"The Skeleton Gorge is a moderate hike with a steep ascent from the start to the end and a couple of tricky climbs (on the way down) over rocks and boulders."
We took an uber from the Cape Town airport to our hotel (Best Western) and arrived just before 11pm on Friday evening. We collected our suitcases that we dropped off on Monday morning before we left for our Safari and kept the bikes in the luggage storage. We also paid $30 for a late checkout (6pm) since our flight back to the US was not leaving until 10pm on Saturday. The staff was incredibly nice and the hotel had a mediterrean vibe to it.
We were pretty tired when we arrived to our room as we had been up since 5am for our 3-hour Safari. Plus a 5 hour drive, 2 hour flight.....we were ready for bed.
We slept as late as we could but woke up to rainy and windy conditions. I was a bit bummed as I had planned the hike for us so we were hopeful it would pass.
We had breakfast at the hotel (which was included in the room rate) and it was amazing. So much fresh fruit! We worked on the computer for a bit and then around 9am we decided to take the chance and go to the gardens as the rain had stopped.
We got an Uber to take us the 6 miles to the gardens. We were told by many people to take the Ubers instead of Taxi as they are more reliable and safe. Well, a few miles later, we we pulled over by the police.
We learned that many uber drivers do not have the permits to drive but they can still register with the Uber app. When we were pulled over, the cop nicely explained this to us and told us that the drivers car would be impounded. We opted to walk the mile to the gardens instea of having the police drive us. It was a strange situation that left us with mixed emotions. On one hand we were shocked that Uber drivers could be registered with the app despite not having permits but we were also sad for the driver. During our driver, we learned that this driver is from Congo and works for a few months before traveling back to his home country to visit his family. I'm sure he knew what he was doing was wrong but he likely did not have many other options for work. We also learned from other locals that there's a lot of coropution with the government and the president which makes many situations unfair for the locals.
We started our hike and within a few minutes, we knew this would be an adventure. This was the craziest hikes we have ever done and it was absolutely perfect for us. It was more like an obstacle course. The trail wasn't too busy when we were hiking as the cloudy/rainy weather likely worked in our favor but the downside was that the conditions were not ideal for us to keep hiking past the sandy lake on top of the mountain. We got in around 4 miles round trip and it was the most fun we have ever had hiking.
Here's a video of our adventure.
After returning back from the hike, I was a bit nervous to get another uber but thankfully, this guy had a permit. There was no way to know if a driver had a permit as we never saw any cars with the Uber sticker on the car but this driver explained the situation to us after we told him what happened to us earlier that morning.
After warming up from being wet and cold, we walked a mile through the Company’s Garden and several busy streets to eat lunch at BAR DE TAPAS LA PARADA. The restaurant was in a great location as we walked through many interesting streets filled with bars, restaurants and shops. Karel had a chicken burger and I had a Mediterranean salad with potato wedges. It was delicious.
After warming up from being wet and cold, we walked a mile through the Company’s Garden and several busy streets to eat lunch at BAR DE TAPAS LA PARADA. The restaurant was in a great location as we walked through many interesting streets filled with bars, restaurants and shops. Karel had a chicken burger and I had a Mediterranean salad with potato wedges. It was delicious.
We then walked through the streets to check out the local scenes (trying not to get blown away with the extreme 50+ mph winds) and went back to our hotel at 4:30pm. We were hoping to get some work done before heading to the airport at 6pm but it was load shedding so the internet wasn’t working.
We had a great conversation with the (complimentary free) hotel shuttle driver who drove us to the airport at 6pm. We arrived a bit early to the airport so the kiosk was closed but we were first in line to check in. It was good that we arrived early as there was a long line for customs to leave Cape Town and to go back to the US. We then spent some time in the lounge to get some work done before a 16 hour flight back to ATL.
Thanks for following along.
