So the rest of our trip on the Garden Route was entirely tourist oriented.
We got to do some really great things and got to do a couple of dubious things.
First, the not so great:
- Monkeyland
Like the name indicates, it’s a big monkey pen. Interestingly, of the reported 300 monkeys there, only one is from the continent of Africa. A let down to begin with. You go in and there is no barrier between you and monkeys. You are in their territory. Great right? Not so much. They can get aggressive and some like to hassle human visitors. On top of that, we only saw like 3 varieties of moneys. 95% of our group pretty much felt that this place was wildly overrated.
- Ostrich farm
This place seems pretty inhumane. I know birds are dumb and what not, but when the tour guide was handling the birds, he was being extremely violent with them. Additionally, when people would hop on their backs and start riding, although it was tear-generatingly hilarious, the ostriches did not seem to be having a good as time as the crowd. Ostriches are also smelly.
Annnnnd some highlights:
- Going to the beach
This was pretty impromptu, but we spent an afternoon playing in the sand and waves of the Indian Ocean. The water was warm, the sun was shining (as usual) and it was the first relaxing, passive event we’d had all week.
- Cave spelunking
I guess it’s technically not spelunking if you aren’t the first, but it was still awesome. We went 600 meters deep into these caves that started as big and cavernous
and later become small enough that you have to crouch
and then so small you have to crawl
It was a good, sweaty adventure. Nothing wrong with that.
- Bungee jumping
The most adrenalin-pumping, hair-raising, fist-pumping event on this trip had to be jumping 706 feet off the tallest bridge in the Southern hemisphere. Words can’t really do justice in describing the experience, but you HAVE to do it if ever given the opportunity. It’s one of the coolest sensations I’ve felt. Here’s proof I did it.
