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Jade’s bestie from our time sailing is named Chloe. They met at an aquarium in Cairns, Australia in September 2024. We spent about three months together in Indonesia in late 2024, and they have kept in touch via WhatsApp video calls, voice messages, and texts ever since then. Jade started saving her money for a ticket to visit South Africa. Chloe’s family is South African and British, and her family has been in South Africa in 2026, pausing on their circumnavigation for some months. So it seemed like the perfect time to visit, while they were actually at home, and to foster the girls’ friendship with an in-person visit.

In May when I went to buy the tickets, I asked Tomu if he wanted to come. He answered with a question: what would I do if I don’t come? I said, probably stay longer in Tacoma with your friends. He answered unequivocally, “I want to stay with my friends”. Riki felt he needed to get back to the boat to work, so he also declined the trip. Here a few pictures of Tomu having fun with his friends.

Jade, Luz, and I flew on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul (11 hours), had a 9 hour layover, then flew another 11 hours to Capetown. I was very impressed with Turkish Airlines quality of food and service. Gisela, Chloe (10 years old) and Finley (8 years old) met us at the airport in Capetown. I was talking to Jade, then she just started sprinting to hug Chloe. The whole trip they were inseparable, always sitting by each other at every meal and in the car. Gisela planned our whole trip, which was a huge relief to me! We stayed three nights in Capetown — well actually in Simonstown, near the African Penguin colony at Boulders Beach. As soon as we got to our fancy Airbnb, I fell into bed and slept for four hours. Gisela meanwhile went grocery shopping and cooked dinner, sausages on the braai (bbq) and veggies.

Our first full day in South Africa was brilliantly sunny! We walked from our Airbnb along the coast to Boulders Beach.

The kids climbed on the giant boulders, and we all had a swim at Boulders Beach. The penguins also swam there — they are really fast swimmers! We spotted some penguins — one gave Luz a scare, and she gave it a scare!

Later that evening Gisela made pizza in the pizza oven outside. I was so impressed!

The next day we took the cable car up to Table Mountain and hiked around. The views were stunning on both sides of the Cape.

In the afternoon we went to the District Six Museum to learn a little about the history of how apartheid affected one area: 60,000 District Six residents were forced to relocate from 1948-1966 to townships in the Cape Flats area, far away from the center of Capetown. The government designated 4 townships as Black Townships, and 14 as Colored Townships. They effectively pitted Black (native Zulu or Xhosa or other tribes) and Colored (people who were a mix of Black and white Afrikaner) people against one another by designating them as separate races, then forcing them to live in separate areas. I read about a company in District SIx who had Black employees but then fired all their employees in order to hire Colored employees. The tour guide at the museum said that even today Capetown is very segregated, and that less than 300 people have been able to move back to District Six. It was hard to see the stark difference between the haves and have-nots in South Africa, in terms of living conditions. The airport is near a township, which is another word for a slum, or shantytown. There are tons of little shacks with corrugated tin roofs built all next to each other, that you see from the highway.

The next day we began our road trip towards Gisela’s family beach house in the Eastern Cape Province. It was a rainy day, and we drove about 5 hours to another Airbnb. This one had a wood-fired hot tub, and Gisela worked hard on the fire while listening to the Springboks rugby game. Gisela and I co-parented really well together. 🙂 We fell into an easy routine of rooibos tea with rusks in the morning, plus yogurt, granola, and fresh berries. We ate lunch on the road, often quiche or a chicken curry, and then made dinner when we got to the Airbnb. And the four kids got along really well.

I read my book Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (wow, super intense!) and went to bed early. One cool thing about the farm stands we stopped at for lunch were that they all had an outdoor play area for kids.

We arrived at Botlierskop Private Game Reserve at 8:30 am. It was a very fancy building with expansive views. We were served coffee and a South African fried bread donut. I was fascinated by the Cape Weaver birds weaving their hanging nests on the deck.

We loaded up into a big vehicle with open sides and open front (no windows). They handed us blankets to use against the chill. The roads were muddy, bumpy, and often steep. We drove through some rivers. It was just magnificent scenery, and we all loved it. It was amazing to see so many iconic African animals. We spotted some cheetahs from far away on the hill. Our guide was really knowledgeable and passionate about the animals. South Africa’s Big 5 animals are elephants, rhinos, Cape buffalo, leopards, and lions. We saw all of them in the course of two days. We saw some giraffes up close!!

After the game drive at Botlierskop, we enjoyed a delicious lunch there and then drove another two hours to another Airbnb. This one was on a horse farm!

The next morning we did the EcoKids tour at Tenikwa Wildlife Rehabilitation and Awareness Center. We saw lions, a leopard, cheetahs, tortoises, a serval, and a caracal. Our guide was nice, but not nearly as knowledgeable as the one at Botlierskop. Also, it wasn’t as cool to see the animals in enclosures as in a huge game reserve.

After the animal rehabilitation center we drove about two more hours to Gisela’s beach house, arriving just at sunset. Wow, is it a stunning place!! It is very wild, remote, and just beautiful. The waves crash just in front of the deck. I told Gisela that I would never want to leave if it was my beach house! The next day was brilliantly sunny again, and we walked to the lighthouse. We met Gisela’s sister Inga and her daughter Ada for lunch. Gisela saw a Puff Adder on the path, which is a dangerous South African snake.

The next day we drove two hours to Addo Elephant National Park. At Addo you can drive your own vehicle through the park, whereas at the private game reserves you cannot. We had a blast looking for animals ourselves and deciding which roads to take. Finley spotted a baboon on the side of the road. Gisela spotted a Caracal (like a wildcat), and Luz found a Black-backed jackal. We saw a fresh Kudu kill, but no predators there. We saw tons of warthogs, zebras, and Kudu. We saw some Red Hartebeest. Chloe spotted an ostrich. Oh, and tons of elephants (maybe 50, altogether?). We enjoyed looking through the hide at zebras and warthogs at a watering hole. We brought a delicious picnic lunch to eat at the picnic area.

Our final day with our friends was rainy. We packed up our bags. Gisela’s mom Elizabeth came over for lunch. Then we drove two hours to Port Elizabeth to catch a plane back to Capetown. It was a sad goodbye for Jade and Chloe with lots of tears intermittently throughout the day. We had such a fabulous time! Our trip was just perfect — lots of nature, lots of animals. I think we cemented our familial friendship. I would love to host Gisela, Tim, Chloe and Finley someday and return their hospitality.