South Africa: My Southernmost Adventure

 --- Tugela Falls Hike --- 

Jun 2, 2025 - After an 11 hour flight from Zurich, we finally arrived in Johannesburg then rented a Toyota Scarlet Cross. We drove to the Drakensberg Range and found our hotel. It was extremely cold. We just relaxed, had dinner there, and prepared for our big hike tomorrow. 

The next morning, we had an early breakfast to take a 4x4 shuttle from the hotel to the Sentinal Peak Car park (trailhead). Our Scarlet Cross wasn't built for the rough road we were taking. The truck was really big, and the drive was really bumpy and I was paranoid that I was gonna hit my head on one of the big metal poles that was right next to me. But finally, we arrived. 

The hike started up a long set of switchbacks to a junction. We could either go up a boulder-filled gully or continue to traverse along the base of some cliffs and climb up a set of chain ladders leading to the top of the Lesotho Escarpment. We chose the chain ladders because they seemed really cool and another group of hikers took the gully so we wanted to avoid rockfall from above. They were kinda scary at first but once I got used to them, climbing them were no problem. We had made it to the plateau!

We walked to a lookout at the head of Tugela Falls, the second tallest waterfall in the world, and had lunch there. But my dad (Bob) decided to go an extra TWO KILOMETRES TO GO TEN METERS INTO LESOTHO JUST TO ADD TO HIS COUNTRY COUNT!! My mom, brother (Chubbs) and I  turned back because it was too far. I was a little worried because it was 1:00 PM and we needed to get back by 3:30 PM to catch the Shuttle back to the hotel. Bob returned from his ridiculous side quest around 1:30 PM so we had to go fast. Bob couldn’t run because the Comrades ultra marathon that he had trained for was in a few days, so we were screwed. At 3:15 PM, I ran ahead with my brother because we had 1 kilometre to go to the truck, and we weren’t gonna make it. We made it to the truck with minutes to spare. But the driver said he waits no matter what, so I wasted all of that energy for nothing. Crap.

---  Lower Drakensburg ---

The next day, we drove down to the Drakensberg valley bottom and found our lodge. There were no heaters and the only way to heat up the lodge was to burn wood. Bob didn’t want to do that because it’s bad for air quality. He was paranoid about getting sick before his big race. To be honest, it wasn’t that cold. He was overreacting. Bob didn’t want to hang out in the “freezing cold lodge” so we went on a short hike. It was 5 km return along the Tugela River. We went back to the lodge and a funny thing happened. The receptionist was sitting at the bar and when she saw us, she said hello and I did that head raise rizz thing.

--- Durban ---

The next morning, we drove to out hotel in Durban. It was called Blue Waters Hotel but it was more of a resort. When we walked in, the first thing we saw was a slushy machine and a table full of assorted cakes. So off to a good start. We found our room, which was huge and had a giant sofa, so we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

The next morning, we went to Bob's race expo. It was extremely crowded. We walked around a bit and eventually, we found Bob. Then we walked around some more and Bob found this guy selling anti-cramp stuff and they started talking. FOR HOURS.

That’s what it felt like. Chubbs and I found this cool sand art thing. We did it while Bob and that guy were talking. When they finally stopped (2025), we left and went to a lighthouse. It was kinda boring. BUT I TOUCHED THE INDIAN OCEAN!!!!!

The next day, we went to Ushaka Marine World. We saw huge sharks that looked like they could eat a whole cow in one bite. We looked at the fish for a bit then had lunch. After lunch, we went to a dolphin show where the dolphins did all sorts of tricks like backflips, then we took and Uber back to the hotel. We wanted to go to the pool but some couple decided to go ahead and get married, and OF COURSE they had to use the pool room. Did they even think about the inconvenience for everyone else? We couldn’t do anything, so we went back to the room.

--- Comrades Day ---

The next morning, we went down to breakfast and the wedding was finally over so the pool was open! We went right away. After that, we had lunch with Natalie and went to the race finish. It was the most crowded place I’ve been in my life. I only had 3 panic attacks. Eventually we found Bob helping some guys put up a crowd-control fence that had fallen, then we all walked back to the hotel. Bob's friend, Alan, was cramping a lot so we went slow.

I thought about that time when we were in the Zurich Art Gallery and Bob shouted to momma from across the room, “Schatzie, I love this place!”  while unbeknownst to him, there were twenty other museum guests in the room. That was funny. We finally made it to the hotel and just decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant because it was easier than walking any further with my gimpy dad. The next day, we Ubered to the airport and flew to Cape Town. 

--- Cape Town ---

Once we arrived, we rented a car and drove to our hotel. There was a café nearby so we had lunch there. I had the best toasty (grilled cheese) I've ever had in my life. There was a playground one block away with some really long monkey bars, but I couldn't do them because they were too low. Then Chubbs found this baby and started doing tricks for it. He really liked that! After that, the baby left and we drove up Signal Hill to see Lion's Head mountain at sunset. It was wondrous! For dinner, we went to this cool place called Mama Africa. There was live music, face painting, drumming, and more stuff! My favourite part was eating zebra. I was really surprised that it was good!

The next day, we went to Boulders Beach near Simon's Town and saw some African Penguins! There were so many. Chubbs was in a bad mood, so we took a few more pictures and left. It was getting late, so we found a buffet restaurant nearby. I had the best butter chicken I ate in my entire life. Then we came back and went to bed.  

 

--- The Garden Route ---

We then drove south from Cape Town to Cape Agulhas, the southern most point on the tip of Africa. I saw the Indian Ocean to the left and the South Atlantic Ocean to the right. It was cool knowing they were both there but it was impossible to tell them apart so we kinda got scammed. After checking out the cape we drove to stay at a nice hotel in Struisbaai.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel. The pancakes were amazing but there were ants in the syrup! So, I didn't have that. After that, we did the four-hour drive along The Garden Route to Botlierskop Game Reserve and had lunch there. While we waited for our food, Chubbs and I went down to a hammock right by the restaurant. We had battles there. Eventually we ended up with Silas crying just as we were about to start our animal safari. He stopped soon though. The guide took us to his Land Cruiser. His name was Alex and he gave us a quick safety briefing then we were on our way. First we started with the wildebeest. They kind of looked like moose without antlers. Alex pointed out a darker wildebeest and he said that was a special variant. Then we went to the next animal. It was the rhino. It was huge! He was just slowly walking by and eventually passed us, then we moved on.

After that, we drove to a giraffe carcass. He had been killed just that morning. We left quickly though because another guide spotted two cheetahs! They were being trained because their momma had been eaten by a lion. Eventually they could hunt and survive on their own! We spotted one’s tail but they were in the bushes and it was hard to see them. We took some photos and then another group came so we left. Then we drove to a pond where a hippo lived. It was hard to see him because he was surrounded by bushes. After a few minutes of looking at him, we moved on to our snack spot. Everyone went to pee but not me! My bladder had zero urine in there! After that, we got snacks and drinks and found out that the other guys in our tour were also from Vancouver! Bob talked with them, and we saw some giraffes!

I think they were my favourite. It would have been the cheetahs, but we couldn't really see them. On the way back, Alex spotted elephants walking up a road in the distance. He said it was too dangerous to go close as night was falling, so we looked with his binoculars then we started heading back. On the way back, we saw a porcupine who scampered across the road. He was really fast and it was dark so I couldn't really see him. Soon we arrived back at the lodge, tipped Alex and left.

The next day, we went to Monkeyland. We were greeted by a lemur as soon as we walked in. His eyes were so orange! The tour guide took us to the entrance and we were off! We saw a bunch more lemurs and some small monkeys called squirrel monkeys. We could play with them for a bit and we then saw a big Indian monkey (Grey Langur)!! Bob was throwing a stick to him and he caught it! But the guide said not to do it. We then saw a spider monkey up in the trees. It was kind of hard to see him, but he was big. Then we crossed the bridge and on the other side we saw more lemurs. There weren't that many monkeys after that, so we kept walking to the exit. 

Next up, we went to Birds of Eden. Right at the start of the walk, there were a bunch of birds that I couldn't identify but were cool. Then we saw an aggressively clingy cockatoo on a fence and it followed us around until the exit. We eventually came to a bridge and there were some colourful birds right there, so we took pictures of them then crossed the bridge. I pranced along it! We then saw some cool flamingos with long necks and even a Canada Goose! Then we walked to the exit and there was a family of Indians (Indians are epic)!!!!

 

We got snacks then left... or we tried to leave. That cockatoo who was stalking us outside a building trapped us inside, preventing us from exiting! So we had to trick him by running to one side of the building and he went to that side then we ran to the other side and left. 

We then drove to a trailhead for the Otter Trail in the Garden Route National Park. We had to cross a small river to get there formed by tidal water entering a lake off a beach. Bob carried me and Chubbs across and Mumma walked across. But she said the tide would go too high and we wouldn't make it back across on our return journey. So Bob carried me and Chubbs back and Mama walked back. Bob left to go on the hike and Chubbs, Mumma and I just played in the sand. Twenty minutes later, we heard Bob shout, and he was at the top of a ridge overlooking the ocean! He took some photos (I think), came back down, then we all went back to the hotel.

--- Relaxing Day ---

This day was all about relaxing. We got up, had breakfast, and went to the beach. We played in the sand for a bit and Chubbs used a net to find shells. Bob was sitting in his room on the toilet playing chess. A few years later, he came down and joined us on the beach until he just started playing chess again. Except this time, he was using data instead of hotel Wi-Fi. Eventually we walked back to the hotel room and had lunch. Mama and Chubbs went back to the beach, Bob “edited his photos” and I journaled. Then we went out for ice cream. And that was the day!

--- Table Mountain Hike ---

The next morning, we checked out and drove back to Cape Town. Then we hiked up Table Mountain along the Platteklip Gorge route. It was short and steep and SOO windy at the top. We walked to a viewpoint at the top of the flat summit area then took a rotating gondola down. Then we drove away into the sunset.