Argus cycle tour in Cape Town - World's Largest Timed Cycle Race

Today the biggest city road race in the world organised here in Cape Town.  There are some big and amazing cycling events around the world but the Cape Town Argus Cycle Tour is the "World's Largest Timed Cycle Race."  More than 35000 cyclist joined to the race. The route is normally 109 km long, but  this year is 47 km shorter because of the fire.  It has 38 years history.  First time was organised in 1978 in to draw attention to the need  for cycle path in South Africa.  Some famous people  have taken part in the Cape Town Cycle Race over the years such as Lance Armstrong and Richard Branson.  First we wanted to go there to watch it, but Elise's parents are visited us from Johannesburg, so we decided to have a nice picnic at Cape Point vineyards.  It was a very relaxed and pleasant afternoon.

Argus cycle tour in Cape Town, 8 March 2015 

Argus cycle race

Cape Point vineyards. 

Today was also the "City Pier City Loop" organised in The Hague. Last year I was participating in it. This year I am on exchange so I only can support the Rijnlanders  from here. I am very proud of my brother, Marcel who could manage the 10 km run within 1 hour.

CPC in The Hague - 8 March 2015

Marcel en Nehaan at CPC 10 km

Johannesburg - Breaking News

Sunday around lunch time we heard the news that in the Harmony Gold Mine Company had a big trouble. It is one of the leading gold mining companies in South Africa. Its name is well known all over the world, because it has the deepest mines in the world and it has a big gold production. During maintenance work on a bulk air cooler there was a big fire in the Kusaselethu gold mine in Johannesburg. The fire started on Sunday morning on the75th level, about 2300 meter below surface. The whole world was shocked that almost 500 mineworkers were trapped underground. It was a very strange feeling, because on Saturday I also visited a gold mine in Johannesburg. We only were around 200 meters deep and I found that it was too warm and scary. What were the mine workers thinking?  How difficult it is for their families? They are trapped about 2300 meters deep underground. Some of the miners could use refuge bays underground which were supplied with fresh air, water  and telephone communication to surface. The mine rescue team was working very hard to get the workers out of the mine. After 11 hours the rescuers brought all workers to safety by Sunday evening. They were very lucky that without any injury everybody is saved in a relatively short time. But for the mineworkers 11 hours felt like years.

I got lots of different messages from friends and families because they heart this breaking news and they knew that exactly on that weekend I was in Johannesburg.

 

Underground fire rescue

World news - mine accident

The sixth weekend

This weekend  I had a completely different program than the other exchange students. Elise arranged for me a really cool trip to Johannesburg.  Thursday after lunch I went home and I packed my bag. At 5 o’clock in the afternoon we were already on the plane and headed to Joburg as you would say here. I was very excited, I heard a lot about this big city, the place of the gold, Egoli. Elise grew up in Johannesburg and her family still lives there, so I was sure that I had the best tour guide ever. During our flight the weather was very nice and all the time I could  enjoy the variable landscape of South Africa. After landing we rented a car and we drove to Emmie’s house. She’s Elise’s sister and she waited for us with a delicious supper.


Flying to Johannesburg

Friday morning we started our sightseeing tour with a bike tour in Soweto. It is a famous Township which was  created  during the Apartheid Government. Here had been separated as residential area for non-white people who were not permitted to live in the center of Johannesburg.   The name is coming originally from “South-Western Townships” .  It was a very poor area where people built houses from garbage of piles. The people live here without the proper services such as sewage, clean water, electricity  and good roads. It was shocking to see  these poor living conditions. The township is growing day by day, the government is building houses  and there are some luxurious mansions. The contrast is extremely sharp. We cycled through Vilakazi Street. This is the most famous street in Soweto or even in South Africa. In this street two Nobel Prize winners used to live: Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.  Our tour guide, Lungi told many stories about history of Soweto and about the feelings of people during the Apartheid Government.  After this interesting guided tour we visited the most important museum of Johannesburg, the Apartheid museum.  It is opened in 2001 and it wants to illustrate to the whole world the rise and fall of apartheid. This is the only place in South Africa, where you get an entrée ticket and standing on it WHITE OR NON WHITE.  At the entrance immediately you got a strange feeling about it. Elise’s acquaintance was our tour guide.  The exhibition has many pictures, films and other documents in chronologic order.  Some of the pictures were really scary. When you walked there every minute you got a stranger feeling about the meaning of apartheid.


Cycling in Soweto

Apartheid museum

Entrance :WHITES and NON WHITES

Our tour guide in the museum

In the evening  we had supper with Elise’s parents Marie-Louse and Jos at Sandstone Square.  It was a very pleasant evening we were chatting a lot about everything. They are very intelligent people and they really spoiled me. I got some interesting books as a present. Luckily they are going to visit us in Cape Town and I will see them once more before I go back to Holland.

Saturday we visited the Gold  Reef City Theme Park which is known one of “Jozi’s” most popular attractions for tourists”. The children of Elise’s sister also joined us.  We almost could try everything: the Anaconda, the Golden Loop, the dream boat and many more things. We enjoyed them a lot. I was also happy that there was no electricity power cut when we were on the top of the rollercoaster. In this theme park also a replica village was built which shows how Johannesburg looked like in its early days when the gold was discovered.  We also visited the historical underground gold mine. It was one of the first gold mines, but this mine is no longer operational. It worked between 1887 and 1971 but nowadays it is only opened for tourists. Before the tour started we got hard safety hats. This Golden Reef Shaft No 14 was one of the deepest mines of the world at that time, more than 200 meter underground. We went down with  a large old metal elevator. Our tour guide demonstrated very well  how difficult the life of the miners was, to earn their money for living in the darkness ,  where it is always warm and the ear shattering noise of drills. They used candles for lights but it was very risky and sometimes terrible explosions killed miners due to the presence of methane gas. At the end of the tour you even could see a gold bar being poured.  It was an unique experience to see how difficult it is to gain gold and the hard working miners did not become rich. Saturday evening we had a barbeque party at the house of Elise’s brother.  There was no electricity all evening but it was so well prepared that we did not miss it that much.


Golden Reef City

Golden mine



200 meter underground

Sunday we visited an interesting part of Johannesburg, Maboneng.  Maboneng is a SeSotho word for ” Place of Light”. It  is a privately developed urban neighbourhood, where the Art Experience got emphasis.  Here  you could find  a pleasant atmosphere with many restaurant, several little shops and different entertainment venues. We saw people enjoying guitar lessons which were voluntary given on street. We had a lunch with Maboneng and we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Cape Town.

Art Experience in Maboneng



Maboneng

I am in Joburg

This weekend was a wonderful combination of fun, culture, art, history and family life experience. Thanks to Elise for organizing this weekend in Johannesburg and thanks to her family for their warm hospitality. I enjoyed it so much and I would love to come here again!

Cape Town  - Breaking News

 

Within two days two times the whole world is speaking about Cape Town. First world news is that Cape Town in fire.  In the weekend big fire  broke out in three different locations:  Chapman's Peak at the Hout Bay area, Tokai Forest and Noordhoek.  It is incredible to see such huge fires from so close. Today we visited  Cape Point and our bus was driving through the area where the fire is at this moment. It was very scary to be so close to the fire. It is sad to see how easily the beautiful nature is destroyed by fire.  More than 250 Fire-fighters are working very hard day and night. There are three helicopters which water bombed Hout Bay and Tokai Forest until sunset. Luckily the hard wind died down and this certainly helped. 



 Fire in Cape Town



 Hout Bay



 Waterbombs

 

The second world news is that there is a very high temperature in Cape Town and that  makes all the work more difficult.  According to the official measurements it is 42 degrees Celsius in Cape Town.  That means it is the hottest  city on the planet right now.  It is really hot  here today and believe me that  no one can accuse you of exaggeration.  People are advised to keep cool in any way possible: it is a perfect day for a swim and we are drinking a lot of water.

It is said that it is the " Hottest day in Cape Town in 100 years, this is why the Atlantic is cold, for emergency heat waves."



Hottest day in 100 years

 

 

 

 

The fifth week

This week I went to school for only two and half days, because some interesting excursions were organized for us. It was a big surprise when on Monday morning the fire trucks arrived to Herschel. We already started wondering where the fire is. Then we figured out that there is no fire. Every year some special guests bring the invitations for the Matric Dance in an original way. When I got home I heard that Steff fainted and she had to go to the doctor.  In the evening she asked me if I could take over her place in  the swimming competition on Tuesday.  Of course I said yes.  Tuesday after school there was a Herschel Interhouse Gala. The school is divided into four houses -four groups- that compete against one another. This is not only about competition, but also about team building and keeping up the spirit. All girls have to join because there is lots singing and we have fun together. I swam instead of Steff for Carter, the blue house. It went very well apparently, because we won the swimming competition.

Herschel Interhouse Gala

On Wednesday we spent the day at “Vryegrond”, townships right outside Cape Town.  It is a very poor area which was originally an informal settlement. The word “townships” has a bit different definition here in South Africa. This area was created during the Apartheid Government where  non-white race groups, in other words: black people, coloureds and Indians,  were forced to leave their own location and go to live outside the city. We were prepared for this visit, but it was but anyway really shocking to see all these little huts made of cardboard box and metal and garbage. It is very hard to believe  that people live here in these poor conditions in the 21st century. The life is very difficult here without the proper services such as sewage and good roads. They do have electricity sometimes and they can get clean water from the tap outside.  Most of the huts were built on the lands of someone else, which is also an important issue.  More than 400.000 people live in these townships.  The majority of the people doesn’t have regular work.  Lots of them are use drugs and alcohol, there is lots of violence  and crime at night. It would definitely not be save to walk around by myself. One of our security guide said to me that if I would walk into a narrow street here alone he would not be surprised that I would never return.  This township  has been developing since 1994. Schools and a library were built and the government tries to improve the infrastructure as well. We visited a preschool here, which was very nicely made. It looked like any Dutch kindergarten.  Elise used to help with teaching literacy in this school. We took some presents  with us such as books, colouring books and pencils for the children. All the children were very happy to see us and were very cheerful and they were laughing and having fun all the time. They loved taking pictures of others and themselves! I also had a very deep conversation with a 6 years old boy, Moses: He asked me, “Is God up in the sky or down there?” I point up to the ceiling, but then he says, “No that’s wrong, God is in your heart”. This was so beautiful, I will never forget it. After our visit to the townships we went back to Cavendish shopping center to eat something and to watch a movie. It was good be together with all exchange students again. But my head was  full of different thoughts. This is a complete different world. The contrast is too big. How lucky we are that we can live in a normal house, we can study, we can do sports, we can go on holiday overseas. We do not have to fight for a better life . What kind of future is waiting for little Moses?


 Moses

 The Vryegrond Township

 School

 

The fifth weekend

 

During the fantastic Garden Tour we didn’t sleep a lot; therefore on  Friday  evening I went to bed very early, straight after supper. We did not have any plans for Saturday,  because  Steff had waterpolo training and Jeff had a sports day at Bishops. I did not mind that I had a day just to relax, therefore  I was very surprised when Elise woke me up around 8 o’clock in the morning.  Another host family called us that they had plans to visit Boulders beach at Simon’s Town.  I was happy to join them. Simon’s Town is a lovely old town with a beautiful beach about half an hour drive from Cape Town.  When we arrived, I could hardly believed what I saw. Penguins! On a beach! Normally we do not associate penguins with Africa.  But these funny birds are a little bit different from the penguins in  Antarctica. They are about 50 cm tall and they are called African penguins. About 20 years ago the first penguins were spotted here and now apparently more than 3000 penguins live on Boulder beach between the rocks.  It was funny to see and they were not afraid at all. They have become urban penguins.  But there were many warning signs with “ do not chase them”. Not that I’ve had an experience like this, but people say they have a vicious bite.  I liked this beautiful beach very much and it was a memorable experience  to swim with penguins in the water.  Later on Cemmie and I went to Georgia’s house to eat something.



Simon's Town



Boulder Beach



In the evening we planned to go to Clifton 4th beach where “ Moonstruck Summer Beach Concert “ was organized. Steff went there with Julien after they had dinner,  because obviously they wanted to be together on Valentine's Day, which was very cute!  I joined to Izzy, Selin, Georgie and Laragh for dinner at a restaurant not too far from the beach. After dinner we just went to the beach to enjoy the last part of the concert.  This concert was free but it was expected that you purchase glow sticks. This money is used as a donation for the sea rescue organization. It is one the most  famous summer events in Cape Town.  After the party I slept over at Izzy’s house.

 



Moonstruck Summer Beach Concert



Finally Sunday I could sleep a little bit longer and after a nice “brunch” I went home.  In the afternoon we visited the Kirstenbosch Arboretum where we could enjoy the concert of Michael Rosenberg, better known as Passanger.  He is very popular in Cape Town. Everyone was crazy about his world famous hit “Let Her Go”.  This was again a great weekend! Thanks to all the host families!

Passanger concert



With friends at the concert



 

The fourth week - Garden Tour

 

The fourth week all exchange students from Herschel and Bishops were going to travel along the Garden Route, which is passing a beautiful area between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Along the route we made a few stops to do all sorts of different, interesting and amazing things.  If you read my blog you will understand why this week was  so awesome, why these activities were the greatest experiences of my life.

 

Monday morning we went to school to get on our little tour bus. We met our tour guides:  Ismael, Neacail  and Mrs Stein from Herschel, who also joined to us. We were all very excited and ready to start our adventure.  But first we had about 7 hours’ to drive before we would reach Oudtshoorn. During the trip our main activities were eating, chatting, dancing and singing. Our Spanish language skills improved rapidly, since the Chilean exchange students spoke a lot Spanish. As we drove through little villages and towns our tour guide told us some interesting things. Oudtshoorn is known as “the ostrich capital of the world”, because here you can find the world’s largest breeded ostrich population. We stopped at Cango Valley and visited Cango Caves. We took the "Adventure Tour" with an experienced tour guide. The first cave was very impressive and huge with wonderful stalactites on the ceiling. It was named after a farmer, Van Zuyl's, who in 1780 discovered this cave. I think the second chamber was the most beautiful one, with incredible formations of  stalactites and stalagmites. Each formation has got a fantasy name like ‘Tower of Pisa’ or ‘Crystal Waterfall’. We also passed through many small halls. The special light effects made our tour mysterious.  We went through the "Tunnel of love" and the most difficult part was to go through the "Devils chimney". It was a narrow path 3 meter vertical up and not wider than 40 cm. It was quite scary to climb there but it was all together a spectacular tour  to discover the "underground wonder of Cango Valley".

 

Van Zuyl's chamber

Crystal Waterfall

We were happy when we arrived to Kleinplas Resort and we could rest and swim. We had a very delicious supper there. There were two ostriches at our resort. It was fun to feed them.





Ostrich farm

Tuesday morning we started very early and we visited the Safari Ostrich Farm. Here we learned some history about this huge bird, got to feed them and eventually sit on them or ride them.  We were also able to stand on some ostrich eggs without breaking them. The trick is that you only can manage to do that if the eggs are on sand, because this way the weight is distributed over a larger area.



Standing on ostrich eggs

After that  we went to see more animals at Cango Wildlife Ranch. This is a nice park with lots of different animals such as cheetahs, leopards, tigers crocodiles and monkeys.  We had a great time there. First we got an informative tour about wildlife in Africa and watched a show. Then we got possibilities to do different activities such as stroking different animals or to do croc cage diving.  It is an unforgettable  experience to stroke a cheetah. It is funny to feel that that the black spots on the cheetah were much softer than the blond fur. It was exciting how the lemurs walked on your shoulders, we took quite some pictures here. My most interesting experience of this day was the cage dive with crocodiles. It is very impressive to be only a few meters from these huge animals under water. Later on we went to a little supermarket to buy some food and suddenly there was a power cut. We could not even pay or leave the shop, because the doors were automatic and they were closed, so without electricity it was not possible to open them. It took at least 20 minutes before we could get out of the shop. But this little incident did not destroy our fun at all, because who wouldn't want to be locked up in a supermarket, where all the food is? When we drove through  a beautiful nature area to Knysna. We could swim had dinner in a nice restaurant. 

Cheetah stroking

Playing with Lemurs



Croco cage dive

Wednesday morning we got up early and after breakfast we left for the Elephant Sanctuary "Knysna Elephant Park". This park has been open for about 20 years and all elephants have their own name. Here we had the opportunity to feed these giant animals, walk hand in hand with them and we got a detailed tour in the park. We could also enjoy an elephant back ride. We could sit on the back on the elephant together with a guide. You really feel yourself very small next to these big elephants. After this program we visited ‘Birds Van Eden’ and Monkey land. It is a big park with a long  bridge where monkey’s just walked and jumped around, eating your shoelaces.

Walking with elephant

Elephant riding



In the afternoon we had the opportunity to zip line across the Kruis River in the Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure Park.  It has eight different zigzag cables and the longest one is more than 200 meters. We tried all of them. It was amazing, because we were 50 m above the water and we had a wonderful views: waterfalls and the Milkwood forest. It was not scary at all, just fun. We had a nice dinner in a local restaurant at Plettenberg Bay. There we could enjoy a beautiful sunset.

 



Ziplining

Thursday was definitely the most spectacular day, because we were going bungee jumping! But first we stopped at Tenikwa Wildlife Centre and we got an interesting tour along Carracals, Leopards and Cheetahs. It was very nice to walk so close to these big wild cats. Then finally we headed to the The Bloukrans Bridge, the world's highest bungee jump bridge - 216 meters high. The bungee jumping company says: "Regret is forever and fear is temporary." When we were walking to the starting point I was kind of nervous, but when I was ready to jump I was not afraid anymore. The first part of the fall was the scariest because I couldn’t feel any air, but after that it was coolest feeling which I have ever felt. The adrenaline worked his magic!  I could feel the rope pulling me back and I went up en down. I could see the beautiful mountains and also the Indian Ocean. Everything was upside down of course, but it was just incredible! After the jump everybody was very happy that they did it.

We are ready to jump



The Bloukrans Bridge
 

 

Friday morning we started very early, because we went on "open vehicle safari" to see the wild life of Africa. We could see different animals: giraffes, zebras, springboks, lots of antelope species and a wild cat. Once we got back to our lodge we had breakfast and packed our bags to travel back to Cape Town.

 

This was one the best weeks ever in my life. Everything we did was such an amazing adventure. This was an unique experience which I will never forget, thanks to our excellent tour guides and to Mrs Stout.

 

Fun together