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WheresCherie.COM Quote
"Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy." -- Lazarus Long

South Africa

179--South Africa: Road Trip to Cape Town
@ CherieSpotting Jan 31 2004 - 16:00 PST

Four ladies (Cherie, Renee, Carter and Kristi) head to Stellenbosch to taste South Africa's finest wines. *Photo by Dom

cherie writes: There is something about a road trip that always brings a smile to my face.
Now every year my friends and I have decided to explore a new country together. This year it was South Africa. Renee, Carter, Kristi and I came from Virginia Beach, Zurich, Washington DC and Los Angeles. We united in Johannesburg where we met a South African youth-hostel owner named Dom.

Dom was telling me about how he wanted to market the other hostels in South Africa when I had an idea.

“Would you consider driving us ladies around your country for a few weeks?” I asked Dom. “You can market all the hostels and we can see all the sights. If you drive, we can pay for all the gas.”

Dom was as excited about the idea as we were! We ended up having our own personal driver and tour guide! A few days later we stuffed our luggage into Dom’s Volksiebus and we were off on an African adventure.
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178--Swaziland: Dancing with the Swazis
@ CherieSpotting Jan 27 2004 - 14:33 PST

Cherie doing the Sibhaca dance with the Swazis in Swaziland. *Photo by Renee.

cherie writes: I had my fortune told by a sangoma in Swaziland. The spiritual healer took me in a hut and asked me to repeat my name until she could master the strange syllables. Soon she was chanting “Cherie, Cherie, Cherie” and I was so entranced that it wouldn’t have surprised me if a thousand copies of me had fell from the sky.

I sat on a rug on the dirt floor of the hut looking at the preserved head of a growling lion. Then the sangoma threw a bunch of rocks, shells and bones onto a mat and examined their positions. According to their spacing, she informed me that I am “unsettled.” I wanted to say "Duh", but I didn't know how to speak bantu. Plus, "duh" isn't so polite. Then she said that one day I am going to have three children!

I raised my eyebrows. Three kids!!! I asked the translator to ask the sangoma to throw the rocks again. Maybe she’d get a different answer. The rocks said three kids. Who can argue with the rocks?
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156--Zimbabwe: Elephant Safari
@ CherieSpotting Oct 09 2003 - 11:49 PST

Cherie and Kristi on an Elephant Safari in Zimbabwe.

cherie writes: Kristi, Renee and I went on an 8 Day Bundu Safari. It began in South Africa and took us to Zimbabwe and back. An elephant safari is where you pay $90 US dollars to sit on an elephant and ride through the African Bush and try to spot other animals (warthogs, baboons, lions, other elephants.) One might think that two hours on an elephant just simply isn't enough time. But actually it is 1:45 minutes too long.

We got to bond with the elephants (the video we bought reminded us that we bonded with them.) Our bonding time included sitting on them (which I know they enjoyed) as well as feeding them and petting their long trunks.
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153--South Africa: Great White Shark Diving
@ CherieSpotting Sep 24 2003 - 18:16 PST

I took this photo of a Great White Shark with a cheap disposable underwater camera.

cherie writes: “You are perfect shark bait!” Brian, the captain, screamed as he welcomed me on his boat. “Most ladies these days are too skinny. You’re a bit squishy, which is just what the sharks love.”

I’m okay with being called a scuba diver, or even an underwater photographer. But I’m not so sure I like the bi-line, shark bait.
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151--South Africa: Get Off My Ostrich
@ CherieSpotting Sep 16 2003 - 18:05 PST

Cherie and Carter become ostrich jockeys for the day.

cherie writes: Location: Oudtshoorn, South Africa. Four ladies (Kristi, Carter, Renee and Cherie) attempt to ride the largest bird in the world--the ostrich! We spent the day at the Highgate Ostrich Farm learning ostrich facts like these:
* When you eat an ostrich filet, you are eating the ostrich's knee.
* One ostrich egg is equal to 24 chicken eggs.
* An adult ostrich weighs about 220 pounds and can run up to 80 km/h.
* The World Record for eating a hard-boiled ostrich egg is 6 minutes, 40 seconds.

For more info on how you can ride an ostrich see: www.highgate.co.za/
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145--No Man's Land: Bungee Jump off Vic Falls Bridge
@ CherieSpotting Aug 22 2003 - 19:11 PST

Cherie leaping off the 2nd highest bungee jump in the world at Victoria Falls Bridge.

cherie writes: Bungee Jump off Victoria Falls Bridge

Everyone wanted to see us do it--jump off the second highest Bungee Jump in the world. All thirteen of our tour group clamored over the Zimbabwe boarder with cameras in hand to see if we’d really jump.

Victoria Falls Bridge is in no man’s land--between Zambia and Zimbabwe. No country would ever allow its citizens to jump off a bridge that high. Gambling is one thing, suicide is another. But when you find a tiny strip of land between two countries where no laws apply—anything goes. In other words, for $50 US, you can learn to fly.
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144b--Zimbabwe: Don't Eat Fried Worms
@ CherieSpotting Aug 21 2003 - 12:20 PST

Cherie and Renee eat Mopani worms for the first and last time. That's enough "culture" for one lifetime.

cherie writes: I ate a worm. Not the acceptable kind. Not the kind you find saturated in agave in the bottom of a bottle of tequila. I ate a Mopani worm, which is common cuisine for the people of Zimbabwe and a disgusting show of bravado for idiotic tourists. If you ever have a chance to savor this delicacy, heed my advice and DON’T DO IT!

Eating a Mopani worm was the most disgusting thing I have ever done in my life. I felt the same repulsion a 17-year old feels the first time she learns that a “blow job” has nothing to do with drying her hair.
continued...

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the older posts:

144--Zimbabwe: Feeding Baby Lions
Aug 20 2003 - 08:49
143--South Africa: African Safari
Jul 31 2003 - 09:20
142--South Africa: I Ate a Giraffe
Jul 30 2003 - 15:41