SWIMMING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS

Come on in...the water's fine! Or not. A shark lunges out of the water during our snorkel trip.

A visit to South Africa simply isn't complete without a relaxing swim in the swirling waters of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Or so we were told.  

Not ones to miss an opportunity for some quality beach time, we headed two hours southeast of Cape Town to Van Dyks Bay, home to long stretches of deserted shoreline...and a cove famous around the world for offering visitors the chance to get up close and personal with massive, hungry great white sharks.

Yes, that's great white sharks, the ones made famous by Jaws, "Shark Week," and overblown newscasts from around the planet that make these apex predators out to be much more dangerous to humans than they really are. Of course, when you're underwater in a cage and a 15-foot long, 2,000-lb. killing machine passes less than an arm's length in front of you, you'd be forgiven for accidentally warming your wetsuit from the inside. Not that either of us did that. No, really, we didn't. Photos below. 

  

"Fishing" for sharks only a few feet from a metal cage filled with snorkelers. Though the sharks are not actually fed, trips like these remain controversial for their impact on shark behavior. Click here for a news story on the practice of shark diving. 

Kip experiences a close encounter with a great white shark swimming just beyond the bars of the cage. 

It was a good day not to be a neoprene seal.

When one of the sharks latched onto the fake seal used to attract them, a tooth lodged in the seal's back. The captain presented the jagged incisor to Liz, who was extremely excited about her new souvenir. 

WARNING: HIGH BRIDGE AHEAD

Like something straight out of an Indiana Jones movie the narrow, wobbly suspension bridges on the trail to Everest Base Camp are about as scary as the flight to get here was. 

Instead of facing angry villagers, like Indy did, we have to dodge belligerent yaks and overburdened Sherpas carrying massive loads that look far too heavy for the swaying wood, rope and wire span we share above icy waters rushing far below.

Only 100 or so miles and lots more bridges to go.

WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS FLIGHT

The 15,000-foot view from our flight to Lukla, Nepal, home of the world's most dangerous airport.

If you want to trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, chances are you'll be flying into Lukla's Tenzing-Hilary Airport. Deemed "the most dangerous airport in the world" the airport sits at nearly 10,000 feet, features a single runway less than 1,500 feet long (most commercial runways are more than 5,000 feet) and is built on a 12 percent slope that on one end collides with solid rock and the other falls off steeply into a deep valley. 

It's not exactly leisure travel, but considering the alternative was taking a rickety bus for 10 hours along dangerous mountain curves, followed by four days of hiking uphill, we decided to take our chances. 

A twin-prop plane preps for the downhill take-off from Lukla's airport at 9,100 feet.

However, before we could defy death by landing at the airport, we first had to survive an hour-long, knuckle-whitening flight from Kathmandu to get here. This is the same flight that crashed in late September this year, killing all on board.

Nervous would be an understatement. 

From our seats in the well-used, twin-prop plane, we did see some stunning views of Mt. Everest. Yet we also got unwanted pilot's-eye views through the cockpit, where the captain and co-pilot wove skillfully between swirling storm clouds, dodged soaring vultures, and let the wings skim dangerously close to the peaks of some of the world's highest mountains.

On our flight, one person cried, two passengers hurled, and three on-board screamed out loud when we hit turbulence on our approach to Lukla. We'll let you guess which of us was included in the aforementioned stats.

Upon landing (and kissing the asphalt runway much too intimately), we grabbed our heavy backpacks and headed quickly up the dirt and stone trail into Lukla. In addition to the flight, we had been awake since 5 am, and we had six hours of uphill hiking ahead. We needed a drink.

Our celebratory coffee on making it to Lukla alive and kicking-off the long trek to Base Camp.
Thanks for the drink, readers!

Considering we hadn't yet had breakfast, we opted for two strong Everest coffees and some fresh apple strudel from a nearby bakery (thanks for the contributions, readers Todd and Tori P, Alison J, Ben P, and Lindsay N!)

With our caffeine fix and some time to calm our nerves, we headed up the trail, starting a 12-day return trek to Everest Base Camp. Seeing as Kip refused to buy a map or hire a guide or porter, we'll need all the luck we can get. 

The son of the bakery owner gives us the thumbs up as we hit the trail to Everest Base Camp.