Kitty and The Germ

Addo Elephant National Park

Posted by Catherine on December 10th, 2009

We drive to Addo Elephant Park. Marc has been there before. It is a drive yourself sort of safari. We were handed a map of the park, but on the other side of the map, it has pictures, names and check boxes of the wild life they have there–everything from dung beetles to elephants.

Welcome To Addo!

What A Great Day

Lots To See

On entry we see a herd of elephants, having a drink. It is from a viewing station and everyone standing around, snapping their cameras as quickly as their shutters with allow. We climb back in the car and start to creep around the different paths. We see everything small–from various birds to mongoose. Wart hogs are everywhere. Zebras are everywhere. Where the hell are the elephants? We came for elephants. We want to see elephants!

Bird With Long Beak

Meerkat

Yellow Mongoose

Warthog

Ostrich On The Road

Our wildlife check boxes are quickly filling up, but still, no elephants. We are a little disheartened. We finally spot a small herd. Our view is a little obstructed, but we are happy as clams watching these wild, massive beasts roam and graze freely. It is a far cry from the other elephants we have seen so far. Don’t even get me started about India. India wins the award for officially being the worst country in regard to their treatment of elephants. They still use them for logging?

First Elephant Sighting

Turn Around, Please

Some cars stop, have a look, but are quick to drive on. Marc and I don’t move. We are in awe. We wait. We watch. Finally we decide to keep exploring the park and low and behold, a lone elephant comes out from the bush. We stop the car and can’t believe it. The elephant walks up the road, right toward us, gives up an unimpressed glance as he goes to meet up with his friends that we had just been admiring. A few meters in, this beast could no longer be seen. We were shocked–not to mention thrilled. Another one of my life’s great moments.

Here Comes Big Guy

Minding His Own Business

Checking Us Out

Hello Mister

Off He Goes

We continued driving and saw a group of cars stopped. We knew there was something good. What? How about a family of elephants having a drink and a bath at the waterhole. There is a baby. It is so fantastic. I am giddy. Once they have finished getting their drink on, they turn around, cross the road and head back into the plains. All but one young elephant. Surprise, surprise, the teenager didn’t go with them. He is officially not done.

Family At Water Hole

Baby Elephant…

Baby Elephant...

…Leaving With Her Mom

...Leaving With Her Mom

The group of cars dispersed, but we were still basking in the afterglow and next thing we knew, another family, with another baby came out of the bush, into the clearing, to have a drink. The new mama kicked out the teenager (who rejoined his family) and proceeded to drink and bathe freely at the watering hole.

Here Comes The Next Family

Teenager Pushed Aside By Next Group

Elephants Go First

I don’t think happy begins to describe it.

Female Kudu

Male Kudu

More Kudus In The Wild

Black-backed Jackel

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Wilderness

Posted by Catherine on December 8th, 2009

We spent the night at the beach in Wilderness. Crappy hotel. We ate at a fancy looking place but the food wasn’t that good. Our beach walk was the only positive here. Thank god we left the next morning.

Sunset At Wilderness Beach

Models

Rainbow

Flowers

Some people have lost their minds. I knew we were going to the world’s highest bungee jump (if you pay extra you can zip-line to the jump area under a bridge) but we had already discussed it. It took us a long time to find each other, we weren’t about to risk everything by jumping off a bridge. We were however fascinated by others who loved the thrill and we watched in disbelief.

You Can See The Ocean From Here

Get Ready

Highest Bunjee Jump In The World

Pure Adernaline

Jump!

No Fear

Next we went to a national park to see and cross the suspension bridge that goes over Storm River. That was thrilling enough for us.

Waterfall At Storm River

Dassie

Suspension Bridge

Kitty

Storm River

Three Part Bridge

Woohoo

Storm River National Park

Rough Ocean

Beautiful

Garden Route

We ended the day in Port Elizabeth where we stayed at a tiny hotel that Marc didn’t want to leave. He wanted to move in–for good. We can’t recommend Manor 38 guest house highly enough. The people who were running it were so kind, so gracious, so hospitable, and the hotel was formidable. The food was amazing and when we told the hotel it was our honeymoon, she gave us a bottle of wine.

We asked for a dinner recommendation and were immediately told that Ginger is the place to go to. We were given a card and it had a picture of a martini glass, a pink drink and a slice of lime. Marc immediately said–your favourite. The lady said–ah, strawberry daiquiri and I didn’t correct her. When we got to Ginger (which was packed) and seated at our table, two strawberry daiquiris arrived at our table. ‘Compliments of your hotel…’ I have never been treated so well at any hotel before.

We finally got our final parcel sent home. Note that South Africa doesn’t have any packaging stuff at their postal outlets. We had a lot of things to send home. We went to Pick’n'Pay (really popular chain of grocery stores throughout SA), got a box from the loading dock, bought a box cutter and packaging tape from a hardware store and sent home a box with 10.5 kilos surface. Another 2.5 air mail parcel. We have really no idea what we have purchased the past few months. It will be a surprise when we unpack our loot.

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Oudtshoorn

Posted by Catherine on December 7th, 2009

It is hot. Sweltering hot. We have lost the off shore breeze and are more inland.

Garden At Our Hotel

Vacation South African Style

After we check into our small hotel, I am chomping at the bit to go to Cango Wildlife Park. We wonder if we are too late. Nope. I head directly to the cheetah enclosure. They let me in. There are two cheetahs. Their names are Josh and Jordan. They are sleek. Built for speed, not for strength. Their coats are exquisite. I am fearless, petting them, realizing that they had to stay where they were–they were far too big to fit in my bag.

Entrance To Cango Wildlife Resort

Getting Ready For Cheetah Encounter

Approach Slowly

Happy Petting

Big Cats

Kitty, Josh & Jordan

Purrrr

Thirsty

A cheetah can get up 120-140 km/h and can get up to 70 km/h in 2 seconds. Marc pointed out that even the fastest cars have a hard time doing that.

The park is closing. I start to panic. My animal loving self is far from done, despite seeing white tigers, lions, and petting the cheetahs, I don’t want to go.

Cheetah

White Lion

White Tigers

Shhhh, Don’t Wake Them

Shhhh, Don't Wake Them

Tiger Love

Even when I went in to love up Josh and Jordan, the guy kept saying ‘ok’, to get me to exit the cheetah enclosure. Really? You need to be more direct than that. I need to hear–lady, move your ass–to get me out of there. It is time to get out now. Repeating ‘ok’ let me know, he wanted me to go, but sorry, i am petting CHEETAHS. Be direct or else I’ll never leave. Finally he kicked me out.

The guy who let me in the cage told us that if we keep our tickets, we will be let in for free tomorrow. Marc had already promised me that we could come back. I am too happy here. I want to work here.

Birds

How Old Might This Turtle Be?

We go out for an ostrich dinner. We have a really nice bottle of wine, then another one and I feel the need to start IM-ing which is the equivalent of drunk dialling and leaving a trashed message. Kristi got the best message. I forgot who I was IM-ing mid way and thought I was messaging Lisa–my father’s receptionist who BTW changed her online moniker and I sent her a message thinking it was Kelly. Kristi’s IM-ing was full of typos and a request to show a cheetah picture to my father. Kristi wanted to know how wasted I was when I wrote this. I didn’t think THAT wasted…

The next morning we are gutted. It starts raining hard. Oh no. We shuffle our plans for the day and go to famous Oudtshoorn caves. The caves are lime stone caves that are really fantastic. We get pretty far in and our guide tells us that they used to have concerts there but had to stop as people were breaking off parts of the formations to take home as decorations and souvenirs. He wants to who will sing. It was silent for a second. Finally I raise my hand and simply say–I’ll do it. Marc has no idea what song I have up my sleeve. It was so obvious. I break out and sing with gusto a rendition of O’Canada which my countrymen would be proud of. Of course I sing the entire anthem and finish to a loud round of applause.

Cango Caves

Discover The Caves With This?

"Honeymoon Suite"

Cave Entrance

Great Formations

Centuries Old

About 800,000 Years Old

After the cave tour (we didn’t do the adventure tour because you had to crawl on your belly for large portions and there actual replicas of the various tiny openings which made me quickly think of Pooh Bear in the rabbit hole). We went back to the animal park. This time we take a guided tour and all I want to do it go to the nursery and get my hands on a baby cheetah.

Birds

Tiny

Vultures

Flamingos

More Wildlife

Python

Kangaroos

There are a bunch of baby cheetahs who are smaller than one of my parents cats–Bear. They are adorable, but everyone on tour thinks so and there is a queue.

To manage our time effectively we go to the newly open crocodile feature. Marc changes into a swim suit and gets in a cage. The cage is on a mechanical hoist and they lower him down into the crocodile infested water. I have zero interest in doing this and am the photographer. One of crocs takes a big snap at him. The female wants to eat him for lunch and begins to circle the cage. A different crocodile knows how to unlock the cage but thankfully can’t manage both locks at the same time. When he gets out, there is a camera crew, and next thing I know Marc is being interviewed for TV about the crocodile dive. Only Marc.

He’s Hungry

He's Hungry

Ready?

Croc Dive

Waiting For Some Food

Survived!

Interview

We go back to see the baby cheetahs and everyone is gone. They are beyond delicious. We have the same guy from the day before let us in. I go first. You have to approach the babies slowly. Any sudden movement startles them and they hiss–just like a regular cat. There are seven of them. I am loving them up, kissing them, plotting on how I am going to get one out of the park without being caught. Marc joins me and we are both going absolutely crazy over their cuteness. Marc has a turn and they start saying ‘ok’ again. I had already explained to Marc that ‘ok’ means you’re done, but ignore it until they say ‘get out’. We used that method again. They eventually said get out.

Cheetah Club

Climbing All Over Me

Seven Cubs

Happy Family

So Cute

Take Me Home

Kiss

Can We Keep Him?

The plan was to go to an ostrich farm. Oudtshoorn is famous for their ostriches. Eat them? Done. Ride them? On the list. Sadly (perhaps fortunately) the farm got rained out. Maybe it was a good thing. Ostrich riding–an animal who runs on two legs might have spelt trouble. At least it is giving us a solid reason to go back…

Ostrich Farmland

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Agulhas

Posted by Catherine on December 5th, 2009

Driving along the garden route–Marc is afraid we will never get to Agulhas because I keep insisting that we stop for a photo. The drive is one of the most stunning I have ever seen. It is gorgeous, breathtaking, rugged, and beautiful.

Drive To Agulhas

Beauty

On our way out of town we pass the townships. They are the slums. Entire villages made up of shanty, metal shacks.

Driving By The Townships

We go to Monkey Town and I almost cry when I find out that the monkey encounter doesn’t start until next week. I want to carry a monkey around like a baby. We still tour the place anyhow and they have so many species of monkeys.

Checking Us Out

Enjoying His Hammock

Cute

He Was Swearing All Day

Chimpanzee

Monkey Time

He Wasn’t In The Mood

He Wasn't In The Mood

Watching

Papagei

We decide to continue on the scenic route and I am waiting for more photo opportunities. We travel on a beautiful high way (and say how unlike India there are no cars coming at you; similar to India there are people walking on the high way) The road suddenly becomes a dirt road. We are jostled and Marc, my little compass, is sure that we are going in the right direction, but doesn’t remember this dirt road from when he was here last.

Looking Back

Kitty And The Germ

End Of The Road?

No, Just A Dirt Road

Sheeps

Back On Paved Road

Finally we make it to Agulhas.

Welcome

L’Agulhas Coast

L'Agulhas Coast

This town is famous for a few things. First and foremost, it is the Southern most point of Africa. The Indian Ocean and the Atlantic meet there. We took a few pictures of the sign. Secondly it is the light house.