed and pet them. I wish Mary London would have been there because I know she would have flipped. It was an experience to say the least.
The last adventure of the week took place at the Cango Caves, which I severely underestimated. The caving started out as a leisurely stroll through giant caves that were filled with pretty rocks but soon turned into tiny tunnels that scared the stew out of me. I had a minor panic attack as I had to slither my way through a 2x7 passage. My nerves calmed down as soon as I made it through, but I nearly wet my pants from laughing when I had to pull a shoeless Shelby Ausband up from the dark abyss.
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| Big bird = big attitude |
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| Cango Caves |
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| He got a donk. |
When we finally made it back into the sunshine and fresh air, we enjoyed our last Bus 1 lunch together and got ready for the seven hour ride back to Cape Town. This final trip is where I made my Titanic performance, being the first contestant of the iPod game in which you have to turn the volume up so loud you can’t hear yourself and sing a given song for all to hear. I didn’t choose the “My Heart Will Go On” myself, but I’m going to assume that it was selected because Gavin—the epitome of sexy South African adventure—happened to be sitting near me. Singing in front of my hopeless crush was nothing compared to the other fears I faced on adventure week. I’m so thankful for my time on the Garden Route because there’s no way to ever repeat the challenges overcome and the memories made in those five days. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I can honestly say that I fully lived, enjoyed, and appreciated every second of it.
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
