South Africa & eSwatini

It took me some time but eventually, I made it to Africa again! I was waiting for it since I have been to Kenya back in 2009 and I was a mix of excited and terrified knowing I would have a group to lead, and it was no easy trip like the one to Greece last year. All considered I can tell the travel was great, way above my expectations. The only thing was the group itself; I hope not to travel again with them and not because they were the kind of excessively noisy people, always thinking about the next party/drinking moment, and disrespectful of the place. Not all of them, thankfully, but there were a couple of elements I would have gotten rid of if only I could! After all, they were the average traveling people you meet today: they want to be carried, place a flag in a new cool country and just have “holidays”.
I got assigned this travel about one month in advance and I had time to study and prepare it. It was not so hard although was August and most Europeans have holidays around this time. It was winter there, though, so no local tourists. The group was made up of fifteen people plus me. Everyone seemed to be quite chill on the phone. It is hard to spot who can be trouble!
The biggest difficulty was becoming familiar with the country. Except for some famous places, everything was new to me and there was much to learn and know to prepare a good itinerary. A great help came from my mom, who made the same tour in 2019 and provided me with much useful information. Once the itinerary was done, the rest came quite naturally. Strangely enough, I was not too anxious about this travel. I felt confident in my decisions and my bookings. And indeed, everything went smoothly from that point of view. Again, the problem was to make people respect the timings and the plan, having complaints about early wakeups and short lunchtime. The irony? In the end, they all thanked me because the itinerary was great, and it was worth it to see the sunrise every day. You don’t say?
Nonetheless, I tried to still enjoy the places I went and sometimes forget the others and pretend I was alone in the beauty I was experiencing. It was hard because it does hurt you to be there when someone does something disrespectful and not be able to act. It was tough because, in the end, I felt alone together with them, but I am sure I will remember only the good part of this travel. I already do!

I don’t have a soundtrack this time as we did listen to a lot of music but mostly old playlists and Italian songs. I tried to put some Miriam Makeba once but did not work out.

13^th August
As usual, the first day is always the hardest one. I got up quite early to meet half of the group at the Milan airport. We started to get to know each other while queueing at the check-in and then having breakfast before boarding the plane to Doha. That was our first stop, and I was happy to divide the whole route more or less into two parts of similar length. Who knows me also knows I am terrified of flying and usually this comes as a surprise given that I am always going somewhere. Well, I guess the desire to travel is stronger than the irrational fear of falling from the sky.
In Doha, we met the second half of the group that arrived from Rome. It was a bit awkward at the beginning as it normally is. Everybody tries to think of some icebreaker topic to start bonding. We did not have much time anyway as the plane for Johannesburg was scheduled after just a few hours.

14^th August
The second flight was quiet as the first one and we managed to sleep a bit, too. We however landed in Johannesburg at 3.40 am and were quite tired. We had to wait until 8 to be able to get the rented cars so we exchanged some money, bought sim cards, and had a proper breakfast. Sharp at the scheduled time, we were at the Hertz office, and shortly after we left the airport with our three Volkswagen Polo and one Toyota Corolla. I was a driver as well and the idea of driving on the ‘wrong’ side had me scared for some time. Additionally, the fact that I don’t drive often, and even less with the manual transmission, increased the anxiety. I don’t know who helped me but, by chance, the car I was assigned was the only one with automatic transmission!
I did not know exactly what to expect once outside of the airport. You can travel everywhere but when you get to a new place there is always that feeling of fear mixed with curiosity. The first impact on the highway was good (I did not drive right away, my codriver was happy to start) and we easily found the right directions to go to our first stop. We were outside, we were finally driving in South Africa!
The first drive was not so long. We met Patrick, a local guide of Soweto, in front of the Apartheid Museum, which we, unfortunately, did not have the time to visit. Instead, we drove with him inside Soweto to walk around.
Soweto is a township of Johannesburg, and the name comes exactly from this: SOuth WEst TOwnships. Nowadays, it is a place easy to visit also alone as it changed, and it is not the ghetto it was meant to be when created. Its story dates back to 1904 when, with the pretext of a plague, Indians and Africans were deported outside of Johannesburg. In the next years, the population here increased, and many movements started to protest against the living conditions and the Apartheid that was in the country. At the same time, the people started to create their own identity through music and culture until, on the 16^th of June 1976, a rebellion of students went down in the streets and the police reacted by firing and killing. A trace of that tragic day is still visible in the Hector Pieterson Memorial. Soweto is also the place where Nelson Mandela spent his life before and after being imprisoned. We went to both the memorial and the museum, but we also enjoyed something very South African, a typical braai. This is the typical dish of this country: a barbecue. I don’t know if it was because of lack of sleep and decent food, but we all enjoyed the lunch greatly.
After lunch, we took the cars to start the long drive to reach Nelspruit. We stopped only once along the way in a supermarket to get some snacks and breakfast. Even so, we arrived only late and when the sky was completely dark. We booked the restaurant for dinner in the morning, and we went to what seemed to be the only one open (it was a Sunday) that day. The dinner was delicious, and we had the first taste of how our meals were going to be the next days: meat, meat, and… meat! After dinner, we still had to drive about twenty minutes to reach the lodge. The name was fascinating: Hippo Waterfront Lodge and it was just by the Crocodile River. Although I still had not realized completely where I was, these names brought it back to my mind. It was clear we were in low season as the chalets in which we divided were without heating, but we were so tired that even the cold could have not stopped us from a long and well-deserved sleep.

15^th August
I really hoped we could have been able to see hippos in the morning as we were told they normally graze around but we were not lucky, so we quickly packed our stuff and left the lodge to start the second of many other long days.
The plan for the day was to visit the Blyde River Canyon. It is one of the biggest in the world and there are many stops to do to have different panoramic views. We managed to do six which was quite an achievement. On top of this, we have been extra lucky to have such a beautiful day to enjoy it. With clouds and rain, not only the visibility is zero, but many paths are also dangerous and therefore closed to visitors.

The first stop was the Lone Creek Falls, quite disappointing if compared to the others so I would not recommend it. After that, we stopped at the Pinnacle that, as the name says, is a solitary high rock surrounded by other mountains. The view was really good and impressive. From then on, it was really an escalation of breathtaking views!
We stopped at God’s Window where we did a short hike on a panoramic trail. The view was wide, almost 180 degrees, and, on clearer days, even the border and capital city of Mozambique are visible. From there, you can understand why they called it that way. We skipped another stop as it would have been pretty much the same view, but we went to the Lisbon Falls. As the name says, it was a fall, this time much more panoramic and bigger than the first of the day. Again, we skipped another similar fall to go straight to Bourke’s Luck Potholes. This place was amazing! You could not have an idea of how beautiful it was until you properly entered the path. At first, it seems all flat but then, you see down below the Blyde river and the huge canyon that has been excavated for thousands of years. It was almost magic, and one could have stayed hours to look at the rocks, how they were rounded and sharp depending on how they were positioned and how the water touched them.
But, if this place already amazed us, the last one left us completely enchanted. Not surprisingly, it is said to be the best one and, because of this, the best is to leave it at the end of the tour. We arrived there almost at sunset when the light started to have tones of pink and red and this made it even more stunning. It was the Three Rondavels. For some reason, it reminded me a bit of Meteora, in Greece. There too, the rocks have been excavated and give the land an enchanted atmosphere. Here we stayed a while celebrating the first proper day with some wine.
The day was not over, yet, as we still had to drive some hours to reach Phalaborwa.
It was beautiful to enjoy the sunset there, but the last road part we did that day was one of the worst. Not only because there was no light and it was hard to see but also for the holes here and there that were a constant danger, especially for the poor Corolla, that scratched whatever and wherever. Nonetheless, we managed to arrive around 8 in the little town of Phalaborwa. It is quite touristic (meaning that is made of almost only hotels and lodges) as it is one of the access points for Kruger Park and, for this, also quite safe. We were in a hurry because we booked a restaurant but it was already late (usually restaurants close their kitchen at 8.30 pm) but the man at the reception insisted on showing us each room and opening every cabinet and switching the TVs on. After this interesting tour, we were finally free to go and fill our bellies. Probably, that was also one of the best dinners of all the tours. I had a grilled impala with some herbs and slightly spicy that was simply delicious. After dinner, we walked back to the lodge and fell into a deep sleep, knowing that the next day at 6 we would have started our very first safari into Kruger.

16^th August
During the planning of the travel, I thought it would have been good to do the first safari with a guide. On one hand, because nobody had ever done a safari before except for me, on the other because I did not know which cars we would have eventually got. Additionally, I was not sure about the roads and how experienced the drivers were. In the end, it was a good idea and the price was fair. Obviously, doing the safari with a guide does not imply that you will see more as that comes totally by luck. We were quite lucky even though for some time, after entering, we did not see much. Then, we started with the impalas, buffalos, giraffes, and zebras until we had the best sighting of the day: two lionesses in the bush. The moment was already incredible when a huge herd of buffalos arrived following a river. We were keeping our breath not knowing what could have happened. Some of the biggest buffalos started to walk in the direction of the lionesses, which, in the meantime, had changed position and made themselves almost invisible in the grass. The rest of the herd was drinking and resting when the buffalos started to run and the lionesses had to run away from them. It was, happily for me at least, a blood-free action scene! We then continued our tour but with no other exciting sightings like that. By midday, we were back at the lodge to get our cars and luggage and start our self-drive safari. I booked for two nights two different lodges inside the park so we would have driven towards the first one and stopped for spotting animals along the way.
Then, not even ten minutes inside, the genius. One guy in the group went out of the car to get something in the trunk of another. You cannot imagine how pissed that made me. Besides putting himself in danger (that I did not care much at that point, to be honest), he risked being seen by the staff of the park, getting an expensive fine, and, worse than anything, getting us all out of the park. The moment I managed to talk to him, I was so furious, and still, I got so frustrated because he did not give a shit and nobody else realized how stupid that behavior has been. Those are the moments I would prefer not so many people were allowed to travel as it happens today. There are just so many people I see around that do not respect the place they go, that have no sense of the fact they are not alone in the world and they are no exception but should follow rules and respect the people, the animals, the land that host them. This episode made the rest of my day bitter and only at dinner I managed to relax a bit. However, even inside the lodge, everyone kept making so much noise that it was hard to stand. I never understood how it was possible to make so much noise and, more than anything, why it was necessary. In a way, I think it is, unfortunately, typical Italian, on the other, I think it depends on how people are taught to behave. If they have been used to treating everything like a zoo or someplace where they can behave as they please, well, this is the result. Again, although I have always loved to travel, I grew up knowing to respect other people's habits, when I go out of my country. Most people seem not.

17^th August
We started the day not as early as I would have liked but still, we had many rich sightings. The drive south to the other camp was very long so we just followed the main road and stopped whenever we saw something interesting. We saw a leopard, well, some spots at least, as we arrived after other cars and it swiftly hid in the grass, becoming invisible to our eyes. And then, we spotted many other animals, among which the hippos! Then elephants, wild beasts, giraffes, impalas… but no other big cats as I hoped. The ‘guy’ behaved better, he knew I was pissed because of him and he kept teasing me in the car (yes, he stayed in our car) but I did not want to give him satisfaction. The second camp we stayed in was much bigger than the first one and at dinner, I chose a shared barbecue platter with wild beast, impala, and buffalo. It was mostly out of curiosity because in terms of taste it was not the best. Additionally, the meat was so hard that we were not able to finish it all.

18^th August
Another early wake for one of the longest days. The plan was to drive all the way south to go out of the Kruger Park and from there drive until the border with eSwatini and south again to the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and arrive a bit before the sunset to enjoy the reserve. Obviously, the plan did not work out perfectly as the drive took more than expected.
>We left the lodge early and we took a small detour to do a loop hoping to see some new animal. We were lucky enough to see a lot of baboons but no cheetahs or leopards, that I did hope for. Then we drove south and, just before exiting the park, we saw a herd of hyenas sleeping on the street. They were so cute and calm despite the many cars that were stopping around. Then, almost at the gate, I saw another big group of cars so I pressed the accelerator to go and see what was there. Two young male lions were lying in the bush. We stayed there some time and then we indeed passed the gate and went out of the Kruger.
>We stopped just a little bit for the toilette and eat some snacks and then drove the few kilometers we had to the border with eSwatini. The bureaucracy was quite fast, they just needed to check the documents, the covid certificate, and check that the cars were fine. Half an hour later we were in a new country. We filled the cars and then drove a while until we found a supermarket to buy some food. After checking many in the previous days, we came up with a lunch menu that we would have kept for the whole travel: a sandwich with tuna, tomatoes, and mayo. I wanted to push the group to be a bit quick and eat something easier in the car but, as usual, there is always someone that wants to stay longer so we wasted a lot of time in the process of deciding what to do. We arrived at the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary which was already starting the sunset. We saw some crocodiles resting in the small lake of the reserve (the nice guy threw some rocks close to them to make them move – how can you be so stupid?) and then we walked to the lodge. I walked a bit alone because I wanted to stay away from the noise and the negative vibes I got that day and enjoy this magnificent place.
In this sanctuary, it is possible to walk alone as there are no dangerous animals, or better, there are crocodiles but they don’t run after you (hopefully). Until a couple of years ago, there were also hippos but they moved them elsewhere as they were a threat to people. The colors of the sunset were amazing and the nyalas were grazing around. The sense of peace I proved there is something hard to describe even though I was quite exhausted from all the delays and discussions we had during the day.
The lodge was incredible. We were in bee hive huts, typical constructions made with natural materials. Although quite basic, it was one of the best accommodations we had. Just before dinner, we saw a Zulu show with typical dances and songs. It was quite touristic but still nice. The only creepy thing was the face of the king printed also on the pareos the women were wearing. eSwatini is a small country with still an absolute monarchy. The king is said to have spent much of the country's money on himself and the many wives he has to leave the rest of the population in poverty. However, even if people dislike his misconduct, they still want him to represent the nation.
The dinner was quite good and I also got an Amarula to end the evening. This is a typical drink from South Africa made with the fruit of the marula tree. It resembles Bayleys but there is no coffee in it. A bit more relaxed, I spoke to the group around the fire to explain the program for the next day. I realized that part of the reason why the planned itinerary was not working with time was that I was not communicating effectively. I guess it is something that is not natural for me and that you need to learn in any case, adjusting to the people you have around. Eventually, I realized that I had to ‘manipulate’ the transfer times to get the group being on time. I probably made the right calculations because the next days everything worked out much better.

19^th August
Today I wanted to take some extra time again for me so I woke up earlier than the others to do the Hippo trail. As the name says, it is a two-hour trail along which you are supposed to see hippos. Unfortunately, there are no more hippos but the walk was nice anyway. When does it happen you can walk by zebras, nyalas, and warthogs? The only bad thing was the weather, which changed during the night into a light but persistent rain. After I finished the hike, I went back to the main camp for breakfast, and then I found the rest of the group. They also went for a little walk but did not finish due to the rain. We left soon after and decided to stop in Manzini. Here, I read there was a nice market and it would have been good to buy some local crafts. We arrived in the small town and drove up and down for a bit before finding the market. It usually is inside a proper building well indicated but I knew it was being restored so I was looking for the street where it was temporarily moved. Every person we asked gave us different information and we were almost ready to leave when we found it. It was a great idea to stop because there was a lot of stuff and almost everybody bought something. My mom told me there were many fabrics so I started looking for them. They were amazing! I tried to negotiate a bit the prices but it was almost a lobby and could not get crazy deals. Yet, I got something like ten meters of various fabrics and I hope to make something nice out of them.
After the shopping, we continued driving to reach the border south of eSwatini. It was a long drive, again, and thankfully the weather improved. Roads in eSwatini were not worse than the ones in South Africa. Mostly, the problem was bumps so it was impossible to speed up a bit without destroying the cars. The Corolla touched them all in any case, we left a bit of her all around.
At the border, the bureaucracy was as quick as the first time and soon we were again in South Africa. We had lunch (guess what) and continued the long drive until the little town of St Lucia, on the coast. This town consists of one main street full of hotels, lodges, and restaurants as it is extremely touristic. Here people come to enjoy the ocean and the close by parks. We checked in in the lodge I booked that, compared with the others, was quite basic but still good. The owner was a bit crazy but I loved she had a pig. Unfortunately, I did not see him as he died the previous year but I knew about it and she showed me some pictures. We just had the time to relax a bit before going to dinner. Finally, there was some extra choice on the menu with fish on top of the usual meat choices. During dinner, I also had to give very bad news to the group. For the next day, and with the ok from everybody, I booked a guided safari to the Hluhluwe iMfolozi game reserve and the guide confirmed the pick-up time at 5 am.

20^th August
As announced, the guide came to pick us up at 5. We were all more than sleepy and we managed to rest a bit in the cars as it took about one hour to arrive at the reserve. There, we moved to the jeeps and entered the reserve. Not even twenty minutes later, we spotted a male lion sleeping alone. He was beautiful and the colors of the morning were magical. We all liked this park because it was a bit more varied than Kruger, greener and hilly. Also, booking a guided safari was a good idea because all the drivers were quite tired and the roads here were dirt and less easy than the Kruger ones. Everybody enjoyed the time and we did not have to think about lunch either, as a braai was included. After the lion, we started driving around looking for rhinos, the only one of the big fives that we still had not seen. When we had almost lost all our hopes, we finally spotted some, grazing just by the road. They are so big and yet so cute. Ok maybe cute is not the perfect adjective to describe a rhino but I hope I gave you the idea.
The safari ended at 4 and then they drove us back to St Lucia. It was still quite early so, before going to dinner, we all had some free time. We did some shopping and then decided to drive to the ocean, which so far we had not seen, yet. We went to the nearest beach with the idea of enjoying a nice sunset and not expecting the crazy wind that moved sand all around. Still, it felt amazing to touch the sand and the water of the Indian Ocean. The water was not as cold as I expected and the sand was super soft. At dinner, I had the great idea of ordering pizza and I did not go for the simple one. I got one that included chicken, peppers, pineapple (although I think they might have forgotten that), and a chili sauce. It was edible, that for sure, but I could not eat more than half of it. It was really spicy. And I love spicy, just saying.

21^st August
For everybody’s happiness, we could sleep until ‘late’. The first activity of the day was a boat trip on the estuary of Lake St Lucia at 10 but at 7 we were all already up and packing. For once, we were not in a rush so we went for breakfast and, together with a couple of other people I went to the main supermarket to buy some meat. We decided to make ourselves a barbecue that evening as in all the lodges there is a dedicated area. This way, we saved some money and tried something different. Just before 10, we boarded the boat and we were ready to start the trip. It was not bad but not even the most exciting adventure in South Africa, more like a relaxed cruise. This estuary is extremely wide and is home to many species of plants and animals. The main attraction is the hippos, which we saw after a short time together with many birds and a crocodile.
Once we finished the boat trip, we drove to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. It is one of the Unesco sites of South Africa (but sadly no postcards) and it is beautiful, way more than I expected, and completely different from all the other parks we visited so far. Probably, that is what I liked the most about South Africa: the natural diversity and uniqueness of each place. The weather was also fantastic but the road inside the park was one of the most scenographic I have ever seen. We saw some rhinos and kudus and then we reached the first beach: Mission Rocks. As the name says, this beach is completely rocky. Then, we drove to the second beach: Cape Vidal. This one was completely different, with sand instead of rocks. We stopped for lunch and to rest under the sun. The time to leave came too soon but we still had to drive more than one hour to reach the city of Ballito. It is again a very touristic destination but we did not have time to see anything because, when we arrived, it was already very dark. I chose this city because the next day we had to fly from Durban to Port Elizabeth and Ballito is one of the closest towns to the airport. I booked some chalets inside a residence and, while some people went looking for some wine, the rest of us started the barbecue. If only the group had not been so noisy, the evening would have been perfect. The meat was great, for once without sauces and spices that they use in big quantities, and we were soon full. I left soon after dinner to find some quiet in my room and I fell asleep in no time.

22^nd August
To go back to our normal routine, we woke up quite early. We did not have anything, in particular, to do that day as we had a flight in the early afternoon to go to Port Elizabeth. The problem was that we had to return the cars at the airport at 8. We arrived there, signed the papers, and then found a bar to sit at for some hours. The airport of Durban is quite small so there was not much to do in the waiting. Finally, the time to check in and board came. The flight was fine and we landed around 3.30 pm. Not sure if we needed a long time to retrieve the cars, I preferred to book some apartments in Jeffreys Bay, about one hour from the airport. This time we did not have four cars but two minivans. They were brand new, with automatic transmission, and fantastic to drive. I immediately fell in love with them. The bureaucracy was fast so we managed to arrive at the apartments when there was still some light. Here, the owner of the property gave us the apartments and they were simply great. No wonder the website advertises them as ‘luxury’ apartments. I got the room on the top, the attic, from which it was possible to see the ocean. For dinner, we went to a restaurant by the sea where we had delicious fish. It was dark already, so we could not see much around, but the dinner satisfied us all.

23^rd August
This morning we woke up when it was still very dark (as pretty much every day) and we had breakfast at the apartments. The owner ordered some food and there was a lot to eat! Then we waited until the sunrise, which we saw from the terrace, with the sun coming up from the sea, before leaving to Storms River Mouth. It was only about one hour so we arrived quite fast. The road was super panoramic, with trees and bushes on the sides and lots of yellow flowers. The contrast with the blue sky was incredible!
I knew that many groups slept in this park as there is a lodge with beautiful chalets just in front of the ocean but, all considered, it is better we did not come here as we would have arrived late, in the dark, and would have not enjoyed the amazing place. Here we started to hike on a path that led us to two suspended bridges. The view was very scenographic because the path was in the forest but still by the ocean. We also spotted some dassies in the sun. They are adorable animals that one would assume belong to the rodents family but instead, they have no relations whatsoever with them while they are related to elephants. We walked for about one hour and a half and then continued on our drive. It would have been nice to stay here for a few days as there are many paths and they also organize many sports activities but the time was limited.
The next stop was Plettenberg Bay, another rich and touristic city on the coast. Honestly, we all fell in love with it. It is full of villas with amazing views and the beach was immense. We stopped in one supermarket (this was luxury compared to all the ones we went to before!) to buy some food for lunch and then we went to the beach for an improvised picnic. In the afternoon, we went to visit the Robberg Peninsula. It is a park very close to Plett where you can choose one out of the three hiking paths. One was very long and a bit dangerous so we did the intermediate one. It was totally worth it as the day was perfect and the views stunning. We saw many seals down, close to the sea (what a smell!) and, at about half the way, there was a beach where we stopped for some photos before hiking back. In the parking, we wanted to celebrate the day with some drinking but we did not manage to buy anything before so we started asking around some locals and this guy gave us two bottles of wine as a present.
For dinner, we decided to follow some suggestions we received and go to this Italian restaurant, ‘Enrico’. By reading this, you can already imagine this was a huge mistake. We made it to the restaurant and it was full of people. Luckily, they managed to sit us inside after a short wait. The menu seemed promising but the food was far from good. Well, my fish was ok but the pasta the majority of us asked for was disappointing. I also asked for a tiramisu for dessert, which is my way to test how the food is, and, surprisingly, it was better than I imagined. At 9.30 pm, we went back to the hotel where we checked in. We were divided into some rooms and one entire apartment. Here, we found a washing machine and dryer so we decided that washing some clothes was a great idea. Unfortunately, the dryer did not think so and we stayed up until late trying to dry our clothes with little success.

24^th August
This morning we woke up again early and, after a small breakfast, we crossed the street to go to the beach for a boat safari to see whales. Winter in the southern hemisphere, and September especially, is the best season to spot whales. Usually, they are quite easy to see also from the coast but the sea was rough all these days and we were lucky already to do this boat trip. After some time spent going all around the bay, we finally spot one female with a calf. They were moving slowly so we did not see much of them and we did not see the tail either. We were back in the late morning, we finished packing and then we left. It was probably the day with the longest drive and unfortunately, we did not make it on time to visit the De Hoop Nature Reserve. It is a big park with dunes of sand in front of the ocean but we arrived about half an hour before they closed the park so we had to give up. On the way, we also had to cross a river in Malgas. To do that, there is a small ferry that can carry two cars at a time. It was a short cross but still fun. Thankfully, we did not have the Toyota Corolla anymore. She would have never survived this.
Because of the missed stop at the reserve, we arrived earlier than planned at Bredasdorp, where I booked the only hotel in the city. I booked earlier that day also a restaurant that was about two minute's walk from the hotel. On the phone, they told me to bring our wine and drinks as they did not have many (weird) so we stopped before to buy something. The restaurant was nice, something you would not expect in a place like that. I mean, the city was very small and there was nobody around. I honestly wonder who might stop there. Not surprisingly, we were the only customers but we had a very good dinner. The owner, a girl that was more or less my age, put on some music and gave us also shots for free to celebrate a loan from the bank. Soon, we transformed the restaurant into a private club. Besides the evening itself, that was a lot of fun, it was interesting to speak a bit with a ‘local’. The owner gave us some suggestions and told us a bit about life there. She was young and never left South Africa. She only went once to Cape Town, that was the further she had been. If I compared that to all the places I have been to instead, I don’t know how to feel about it. Privileged? On some level, I envy people being content with their life so that they do not feel the urge to go somewhere else…

25^th August
During the night I woke up because of the wind noise. It was super strong and I was afraid we would have bad weather the next day. Indeed, once we left, the weather was not great but not even too bad. We drove about half an hour to reach Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of the African continent. Many people go to the more iconic Cape of Good Hope because closer to Cape Town but this is the real deal. Also, this is the point where the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans meet. I read somewhere that it is possible to see where this happens because the waters coming from both does not mix but there were too many waves to make sure this was actually true. After the classical pictures, we went back to the cars and stopped for a filling breakfast. The weather was not improving much and there was also a bit of rain but we were optimistic for the rest of the day and were not disappointed. After leaving Cape Agulhas, we drove to Hermanus, another beautiful coastal town with a nice hiking path from which it is possible to see whales. Again, because of the rough sea, we were not lucky but the sun came out and the colors were incredible. We had lunch there before leaving to finally reach the last stop of our road trip: Cape Town. We aimed to be there early to go to Signal Hill and see the sunset from there. We managed to be on time (for once!) and did also a nice hike from the parking to the viewpoint. Truth is we did not see there was a closer parking point so, on the way back, we had to walk in the dark. Ops! In any case, it was worth stretching out a bit our legs as most of the time we were just sitting in the car. The sunset was not incredible because the clouds covered the whole sky but we had a beautiful view of the city and the Table Mountain. This is the symbol of the city because of its particular shape and the fact that stands in the middle of the city itself. After the hike back, we took the cars again and we went to our hotel. I booked something a bit more ‘comfortable’ for the last three nights and it was a good choice as we were all tired and everybody appreciated it. We did not have much strength left and it was already quite late for South African standards, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant.

26^th August
Staying in the hotel the night before and having a light dinner helped us to be in better shape the day before. The weather was not great and it rained almost all day intermittently. We crossed our fingers and started to drive south, towards the Cape Peninsula. The first stop was Boulders Beach, famous for its penguins' colony. The African penguins are protected here as there are very few left and could be found only in some places in South Africa and Namibia. They were really cute as they walked around, not disturbed by our presence. It is a bit touristy as a place, but still very nice and totally to include in a trip to Cape Town. After leaving the beach, we drove a bit more southern to the extreme edge of the Cape. Again, the views from here were breathtaking, even with the rain, which for the whole day kept on coming and going. The first stop was Cape Point, the southernmost point of the Cape Peninsula. Then, we moved to the famous Cape of Good Hope, where we took the iconic photo with the sign. We also spotted some ostriches, that we did not see on the safari. On the way back to Cape Town, we stopped for lunch in a restaurant where, not happy with the previous choices, I ordered again a pizza. This time I went for a simple one, one that I could actually finish! In the afternoon, we explored a bit the city. We went to Bo Kaap, a famous district because of the colorful houses. It is a former racially segregated area, situated on the slopes of Signal Hill above the city center and is a historical center of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town. Most of the people living here belong to the Muslim faith and it goes back to the first inhabitants of the district. They were slaves coming from Indonesia and other Asian countries during the XVIII century. Originally, the houses were white but, when slavery was abolished and many ex-slaves moved here, they painted them in bright colors to express their freedom. Close by, there is also a market and, even though it was a bit late, we still managed to buy some souvenirs. For dinner, we decided to go to the Waterfront. We all thought it would have been better but it is just a big mall. As we are a bit early, we walked around and, with other five girls, I decided to make a new piercing. Apparently, old sailors used to wear a maximum of four earrings, each of them representing the passage to a famous cape. One of them was the Cape of Good Hope so we kind of have to do it. I really like it! The dinner was good but very expensive, compared to all the previous ones. We had crocodile, ostrich and impala carpaccio, and other delicious food.

27^th August
This morning we went again to the Waterfront as we all booked the tickets to go to Robben Island. I wanted to visit this place since I watched the movie Invictus and it was an interesting visit. To go there, we had to take a boat that took almost 45 minutes. The trip was ok for me but one guy in the group felt bad and, once on the island, had to stay with the ambulance. I am not kidding, he was between white and green. We continued the visit and we started with the prison. There was an ex-political prisoner who took us around showing us all the sections and explaining how life there was. Nelson Mandela spent here 18 years of his life and his cell is still visible. After finishing the tour of the island, we went back to the mainland. For the rest of the day, I left the planning in the hands of the rest of the group as I wanted to relax a bit. They found out about this place that is open during the weekend, a sort of permanent street food festival with food from literally all over the world. I read about this place when preparing for the trip and I was happy we managed to go. I had a fantastic lobster sandwich and then some churros. There was music and the atmosphere was chill and cool. The place is called Neighbourgoods Market and is in the Woodstock district. We went a bit exploring it in the afternoon as it is rich with graffiti and street art. Later, we also went to the city center to see, at least from the outside, the main buildings.
Not that the city itself is architecturally interesting, but there is a vibe in Cape Town that I liked a lot. For dinner, we split up as the guys wanted to find a pub to watch a football game while the girls could not care less. So we went to an African restaurant with some live music and then met all together at The Village Idiot, a bar/club they suggested to us. It was very nice and we celebrated our last night in Cape Town.

28^th August
Probably everybody was happy that this was the last early waking up although this also meant we were about to leave this wonderful country. For our last day, we drove to the parking next to the Table Mountain funicular to go up and see the whole city from the top. We actually discovered by chance that the funicular would have reopened on this day as it was supposed to open one day later, after the annual maintenance. This was perfect for us and we immediately booked the tickets. The weather was great when we arrived but, when we reached the top, the clouds covered almost all the city. The view was still amazing, though! Once down, we went to Camps Bay, a beach in a rich part of the city as we still had some hours to spend around before our flight. We stayed there playing beach volleyball and sunbathing, and then we got lunch. On the way back to the airport, we passed through the township of Langa but we went out very fast to be on time to return the cars and check in. We drank a last bottle of wine and we then wait for our flight to Doha. The duty-free was not very big but I bought some wine to spend my last Rands and the group also bought me a bottle of wine to thank me for organizing the trip. It was hard, and again, I would not travel with them anymore, especially THE guy, but it was still nice of them.

29^th August
After flying during the night, we landed in the morning in Doha, where we met all together and where we separated again. Half were flying back to Rome and the rest to Milan. Also, the second flight back was calm and only a few hours later we said goodbye to each other.

What do I take from this travel? For sure the beauty of the land itself. Hardly I could have imagined such different landscapes and, somehow, because of this I probably liked the second part of the travel more than the first. It was unexpectedly beautiful, therefore even more beautiful. I felt good while there and my love for the African continent increased even more.