Final days eAfrika

Wow the semester has certainly sped by... I can't believe I only have 10 days left in South Africa! However I have been trying to make the most of my time left, which has actually been helped by the fact that my mother is down here visiting. I met up with her in Joburg last Saturday, and we spent the weekend in Zimbabwe. We saw Victoria Falls and did a little safari/touring of Zim. Needless to say that the trip was great. The falls are amazing, particularly the aerial view we got from our helicopter ride(!)

We got back eKapa on Monday evening (I'm staying with her at the hotel), and I spent Tuesday showing her around... A long walk around the city (and some shopping along the way) and a visit to my family in Langa. Yesterday was pretty exciting bc I managed to convince my mom to join me in an activity I've wanted to do for a long time: cage diving with great white sharks. Oh yes, I was in a cage, in the Indian Ocean, with my mother, and great white sharks. Unfortunately, I got horribly sea sick (which never happens to me, but the sea was quite rough where we were anchored) but I just stuck it out. I even puked while I was in the cage :( Anyway it was really cool, and not scary at all. We saw about 8 different great white sharks, varying in size from 2.5-4 meters (juvenile size)... The best view was from the boat, and I only saw two sharks through the murky water while I was in the cage. The sharks were actually quite shy and didn't usually hang around for too long--except for this one huge female who kept sneaking up and stealing the bait. Despite losing about 5 pounds over the side of the boat, it was totally worth it. (Check out shark pics.)


Today is my mother's last day in Cape Town, and also the day that my massive ISP is due. Obviously this trip has been planned for a while so I actually finished the mega-research project last week, a whole week early. Yes, all 65 pages of it. (*pause for applause*) Thank you, thank you. Anyway I'm just finishing up some proof-reading now (clearly) and then I have to print it and get it bound.
So off to finish my work, and then hopefully have some time by the hotel pool before our big celebratory dinner tonight ;)
Love to all... and I guess I'll be seeing a lot of you in about 10 days!

The intrepid, adventurous, shark-diving E.V.E