Exploring South Africa, great hiking, wine and sharks!

Cape town is a vibrant place and colourful city, with an endless amount of activities to do. Firstly, you have to climb Table Mountain. There are various routes to take for varying levels. The view at the top is spectacular and the coastline goes on forever! You can then take the cable cart back down after a long day of hiking! Another great hike is Lion's Head, this isn't so high up, but it is a little more difficult to climb as you have to do some actual climbing up the hill, but again there is an exceptional view of the city at the top. 

We took a trip to Robben Island, off the coast of Cape Town. On the island is the prison where Mandela spent many years in. It was quite an eerie place, the beds and items of furniture where still there. One of the old inmates gives you a tour of what life was like in this cold dark place. It was a great chance to learn about the history of the country.

Another must see is the penguins at Boulders beach in Simon's Town, south of Cape Town. 100s of penguins naturally live here and the park gave us a great day out with the chance to see many of these funny birds! 

Finally, you can't go to South Africa and not do a vineyard tour. We did one in the Stellenbosch region where we went to various vineyards and tasted a huge variety of wines and ciders, saw how it was made and had a tour of the vineyard. South Africa have some excellent wine and so I would definitely recommend to do this! 

We mainly came to this town because we had the chance to do cage diving with great white sharks. This was an unforgettable experience! The company we went with were very conscious about not disrupting the animals in their environment. Before we went off in the boat, we had a briefing and they explained to us all about great whites and how they are trying to change people's view of them as great big human killing machines. It was a very informative talk and I learnt a lot from it, not just about great whites but sharks in general. When it came to getting into the cage, we had a mask and snorkel and you would wait for a great white to appear. It was a serreal experience, and they really are beautiful creatures. But I must admit I was also terrified when they came up to the cage! Nonetheless, it's an activity you have to experience! 

If you like to surf, this is definitely the place you for! Jeffrey's bay is famously known for its surf, but you have got to be careful of the sharks! There are many surf hire shops in the town so you can grab a board and suit. Great place to go surfing and the local people were really friendly and up for a laugh, I would love to come again. 

The town also has many big surf shop outlets, so great to get lots of cheap clothes! Lots of seafood restaurants here and the fish is as fresh as you can get it!