eNZees Blog

Always be ready for an impromptu adventure: Table Mountain, Cape Town

by Lauren Gross | August 04, 2014 | 0 Comments

Hello all. Welcome to my first post! I am the Travel Contributor for the eNZees™ blog.

I currently live abroad and I spend a lot of time outdoors exploring the local environments I’m a guest of during my travels. I am looking forward to sharing my tips and stories, so everyone can be prepared for their next journey!

In college, I studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. After a lengthy 16-hour flight, we were greeted by our Resident Assistants (RAs) who invites us to join them for a hike up Table Mountain, a prominent landmark of the Cape Town skyline. Our new RAs eagerly endorsed the hike as a short and easy hour-long walk with a great view of the city. So, as a bunch of “over-eager study-abroad students”, we all readily accepted this first challenge. Little did we know, we were about to learn about “African Time”…

Straight off the plane, new to the summer heat of Southern Africa, and with little water on-hand, we began up the mountain. About an hour in and barely off the ground, we all realized the mistake we had made. We became dehydrated, hungry and physically exhausted.

While I am glad I went on the hike, I learned some valuable lessons on that first day of my study abroad experience:
 Understand that different cultures have different customs.  While American culture is generally seen as punctual, the perceived cultural tendency in other cultures may be a more relaxed attitude of time.

 

Always be prepared when participating in hiking, physical and outdoor activity. It is important to get in the practice of bringing appropriate supplies like water, sunscreen, the right clothing, your cell phone, snacks and good footwear. eNZees™ would have been a perfect item to throw in my backpack and would have saved mine and my friends blistered feet!!!

Although it may feel great to push yourself and go “beyond the limit”, always make sure you understand the details of the adventure and the risks involved.

Thankfully, I not only survived the Table Mountain hike that day, but it also prepared me well for my next six months studying abroad.

Until my next adventure,

 

Tagged: eNZees, Hiking, Recommendation

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