South Africa, my new favorite place on the planet. We arrived early morning on the March 18th and after disembarking some girls and I headed to Hillsong Church.

Pastor Andrew gave an amazing sermon about the power of healing and gave his own testimony about how he was healed of thyroid cancer. Afterwards, we walked down the street to a café called Tiger’s Milk to have breakfast. We then headed back to the ship so we could get on the bus for our field program. Our first stop was the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest building in South Africa.

Next, we went to Table Mountain to see the amazing views over Cape Town. While we were up there a cloud came over the top of the mountain. We stayed a while and had a snack with other SASers at the café at the top of the mountain.

Afterwards, we went to V&A Waterfront to walk around, see the men performing of xylophones, and eat dinner. We ate at Den Akers on the water to have burgers and a beer tasting before heading back to the ship. The next morning my roommate and I headed down to the bus to head out to Robben Island.

The ferry to Robben Island took over an hour, but when we arrived we got on shuttles to see the main chambers. We had an awesome tour guide who shared his memories of him being there for his 7-year sentence for terrorism. We got to see where the prisoners slept, what they got to eat based on their skin color, and saw the private cell where Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years. The conditions were horrible and they only had a small blanket between them and the concrete for their bed.

We then went to the edge of the island where we could see Table Mountain, the rest of Cape Town and even some penguins on the shore. After taking the ferry back we went to a local restaurant to eat a traditional South African meal, which was probably the best meal I’ve ever had. There were men playing beautiful music on xylophones and singing songs.

Then we took the bus to the District 6 Museum to learn about the former inner-city residential area where over 60,000 of its inhabitants were forcibly removed during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. Later that night my roommate, India, and I went back to Waterfront to eat sushi at Grand Life Café on the water.

Then next India and I were picked up at 9am for shark cage diving. We took a van to Gansbaai which took 2 hours. When we arrived, there was breakfast and we were given our wetsuits. We then headed out to shark alley! As soon as we anchored down there was a great white circling the boat so India and I hopped in line to go and got in the second group. The water was freezing, even in our thick wetsuits, and kind of murky. But the shark came back and forth many times and we were able to see the teenage shark about six times. We hung out of the boat for a couple of hours while the other groups got to go. We had an amazing lunch before heading back to the ship.

Once we got back we packed our stuff to head over to meet our friends, Kennedy and Travis at our Airbnb in Camps Bay, which is like San Diego. The night some friends came over to hang out but India and I went to sleep early because we had such a long day.

On the fourth day, we were supposed to go skydiving, but sadly it was cancelled because the winds were so high. Instead we hung out around the house and invited some friends over to go down to the beach and have lunch and shop around.

We had a nice lunch at La Belle and bought some groceries for the house. Later that night Bella, Brent and I went out to Long Street and met a bunch of SASers out at Sergeant Peppers.

The next morning, we had an early pickup at 6:30 to go on a safari at Aquila Game Reserve which took about 2 hours, but luckily India and I were able to sleep the whole way. When we arrived, we had a buffet breakfast and walked around the ground. This beautiful reserve encompasses 4,500 hectares of the Southern Karoo Highlands. We loaded into a 4×4 jeep and were driven out by a guide.

On the 4 hour drive we saw Hippos, the African Elephant, White Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras and got a little peep of 2 lions. We had a buffet lunch before heading back to Camps Bay.

Our friends were out at the beach so we were locked out of the house for about an hour. But once we got back in we went back to the ship to shower, change and head to dinner.

Mac, Ken, Will, Travis and I went back out to Waterfront to eat at Ginja. After dinner, we headed out to Long Street and went to Bobs and back to Sergeant Peppers. Peppers was packed FULL of SASers and we had a great time together on our last night in Cape Town.

On the last day, I had a friend of a friend come over and braid my hair, which took about 2 hours. Afterwards, I met Mac, Ken and Travis at the Raddison Red hotel by the ship to have lunch and drinks before heading back to the ship for on-ship time.

Overall, I had an AMAZING time in South Africa. I loved the people, the food, the atmosphere and the culture. I can’t wait to go back and spend WAY more time there!