Over the course of six months, I’ve met some incredible friends who I will miss very much. I’ve attached pictures of just a few of our adventures around Cape Town!! Luckily, the world is small, I know we will cross paths again and will definitely stay in touch:

• Bobby. Originally from Atlanta, who left his consulting job to volunteer for a year, with aspirations to start his own NGO (very talented and super fun guy

• Byron. Princeton Grad, working as a fellow for two years in the legal and external affairs group, with aspirations to return to the US and pursue his law degree (hysterical and always life of the party)

• Julia. Columbia Grad, and originally from Santa Barbara, working here for two years as an assistant to the Co-Founder. She has lived in Africa for about three years now, previously working in hospitals in rural Sierra Leone and Senegal.

• Tamsin. Originally from Australia, recently left m2m to go to attend Oxford on a full scholarship, she is so impressive! I became very close friends with her and her fiancé Markus and plan to visit them in Oxford or host them in New York soon. They are getting married next April in Cape Town!

• Other close friends were Princeton Fellows: Wenli (who now lives in NYC and getting her law degree at Columbia), Morgan (now getting her PhD and Masters in Public Health in North Carolina) and Hannah and Allie (both still at m2m). Franklin and Phil from Grassroots Soccer, an organization that teaches AIDS/HIV awareness through soccer programs in townships; South African’s Kitsi, Fumani, Linda, Andrew and Janine; and two close friends Felipe and Luciano, originally from Brazil, who I enjoyed hiking and exploring Cape Town nightlife with.

For more photos check out http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/OutAndAbout & http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/MuzenbergSurfKalkBayChapmansPeak &
http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/Hermanus

Durban is a two hour flight north of Cape Town, east of Johannesburg on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Weather is a constant 75 degrees year round and the city is known for its laid back lifestyle, great surf and warm water (in contrast to the cool water of Cape Town on the Atlantic Ocean).

I was invited by my new friend Lloyd to spend a getaway weekend with his girlfriend and seven other friends on his private game reserve in Phinda, located about three hours north of Durban. Obviously my answer: Yes, a no-brainer! I met Lloyd through my friend Emily who visited back in April. They sat next to each other on her flight from New York to Johannesburg and apparently connected instantly…no, she normally does not pick up strange men on planes, ha. He joined us on a couple adventures in Cape Town while visiting his brother who lives there too. Long story short, we kept in touch and he is now a great friend who is also planning on visiting us in New York in September.

Another friend of mine Erica also lives in Durban so I decided to leave early and stay with her for a day. I know Erica through a mutual friend in New York and hungout with her last summer while she was taking classes at NYU.

Erica picked me up from the airport Thursday night. We arrived at her home and let me say it was palatial! She is staying with her Dad until the end of August when she moves to San Francisco to get her Masters. Her Dad is the general physician for South Africa’s President Zuma, wow. I’m sure he gets a lot of insight on the life of Zuma, who is very controversial and interesting character to say the least (e.g. he spent 10 years in prison on Robben Island, has gone to trial for corruption, fraud, rape and has three wives given he is from the Zulu tribe and practices polygamy. That night we had a nice casual dinner and didn’t do much except talk and catch up on each of our lives. The next morning we met Lloyd and one of his girlfriend’s friends at brunch at a beautiful ocean front hotel called the Oyster Box. We ate a lovely brunch outside overlooking the Indian Ocean. Afterwards, I said goodbye to Erica since she was going on a long yoga and meditation retreat for the weekend and could not join us.

Lloyd, Amy and I jumped in the car, picked up Lloyd’s girlfriend Allie and another guy Luke on the way and began our three day adventure in the bush!! The car was packed to the rim, not because we over-packed but because the boys loaded it up with boxes and boxes of food, wine, alcohol and freshly made brownies that Luke baked that morning. We drove for almost three hours, each mile more and more desolate. Paved roads turned into dirt roads, the shrubbery and bush got thicker and the temperature hotter. We finally arrive at his house, which was situated in the heart of the Phinda Game Reserve right on a lake. Unfortunately, no swimming in this lake…it’s full of fish, hippos and crocodiles oh my! The house had four huge bedrooms all adorned with safari amenities, an expansive deck and infinity pool.

While we luxuriated on the deck, Lloyd and Luke were busy in the kitchen. With Lloyd owning and restaurant and Luke as an Executive Chef at another restaurant, they were in their element. But before we could even get settled, we were off!! We hopped in Lloyd’s massive open air game driving land cruiser and hit the bush. From here on out, Lloyd was referred to as Ranger Dan. Since he grew up visiting the bush, he had a sixth sense out there. He was able to spot animals hiding in the bush, behind trees and way off in the distance. Of the course of the weekend, we made our way through different territory and came up close and personal with giraffe, white and black rhinocerous, elephants, lions, crocodiles, warthog, buffalo, zebra, kudu and springbok. The adrenaline rush hit when we were leisurely viewing an elephant when all of a sudden three lions jump out of the bush to chase a herd of Impala. Luckily for us, or me, we avoided witnessing any attack.

After every evening game drive, we would drive to a secluded area in the bush and enjoyed sundowners (aka South African for cocktails at sunset) and snacks like roasted nuts, biltong (similar to beef jerky) and dried mango. We were definitely spoiled by Ranger Dan and Luke the entire weekend. They also cooked us gourmet meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m not talking ham and cheese sandwiches and spaghetti. More like fillet mignon, roasted chicken and Italian sausages on the braai (South African for barbeque), rigatoni with pesto chicken roasted vegetables, linguine with garlic shrimp and mussels, grilled pork tenderloin, and unlimited amounts of delicious wine and cocktails…unbelievable, boys!!

Although it was incredible staying in the bush and seeing National Geographic come to life, the best part of the whole weekend was meeting new friends. This group was so much fun and definitely entertaining!! Thank you Erica and Ranger Dan for your generosity and hospitality….I definitely have a wonderful impression of Durban and am looking forward to coming back one day!

For more pictures, see http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/DurbanAndPhinda

I don’t need to say it, you can see for yourself that Cape Town is conducive to those who love playing outdoors…me!! It seemed like there were always people running on the seaboard, hiking, surfing, biking, paragliding, or sailing. I thought California was a nature lover’s paradise, which it is, but Cape Town took it to a whole other level. Some people are even extremists, and no I’m not trying to follow suit. Take my boss for example. This year alone, he biked in the Cape Argus (100 mile bike race up and around steep mountains), ran the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon (36 mile run), completed the South Africa Iron Man (one of the toughest competitions in the world…4 mile swim, 100 mile bike race, plus a Marathon!!) and wrapped the summer up with the Comrades Marathon (56 mile race –only for the insane at heart).

Since I love running outdoors, it was heaven, with the ocean in my front yard, a running path that went on for miles along the coast and Table Mountain as the backdrop. Table Mountain is not just a beautiful view, it’s hikable too (not sure if this is a word, but it works).

Table Mountain

Its named Table since it has a two mile flat plateau surrounded by steep cliffs. It curves around Cape Town, so from the city you’ve got the ocean on one side and incredible beautiful mountain on the other. It peaks at 3500 ft above sea level.

Hiking this mountain was not for the faint of heart. Hikes ranged anywhere from a couple hours to six hours, or longer if you decide to camp. I hiked this mountain about four times, all of them with friends who were WAY more experienced than me, who were able to lift me when rock walls were too steep, figure out paths just by looking at rock placement (since there were few signs), and who always managed to have an extra water or snack supply.

Part of the mountain had inclined trails, but the majority was rock scrambles, vertical rock walls and lots of exposure...treacherous!! Signs were posted “WARNING: Extremely dangerous route with steep rock climbing and difficult navigation. DO NOT attempt this route if inexperienced. Use at own risk.” Other than bungee jumping and sky diving, this was the scariest adventure challenge of my life. Especially five minutes of one hike where I thought my life was at stake…later to find out two people died at that same spot a year earlier. Luckily, I was smart enough to know my limits and was extremely careful. I know it’s not as accessible, but hopefully I can hit up some hiking in New York or California, since I’ve invested in new hiking shoes and a sweet backpack!

Lion’s Head

There is also Lion’s Head which is a mountain right next to Table which peaks at 2200 ft above sea level and has views of Table Bay on one side and Atlantic Ocean on the other. This hike signified my welcome and bon voyage, since I did this on my first and last weekends in Cape Town. The hike is a little over an hour each way, with a portion of it on a steep incline and most of it with semi challenging rock scrambles. There are also chains you can climb at two different junctures. Once you get to the top, the views are unbelievable. Often times, we would do this after work or before going out on the weekend just in time to watch the sunset as you climb down. The best time to do it is on a full moon, when the sun sets and the moon rises simultaneously, beautiful.

Scuba Diving!!

Although I was certified in Costa Rica almost four years ago, I decided since I have a scuba diving haven in my backyard why not pursue my advanced license!! Additionally, I already had one test under my belt which I had to take on a dive excursion in Mozambique to see the Giant Manta Rays. The only downside, was diving in extremely cold temperatures. When I say extreme, I mean low 50s. To give you an idea, usually I dive with a 3mm wetsuit…here they made me wear two 5mm wetsuits, so 10mm total. I was like that little kid in the Christmas Story who could barely move.

The certification entailed taking five written exams and five dives with a dive master, including underwater navigation (using a standard compass to calculate your direction/path and a dive computer to measure your depth / air consumption), underwater naturalist (fish and plant identification), deep dive (using unique equipment and safety measures at a specific depth), shipwrecks (understanding how to navigate them and unique obstacles/protection laws), and night dive (unique equipment and navigation).

The best experience was definitely the night dive. It was scary at first, but once I was under it was fine. The moon illuminated everything and gave you a whole new perspective at night. The kelp beds and jellyfish were glowing and the lobster, massive crabs and eels were out to play. I even made friends with a huge seal, who apparently loves divers. We swam through caves where strangely this certain species of fish like swimming upside down. The whole thing was pretty surreal.

Thanks to William and Jacques at Pisces Divers and to Sandra, my dive partner.

For more photos, see http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/HikingTableMountainLionSHeadScubaDiving