Why A Backpack And Not My Louis V Suitcase?

(This post was inspired by an argument with a friend who is going abroad for several months and wanted to take a suitcase. We had a pretty vehement argument, which for her sake I hope I won.)

          Look, what you carry your stuff in while you're on the road is largely personal preference. There is some logic to it though, however. Personally, I prefer a large internal frame backpack for several reasons:

    - It fits a ton of stuff
    - its convenient to move if you end up having to walk a ways
    - it can be loaded up to do a trek of hike if you need to
    -it comes with a rain cover
    -it blends in to the travel culture.

        The first time I went abroad, a bright green dufflebag was the luggage of choice for me. It did everything luggage was supposed to do. It got my clothes from point A to point B, all in one parcel. It worked because I was doing a fairly limited trip, and staying with friends, but I wanted to get something more convenient.

            For my next international trip, I went with a large internal frame pack I found on Amazon for under $100. These things can get really expensive really quick, but investing in a good pack can land you with a solid piece of equipment for a decade or so. Some of the really popular, high quality brands you might see out on the trail are: Karrimor (UK), NorthFace (US), Quechua (French Canadian), Osprey (US), First Ascent (South Africa).

              I used a  Teton 85 liter pack, which certainly wasn't the same quality as those high end packs I mentioned above, but did the job just fine for me and it was CHEAP. In retrospect however, I probably would have dished out more for a brand with a little more staying power (my pack now sports a couple of broken straps after 9 months of hard use). I wanted a pack so large so that I could fit my sleeping bag and 1 man tent in it as well as my stuff, and as long as you're willing to carry it, get as big of a pack as you want!

        Suitcases are great if you are going to one place for a week or so, and won't be using public transportation or the like with it. If you plan on moving around a fair bit then a suitcase can be a nightmare (trust me, having wandered the streets of Paris with both a backpack and a suitcase in the rain, I've been there). For me, backpacks offer versatility, which is incredibly valuable when you are on the road and not sure what you're gonna be getting into all the time. I will honestly probably never use a suitcase again in my life.

     There is an entire culture of people living out of backpacks, traveling the world. Its the carrier of goods for a reason, trust me on this!

Here are some links to different companies that sell packs, as well as the one I used personally on my trip:

http://www.karrimor.com/rucksacks

http://www.firstascent.co.za/product-category/equipment/packs-bags/

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/C-541338-hiking-backpack

http://www.thenorthface.com/catalog/sc-gear/equipment-technical-packs

http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/shop/search_Osprey____?ad_id=Google&cm_mmc=PPC-_-Google-_-Osprey_Osprey+Pack-_-osprey+packs_Exact_38214777763&cm_guid=1-_-100000000000000198309-_-38214777763&kcid=59f6edb7-55df-1a49-1363-0000656880e2&utm_medium=PPC&utm_source=GOOGLE&utm_campaign=Osprey&utm_term=osprey-packs_Exact&gclid=CNWO4NW-rr4CFZRcfgodkFgAZA

http://www.amazon.com/TETON-Sports-Fox5200-Internal-Backpack/dp/B000F38YIM/ref=sr_1_4/188-8429310-9870338?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1400176051&sr=1-4&keywords=teton+backpacks

Oudtshoorn: Crawling Through The Cango Caves

The view of the Indian Ocean from our room in the hostel.... Backpacking can be a hard life man!

                                       Go crawl through some giant, half explored caves.
                                       Ride an ostrich.
                                       Play with baby cheetahs and leopards.
                                       Dive with crocodiles.

My to-do list for the day read off like a Christmas letter praying to the most generous Santa ever for "awesomeness" incarnate under the tree. Granted, it also might have been a wee bit ambitious to think I could have squeezed it all into one day.


          After our adventures along the coast in Tsitsikama, Tracie and I headed along the coast towards  Wilderness. This quaint little beach town welcomed us with open arms and a torrent of rain, as we miserably ducked inside our hostel more soaked than we had hoped. This was no night for camping, so we bit the bullet and paid for two beds.

    That night I did my research and came up with the aforementioned laundry-list of dreams to tick off my list the next day. Oudtshoorn, a dusty little Afrikaans-speaking town about an hour from the coast, had some really great attractions. Like most things I plan, it didn't go quite the way I had mapped it out in my head...

    We got a late start after agreeing to give a couple fellow backpackers a lift out there with us (one was an Australian who had seen a man next to him eaten by a bull shark while swimming only a few days earlier... needless to say he could have used a pick-me-up!), and after dropping them off in town for a festival, Tracie and I finally made it to the caves (albeit, just in time to wait for another half hour for the actual tour to start).

      Our tour finally started and we were just absolutely floored by these beautiful caves! They were huge and so beautiful, it was like being inside a dripped wax sculpture the size of a cathedral. The caves led through twisting passageways, up sheer faces and through tiny crevasses barely large enough for a person to fit through. The air was hot and muggy, and got worse the deeper went. Not at all a place for those with even mild claustrophobia.

      Our 90 minute tour ended up lasting over 2.5 hours thanks to some slow moving tourists who got stuck in a tight spot called, "The Postbox." So by the time we crawled out of the caves, hot and sweaty,  we were WAY over the time we had scheduled for the caves and it was pretty obvious that ostrich riding was out of the picture for the day, much less attempting to play with cheetah cubs!

       So, Tracie and I hopped in our car and zipped back into town to enjoy the festival. We picked up some Kudu sausage and strolled through the quaint little town munching on greasy game meat until we met up with our friends whom we had dropped of, at the beer garden just as the sun began its last descent.

        It had been a long day, and even though I was a little devastated that my plans hadn't all worked out, we all decided to head back to our hostel on the coast for the night. There's always tomorrow to go riding giant pre-historic looking birds and play with jungle cats!

A map of the extensive Cango Caves... And there are at least three more caverns in this system that you can't visit as a tourist!

Tracie in front of the "Organ Pipe" formation.

My turn to pose!

Like wax drippings of stones, these caverns were positively enormous!

The first time I read this, I certainly didn't see "Focus School..." haha

Tickets to our "Adventure Tour"!

"Please for the love of God, DON'T be THAT American who gets lost in here ok?"

Vaulted ceilings anyone?

The beautiful architecture of this Afrikaans town made a great backdrop to their festival.

Storms River: The Savage Coast of Tsitsikama

Seabird.

           Storms River. The name alone sounds like something out of a Tolkien novel. Everyone I had met in South Africa had gushed that this was the most beautiful place they had ever seen, and seeing as that it was the home of one of the world's most popular treks, the Otter Trail, I was excited.
            Leaving from Addo Park, we stopped along the way in Port Elizabeth to see a friend of Tracies and snag some red cappuccinos. The drive wound its way through scrubby hills to a beautiful coastline before dumping us in a massive pine forest. We arrived during a light rain storm, which cleared up in time for Tracie and I to set up out camp in the backyard of Djembe Hostel in the local town.
         The next day, I left Tracie to work in the hostel while I went hiking in the national park. I took the popular Waterfall Trail all the way to, you guessed it, a waterfall! Along the way I was lucky enough to encounter baboons, deer, seabirds, some strange type of fuzzy little groundhog lookin rodent and more. I took a few minutes to spelunk in a giant sea cave, carved from the cliffs. I was unprepared, however, and when a swarm of bats kicked up I decided to leave it for another time. I pushed on to the waterfall, looked around and decided to keep going along the trail (which from this point on became the Otter Trail, and was thus expressly forbidden. But hey, TIA bru!). I went maybe a half mile more before I wrecked my knee against some boulders. The gods of the trail had spoken in my mind, so I decided to make my way back to the waterfall instead.
       Once I reached there, I decided a dip was in order, and would probably do my knee a bit of good since it was starting to swell up.  I joined some hikers (who were facing 5 more days along the Otter Trail) and we splashed together in the dark waters. The cool dark water was incredibly refreshing, but the park closed before too long and I wanted to see other parts. I toweled off and power-hiked back to the trailhead, then went off to explore the main lodge area a bit before walking out to the impressive suspension bridge slung over the mouth of the river.
        It was a really beautiful day, but I felt so bad that Tracie had missed it that I resolved to take her the next day, even if we had to miss some other places down the road. Honestly it was so beautiful that it felt criminal to deprive her of that experience! I sat down to tell her all about it as I kicked off my boots. As I did, I felt something wiggle that most definitely should not wiggle. It was my toenail. Ever since my brush with frostbite in Peru, I had been battling with my foot to try and keep that toenail from dying and falling off. It had finally given in the ghost, but it still looked a bit raw, so Tracie helped me duct tape it back on for the time being so we could keep hiking.
      The next day, we booted up (gingerly and carefully on my part!) and drove back to the park to do the same hike together after a breakfast by the sea. Even though I had done it once before, the hike was still incredible the second time around. Don't get me wrong, solo hiking has its perks, but its nice to share all the beauty with someone too!
    With a reluctant look back, Tracie and I packed our things up that night to head to the town of Wilderness, further on towards Cape Town. It was hard to leave such a picturesque and savage wilderness. For any fellow travelers in South Africa, don't miss Tsitsikama National Park. My writing and pictures don't do it the justice it deserves as some of the most beautiful coastline I have seen in the world!

Street art outside a coffee shop in Port Elizabeth.

Tracie trying to commune with the horses at our hostel.

Baboons fighting on the path ahead of me... Their sharp fangs and aggressive nature make them quite the pest in South Africa.

A doe and her fawn.

Looking out from a giant sea cave... I explored a bit but turned back once the bats that started swarming me got to be too much haha.

A gull nestled in the craggy rocks.

The waterfall at the end of the trail, where icy waters plummet into a dark pool before winding down to join the Indian Ocean.

The dark waters cut a perfect channel to the sea.

The spectacular and violent coast.

These furry little creatures followed me along the trek back.

A last look back at the waterfall trail.

The setting sun catches the sea mist, churned up against the jagged cliffs.

Bright blue waters rush to meet the cool brown sand under this footbridge.

This huge suspension bridge hangs over the mouth of Storms River.

The suns streaks through stormy clouds along the oceanfront

A fresh cup of coffee at the mouth of Storms River.

"Seriously bru, put down the camera so I can eat my boerwors!"

I persuaded Tracie to take the... ummm... interesting route, with me. She handled it like a champ!

Jagged, red tipped rocks reach out of the water.

Tracie thought it was funny that I took this picture, but hey, its not everyday a kid from the states sees signs like this!

Addo: Playing In The Land Of Elephants

Our welcome to Addo Park.

             After the sleepy seaside village of Morgan Bay, Tracie and I both decided to get out and see some of South Africa's incredible wildlife. We headed towards Cape Town, stopping for a few nights on the outskirts of the Addo Elephant reserve. After a beautiful night camping, we packed up some leftover braai'ed lamb and some fresh brewed coffee for a long day of game driving.
       So the concept of an African game reserve is basically to get a large swath of land, repopulate it with levels of animals that would have been natural, cut some roads across it, then let everything but the humans roam free. So, while it is a zoo in the sense that there is eventually a fence that you run into, its cool because the animals interact much as they would in the wild since there is little to no human interference. People are only allowed out of their cars at the game lodges and certain designated overlook points.
       From the outset, Tracie and I saw ostriches and warthogs, zebras and an incredible array of birds. We stopped on a hill to get a better look of the reserve while we ate our carnivore's breakfast, while duly noting a warning of a lioness in the area. We spotted a large herd of elephants slowly moving across the plains towards a spot in the road. Tracie and I hopped back in our car and managed to get there just as they were crossing. It was incredible. A herd of elephants with young calves were walking around our car as we sat there in amazement. It was like something out of Jurassic Park as these massive beasts towered over our little (but venerable) Hyundai Getz.
        After a few hours, we grabbed lunch at a lodge and I dropped Tracie off at the camp site to work. I hopped back in the car and went for another drive across the park, hoping to catch more of the incredible wildlife popping out around every bend in the road. By the time the park closed at sunset, I was exhausted. I went to head back around the park (since I had come out the other side) to head to our campsite. That was when I discovered that the only bridge across the river to our little town was out, prompting me to drive nearly 30 miles out of my way, through several sketchy townships (like South African slums) and some really desolate areas to get back. I was the only white guy for miles, which can be pretty bad when you are alone driving a car in the middle of nowhere.  I finally arrived back just as Tracie was setting out to look for me, assuming that I had tried to hug a lion or some such nonsense as tourists occasionally pull. We both laughed as I told her my wild nighttime journey home.
       We decided to head out in the morning, with so much of South Africa to see, and such a small amount of time to see it in. Addo was a beautiful introduction to African game reserves, and I had a magnificent time. But now we were off to Tsitsikama and Storms River!

A warthog stands in the path, scouting the way for its friends to follow.

These beautiful fowls are running around everywhere.

A zebra catches sight of me through the brush.

A golden weasel pops his head up.

A family of elephants make their way across the plains.

A herd of elephants just crossing the road by our cars.

A zebra grazes on the distant hill, heatwaves breaking up his form.

A zebra stops for a drink in the hot mid-day sun.

An elephant charges a herd of zebras that was crowding his herd at the waterhole.

An old bull elephant stands his ground, making sure we all know who's boss.

Mud covers the tusks of a bull elephant.

Because thats why they put the sign up, right?

Nothing a little, "Blue Steel" can't protect us from!

Down at the watering hole.

A well protected dung beetle making his way down the road.

The red lattice of a giant termite mound.

A herd grazes on the hills, not far from the coast.

You can almost hear songs from the Lion King playing here.

That car was backing up to make room before getting stomped to little Ford bits.

A bull elephant marches towards the forest as the sun drops low in the sky, dunes and ocean in the background.

A beautiful sunsets plays through the waving grasses.