A month in South Africa

As you all know I'll be spending a month in South Africa in June and I couldn't be more excited! Here are the things I am most excited about doing and hope that I get to experience them:

Watch the sunset from Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a flat topped mountain located in Cape Town. It is prominent landmark that seems to watch over the city. You can take a cable car up to the top (and have an incredible view from here) as well as incredible views from the top of the mountain. It would be incredible to watch the sunset, or sunrise, from here at some point during my time here.

Explore the neighborhood of Bo Kaap. Bo Kaap is a well known neighborhood in Cape Town most recognized by the very bright colors that the homes here are painted. The brightly painted homes here remind me a lot of Burano, Italy (an island off of Venice) which similarly has homes of brightly painted colors.

Cage diving with great white sharks. South Africa is known for its great white shark population, and I'll be damned if I make it all the way there and don't cage dive with them. Knowing people who've done it, it sounds extremely safe to do. I feel like one can't go to South Africa and not do this...so this is pretty high on my to do list while I'm in the country.

Go skydiving (???) Okay, so I haven't completely convinced myself to do this one yet. I'll most likely have the opportunity to do so...and might not take the plunge (no pun intended) until the last possible second, assuming I muster up the courage to jump. On one hand, this is pretty terrifying even though I'm not afraid of heights. On the other hand, will I have the opportunity to skydive again? Maybe. In South Africa? No, probably not as this trip most likely will be once in a lifetime (though I do adopt the 'visit everywhere twice' philosophy). So we will see. It might come down to the cost of it, but I do ultimately think if I don't do this, I'll always wish I had.

Explore Fish Hoek. Fish Hoek (pronounced Fish Hook) is a town on the eastern side of the Cape Town peninsula, about 45 minutes from the city. I'm excited to experience this town because it is where I'll be staying while I am in Cape Town. I'l be staying in a lodge about 5 minutes from the beach in Fish Hoek. As someone who will never tire of the beach, and always feels at home by the sea I am so excited to have the beach in such close proximity to me for a few weeks.

Robben Island. Nelson Mandela and his continuous fight to end apartheid in South Africa is a huge part of the countries history and why they are where they are today, so it is only right that we will be visiting Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years of his life for trying to fight to stop apartheid. Robben Island is especially fascinating to me because the guides here used to, at one time, actually be prisoners there.

See the Big 5 in Kruger National Park. Kruger is THE place to go on Safari in South Africa. We aren't in Disney World's Animal Kingdom anymore here. At the end of the day even if I don't get to see the Big 5, just the fact that I'll get to say I went on safari here is worth it to me.

So...is June here yet?!
What would you want to see if you were to spend a month exploring South Africa?

Image from here.