Mount Mulanje No 14

So our journey to Mount Mulanje began by getting 3 different minibuses, crammed full of people! On our way we were stopped by the Police due to the minibus being way over its capacity, which is a normal occurrence in Malawi. We were convinced the driver paid the Police a bribe because we were back on the road in no time, and he was soon filling up the bus with more people!! Our final bus took us to a village called Likabula at the base of Mount Mulanjie. We were soon accompanied by guys wanting to be our porter or guide and they followed us on our 30 minute walk to our accommodation. During our walk we could see the scale of Mulanje, but still had no idea what lay ahead for us over the next few days! We were advised by previous people who had climbed the mountain to buy ourselves a locally made walking stick, which turned out to be a great piece of advice. We chose a walking stick each with ‘Mount Mulanje Malawi 2010’ engraved on it for a bargain 2 pounds.

We booked our guide, porter and our 2 nights accommodation in a cabin on the mountain and were now ready to take on the mighty Mulanje. Our guide, Oscar and porter, Felix (yes we know they sound like a kids comedy cartoon duo) led us on our journey the next morning. Only 5 minutes in to the hike Nat met her first challenge of making her way across a river by leaping on to rocks to avoid the rushing water. So off came our shoes and Oscar led us on a safe path across the river to the other side, and Nat had successfully accomplished her first challenge! From then on the journey was a continuous incline the whole way. Our hearts soon felt like they were in our throats and with the sun beaming down on us we were sweating buckets. It was refreshing when we came to another stream where we cooled ourselves down and rehydrated ourselves with the fresh spring water. The higher we climbed the harder it got, but the stunning scenery and amazing wildlife made us forget about our aches and pains (well – for a short while). Due to it being the rainy season, there were very few people on the mountain other than a group of three others we came across along our path. The wet paths from the rain, made the climb a lot more challenging and we had to constantly watch our step which is where our walking sticks came in handy for balancing.

When we saw the sign for the ‘CCAP hut’ which we were staying in, our mood lifted as we thought we had completed our climb. But there was still a difficult 1 hour journey ahead, which contained 2 valleys ahead and a very steep descent down to the hut. After a 6 hour hike we finally arrived, to be greeted by the friendly caretaker, Bonfess who was boiling water over a fire for a cup of tea and hot wash. The hut was very quaint and was built over 100 years ago by Scottish missionaries. That night we celebrated our 2 year anniversary over a candle lit dinner (because there was no electricity) and a warm coke each sitting in front of the fire – quite romantic really. To top it off we saw one of the best sunsets we’ve seen in Africa.

Even though we didn’t think our legs could manage it we were up early the next morning setting off with Oscar on a hike of the plateau. We rambled through grass as high as our heads and a arrived at a place named the crater, where we sat on the edge looking out over the mountains and we could even see Mozambique ahead. We headed off to some rock pools which led to a water fall, but due to the clouds closing in on us it was too cold to have a swim. The viewpoint on the edge of the plateau gave us a breath taking view of the land below and we spotted the towns we had stopped at during our journey there on the minibus.

The next day it was time to head back down to the mountain (and to reality)! We set off at 6.30am, hoping that an early start would get us down there in good time. But much were we mistaken as the descent proved to be quite tricky due to the slippery paths and rocks. After a very long and tiring 7 hours we were back down the mountain and ready to head back home for a nice hot shower.

So 2 days later as we’re writing this our legs are still aching all over, but despite the pain it was well worth it and we feel a great sense of achievement having completed our first ever mountain hike. We may wait a while until we attempt Kilimanjaro or even Everest : )

We will keep you updated on our next ‘African Adventure’………

Love Nat and Kim xxx

Monkey business at Lake Malawi no.13

Well here we are again sitting on the condi (verandah) with a cuppa tea after a long and tiring but fun day with the kids – looking out over the beautiful grounds of open arms home (please see picture above). In the background we can hear the hustle and bustle of the local township and a train chugging past. Its dusk, with no cloud in the sky and the sun is setting, after another hot a humid morning with some afternoon rain which gratefully cools the air down. Ok, now that we have set the scene, we need to update you on what we have been up to the past couple of weeks.

The nursery teacher Eniffer took us to her local village where the infant home built their first feeding station, which is a nursery school and daily lunch time meal for the local children. We were introduced to the village head man and his wife who were a real charismatic pair and they ensure that the feeding station runs smoothly. We sat in front of their rural home and they made us feel very welcome. Once they found out that Kim was South African, they became extremely expressive and called him a fellow African friend, with lots of hand shaking and smiles. Just one of our many experiences which proves once again that Malawian’s are a very friendly nation.

Back at the home we were being kept busy with the children. One afternoon we treated two of the older children from Harrogate house by taking them to a swimming pool at a local restaurant. As you can imagine they had loads of fun splashing around in the water, with lots of shrieks of laughter. Afterwards we brought them each an ice cream, which they savoured until the last drop. During our time here we want to take all of the older children swimming, as we left many upset children at the home.

The trip to Lake Malawi for Kim’s Birthday was much needed after our busy week. We got a lift up with the Director of the home, Neville who’s an English guy and has been running the home for 10 years. We heard all the stories about what led him to Africa and the amazing things he’s done for these children, which was all very inspirational to hear. Neville stopped on the way up to stock up on fresh fruit for our stay at his cottage and we managed to sample a fruit called a custard apple, which was soft and fleshy on the outside with loads of pips in the centre. The fruit here in Malawi is amazing and there is always one or another fruit in season, so we have taken to buying whatever we can get our hands on and making fruit salad. We spent the first night in Mangochi which is at the southern most point of Lake Malawi, and his cottage looks right over the lake – a beautiful spot.

The next morning, in the much needed rain with our backpacks and ponchos on we set off to Cape Maclear, a popular tourist spot at the Lake, set in a rural fishing village. Much of our time was spent relaxing and reading our books in the sun, during the morning and then watching the mesmerising storms hitting the lake in the afternoons. On Kim’s birthday we hired a double kayak, which we thought would be relaxing, however the lake was very choppy that day and we didn’t prove to have good kayaking skills, as we kept drifting in the wrong direction!! Nonetheless we got a good workout!

The rest of the week we spent helping at the other infant home in Mangochi and due to the building being purpose built for an infant home it has a very different feel to the one in Blantyre. We went along on one of the days to the local market to help out with the weekly shop. It was a great little bustling market with loads of fresh fruit, veg and fish which you could smell even before you could see it. Besides helping with the feeding we also tidied up and sorted out the toys, books and puzzles in the classroom which is part of the home.

We stayed at Neville’s cottage on the lake and had some regular cheeky visitors – vervet monkeys. One afternoon a monkey managed to jump up and open the door to the house, eating our bread and pineapple!! After being chased out of the house they scampered into the nearest tree and looked down at us munching away on the food they had stolen!


After visiting an art gallery in Blantyre a few weeks ago which is also a quaint place to grab a coffee we saw some great paintings by an artist who Neville later informed us lives in Mangochi. He told us we would be better off visiting him while we were in Mangochi and buying a painting straight from him. So we went and visited Jomwa Phiri, the artist, and had a look at some of his work. We were told afterwards by the administrator of Open Arms Mangochi, Thomasina who was helpful, lovely…and Irish (that may be why), that Jomwa’s son Isaac paints exactly like his Dad, well pretty much copies his dads style and charges half the price. So we managed to get hold of Isaac and have commissioned him to paint a us a picture of a busy village scene which he will send down to us in Blantyre when its done. Its always very difficult to decide on a price that you think is worth paying as they always start off really high but we managed to bargain him down and get what we thought was a reasonable price. Lets just hope now that its what we want!

Our trip back down to Blantyre took us 4 hours by minibus and was pretty interesting as we stopped in every town along the way so we constantly had new people squashed up against us. We have a new volunteer in the house with us, a lady called Corrine from Harrogate in the UK, which is nice as its just been us for the last 3 weeks. Next on our list of places to visit is Mount Mulanje which everyone here has advised us to go and see, so this coming weekend we are heading off to Mulanje to do some hiking. It should be good as you hike for most of the day through some amazing scenery and then we’ll spend the evenings in huts which are dotted along the various paths. But I’ll be able to tell you more in our next blog. By the way we worked out last week that we have now been away from home for 6 months! Its flown by and to think we have another 6 months left so at least you still have loads more blog entries to keep you busy with ;-).

We hope you are all keeping well and for those of you in the UK keeping warm.

Love Kim + Nat xxx

Babies, Beanies & Barking Dogs in Blantyre no. 12

Once we arrived back in Malawi, we had a short time to settle in and the following morning we were up at 7am working in the Open Arms infant home. We are now based in Blantyre which is one of the most developed cities in Malawi – although that is not saying much. But it is far more developed than our previous stay in Luwawa forest, with supermarkets, restaurants and banks only 15 minutes walk away. We have noticed around the city that there are lots of other ‘Mzungus’ (white people) and it seems to be a popular place for westerners to work and live. We our staying in a little house in the grounds of the Open Arms home, which is very cosy and has everything we need. Now living in an urban area makes us really appreciate the amenities we have around us, compared with the rural life we were living before.

So back to our day starting at 7am….this is one of the busiest times in the home where all the babies and toddlers wake up for their porridge and milk. It can get extremely noisy and hectic and one of our jobs is washing the kids hands and putting them in their high chairs. However, this can be a thankless task as the cheeky ones climb out of their chairs, but we have become wise to this now. It is not uncommon to end up with porridge, wee or baby sick over you after breakfast!! For the rest of the day we help the kitchen staff washing up, make peanut butter sandwiches and then continue to feed the babies and play with the toddlers. Swinging the children up and down and giving them piggy backs is a very popular choice – even though this is causing a lot of strain for Kim’s shoulders and back. But hearing the laughter and giggles makes it worth it. The mothers of the home were very pleased when we gave them the 50 very colourful beanie hats that Kim’s mum has been knitting for many months (You can see some very cute pictures of the children wearing the hats in this blog).

There are over 30 babies and toddlers in this particular home all with their own sad stories, some arriving only a few days old. Most of them are here because they have lost their mothers for various reasons, but HIV or Aids are the most common. Due to the baby belonging to the mother’s side of the family in most cultures in Malawi, the mother’s extended family cannot afford to buy the milk for the baby. Therefore, the baby comes to Open Arms for the first 2 years of its life, with a hope that the child will be re-settled back in to his or her extended family.

For those children whose families cannot be traced or cannot be settled with their extended families, Harrogate House, set in the grounds of Open Arms becomes their home. The children in Harrogate housed are aged 2-6 years. The children here are extremely cute and we try and see them most days in the afternoon to play with them, doing things like art and sports. They went crazy over bubbles jumping all over the place and they all have so much energy that we come away extremely exhausted! They all appear very settled in the home, even though some are unwell, with one young boy having HIV who was extremely sick when he arrived only a year ago with his sister, and now that he is on medication and getting good nutrition, he is a very happy and energetic boy.
Once the children reach 6 years old they go in to one of the three foster homes set in the community. Each home has an average of six children, and after visiting 2 of the homes this week, the children are like a big family and do things together like any other family, such as watch TV and play out in the garden. The kids all go to a private school with very good education, which is setting them up for a hopeful future. Open Arms seems to be a great set up and different from other orphanages. They even send their nurses out regularly to visit the children who have re-settled back with their extended family, to make sure they are cared for well enough and get the right education and nutrition.

Since being here there have been 3 new arrivals to the home, only a few weeks old so it will be great seeing them grow and develop in the time we are here. There are definitely a few children that we are very fond of but we try and make an effort to play and hug all of the children – even if they are driving us crazy. We’re hoping that after the 2 and a half months we’re here we’ll eventually learn all the children and mothers names, as this is proving to be a challenge at the moment.
One thing we are struggling to get used to is waking up in the middle of the night and telling Bridget to keep the noise down!! (Bridget being the homes German Shepherd that guards the place), along with the sounds of the call to prayer at the local mosque.

On Friday night we thought we’d do something very English and went for a great curry at the Bombay Palace. Next weekend we’re going to head up to Lake Malawi to celebrate Kim’s Birthday (lets not mention his age ;-) ) so that we can relax in the sun.

That’s all for now and we hope you are all well and we’ll be updating you with more of our Africa Adventures in the near future.

Love Nat & Kim xxx

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

Rural life in Malawi #10

It’s been a long time since we have written about our ‘adventures in Africa’, due to the limited time we had access to the internet whilst in Malawi. I’m sure that a lot of you are aware of what we have been up to, but for those of you who don’t here is a summary of the highs and lows of our time in Malawi.

For the two months in Malawi we lived at Luwawa Forest Lodge, Northern Malawi, set in a pine plantation 1600m above sea level. We were 10km away from a main road and therefore we were pretty far away from the day to day amenities you expect, such as shops to buy food, cash points, the internet and we had no mobile phone reception. So as you can imagine this alone was a culture shock and made us appreciate every small thing we did. However, although we didn’t have our home comforts, the local Malawians soon made us feel at home with their warm and welcoming manor. Whenever we walked anywhere we would have to add on extra time due to stopping and chatting to them about their day (although conversation was limited due to most people only speaking Timbuka).

Our volunteer work took place in the ‘Hunga’ village 5km away from the lodge. We were led to believe our main objective would be supporting the head teacher at Mzgambuzi School with teaching, due to him being the only teacher there!! However, it soon became apparent that due to the terrible conditions of the school block, such as leaking roof, mud floor and limited resources we were set about the task of raising funds to build the new school block they hard started and .... project managing it. And as neither of us have building experience that was a real challenge and a steep learning curve.

The village were so pleased to have us working with them, they kindly invited us to live their whilst we worked at the school, and we didn’t feel we could turn this kind offer down, even though we both had a lot of apprehension due to knowing the village had no electricity or running water and we would really have to get back to basics! Which I was slightly nervous about! When we moved in to our little home, AKA ‘mud hut’, half of the children from the local area surrounded our house, so excited to see how white people, or as they say ‘Mazungos’ live.

This a typical day in the life of Nat and Kim whilst living at the village........4am get woken up by the local alarm clock (Bloomin rooster!)...6am woken again by the school children playing outside ... a strong clue its time to be awake at this time...6.30am Make a fire, boil some water, have some tea and porridge....7.15am ready for our day at school...7.20am all the girls sweeping outside the school...7.30am Mr Levin and Ms Trewhella in class teaching either English, Math or Expressive Arts.... 9.30am Play time: children leaping from trees, killing birds, skipping with skipping rope made of reeds and singing and dancing....10.30 Sports: teaching them how to play netball with no net but a ring of bricks on the ground as a goal...11.30am School finishes ....very tired!

Whilst we were teaching we had to come up with a strategy to get some funds together to help complete the new school block. The local community made their own bricks and hired a builder to build the structure. I have to admit it was quite amazing to see how they made the bricks just from local mud. After our appeal for donations we were very fortunate that some of our friends and family helped us out which helped us buy the much needed wood and iron sheets for the roof (thanks again to all of you who donated). It was very rewarding going to the local hardware store and ordering 78 iron sheets for the school as the local community never dreamed that their school would have an iron roof. We even helped carry the sheets (I actually carried 26 roof ridges on my shoulder) from the main road to the school through some really hilly terrain and whilst a massive storm was brewing. On our last day teaching we took some chocolate cake, popcorn and orange juice for the kids as a farewell party and I think they were very happy and grateful as its not the same as eating nsima (the local food they eat 3 times a day) or drinking stagnant river water. As a thank you for what we had done for them we were given a live hen and rooster who are currently residing at the staff quarters as the lodge and have been named Kim and Nat.

When we weren’t staying in the village we stayed in a small tent in the campsite at the lodge. As we discovered our tent had a leak so once or twice when the heavy rains attacked we had to sleep in the hostel and ontop of that a group of mice had decided that our tent was a great spot to have their toilet. So after fixing the leaks and moving the tent life was alot more comfortable. We spent alot of our time at the lodge with the staff as they were always interested in chatting to us and finding out about our lives and for us it was a great chance to mix with the locals. They would often spoil us and give us tasters from the kitchen of some of the desserts. On their lunch breaks we would often sit outside the kitchen on the grass and play card games and we taught them dominoes which they had never played and really enjoyed. The game they all seemed to play and be really good at was draughts, which they played with bottle tops, and also a local game called bough.

We made some particularly good friends from the lodge Sandra and Patrick, and a German guy called Bernd who was travelling up through Africa to Germany on his motorbike. He had this great opportunity, just by chance, of running a national park lodge called Lifupa for a month as a favour for another German guy. He invited us all there and gave us VIP treatment, staying in the lovely chalets, having good food, and going on a game drive together. From the chalets there was a dam where we could see lots of hippos and the elephants often came to drink. He took us up the ‘black rock’ which gave us great views of the whole park. We were all going to reunite once again at Luwawa Lodge before Bernd continued his journey through Africa, where his next stop was Tanzania. We then received extremely sad, tragic news that our kind friend Bernd had been killed by a herd of elephants whilst at the Lodge. It made us realise how precious life is, and you should live it to the fullest, just like Bernd was doing.

We also managed to make a trip to the infamous lake Malawi, which due to its large size it feels like you are by the sea , as you can’t see to the other side. It gave us some time to relax and enjoy the sun, after working hard at the school. We hope to visit it again during our next stay in Malawi.

That sums up most of our time in Malawi. We are now looking forward to spending time with family in South Africa for Christmas and New Year (And Nats mum is coming over from the UK for a holiday, which will make it even more of a special occasion).

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year brings you all lots of happiness.

Love Nat and Kim xxx

Sun, Sea & Surfing #9

Its crazy to think we have been Capetonians for over 4 weeks now. We have managed to cross off items on our to do list aswell as visiting a few places we hadn't planned on seeing. I have to admit spending this last month in Cape Town has made me realise how beautiful South Africa is and I think Nat can agree with me.

Anyway since the last time we wrote we have visited quite a few places and as I cant remember in which order I will just write about them randomely. First off we went to Cape Point which is a where the 2 Oceans, the cold Atlantic and the warm Indian Ocean, meet and is also a nature reserve which is home to a large population of baboons. Now I'm not sure if any of you have had the chance to see a baboon close up but if you have you will agree with me they are really scarey and evil looking creatures. There are signs up everywhere "DO NOT FEED THE BABOONS" as in previous years people have fed them and then when you withold food from them they get agressive towards humans and then have to be shot, which I think it crazy as its their home we are intruding on. They are the only baboons in the world that have taught themselves to crack open the shells on the rocks along the shoreline and eat the sea creatures inside. Fortunately they are protected and it seems like they have reached an understanding with the rangers, we wont attack the tourists if you dont disturb us.

The next place on our list was Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens which sits at the foot of the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Although not as big as Kew Gardens and not as extensive it is still however filled with indigenous South Africa plants and great opens spaces to have picnics and just chill out. The World of Birds in Hout Bay was also on our list which has not only birds, but everything from guinea pigs to spider monkeys. Some of the highlights for us was being greated by a cat with no ears as we paid for our tickets, I dont think he was supposed to be one of the attractions, a rather amourous male tortoise and walking through the owl enclosures. You can go into the spider monkey enclosure during feeding times and they sometimes jump onto your shoulder but this day they seemed more interested in their food than us. Whilst we are talking about Hout Bay one of the days when it was particulary hot we along with Heidi and Quinn , my sister and nephew, went to the beach in Hout Bay and managed to watch a seal surfing the waves. Now there is an animal that looks like it has fun surfing. Although the little girl learning to surf didnt see the funny side as all she saw was this black thing in the wave near her and she promptly bolted out of the water.

One of the areas near the Waterfront and at the base of Signal Hill is called Bo-Kaap (translated as Upper Cape) and is home to a group of people called the Cape Malays. The main reason this area is of interest to any tourist is becuase each individual house is painted a different colour making it look like you have arrived in some kind of lego town. The reason this was originally done was that if you were of a certain profession ie doctor, lawyer, mechanic, then you would paint your house with the corresponding colour so that if people needed someone with that profession they would know who to go and see. Its no longer the case but if you live in the area or buy a house there you are not allowed to change the colour. It has actually become a very much sought after area and trying buy a house there is almost impossible as people never really sell.

The last thing i want to write about is an event that we, myself, Nat, Heidi and Marq, went to 2 Sundays ago at Muizenberg beach called Earthwave. Since 2006 they have been holding the event which is basically on a specified day they try and get as many surfers to stand up and ride 1 wave for 5 seconds. As Marq is a keen surfer he was all up for it and managed to convince me to join him. The money we paid goes to the shark spotters, yes there are sharks that roam the Cape Town coastline and the spotters sit up on the mountainside and keep an eye open for them, aswell as any other environmental projects. Anyway with my miniscule experience of surfing I joined Marq and after 5 attempts we managed to get 103 people on 1 wave however I'm not sure I was part of that 103 as I only managed to get up on the last attempt. It was total chaos but so much fun as the comaraderie amongst the surfers is great. I am definately hooked and will hopefully be able to get some surfing in when we go to Mozambique. Come summer next year in the UK if we are back if anyone is keen I will be heading to the coast with my surfboard under one arm.

Well thats about all our news for now but I suspect our next entry will be alot more interesting as we leave for Malawi this Friday. We have decided to stay in Lilongwe for the weekend and then catch a bus upto the place we will be staying on Monday. We have been warned that it is really remote so we need to stock up on food supplies etc and we dont know how often we will be able to communicate, but we'll let you know once we have settled in. Its all pretty scarey but exciting nontheless.

Take care

Kim & Nat

Cape Town - The Mother City #8

Cape Town is most definitely the mother city of South Africa due to the diversity of people and dramatic landscape, reflecting the real South Africa . The mountains watch over you wherever you are in this city, and as many of you know the most famous is ‘ Table Mountain ’, and it’s easy to see how it got its name. We are staying in an area called Fish Hoek where Kim’s dad and step-mum, Dave and Marlene live. Fish Hoek is right on the coast line, with a beautiful sandy bay. It is known as a ‘dry town’ due to alcohol not being sold in any store, other than in restaurants. Due to its warm waters at this time of year pods of southern right whales swim in to this area to breed. We were very lucky to spot two swimming close to the coast line, along with many other keen whale watchers. Along with whales being a tourist attraction when taking a drive to Cape Point we saw penguins on Boulders beach, where they were sunning themselves on the large rocks and boulders.

We have been taking in the culture and learning about the vast history of this area through visiting museums and the Dutch Castle . We visited a museum which told of the story of District 6. During the Apartheid era an area called District 6 (which is reflected in the current South African movie, ‘District 9), home to Cape Malays and ‘Coloured’ people was declared a ‘white area’ and the residents were evicted and re-settled out of the city centre. This was an interesting insight in to some of the history at this awful time in South Africa .
With Cape Town having some of the best beaches around Kim took the opportunity to go surfing with his brother-in-law Marq. After one early morning, watching the sun coming up whilst trying to catch a wave, Kim is now hooked and is managing to stand on the board. I’m ashamed to say that I stay on dry land with his sister, Heidi her baby son Quinn having a coffee but I am starting to pluck up the courage to give it a go.

On Saturday we had a family outing with Kim’s parents, and sisters family to Stellenbosch to visit a couple of wine farms. We were able to do some wine tasting at Muratie where they’ve preserved the authenticity of the wine cellars by refraining from sweeping away the old cobwebs, which gives a slightly eerie but cosy feel.

During the rest of our time in Cape Town we will be making our way through our list of places to visit and also catching up with Kim’s family and friends having bbq’s (braai’s).

We hope your all keeping well and not missing us too much.

Love Nat and Kim xxx