This past weekend (November 11-14) the fifteen of us girls went on a trip to Plattenburg. In order to get there we traveled east along the coast of South Africa in a tight bus for about eight hours. The fifteen of us girls were jammed packed in a little bus with our luggage. It was really an experience. We arrived at our hostel (Amakaya) around 8PM and went into the little town for drinks and dinner. Plattenburg is such a little town compared to what we are used to in Cape Town and doesn’t really have much to it. Saturday morning we woke up and went to Knysna elephant sanctuary, where we went and played with elephants. At Knysna they take on elephants that are orphaned or endangered. It was so much fun and such an amazing experience. When we first got down to the elephants we fed them their breakfast of pineapple, carrots and squash. Then we walked around with them and pet, kissed and followed them around. The elephant tamers were really great and let us stay for three of the sessions in the morning instead of just one, so we were able to really get to know the elephants and see how they act. It’s really interesting to see such wild animals listen to the elephant tamers and pay attention when they are called by their names. They each had their own personality and were really funny. It was really cute being there with them and I loved every second of it.
After being with elephants the bus took us to pick up the other girls while they were four wheeling and I made a friend with a little boy named Anderson. He was about three and the cutest little boy. He had me carry him all around the area as he showed me around and had me push him really high on a swing. Anderson was so cute and I hated leaving him! After we got back to the hostel three of the other girls and I went down to the beach for the remainder of the day. It was a lot of fun and so beautiful there. I can now say that I went in the Indian Ocean!
On Sunday seven of us started our day by going blackwater tubing and it was absolutely amazing! It was so beautiful there. We went down the river through the forest and the view was amazing the whole entire trip. The river ranged from easygoing pools to rapids. It was really fun but also exhausting to paddle down the river. Half way through the trip when we were exhausted and on our tubes in a pool our tour guides surprised with Bar One chocolate bars (amazingly delicious chocolate bars they have here in SA). I don’t think any of us have ever been so excited for chocolate before! Throughout the journey of blackwater tubing we also went cliff jumping and that was also so much fun! By the end we were all so exhausted but really did have a blast. After blackwater tubing thirteen out of the fifteen of us decided to take on the world’s highest bungee jump! I was so excited up until we went on the bridge and on the walk over to where we bungeed I got really scared when I looked down on the see-through bridge! We were sooooo high up (216m)! On the bridge they had music playing so we were all dancing and that helped clam my nerves a little bit. Out of our group I was fourth to jump and I was completely fine until they brought me out onto the ledge. Once I was on the ledge and I looked down (one of the pieces of advice they told us on the “not to do” list) I was so nervous and grabbed onto the men next to me and begged them to check my cords one more time. Since I was just acting scared and foolish they refused and I decided to swan dive off of the bridge into the air. The free fall down was so exhilarating and I have never experienced anything like it in my life. I really felt like I was flying through the air with nothing attached to me, it was so cool! I kept telling the girls I felt like Pocahontas but they didn’t really understand what I was talking about (haha)! The only scary part was when I was dangling there waiting for one of the employees to come down and get me, I really didn’t like that at all because you just dangle and look down at rocks and trees, SCARY!!! Once the gentleman came down and got me I grabbed onto him and would not let him go the entire ride up. He and the other employees thought it was really funny that I wouldn’t let go of his leg! Bungee jumping off of the tallest bridge in the world was incredible and I am so happy that I did it! 
Monday Morning we woke up at 5am to get on the road to head back to Cape Town. On the way home we stopped at the Cango Caves. The caves were like Howe Caverns but a lot bigger, warmer and really humid! It was really beautiful down in the caves though and we were able to see all of the different formations while we were down there. After the caves we went over to the Cango Ostrich Farm. The ostrich farm was pretty interesting and I thought the birds smelled really awful and were so dirty. First they told us all about the ostriches and the farm. Then people who wanted to were able to hug the birds, but I was really grossed out so I didn’t. Then we saw little babies and they were cute. After looking at the ostriches we were ale to sit and ride the ostriches so I decided to do that (just for the picture). Another thing we did was standing on the ostrich eggs. I thought that was pretty cool that the eggs could hold all of our weight on them but if you were to jump on them or drop them they would break instantly.
