Ripped Pants and Baboons-- Tsitsikamma National Park
This morning we woke up and left for Tsitsikamma national park at 9 am to hike the otter trail to a waterfall. Once we started driving in the park we could see the beautiful Indian ocean.
The waves were HUGE, hitting up against giant rocks making a loud “boom” noise. We got out of the bus to start our hike, but first we took a bunch of jumping pictures with the scenic background. When finished that up we began to walk towards the start of the trail. We got to the entrance of the trail and it was taped off telling us not to enter, but we are such badasses we entered anyways. It was a normal trail for a while with a couple rocks, but then we got to an open area full of just rocks. We had to climb all across the slippery rocks to continue on the trail. Ellen (a professor) even ripped her pants on one of the rocks. Oops! It was a tough but beautiful hike. We were right along the Indian ocean the entire time. We continued on for a couple miles then made it to the waterfall. So on one side we were facing the waterfall and on the other we were facing the Indian Ocean! It was beautiful any way you turned. Incredible!
Some of us decided to hike back since we had been there a while and not everyone had made it yet (we were the fast group!). We were starving by the time we made it back to Marvin since it was already 2 pm!There was food in the bus, but unfortunately it was locked! We were hoping something was around for us to buy food from, like a restaurant or cafe, but nothing was in sight. Some guy appeared near the bathrooms so we asked him if there was a restaurant nearby. He pointed and told us it was 1 km away. We were so ahead of everyone we thought why not walk there and get some food. We started walking and definitely passed the 1km mark but there was still nothing in sight, so we turned back afraid that the rest of our group might be back at the bus waiting for us. We started walking back and 3 baboons ran across the street. They are so creepy. They jumped on the roof of a building and a man came running out with a broom trying to shoo them away! It was hilarious! Definitely something I had never seen before. Once everyone was back we ate sandwiches right by the ocean. I scarfed that sandwich down like I hadn’t eaten in weeks. Then we got back on Marvin and drove to a suspension bridge so we could get even more exercise in for the day (sarcasm). We drove up to the suspension bridge and we found the restaurant. I don’t know how that man thought it was 1km away.. It was like 10km away. Anyway we walked to the suspension bridge across the Indian Ocean. It was so creaky and sketch, but beautiful at the same time. And the hike back up to the top after the bridge was killer. This trip really made me realize how out of shape I am.
With that being said, I got a chocolate ice cream bar once I made it to the top! Ha. I also got some postcards to send out. We headed back to camp after that. From camp was a cute little town that we walked into and went to a cute pizza shop since we were all craving it. Then we went to a couple craft shops then back to camp.
xoxo,
Em