Bungee Jumping, elephant feeding, quad riding, surfing, tubing and more!

This weekend was by far one of the most ridiculous and fantastic weekends of my life. All 15 of us nursing students piled on a bus and drove 6 hours to Plettenberg Bay, an amazing area located along the coast of South Africa. I pretty much took the reins on organizing the trip and contacted a travel planner and told him the different activities we each wanted to do and found out if it was possible to fit it in the entire weekend. With the help of Jamin Adventures (the website I used) I compiled an entire itinerary for the weekend; which I gave to both the driver and the rest of the girls and it ended up working out really nicely!




SO on Saturday morning we visited Knysna Elephant Sanctuary where I had the opportunity to feed, pet and take pictures with elephants. It was really awesome, especially since these elephants were rescued from the wild and taken into this sanctuary where they would be safe from poachers and free to do as they please.






After the elephant sanctuary, Danielle, Chioma, Jenn, Nisha and I all hopped on the bus and went to Quad Riding in the BUSH. It was seriously sooo sick. We first went around a practice course to make sure we could handle going around curvy turns and up and down hills. After we proved our worth we went through a 6km course with our guide in the front. I followed him in the front for most of it but at one point Chioma decided to take the lead, and ended up flipping over around a corner! She was fine, just a little muddy, and kept going through the rest of the course. Quad riding was great, especially since we went through such a scenic route that made me see another side of how gorgeous the area is.



After quads we had a quick lunch break and then Jill, Danielle, Jenn, Wendy, Nadia, and I all went down to the beach for SURFING LESSONS. One thing I never thought I’d end up doing is attempting to surf in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa... actually just surfing in general really. So glad I tried it though. We had really great instructors who did a good job explaining on land first how to “pop up” off of the surfboard and the steps to stay on the board. Although I definitely wasn’t the best surfer, I was able to stand on the board for at least a hot second to say that I did it! I definitely want to try again because it actually was a slammin workout and really fun when you get the hang of it! Apparently Muizenberg Beach, near where we stay, has a lot easier waves because they are not so much one after the other; which makes it less difficult.






The next morning, Kate D, Jill, Danielle, Jenn, Mel, Sarah, and myself all woke up mad early to go BLACK WATER TUBING in Storms River Village. It was quite a drive out there and on the way there was actually a baboon just chilling in the middle of the road! We all got our wetsuits, life jackets, helmets, and tubes and were good to go! It was a bit of a drive to the actual riverbed so we just chilled in the back of the truck with our tour guide Tate who ended up being an extremely obnoxious womanizing homophobe, but at least got us through the river safely! The mini-hike down to the edge of the water was actually a bit terrifying since we all had to haul giant yellow tubes along the way while attempting to step down un-steady stairs that only had a piece of rope attached to two trees as a guide to keep you balanced. When we made it down to the riverbed, each one of us turned around and jumped backwards into the river with our tubes behind us for a photo-op. The water was actually freezing but luckily our wetsuits were able to keep us warm. There were also opportunities to “kloof” or cliff jump; which ended up being a little bit anti-climactic. I did the first jump which was I think 30ft high and I apparently resembled what us nursing nerds would call “the moro relex” aka I flailed around aimlessly trying to decide whether to plug my nose or throw my hands in the air… not quite sure what I ended up doing. After jumping, we traveled down the river using our hands as paddles and the current to pull us, however the water level was pretty low so the “rapids” area ended up being us trying to scooch our butts along the rocks and try and slide as best we could. There actually ended up being a couple of quicker paced areas which were fun but nothing to scary. In the end I’d rather the river be too low than too crazy fast so I was happy with it. The best part of tubing by far was when one of our guides whipped out a bag of bar-one candy bars which are one of the most delicious things South Africa has invented. It was such a great snack just chillin on the water in a tube eating a candy bar. Gotta love it.







After tubing the bus picked us up with the rest of the girls in it and we all headed to BUNGEE JUMPING. That’s right world, I Kate Harris, bungee jumped off a bridge. And not just any bridge mind you. The highest bridge IN THE WHOLE WORLD aka a 216m drop at 120km/hr which is pretty damn fast! Guinness Book of World Records kinda business. I’m not messing around! So let me tell you how it went. 13 of us ended up doing the jump and after getting harnessed in and briefed on what was going to happen, we walked out onto a mini-bridge with a metal-mesh floor that allowed you to see STRAIGHT DOWN to where we were about to jump. I have to say our RA Ben was right in saying that the scariest part about the jump was the walk out there because it was terrifying. Once we got on the bridge I chilled out a little bit even though I really wasn’t that scared to begin with. On the bridge there was literally a DJ booth with music blasting to get everyone pumped. AKA it was a dance party. As all of us danced around and cheered each other on we each jumped one by one. I ended up being third to go which I was pretty happy with. They sat me down, and put two Velcro’d pieces of cushion around my ankles and then wrapped it up with ropes that attached to the bungee. Doesn’t sound very stable right? I wasn’t even thinking about it at the time and was fully trusting everything and everyone around me. I’m going to post a youtube video up of my jump soon so you can see me dancing and getting pumped while they harness me in! Then two guys helped me hobble over to the edge and put each of my arms over their shoulders, then I shout “let’s do this boys” as one of them shouts ONE TWO THREE BUNGEE!! On the word bungee I jump and attempted to go head first but I kinda forgot that I actually don’t know how to dive in real life so I’m not sure why I thought I’d be able to dive off of a bridge… In any case I went feet first but ended up turning around pretty gracefully for myself and WENT. It was so amazing. Words cannot describe how awesome the experience was, I literally felt like I was flying. I won’t lie though once the bungee cord retracted and a bounced up those 4 times I really felt like my feet were about to fall out! I tried so hard not to panic because at that point what would I be able to do anyway? But I couldn’t help flexing my feet and holding them close like I’d somehow be able to hold my bodyweight if my feet slipped. Although the whole experience was probably only two minutes, it felt like a lifetime and during that time I was able to calm down and appreciate the gorgeous scenery around me and what I was doing. After the recoil stopped, I literally just hung there upside for I think what was 70 seconds until one of the workers came down and started to pull me up. I remember asking him if there was anything I could do to help and that he just laughed at me and told me to let go of his rope that I immediately grabbed on to. When I came back up they interviewed me and I honestly couldn’t even tell you what I said. I felt so elated and had such a rush that I could barely recall what had just happened. Such a sick experience. If I had the opportunity to do it again I definitely would because I would like to not worry so much about falling out of the bungee cord next time, and maybe wear some shoes next time!









I’m pretty sure not much else I do on this trip can top bungee jumping though I’m going to try! I’m looking into paragliding off of Lion’s Head, a mountain that some of the girls have already hiked that overlooks all of Cape Town. And of course there’s always the famous shark care diving though I’m not too sure how I feel about that yet!

Anyway, that Monday we had a long drive home but still stopped at the Cango Caves and had a tour of them. I have seen caves in Monterrey, Mexico when I was there a couple years ago but I have to say these caves definitely trumped them! It was so pretty and I got a pretty fun photo shoot in them with some of the girls. After the caves we went to an ostrich farm where pretty much everyone went ostrich riding except me. Something about those animals skeeve me out, especially since we all ate ostrich fillets right after riding them. I have to say ostrich is quite delicious and it’s definitely one of the meals from SA that I will miss the most! After ostrich riding craziness we had a nice, long 6 hour drive home but the scenery was so gorgeous that I barely noticed the time.


All in all such a fantastic weekend, definitely one I will never ever forget ☺