CapeTown, South Africa

July 01, 2012 • Leave a Comment

There are moments in life where even a photo can’t replace the words to describe what you are seeing with your own eyes. I have been to 6 of the 7 continents on this planet and I am awestruck on a regular basis. I felt this sense of awe as I sat on the top of Table Mountain sipping a beer and munching on gourmet cheese and biltong watching the clouds pouring over the top of the mountain like a slow motion waterfall. This phenomenon is what gives Table Mountain its name and signature effect of a white tablecloth cascading over the cliffs. It is just part of the dramatic landscape that frames Cape Town, South Africa. Picture flying into a city where an amphitheater of mountains thrust their way out of the middle of the buildings surrounded by pristine beaches. The only way I can describe this city is to imagine combining the best parts of California; San Francisco, Los Angeles, Big Sur and Napa into one peninsula. It is one of the few places I have been to where I wanted to live there. I had a “Bucket List” agenda on this trip. I was determined to learn as much as possible and see everything this city had to offer in just 5 days. It was an ambitious list, but I managed to check off every one! Here is my list:

-See the Cape African Penguins -Visit Table Mountain -Stellenbosch Wine Country -Go on Safari -Great White Shark Cage Diving -Try Wild Game

Being in Cape Town was like living on the Discovery Channel. It felt like everyday I was having crazy animal encounters; baboons running out into traffic, penguins on the beaches, wild ostriches roaming on the sides of the road, but NOTHING could have prepared me for my final encounter on our last day in Cape Town. It was Number 1 on my Bucket List in Life …YES, that would be paying money to climb into a cage in freezing water to be surrounded by 20-foot long Great White Sharks! On my last day in Cape Town, I got up at 4am and drove to Gansbaai, a small fishing village about 2 hours outside of Cape Town. I don’t know what was more terrifying, driving a stick shift on the wrong side of the road or thinking about what I was about to do. For me, I knew that I had to stare a shark face to face, to finally conquer my fears about them. I cannot express how it felt to be in the water with a massive shark coming at you baring all 3,000 of its teeth. One second you are seeing nothing and in a split second a shark is grabbing the cage a foot away from your face! It was terrifying, exciting and beautiful in a strange way. In that moment I felt vibrant, like every part of me was synched into reality. It’s moments like this that stoke my WANDERLUST.