The Sister Excursions

Over the past two months, thanks to my numerous visitors, I have been lucky enough to see more beautiful places and do more exciting things in a very condensed timeframe. But, one especially exciting item I was finally able to check off my bucket list that had been sitting there for a while  was shark diving. It was definitely worth the wait, and only made possible by a visit from my delightful little sister, as our other companions on this trip were not so interested in the activity… can’t imagine why ;)

Shark Diving

South Africa is one of the best destinations for shark diving because of the high density and diversity of sharks off the southern coast, closer to Cape Town because the Atlantic ocean waters are cooler than those of the Indian ocean.

For the cage diving, we traveled to the small fishing town of Gansbaai, which is known for its high density of great white sharks, largely because of the cape fur seal and penguin colonies that serve as a convenient smorgasbord for the sharks. There are a number of cage diving operators in the area, and all are pretty strictly regulated to protect the sharks and ensure limited impact on the ocean’s ecosystem.

The Journey

Being the biologist that she is, little sister was quick to talk to the guides about the ethics of shark diving, to make sure we were not about to spend money on an activity that would negatively impact the sharks. We learned, however, that nearly all of the cage diving companies use the money from shark tourism for conservative, which serves as the biggest source of funding for these efforts. The guide also explained that chumming the water does not alter the behavior of sharks, as they’re not being fed, but rather the sharks are being lured by the scent of potential prey. The sharks are thus not attracted by the sounds of boats, which could be dangerous for the sharks, but they would only approach a boat because of the smell. He also added that because sharks are a big tourism draw, they have gotten increased governmental protection, which is a positive as well.

So with all of that in mind we departed for our shark excursion!

Setting off from Gansbaai, we took a little fishing boat a few miles off the coast towards what is known as shark alley – a strip of shallower water between two off shore islands where the seal colonies hang out, again, serving as a prime food source for the sharks. The waters are rather choppy, and riding in a smaller boat meant that once we anchored, the boat was constantly rocking back and forth.

Once we anchored, the guides lowered the cage over the side of the boat, and started to “chum” the water, which essentially means they were throwing fish guts overboard to use the smell of the dead fish to attract sharks to towards the cage. A funny byproduct of this activity is the attraction of seagulls, who come in large, obnoxious flocks to try and scoop the chum out of the water. Whenever I see huge hordes of seagulls like this, I am always struck by how much Pixar got it right in Finding Nemo (mine…mine….mine…)

Surrounded!

Anyway, we donned our wet suits, masks, and a weight draped around our necks to help us stay below water more easily, dodged the rain of seagull poop, and climbed down into the cage to begin viewing the sharks from below. It. Was. Awesome. The sharks swim so close to the cage that sometimes their tails even slap the side. You can even see their teeth as they swim by. At one point there were able 14 sharks swimming around us – unfortunately not great whites though – we saw mostly copper sharks. There was also a huuuuge stingray circling our cage as well.

Thank you, Dave, for the GoPro!

A few things I didn’t expect – you tend to get tossed around a bit in the cage. I am not prone to sea sickness, but there were a few moments where I definitely felt a wave of nausea from the constant waves rocking you into the boat. It’s also surprisingly hard to keep yourself under water. We eventually perfected a technique of pulling down on the bottom rail of the cage to keep ourselves underwater, but it was a challenge in the beginning. 

I also want to stress how utterly disgusting it is to be in water full of fish guts. They float by your face and cloud the water and get stuck in your hair.. it’s just all around revolting. But totally worth it in order to see the sharks! The other thing we learned is that underwater selfies in a snorkel mask is about the least flattering photo you could possibly take J

No fingers outside the cage

We like sharks!

Swimming on by

Sharky fin five!

Need..oxygen..

Unsurprisingly, we were the last ones remaining in the cage of the ten or so people that came out on the boat. We just couldn’t get enough. Eventually the cold got the better of us, and we climbed out of the cage, but we must have been in the water for the better part of an hour. You do get a pretty good view of the sharks from the boat as well though, as the guide has a chunk of fish on a line that he moves around in the water to keep the sharks engaged. We even saw one leap through the water at one point! But neither of us was quick enough with the camera to catch it.

Luring the shark towards the boat. 

Post shark viewing high.

Victoria Falls

The other adventure made possible by the visit from little sister was our 24 hour weekend getaway to Victoria Falls. We packed a lot into those 24 hours, including a guided tour of the falls, a sunset booze cruise on the Zambezi river, and an adrenaline filled swing or zip off the Zambian bridge over the falls (I’ll explain that later).

We stayed in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, a sleepy little village right on the edge of the falls. Compared to South Africa, this area of Zimbabwe was more reminiscent of the places in West Africa I was familiar with. And while, yes, there is political unrest in Zimbabwe right now, residents of Victoria Falls like to say they are not part of the same country, and we did not feel any hint of the current turmoil.

As you would expect from a natural world wonder, the falls are simply spectacular. Just by happenstance, we were there at one of the best times for viewing - right at the beginning of the rainy season, meaning the water levels had picked up, but the water levels were not so high that the mist prevents you from seeing anything at all. Victoria Falls is not the tallest of widest waterfall in the world, but it is the world's largest in terms of volume of falling water, which leads to the constant spray.

An indication of the spray

There are 15 different vantage points to view the falls on the Zimbabwean side (as opposed to the Zambian side which we did not visit because who wants to pay for a visa every time you cross a border) and we walked along for about two hours appreciating the different views. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so more often than not we had a rainbow from each vantage point of the falls, because of the mist and sun and the wind. We learned the local name for the falls is Mosi-oa-Tunya—"The Smoke That Thunders" – which is a very appropriate name as there were a few different points we could barely see through the mist.

I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

Pano of falls

One of the many rainbows

Guided jungle walk between vantage points

Rainbows rainbows everywhere

So majestic

We got soaked

Yet another rainbow

Still more rainbows

Sometimes we like each other :)

After the guided tour of the falls, we joined a group of tourists on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river, and this was an absolute highlight for us both. For me, because it was beautiful and relaxing, for Becky, because it was all you can drink… just kiddinggggg Bex… Really it was because this river cruise was a safari experience in itself. We saw tons of wildlife! But yes, there was lots of booze.

Our cruise vessel

Baboons on the riverbank

Cheeeeeeeers

Biggest croc I've ever seen

Cutie with the elephants

Elephants having a munch

Pod of grunty hippos

Gorgeous sunset

The next morning, we went back to the falls for a little adrenaline rush. I didn’t realize that Victoria Falls was such a hot spot for adventure sports – white water rafting, bungee jumping, ziplining, etc – all possible in this beautiful area. I chose to do the bridge swing = freefall for a few seconds before swinging out over the water. Becky chose to do the ziplining, which takes you from Zambia across the river to Zimbabwe. It was definitely nerve wracking! But ultimately a great way to conclude the trip.

Got the gear

Ziplining...

...like a boss

Freefaallllllling

That tiny spec is me...swinging away...

And the sun sets on another African adventure. All the more special because of how close to not happening this whole trip became. Thank you, RAD for making it happen.

Until the next one