Overnight Safari

A Weekend for the Okes

The weekend kicked off early this weekend, when Bryson and I decided that we would play a friendly golf match on Friday afternoon over at Mowbray Golf Course. It was a beautiful day and though I had a rugby game that evening, I decided it was too nice of a day to pass up. So we headed over in the early afternoon and teed up for a quick round of nine.

Started out with weekend with a round of Golf with Bryson

The course was surprisingly nice and in decent condition. We played a match and he took an early lead though I fired back to take a one stroke lead with one hole to go. He had the tee and poked one out and a bit to the right. Being the idiot I am on the tee box I decided to not play not to lose but rather to play to win it independent of what he does. So i teed up the driver and went deep left, lost my ball, and lost the hole by two strokes and he won one up. It was an unfortunate loss to start the weekend, but it was fun. I hurried back home to rest and relax a bit before the rugby match.

Couple of okes sporting the new UCTRFC warmups

We had just recently gotten our club kit for the rugby team and tonight was the first opportunity we ahd to don our kit. Fresh jersey, sweaters, bags, polo shirts, the whole nine yards. We were playing False Bay that night and it was a bit chilly, so our kit arrived just in time. The Americans stayed put on the bench in the first half, which at this point we were fine with. We were laughing so hard this game due to a couple of characters on the team, including Alan (old oke) and Emlyn, who are characters from sitcoms brought to real life. Though we all got minimal playing time, it ended up being one of the more memorable games we had because of all the laughs and the fines sessions afterward.

After the match we gathered in the locker room as usual for fines. The previous fines session, Levi and I had been pouters (the worst job), where we are constantly filling the beer cups for those being fined. This time we had free reign to enjoy the fines and be as involved as we could. Last time I caused a stir by fining Doug for going to Harvard and this time Doug was the fines master. As probably the least likable guy on the team, Doug had a hard time controlling the rest of the squad while he was in charge. We sang songs, I even contributed an original verse to the team favorite "I Wish Wll the Ladies," and soon a mutiny formed against Doug, and we tried to vacate him from the Fines Master role. It was a great evening and start to the night. We made plans with some of the okes, but failed to meet up with them as we had other plans in store for the night.

Club 31 is located on the top floor of the ABSA building in Cape Town

With the positive energy we had generated in the fines session, and the extra energy we had after not playing much of the match, we decided to go to one of the swankier clubs in Cape Town. Club 31 is a club with mainly young professionals in their late 20's and early 30's. You actually have to be 23 years old to get in, but we were able to swindle our way through the door and make it upstairs. We spent hours here and had an amazing night. All of the energy and drinks we'd enjoyed with the okes in the locker room ensured that we'd have a blast and it ended up being a pretty late night. Some didn't return home until about 5h15. That would have been fine, except the following morning was our fishing expedition.

The sunrise as we leave Hout Bay Harbour

The truck arrived at 5h45 to pick us up and bring us down the coast to Hout Bay. I got about an hour and a half of sleep, some got less, and Kevin got none. Since we had so much alcohal in our systems, so little sleep in our systems and we were about to go on a 2 hour boat ride out to the deep to fish we knew it would be difficult to be comfortable on the boat. So, we decided that we would continue drinking on our ride out to Hout Bay and out on the boat. If we stopped we would presumable feel the effects sooner.

Kevin, Mike, Me, Ross and Doug from Left to Right

This hypothesis did not pan out as fact as we discovered. We all began to feel sick about an hour and a half into the boat ride out. Miky Yu was the first to give some chum to the fishes overboard, though many of us were soon to follow. Before the day was over everyone but Kevin had vomited overboard multiple times. Ross was reported as the leader in the clubhouse with double digits. For the first couple hours we had very little luck with fish. We had about 4 fish after 5 hours of fishing. We were all becoming hungover, were vomiting or were sleeping. It was not our finest hour at sea. However, at about 14h30 we cleaned up our act and really started to catch some fish.  

giving all my strength to a sizable Yellowtail

 At roughly 15h00, the fish began to come. Between s15h00 and 15h45 we caught roughly twenty-four Yellowtails. This feeding frenzy was incredible. I caught seven in roughly a half an hour. Everyone on the boat caught a fish and we could not put on bait fast enough to catch all of the fish we had at our disposal. For lack of a better phrase it was like shooting fish in a barrel. 

giving my catch a smooch

With the huge amount of fish we caught, we decided that a braai was in order. So as we headed back to shore with all of the fish we could carry, we got on our phones and invited everyone to come to Charlton House so that we could braai the Yellowtail and a bit of Tuna for all to enjoy. The fish made us feel so much better we were drinking beers again on the way back to shore, despite being in the gutter just an hour or two before.

Back in Hout Bay with enough Yellowtail to last a couple of weeks

It was a roller coaster of emotion and a roller coaster of nausea. But it was a heck of a day and the braai was a great way to cap off the weekend. Truly a weekend for the okes. Everything from Golf, to rugby to Club 31 to a day on the open sea made it a memorable weekend. Weekends like this help illustrate how versatile Cape Town and how many different activities one can experience in the very same city. There is no other city in the world I'd rather spend a semester abroad.

Parents Flock to Cape Town

Since returning to Cape Town from break, there has been a huge influx of parents coming to visit my friends. With several different groups of parents coming in such a short time, I have been privileged to have multiple opportunities to meet many different parents and families and be spoiled with beautiful dinners and activities. So much so, in fact, that I have yet to go grocery shopping since returning from break because I have only had 2 dinners at home in over a week. This has led this past week to feel more like a vacation than a return from vacation. So here is how the week went after returning Monday night from what was supposed to be my break:

Tuesday
Allie turned 21 recently and we spent Monday night at Addis In The Cape Ethiopian Restaurant with a group of friends. A very interesting setting and food style, I was happy to have the opportunity to try more traditional African cuisine. 

Ethiopian 

The sponge bread pancake style in which Ethiopian food is served was a cool was to enjoy the meal with a group of people. They served us several different courses on huge pancakes split between 5 or 6 people. We had 3 or 4 tables worth of people who had gathered to celebrate Allie's big day. Demi's parents, who know Allie from home were there, though Allie's own parents had just left. The food was delicious and even more delicious was the dessert that was ordered for Allie that we all had a chance to enjoy.

Allie with her 21st Birthday cake at Addis

After the meal was finished, Dillon insisted that we would head to a rooftop bar he knew just around the corner. One of the many cool things about Dillon is that he will take you places you would never see otherwise. After walking through what seemed like dozens of doors, and elevators, we arrived at an incredible rooftop bar with a view of the whole city. It was a very cool spot and made for a special evening for Allie's 21st birthday.

Wednesday

I was lucky enough to be invited to join the Gagliardi family, as well as Allie, Natalie and Dillon to another evening at the Chef's Table. I last was at the Chef's Table about 2 months ago when Sally, Peter and Sarah were here. Needless to day, this was not just a meal, but really a special event that is hard to forget. With a stellar cast, once again this promised to be an amazing evening.

Me, Allie, Natalie, Mr. Gagliardi, Demi, Dillon and Mrs. Gagliardi from left to right

Highlights from the meal included the squid ink risotto and beetroot prepared 4 different ways on one plate. This time around the group was a bit more rambunctious and it turned into more of a party than just a meal. Mr. and Mrs. Gagliardi are young and full of energy and kept things loose and fun all night. They are very nice, friendly people and everyone was having a blast all night.  

Demi, Mrs. G and I

 After several hours at the table, we had finally made it through 9 of the 10 dishes for the evening (as well as many glasses of wine, beers and cocktails) and Mr. Gagliardi had a great idea, to enjoy our last meal (dessert) outside since it was such a nice evening. What we didn't know at that point, was that being inside was the only thi9ng containing this party from getting out of control. Once we were outside, Dillon, Mr. Gagliardi and I all picked a cigar to light up and we relaxed outside enjoying the company, food and drink.

Dillon and I enjoying some Cubans and Mangos

Dillon and I had gotten a bit rowdy at the Chef's Table and helped ourselves to move about the kitchen, and grab things that we liked. We grabbed a number of mangoes for whatever reason and brought them along with us outside. While we were busy running around the kitchen, the girls were ordering champagne which they opened with a sword that conveinently became available to us once we were outside.

The sword used to open the champagne and Alfonso, our waiter, joining us

The night went on from there, with tons of laughter and one of the more memorable nights I've had here in Cape Town. Mr. Gagliardi dipped out early, after finishing his cigar, he decided he needed to go to bed before things got out of hand. With the sword and seemingly endless supply of champagne and wine we carried on dinner until 1:30. We were left with memories and great pictures from this night that will help it live on forever.

To date, I'm not sure that life gets better than having a cigar in your mouth, glass of champagne in one hand and a sword in the other on the back deck at the Mount Nelson Hotel.

Friday


Saturday



Sunday

Monday

Desmond Tutu Service & Blessing

Though I had become accustomed to uncomfortably early wake up times over break in Botswana and Zimbabwe, the few days of sleep I had enjoyed this week made the 6:30 wake up today difficult. However, after pushing through the discomfort, I was happy I did. A group of us were heading to St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, the Anglican Church, to witness Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and internationally known activist who rose to international fame during apartheid.

Desmond, with the same smile he has today, accepting the Nobel Prize

The service was set to start at 7:15 and we were running a few minutes late. I was leading a pack of 6 girls to the service and we had never been to the cathedral before. We arrived at about 7:19 and I entered to find the main church was empty. This worried me. Was the service over, I wondered. I expected there to be crowds, pouring out into the street. But as we looked through the church, we saw a small side room, with no more than 30 people inside of it. Sure enough, in this small enclosure was Desmond behind the lectern. We srambled in as quietly as we could, in awe of how intimate the setting was. Desmond was oozing with charisma, the largest smile I'd ever witnessed. He laughed and joked in his sermons, uncommon among religious men, especially of his ilk. He was one of the most famous religious men in the world, meeting with world leaders on all continents, from US presidents, European Prime Ministers, the Pope, the Dali Lama, even Bono.

Tutu with Mandela at his Presidential Inauguration

He carried himself as if he were the least known, poorest man in the world, so modest and humble, yet he also carried himself like the happiest man in the world. Just being in his presence made you want to be a better person, to give more, take less. I've never been in the presence of anyone quiote like him. He wanted to get to know everyone that was in the room that day, so he came and shook each one of our hands when we offered each other a sign of peace. I said to him "peace be with you," and I don't know if it was because it was early in the morning and I hadn't cleared my throat or I was so nervous to be shaking his hand and speaking to him, but my voice came out very deep and muddled. Desmond instantly started cracking up and said to the whole room, "ahh this young man has a deep grumble of a voice" and then continued to imitate me. Everyone laughed and he went on greeting everyone.

After communion had been offered he asked that all visitors of the church stand up and introduce themselves, where they were from, why they were here, etc... He genuinely wanted to take the time to get to know each and every visitor that had found their way to St. George's Cathedral that day. He signed autographs for us, took pictures with us and laughed and joked with us until he left the church. Everyone was struck by the way he carried himself in the church that day. His charisma and charm was unparalleled.

Inside St. George's

I made a few donations to collect a few postcards to mail to my grandmother, and then went and lit 2 candles, one for my grandmother, Sally and one for her brother, George, who just passed away at the end of March. Though I never knew George, other than from Sally's stories, I knew he meant a great deal to Sally. He was her younger brother, and she mentioned to me, it is especially ahrd to lose a brother who is younger than you. I lit a candle for Sally and a candle for her brother George, may he rest in peace. After saying a few prayers for them, I left the church, overwhelmed by the experience I had this early Friday morning in St. George's Cathedral.

Day Nine - Victoria Falls to Cape Town

Day Eight - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Day Seven - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The earliest wake up of the trip was this morning as we were attempting our third type of safari, by truck, and wanted to be in the park for sunrise. So, we got up, threw on some clothes and were loaded up in a Safari 4x4 before 6:00.

As we learned in the Delta, the morning is the time that animals like to come out for a walk, its just too hot in the afternoon to want to be doing anything other than lounging under a tree or drinking water. So it was the perfect time to be in a 4x4 and on land. We saw everything again only this time, thanks to the protection offered by the 4x4 truck, we could get up close and personal with all of the creatures. Springboks and Impalas were present everywhere we went, so they became about as exciting as another bush or tree by the end of the day. One of my favorite animals came out in full force, the Giraffes. Huge groups of Giraffes were strolling through the par, enjoying some leaves and making the most clueless face was they absent mindedly chomp away on leaves without a care in the world. They are one of the most interesting creatures, just based on the construction of their body.

Baboons were curious about our 4x4 and came up close to learn more about it before being scared off. Then we came upon a group of Cape Buffalo. There must have been 200+ Cape Buffaloes hanging together idly, many of them supporting birds on top of them, which was like a scene out of Peanuts.  Finally we saw a huge amount of Warthogs, which Alix dubbed her favorite. This was strange because Warthogs have to be the ugliest and weirdest animals we saw. Nonetheless, she is entitled to her opinion and was excited to see all of the little Warthogs and their quasi mullets scurry around near us. We drove a bit longer seeing many of the same animals and the sun began to rise up in the sky until our hunger had grown large and we were ready for breakfast. We left the park for the final time and had our sights set on Zimbabwe.