South Africa, Last Day

After some work-related meetings at the University of Western Cape, I decided to have one last adventure. I wanted to see Stellenbosch, a very quaint town near Cape Town and a wine capital of South Africa, which also happens to be a location of a cheetah reserve. Cheetah was the only animal that I didn't see at the Masaai Mara in Kenya, so needles to say, I was dying to see one. Well, I got more than that: I actually got to pet two cheetah cubs at the reserve while peppering the animal keepers (all volunteers) with a million questions. It was quite an interesting experience. Even though the two male cubs were about the size of a tall dog, you couldn't just come and pet them like a big cat. You had to go from behind and very calmly stroke them on their backs without touching the heads. Since cheetahs are one of the few big cats that purr, these guys enjoyed my company and were happily purring while being interrupted from their afternoon naps. The reserve, though a small run, does a lot of work in promoting cheetah conservation. Cheetahs are extremely endangered with their full extinction predicted in the next decades unless drastic measures are taken.




For example, in the area around the reserve the farmers often kill cheetahs because they hunt and kill their livestock. To prevent this from happening, the reserve rears sheep dogs and gives them to the farmers in exchange for a commitment to preserve the cheetahs. These sheep dogs were really cute as well:). The reserve also had an extremely funny meercat and a few more animals. After briefly enjoying this lovely outing and still thinking about the beautiful animals that I got to hang out with, I went to the airport, waited a few hours for my flight (yay for Wi-Fi), and happily took off for my home.

South Africa, the conference

The conference was very interesting. Even though I was a bit under the weather when I made my presentation, our session went fine. I always enjoy interacting with African researchers as they are very dynamic and have a fresh perspective on the issues relevant to our work. I also got to meet some really cool female researchers, who are truly inspiration. Besides the presentations and discussions, I enjoyed the incredibly delicious foods, great South African wine, and good company.

South Africa, Day 2

The next day marked another remarkable sightseeing outing. Since Cape Town is located on a peninsula sandwiched between the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, we decided to dedicate the day to exploring both sides of the peninsula. We started out by driving around the city to see the different neighborhoods, including some of the poorer areas and the black townships. We then proceeded down the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula through a series of quaint seaside towns and beautiful beaches. One former navy town had a cute statue of the dog, who used to accompany the sailors when they were docked.

The highlight of the morning was a lovely visit to Boulder Beach that has a resident African penguin colony. To an animal lover like myself, the whole experience (save for the strong northeaster blowing sand in my eyes and mouth) was amazing. Just watching these adorable happy creatures hobble around, hide in the sand, play in the water, and just sit and stare at us was absolutely invigorating and inevitable made me smile.




After spending about half an hour just looking at them and snapping a gazillion of pictures, we finally left Boulder Beach to travel further down the peninsula to the southwestern most point of Africa---Cape of Good Hope.

On the way down, our car was accosted by a crowd of traveling baboons---they were crossing the road, rummaging through the trash cans (sad), and playing with their youngsters. I was almost in heaven since I absolutely love monkeys!!! Actually, they are considered a hazard in Cape Town, and there are warning signs everywhere.

After snapping some pics at the Cape of Good Hope, we went to the nearby lighthouse, where we hiked a bit, got some more amazing views of the Cape Point, which is the tip of the mountaneous range that stretches across the Cape Peninsula, and had an amazing lunch at a table overlooking the Indian (or the Atlantic?) Ocean (that's right, two oceans in one day). We drove back along the Atlantic side of the peninsula and at one of the numerous beaches we even got to wet our feet in the freezing water.