play - Curious Karibella

2022-09-212022-09-22

Bokaap Cooking Experience

Today we did a cooking experience! The lady who hosted us had lived in her house her whole life and so did her parents, grandparents and great grandparents! There was two other people doing the experience with us. Their names were Libby and Matt. We started with introductions and our host talked about herself. Then we started cooking. The first thing we did was fill the samosas. There were gluten filled and gluten free! I was tasked with frying the samosas in oil and it was very fun. While I was frying them, the others started making the curry and rice. The rice was made with cardamom and other spices to give it flavor. The process of making the curry was ridiculously simple and fast. We put the spices in then the coconut cream ingredients in then it was done! By done, I mean ready to be put on the stove to be cooked. When it was time to sit down and eat I was very hungry. The samosas were the best! The chicken curry was a little spicy for me and the rice was super good! While we were eating our host and her helpers made us a traditional dessert of Ribose tea, sweet potato, and a ball with dates in it. I liked the tea and sweet potato but I don’t love dates.

The Experience overall was amazing! Being able to learn from someone who loves cooking and has done it for many years is very special. I really enjoyed myself and I would highly recommend doing a cooking experience with anyone!

2022-09-202022-09-22

South African Penguins

The Scenery and the Drive

The scenery was amazing! The drive to the penguins was along the coast and through towns. We learned about the history of each town. At one point there was a tunnel that had one side open. I really enjoyed the drive and one thing I learned was, there was 14 mountains that were called the 11 apostles. If you are into awsome landscape photos I would highly recommend this drive!

Puppy the Seal

Puppy, in my opinion, is a funny name for a seal. It makes me think of a cute fat animal, wich is what Puppy is. When we saw him he was being hand fed by a man and he seemed to know what to do. We were told that he came up on the docks to get snacks and that he was very friendly. The friendly part might not be true. He was more exited about the food then anything. I think he did not mind us touching him and maybe he liked it but he was super exited about the food. While we were with Puppy I bought a really cute elephant satchel! We then moved on so we could see the penguins.

The Penguins

The penguins were awesome! We had to climb over some rocks witch was super fun. Then we had to wade through freezing water to get to the penguins. When I got to the place where the penguins were I saw what looked like a dead shark! I asked our guide and he confirmed it was a dead shark; and just to clarify, the shark was a baby so only a foot and a half long. The penguins were sitting on a rock and they would waddle into the water. I was surprised at how fast they could move under water. They were little bullets! We went to a second place with penguins but it had lots of people in it and it was less special.

2022-09-202023-10-01

Table Mountain South Africa

We went up Table Mountain in a Cable car! I could not say we climbed it because we did not. It is a must do if you visit Cape Town because the views are awesome. We had to get a uber to take us up to the tram. After that it was all waiting. We had to get tickets and then go up an elevator to get to the tram. The floor of the tram rotated as we went up the cliff. I found this a little un-fair because you chose the spot you wanted only to go round in circles. The ride up was pretty scary and I was relieved to finally be on solid ground. We did a small walk around the top and there was a small sign that was very interesting to me. It had a map of table mountain and the city below. Around the rim there were arrows pointing North, South, East, and West. I found one pointing to New York, Washington state, Paris, Oslo and many more! I enjoyed looking at it but I had to go for a family photo. We took photos of everyone and me and Bardez climbed over the fun rocks. When it was near sunset we were contemplating weather not not to stay for sunset when we heard a message: “ To our guests at Table Mountain the last cable car will leave at 7:00pm exactly”. They were saying if you did not get on this cable car, you would have to hike down. In the dark! This was outrageous! How could they say they were going to leave you on the mountain if there were too many people! We were saying well we can stay a little longer but a wave of people were surging to the cable car. We decided going down was better than being left behind so we got on the tram.

The ride down was way less scary than I thought. I had been very nervous about it but we arrived safely. The overall experience was very pleasant and positive. I would totally recommend it to anyone!

2022-09-142022-09-16

Staying at the Zanzibar Pearl Hotel

Staying at the Zanzibar Pearl was super fun! They greeted us with fresh juice and hand towels to clean our hands when we got there. The Hotel was very nice, and the rooms were beautiful. On each bed, there were flowers and two straw hats. We did not get to take the straw hats home, but we did get to use them on the beach. The beach was super beautiful, and the sand was super fine and soft. There was a lot of seaweed on the beach from the tide, and there was also some garbage, but it did not bother us. It seemed like low tide lasted all day, and high tide only came around 4:00 pm. High tide was the only time we could play in the waves because at low tide, there are not even waves, and the water was down to the reef. When it is high tide, the waves are really fun to play in, and it is entertaining to get washed up on the beach.

Our Days of Play in the Indian Ocean

The communication between guests and staff at the hotel was challenging. One of the ladies at the restaurant named Gift was nice and friendly. One funny problem was that most mornings we asked for a plate of mangos and pineapple and they would say that they did not have those things. I would say, “that’s funny because I had those yesterday” then they would bring them.

Scuba Diving at Mnemba Island

On one of the days, we went Scuba diving at Mnemba Island. You do not actually go onto the island but rather above the reef that surrounds it. The water was pretty cold for me. I am always nervous about dives but I think once I get under the surface I feel better on the reef. There was a lot of fantastic fish and colorful ones too. The two exciting things that we saw were an eel and a turtle! The turtle was super giant and majestic looking its eyes were brown and big and it was super cute. We did two dives and the second one was the better one. I had a terrible start because my fins were rubbing my toes then I had to go to the surface to fix my goggles then when we went back down I was much more confident and happy.

Boarding the board to Mnemba Island

Hotel Review of the Zanzibar Pearl Boutique Hotel

The Zanzibar Pearl was an excellent hotel and provided a relatively good experience the people were friendly, and the food was good, and the venue was beautiful. One thing I would say is if you can not sleep on a hard matters, the mattress at this hotel are incredibly hard. The hotel has things it could work on and things to improve on, but I would still recommend it with five stars.