12 July Thursday start of 5 day tour   

 

Uplifted in a mini bus thought we would be transferred to a larger bus but lo and behold we were too stay in this for the whole trip, stopped and picked up Candice young coloured lady from Johannesburg but has a English school in Qatar great fun, she had been late to arrive as she had been out partying all night. A Malaysian lady named Whieme a English teacher from Taiwan seems the teachers all travel in there breaks as they get 4 weeks holiday, our guide Benjamin what a black man, what a fantastic guy just love him, another mine of information, he lived in the town where we went out to see the seals, Haut Bay. So we had a real mixed bag of races with us three whities.

 

 

You may wonder why we are using the terms Black, White and coloured but this is the way that they define the races here and maybe a legacy of apartheid or could be that there are so many different African tribes. It is interesting listening to the stories of the lives of the peoples of Africa, Benjamin is a truly wonderful chap our guide and driver, very astute with an energy and countenance that belies his 52 years of age. He has a remarkable life starting as an orphan at a very young age as a child he set out from the orphanage to seek a life in Johannesburg and met a white family who took him in and where he was able to educated himself. He was a self driven young man with a positive attitude and work ethic and got himself trained as a guide. Guides must be licensed and have to pass examinations periodically. He also has a hot air ballooning Pilots licence and did this before becoming a tour guide. He said “if you don’t have a history you can’t move forward”. His tribal history is the Limpopo and Mpumalanga from the northern part of SA near Johannesburg that and from Johannesburg he moved to Cape Town. One of the funny things he said was that on one tour he had some Israeli’s and some Palestine people as well as some women that did not get on together. He said this was the worst tour he had as it was for a lengthy time and is was almost war on the tour. He had these women squabbling and the Israeli’s and Palestinian’s abusing each other.  

 

On heading out of Cape Town we drove through a mountainous area with the baboons on the road for company.

 

 

We stopped for a soft drink at “Ronnies Sex shop” this was a laugh as the inside on walls and roof were hanging ladies underwear with stuff written on them. The whole place was covered and very weird. It’s hard to imagine this place as it is beside the road in a desolate area but I guess everyone has to stop to check it out and buy a drink like we did. 

 

     

Next was the Ostrich Farm, did not know how anyone could ever make giving info on these stupid birds entertaining but this guy sure did, people got to ride them but first they covered the birds eyes them pulled them around by the tail then those that got on held on for dear life while 2 men ran on either side to catch the person when they fell off, very entertaining, Wieme was the only one in our group to try it as you had to be below 70 kilos to ride,  they have huge farms of these animals and by the look of this town it is  a lucrative undertaking, they have a brain the size of a pea, we had ostrich meal for dinner that night, not to my taste very like venison quite dark red and strong, came home had a shower and crashed, long days but this country.

 

Wheime falling of the Ostrich.

 

 

 

 and the people are making up for the lack of sleep we have all heard of  the negative views about Africa  being unsafe and maybe it is in places but where isn’t if you go  to the wrong part of town, this is one of the most interesting places I have ever been and recommend it, once you get over your jet lag which is considerable because of the distance but it is all so worth while. We saw a group of baboons on the road a real thrill to see them in the wild.

 

Went to a animal sanctuary where they are rearing animals that have been hurt or on the extinction list, patted a cheater saw lions tigers a miniature hippo, limas crocs  eagles tortoises miniature pigs, and many others.

 

 

Friday 13th

 

We did 2 amazing things today, first went to the Cango Caves, the huge cave system is similar to the Waitmo caves but 100 times larger, the stalitites and stalagmites are huge and make lovely forms some of which they light up, they used to have concerts in the large chamber but as people were breaking the stalactites off and vandalism was so bad they stopped it which is a pity because the acoustics in there was amazing.

 

Karen and Candice got on like a house on fire.

 

 Left there to go to an elephant sanctuary all orphaned elephants with 2 young ones that were very entertaining fighting and chasing each other around just like kids do. We fed them and learned all about them, you could ride them but it cost a heap of money and it looked very uncomfortable, Karen had ridden them in Thailand anyway so we did not bother.

 

Benjamin took us to this classic car dealer who had heaps of classics for sale. This 1953 Chev in restored condition was being sold for about &7500 USD.

 

   

 

We went to a town called Knysna situated on the sea cliffs with wonderful views and found this girl making stuff out of drink cans and wire. We took her picture but could not buy so we gave her two USD and then Karen decided to give her more but in Rand so we suggested to her to give back the USD and we would give her the equivalent in rand but she did not want to give up the dollars so Karen gave her more anyway. This was interesting because we had given a few poor people on the streets of Cape Town that had helped us with directions USD and they did not want it but wanted rand.

 

 

From there we went to the Knysna Elephant park and feed elephants. Rhondda feed this baby one as well as others, but he was cute.

 

 

   

 

 

Sat 14th

 

Last night we stayed in another awesome spot with bush and gardens, the standard of accommodation is excellent with a beautiful view of the mountains and while admiring it a band of baboons came rampaging out of the forest into a field and heading our way so we had to warn the manager of the lodge so he could close the doors.

  

This morning we left early and got to Tsitikamma National Park had a stroll along a water front big waves crashing on the shoreline great for some but it is something we see often,  nice walk through the greenery to a couple of suspension bridges over the water. Did see 3 whales.

 

 

On the way to the  Addo Elephant Park we came across the boys with their donkeys and cart with fire wood they had collected. Very humbling to see.

 

 

We drove through the elephant park in the van and was surprised at how many animals we saw, one old man elephant that had been kicked out of the pack as he was to old. He was massive and it was a close encounter.

 

 

 

 

 

Wart hogs are rated one of the 5 ugliest animals but we loved this one he had so much attitude. 

 

 

 There were antelope of many species, lots of Zebra Wilder beast, lots of kudu ,; we stayed at a  home it was like a castle, an English man, Townsend, cousin of the infamous Townsend of the Princess Margaret scandal;  constructed   in the 1930 s, these present owners have lived-in it 32 years it looked like something out of a fairytale, very nice, set in large orange groves that they owned., stunning place set right on the river. They had lots of cabins with thatched roofs by the Sunday river that people stayed in, we were having breakfast and watched the baboons running around in the paddock next door.

 

 

Sunday 15th

 

A long drive to Garden Route Game Lodge, arrived at 3 o’clock.

 

 

 Safari car awaited us to take us through Tsitsikamma game park, it is a Ute with the driver enclosed and 9 people sitting on the rear in ready made seats, it was very cold so we ere given thick green ponchos with a hood and they were really warm and you needed them. Saw Lions, Giraffe Rhino several varieties of deer missed out seeing the cheater and hippo for some reason they were awol, went to the main lodge for a great feast then back to our chalet with a thatched roof, really cute and really nice inside but all these people must have super eyesight because you can not see anything in the light they have, trying to type you have to have a lamp right over the computer then it still is not easy, if that is all that is wrong it is pretty good I guess. Tomorrow we go on another game drive and hope to catch the animals we missed.

 

 

 

 

Monday 16th

 

Up early for another safari, at the lodge for tea then onto the wagon this time we saw the cheaters.

 

 

 It is neat as they are so often hidden and rarely see, looked again for the hippos but they were awol again and saw the giraffes up close.

 

 

which was a real thrill, back to the lodge pack our bags and on the road again, stopped at some penguins.

 

 

Stopped for lunch at Hermanus where saw whales then back in the van drive around the sea back to Cape Town. On the way we were stopped and checked twice by Traffic Police.

 

 

 

What a wonderful trip, the highlight for me was Benjamin our guide, to spend time with this guy and to get to know him and his history was a privilege.

 

While driving home he turned around to see why 8 little Mercats had been run over on the road, he was visibly upset by this. His account of the ghettos and how he had such an open mind about everything, he said the government was trying to make things better constructing new housing for the people but there is corruption, we got pulled up 2 times in a matter of a few miles for the traffic cops to check out his licences, said you could pay off the officers if you had something wrong but his documentation was fine, for others this was not always the case.

 

 Candice the coloured girl whose mother was Indian and father was African also was open about everything and we learned so much from her, she was such a fun person, their personalities so open and giving, if everyone here is like them in South Africa it is a country that will go places with people like them.

 

 

17 July today is catch up with emails in this fantastic hotel. Wow!