The trip

South Africa is maybe one of the most amazing places that I have ever experienced, not visited, not seen, but experienced. I went in thinking, this is going to be a hard trip, I'm a little scared but I know it will be fun. I came out feeling as though I have never met so many amazing people in one place at one time and had such an amazing experience climbing, drinking tea, drinking wine, sight seeing, everything was magic!

When we first arrive to the climbing area also known as Clanwilliam or Depaukys Pass we were a bit taken back not only by the view, the vast amount of boulders, but we also thought that we were supposed to be staying in our own private guest house. When we arrived we soon found out that we would be sharing this house with several others and to day the least we weren't exactly psyked.



When our roommates arrived we immediately fell in love with them. We had been starved for attention for days, we felt like we were living on the moon because we were the only climbers in the entire area. Once Bernd, Manu, and Belinda arrived we were so happy to meet them and climb with them and soon became close friends after many delicious dinners and several bottles of wine.

I feel like the relationships that were made on this trip really made it what it was. We later had a close friend from the states come without plans of staying in the house that we were living in but we kidnapped him and made him stay with us which later formed Team Honey Badger.



We celebrated my birthday to fullest extent with full brai, Champagne, Michael Jackson, Baker Man, and many other classic jams in a small hut/house/coffee shop which was later reincarnated into a sweat shack/dance hall. It was a real hit to say the least.

The worst part of the trip was seeing Team Honeybadger dissipate as we all had homes to go to and families to be with and jobs to actually work.

Team Honey Badger minus Bernd, Anelia, Becky, and Belinda

 And worst of all my Nana had passed within a week of my return home. My Nana, Gaye Paul Keeney, was possibly the most amazing woman on this planet. I don't say this just because she is my Nana but because she really was a presence that everyone learned to love unless of course you didn't love her within the first second of meeting her. She was smart, witty, fresh, read about 5 novels a week (yes the ones with Fabio on the cover,) loved the beach, loved to cook, loved to use to word "dope" as much as possible, she made me goulash every Tuesday night as a kid, she always had instant powder Nesquik in her cupboards at all times just in case, and she had the most amazing blue eyes.


This was a true, utter, complete devastation for me. I always worry about being out of the country for fear that something like this would happen. From that date the trip was over for me. I still certainly enjoyed myself and was still incredibly grateful to be there but my heart was broken and all I wanted to do was be with my family. So mentally my climbing trip was over. I forfeited my projects and stuck with a light hearted attempt at certain things to avoid getting frustrated and just tried to have as much fun as possible with the people around me.

In Loving Memory of Gaye Paul Keeney 1.29.28 - 6.26.11

This is Africa!

What a hell of a ride that was. Flying to Cape Town was less than simple.  After nearly missing our flight to Dakar from Dulles and than waiting on the plane for about 2.5 hours on the runway waiting for the weather to clear over the ocean it was for sure the start of a long slightly relaxing ride through the clouds.  When we landed in Dakar we sat in our seats for another 2.5 hours while someone was having a bed built in back of the plane for some reason. Followed by missing our connection in Johannesburg and FINALLY landing in Cape Town 4 hours later than expected. But as they say; “This is Africa.”

Once in Cape Town we got our Peugot and drove to the Fritz Hotel. It was so beautiful and quaint and quiet and perfect, and they serve the best Swiss breakfast! We hit the town did some dancing at The Dubliner Pub and met some cool people (can’t remember their names due to the Jagermeister and tequila shots, which I swore off when I was 16, Yuck!)

The following morning, beyond hung over and jet lagged, we drove around Cape Town for a bit and admired the amazing views of Table Mountain. Cape Town is stunning! It’s a city with a European feel but you can sense the work and history of it while looking over the port and seeing the huge ancient boats.  We than made the long but absolutely beautiful drive to Clanwilliam. There are wineries everywhere and rolling hills and mountains and untouched gorgeous country everywhere you turn.  I felt relaxed immediately besides freaking out from driving on the other side of the road and having the wheel also on the opposite side of the car while dodging swerving traffic.

We finally made it to Alpha Farms Excelsior outside of Clanwilliam where we were snuggled up on an amazing little farm all by ourselves for a moment. We were in a little cottage with a great little patio in the back with grape vines covering the roof and three adorable little dogs; Pinotage, Olive, and Shiraz. Pinotage is my fav! A sweet little black lab that we fed our scraps to from our first brai experience.

I’ve been waking up so early, around 5:30 a.m. or earlier and having breakfast, drinking Rooibos Tea and smoking Golden Virginia rolled tobacco outside and listening to all the birds sing to each other and drink out of the flowers, it really is one of the best experiences ever. I never thought that my night owl tendencies would pay off but I think that my clock has been on since we arrived because of it. Phil is actually the one sleeping in and not wanting to wake up.. haha.

The climbing has been a challenge, getting used to a new area, trying to find everything, and getting used to the elements here. The guidebook hasn’t been very helpful but I also think that we may be having a problem due to the fact that we are the only climbers here and there is absolutely no chalk on anything! We have spent most of our time here hiking around for like 7 hours at a leg. The hiking hasn’t been easy either. There are super steep hills to climb up, unmarked paths that haven’t been walked on since last season so they are over grown and the cairn markers aren’t as visible as the guidebook suggests. We also have a really small car that can’t make it to certain areas which leaves us with more hiking so at the end of the day I am so exhausted that I can barely keep my eyes open past 7:30 p.m.

 

I’m so happy and grateful to be here, I feel like all the long hours and hard work that I put into making this happen is paying off.. Now I just want to climb something!!