Calley's Travels: De Hoop

De Hoop was a wonderful place to stay because there were no real predators to worry about and we could wander as we pleased when not working. There were great hiking trails up into the hills and even a cave with bushmen paintings. There were tons of awesome antelope and these really cute rodents called dassies. I spent a couple days on the beach and it was quite different from home. First of all, it's late summer here and the water is freezing. It's also a very rocky coast with impressive cliffs dropping off into the water. We played in the tidal pools, where I got bitten by an octopus! Very cool. We also worked on a project with tortoises and I was the champion tortoise finder. I spent one morning following around a herd of bontebok and mingling with a troop of foraging baboons. After living in close quarters for so long, the freedom of De Hoop was wonderful and I had a great time there. I also learned to play croquet and had an awesome game of capture the flag. More to come on Mapungubwe soon