Cango Caves and Ostrich Farm

At the Cango Caves, a limestone formation of flowstone, dripstone and combo of both.

Bridal chamber of stalagtites and stalagmites

In front of limestone formation

having fun touring the caves

Baby ostriches that were one day old

Craig riding an ostrich at the farm

Getting ready to ride the ostrich

Riding was alot harder than it looked

Standing on ostrich eggs. They are reallly hard.

Went on a tour outside Knysna to the Swartberg Mountains up to the Cango Caves. They were really impressive, although we only went on the easy path. It gets very narrow in the adventure path. Then we went to the ostrich farm. We saw baby ostriches, some hatching out of their shells. Dad and I got to ride them, and then we held the eggs. They are really big, and hard. We also saw Emu. That night we had dinner in town. It was a fun day.

Elephants again

At the Elephant Sanctuary, where they rescue elephants who need help. They have 6 elephants at this time.

Mom got to walk with Marula, who lost the end of her truck to a trap.

Here Gabriel and I get to see inside her mouth and touch her tusk, skin, the hairs on her tail.

Dad and Mom with our elephant

Afterwords we got to feed our elephant banana squash and carrots. Because they have lost their pinchers we put the food on the lower part of their tusks, and they threw the food into their mouth.

Feb 15th Tsitsikamma Tree Canopy

Dad getting ready to zip..He went first

Here I go next

Mom had fun too

I really had alot of fun. So far, this was the best thing I've done.

Tired after walking all the way up the the hill.

We went on a tree top canopy tour.We were 30 meters above the Tsitsikamma Forest floor and there are 10 platforms that we zipped from. We learned about the trees, birds and you hold with your left hand and brake with your right!

Valentines Day- travel day

Valentines Day Dinner in Knysna
Last night in Cape Town, working on pictures

Our last day at the Westin Cape Town
A typical shanty township along the highway. These townships were always around where there was a town. The blacks worked in the towns. Most transportation is by bus or taxi for them.

We ate at the Milestone in Swellingdam - a 1902 home turned restaurant that was
a postal stop for mail from the 1600's.

A local cat - everyone got their cat fix for the trip

Jeanette's friend Eve drove down to Cape Town and brought us wine from Spier Winery, where Jeanette used to work.. Thnaks so much to the Van Der Colff's for the gift. We will be enjoying the wine across the country.

Feb 8th Elephant Safari

Enjoying Zambezi beer after our ride

Monkey on the porch

Family of Babboons crossing the road

Elephant March

Meeting the Elephants

On Emily

On safari

We got up at 5 am to go to the Elephant Safari. Our bus was stopped by about 50 babboons crossing the road. We got to the preserve and our elephants came out. They were big, with 3 babies who were coming with us. We met them, and mom and I picked Emily, Dad was on Janet. We rode through the savannah for an hour, then went back and fed them treats. That was so fun. We got breakfast and saw a movie of our ride. We bought a print of emilys foot back to remember our ride. We learned many things about elephants. I didn't know African elephants ears are shaped like the continent of Africa!!

Feb 7th, The Boma- Place of Eating

Playing the Drums at the Boma


Mopani worms (grubbs) to eat if you dare!!

African dancers

Alex joined in (not by choice)

Of course, they insisted I join them too..

face painted like a warrior

A cast iron "potjie pot" - our soup was in this

Lamb cooking on spit in middle of the Boma

Warthog and deer outside our lodge

Feb 13th, Robbens Island

The Company (Dutch East Indies) Gardens in Cape Town

Ferry to Robbens Island

Table Mountain fro the Island

Exercise Yard where Mandella worked

Mandella's cell

Took a ferry over to Robbens Island, which is most famous for being a prison for political prisoners during Apartheid. We saw the cell of Nelson Mandella, who was jailed for 30 yrs for encouraging political change in SA. He is 91yrs old now, and was here at parliment 2 days ago, which was the 20th anniversary of his release. It was sad. For lots of years they weren't fed well, and slept on straw mats on the floor. Came back at 12:30- we missed the noon canon everyday we were here!! We ate at "STEERS", which is supposed to be like our "In'n'Out" (but wasn't). It has BBQ sauce on the burgers. We saw Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper in the streets for some filming. Drove past the Castle, which really looks like a fort. Went and walked around the Company Gardens, which were started by the Dutch East Indies Company for their veggies. They have lots of trees, birds, and flowers. Saw parliment building, the National Gallery, the SA museum and the Great Synagoge. Table Mountain looks down over all of this.

Drove back around the beach, watching the waves crash. Did some jounaling (I'm all caught up with my homework!!) and now going to exercise with Dad and Gabriel. It'll be an early night as we leave tomorrow for Knysna.