as i'm short on time and bandwidth, i'll have to rely on pictures being worth their reputed thousand words for now. i'll catch up with the text (admittedly far less interesting than the pictures, let's be honest) later, more for my purposes than anything, mainly to feed my egotism as a closet writer.
in short, though, the mountains left me breathless in semonkong, where i also abseiled down a 204 meter waterfall (the highest commercially operated abseil in the world); the clinic continued to challenge and astound me, though i did feel i made a contribution, learned a tremendous amount, and recognized within myself a sincere desire (and perhaps even a need) to return for a longer period of time; i saw unforgettable numbers of (unforgetting) elephants at addo national park; i hiked many kilometers of rugged coastline and lush forest along the indian ocean in tsitsikamma national park, both intentionally and unintentionally (i.e., i got lost on one of the hiking trails); i went kloofing in wilderness, hiking, swimming, hopping rock to rock, and even jumping off a few cliffs into the river below.
tomorrow will take me to stellenbosch, the heart of south african wine country, and then onwards to capetown for a few days before returning stateside. feel free to peruse the photos for now, and (who are we kidding) there will probably be more from me later.
much love from south africa,
sachin
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more photos:
high in the mountains in semonkong
elephants galore at addo
rugged coastline besides lush forests in tsitsikamma
kloofing in wilderness
taking in the views in cosmopolitan capetown
