South Africa Revisited (11)

We had a very warm welcome back in South Africa when we were picked up by Kim’s mum at East London Airport. Although the simple Malawian life was an interesting contrast from our normal day to day life, the home comforts and western living in South Africa were most welcome! Especially a good night sleep in a comfy bed! However, our experience in Malawi has definitely altered our appreciation of day to day things back home that we would not even consider a luxury, such as a hot bath, always having electricity and of course all the chocolate you could dream of!

My time in South Africa was made even better when my mum arrived in East London on Christmas Eve (so even though a hot Christmas in SA was going to be very different one for me, I still had a feel of home). Although when we woke on Christmas morning expecting to go for a walk in the glorious sunshine on the beach, my mum had brought the typical English weather with her – grey, cloudy and raining! But that didn’t spoil the time that Kim and I had sharing with our families doing the usual Christmas thing, playing games, eating far too much and watching TV!

Once Christmas had ended it was time to show South Africa off to my mum. After revisiting Jenny the giraffe at The Lion Park (in previous blog entry) our time in East London was already over and we were back on the road heading to Cape Town with a stopover in Knysna, which gave my mum a good view of the varying landscape and diversity of the country along her journey. We stopped at the Elephant Sanctuary in Plettenberg Bay, where we all got to walk hand in trunk with the elephants and learned about how they work and live. It felt strange initially being at the Elephant Sanctuary after the tragedy of our late friend Bernd but learning more about these amazing wild animals gave us a greater understanding.

After just one night of watching the beautiful sunset over Knysna harbour we set off to Cape Town. With our cameras around our necks looking like real tourists we set off to show my mum all the sights of Cape Town. We revisited the very cute African Penguins at Boulders beach (which stills seems strange to see these animals in such a warm climate on the beach).

Unfortunately due to being one of the most popular times to visit South Africa we couldn’t get up Table Mountain (2 hour queues in the blazing heat) and Robben Island which was fully booked so we just had to look from afar.

However we were very lucky to be there on what the Cape Coloured commumity called 2nd New year or Tweede Newe Jaar, where they celebrate the Minsteral Carnival or Kaapse Klopse on January 2nd. It is a huge carnival for the Muslim and Cape Coloured community where they dress in brightly coloured clothes, which they have all been secretly making most of that year and sing, dance and play instruments, competing against each other in large groups. The city really came to life and it was great to see the people really celebrating their culture.
In the photo you can see where we went up Chapmans peak with a view out to the ocean and over Hout Bay, having sundowners and a picnic with my mum, Marlene, Heidi, Marq and baby Quinn.

After a very emotional goodbye to my mum at Cape Town Airport we then went off on a camping trip with Kims sister Heidi, Marq, Quinn and the two dogs Sky and Hawk to a place called Beverlac , 2 hours away from Cape Town. So we were back to living in a tent but only for a short while this time. The area is set in the mountains with rock pools so our days were spent lazing in the boiling sun and going for a dip in the pools. The dogs went crazy jumping into the water and playing and baby Quinn got just as much enjoyment out of watching the dogs play. Every night we chilled in front of the fire doing what South Africans do best, having a braai (bbq) with lots of meat and then roasting marshmallows over the fire – yum!!

Our time in SA was very eventful but went far too quickly and there were more emotional goodbyes when we left as we are not sure if we can re-visit everyone again before heading back to the UK at the end of July.

A very Happy New Year to you all and I hope 2010 is a good one. We hope the snow is starting to thaw out for all of you back home and missing you all.

Love Nat and Kim xx