RSA - Part IX

 

The drive down from Lalibela took a couple of hours followed by a quick left turn off the main North-South highway (N2) into the bay, this delivered us to our next destination for a couple of days. Plettenberg Bay is a small community built up around a long beach and steep escarpment as you can see (above) the houses are stacked up the hill! The views from some of these pads is stunning, a sprawling vista of beach, azure ocean and forested mountains, not too shabby!

The main beach is to die for, light coloured soft sand lapped by the warm Indian Ocean, you have to have your wits about you though as the water contains quite a few populations of man-eating sharks, there are signs everywhere and there's a permanent lookout on the peninsula above the beach. The best view however is from a rocky promontory called the "Robberg Peninsula" somewhere we'd get to know intimately during our stay at "Plett"! 

I snapped a picture from the top of the Robberg looking back along the Plett beach (see below)

Our hotel was very modern, luxurious and in a great location overlooking the far end of the beach (as you look at the picture above) The only negative I'd say was that each room, although swanky, had a clear glass shower cubicle in the actual bedroom itself (i.e. not in a separate room) I'm not sure which design genius thought this would be "cool" but for those of us who like a little privacy while washing our junk it was a little odd, anyway we found it amusing and enjoyed the relaxed vibe of the hotel, bar and restaurant, I think the staff here were the friendliest we encountered on the whole trip, unlike the common myth here in the UK, such nice people! The hotel had a lovely open veranda overlooking the beach below, just the spot for a G&T before dinner as the warm ocean breeze wafted across our sunburn..

The next day we awoke to bright sunshine and 30 degree temperatures, like mad dogs we decided it would be a good idea to have a hike along the Robberg, so off we went. What we hadn't realised is that the "hike" was more like a scramble up and down cliffs with 500m drop-offs! Whilst normally we're quite happy to walk miles, even up and down hills, this was a different order of difficulty, made more tricky by the stifling heat. Still, being English we kept calm and carried on, successfully navigating the 5km loop in around two hours, the scenery was spectacular and it was a real joy to look down on Cape Fur Seals frolicking in the surf hundreds of feet below! 

Here are a few pictures to sum up what it was like..

Secluded beaches, shear cliffs, sandy walkways and native South African fauna, and yes that's me in the cream coloured cap, surveying the wreck of a ship on the beach below (there are lots of ship wrecks around the Cape) in 1967 a Greek ship, the Athina, ran aground on the Robberg corner and couldn't free herself from the clutches of  the currents and swell around the peninsula, the ship was lost but the crew managed to scramble to safety, today the wreck is a popular dive site and a marine haven for all kinds of critters, you can still see the shadow of the wreck from where I'm standing in this picture! After our heady walk in the sun we retired to our hotel to immerse ourselves in after-sun, phew that was hard work! Anyway, we survived and had a nice meal in a restaurant just outside of town. 

The next day we decided to take a more leisurely approach, it was raining a little so we decided to visit a Monkey and Bird sanctuary just up the coast a little, so off to "Monkey World" we went..

The first thing we saw wasn't a monkey at all but a Ring Tailed Lemur (or "King Julien" as the kids called it), as we moved a little more into the forest some of the monkeys became apparent, in this case a little Capuchin (see below)

After getting our fill of Primates we walked next door to the bird sanctuary, even the drizzle couldn't dampen the amazing colours that some of the birds there showed off, here's a small sample of some of the Aves we spotted..

The next morning was our last and so we checked out and decided to take a walk along the beach before setting off, it was lush, sunny and warm with the waves crashing on the shore. The beach itself was quite interesting too, lot's of little white crabs scuttling into holes as you approached and quite a few little beached jellyfish (which we steered clear of!) Anyway, a great place, a great beach and some fond memories, although I didn't rate the surf rescue much!

Onwards and upwards (literally), our next destination was a place called Oudtshoorn a large town inland from the coast and a good three hour drive from Plett, we stocked up with water and provisions and set off for Ostrich central, more in the next part of the series!

Friday Smirk

The lads pointing out the rather glaring problem that most of our religious brothers and sisters have in that they can easily see the logic flaws in everyone else's religions, but when they focus their gaze back on their own (talking snakes and winged horses et al) there seems to be a pane of frosted glass in the way..

RSA - Part VIII

 

Our next stop took us roughly 100km North from Addo to another game reserve but this one wasn't a public National Park like Addo it was a private reserve called "Lalibela". It wasn't as big as Addo but was still pretty large at 26,000 acres (about the footprint of Bristol), most of the animals that we saw at Addo were here as well but there were much fewer people (around 100) and it felt more wild. We arrived around one in the afternoon ready for a game drive at 3pm and after being shown to our lodge and unpacking we mingled with our co-guests until we were called to our vehicles! Unfortunately it was raining, however this doesn't stop anything (the animals don't care) and so we all donned rain smocks and mounted our open 4X4 Toyota Land Cruiser to spend 4 hours driving around to see what we could see.

After about an hour we came across a pair of Lions, male (below) and female (above), they looked a little miserable in the misty rain but we stuck with it, the animals were really close (around 10 meters) which seemed a little scary at first but apparently they can't distinguish individuals in a vehicle, they just see a large object (too large to be interested in, prey wise) If you were to stand up though it many be a different story, anyone who needed the loo at this point clenched even harder.. Just as we were leaving we noticed another female lion hiding in the bush  that you can see in the foreground of the photo above, amazing camouflage, no one noticed (not even our guide who had x-ray vision for animals!) 

We saw quite a few things that afternoon, zebra, buffalo, various antelope and a Rhino family but to be honest we were all quite happy to get back to the lodge for a hot shower, change of clothes and a warm drink! (I guess it rains down in Africa, as the song goes)

The next morning we had a rude awakening, up at 5am for a 5:30am drive! As we drove off from the lodge the sun was just coming up (see picture at the top of this post) and our bleary eyes were only alleviated by the excitement for the morning and what we might see!

First up we saw half a dozen Giraffes, amazing animals, they all have such different patterns on their skin! Everyone in the group was thrilled to see them up close, the shock of waking up so early had almost completely worn off by now as we moved slowly among the Giraffe family. These huge animals look so improbable, but actually move elegantly and swiftly! Apparently (as our ranger informed us) they only live to about 25 years of age as their hearts give out after having to pump blood all the way up and down that enormous neck! Then, like most things they become Lion or Hyena food...

Excitement and anticipation in the back of the vehicle leapt as a distant voice crackled over the ranger's walkie-talkie, "we have Cheetah"... 

We left the Giraffes to munch on Acacia thorns (their favourite food apparently) and headed up to a high plane above the valley. Resting up here were a pair of Cheetah (brothers) apparently just lazing around in the early morning sun they looked magnificent, such elegant beasts and perfectly hidden in the tall grass on the hill. Soon another crackly message on the radio, "Bull Elephant spotted, west of your location", our guide fired up the motor and off we went across country to see.

After a 10 minute drive across bumpy grassland (like an aggressive massage in the back) we came across this fella, he had a good look at us but lost interest pretty quickly and wandered off, by the way if you're wondering what the white orbs are in the background of this photo, they are termite hills! At this point we were far enough away from our lodge to warrant heading back for lunch and after another 30 minutes of back pummeling we arrived back to a sumptuous spread and some cold drinks. There was much chatter in the group about what we had seen (and not), pretty quickly it became clear that a wish-list was evolving, our guide was going to get some special requests for that afternoon!

That afternoon we headed off down a single track at the bottom of a steep valley, after 10 minutes we stopped as there were Elephants coming in the other direction! At first we thought there were only a couple (see above) but it soon became clear that there was a whole herd headed our way, at least 40 animals, our guide quickly reversed and backed into a small clearing by the side of the track, we waited with much anticipation as the elephants came closer and closer, as we sat there watching the herd pass I noticed some babies mixed in with the adults, so cute, I managed to get a shot before they wandered past us (see below)

After our elephant encounter the whole group was buzzing with excitement, we headed off up to the high ground above the valley and stopped for drinks. It was a little weird getting out of the jeep, nervously scanning the surroundings for lions or leopards etc. Fortunately our guide knew the place like the back of his hand and quickly put us at ease, serving up helpings of coffee, beer or wine according to our preference, very civilized!

After drinks we headed back to the lodge and were treated to a stunning sun set (see below) once back and after a quick shower and change we headed to the dinning room where a lovely spread had been laid out, everyone was eager to eat and full of chat about what we had seen that day, I can see how people get addicted to safari!

Next morning we awoke with the lark, again, off into the sun rise and after 30 minutes or so the message came over the radio, "Cheetah kill, to your East", a mix of excitement and trepidation spread through the vehicle, we headed East back towards the lodge.

Our guide quickly homed in on the Cheetah family (how that guy managed to see these things from kilometers away was outrageous!) Anyway, we stopped near the group (see above) and observed them finishing off their morning kill, a baby antelope of some kind, everyone commented on the "circle of life" but it was a little gruesome in parts. After the Cheetah family breakfast we headed off toward a sighting of a pair of lions that had just killed another baby antelope (it's amazing that any antelope manage to survive at all!) I'll spare you the video that I took, especially the part where the Lioness crunches down on the skull of Bambi (the sound of that will stay with me!) but here's a still shot (below) of the scene we observed..

It was amusing to see most of the Women in the vehicle with their hands over their eyes and most of the blokes leaning out of the side to get a closer view! Nature certainly is "red in tooth and claw", the worst part of it was that the mother of the deceased baby antelope was standing nearby, just looking on wistfully, there goes 9 months of investment, ah well, such is life on the savannah! Later on we saw (up close) a couple of Cape Buffalo (see below), these beasties are just about 2 tons of pure muscle, extremely bad tempered and about the only thing that Lions won't tackle! It was our last sighting before heading back to the lodge and checking out, a wonderful couple of days, we saw some amazing sights and made some good friends, we vowed that we would return to Africa soon!

Lalibela was great, we enjoyed it very much and I haven't mentioned half of the animals we saw which included, Hippos, Jackals, Zebra, Pumba's, Ostrich, antelopes etc.. Our next destination was a little different, we were off to spend a couple of days coming down from the excitement of the safari and relaxing by the beach at a place called "Plattenberg Bay" read all about it in the next episode.

Midweek Mirth

It's only a matter of time...

Progress

When we put our minds to it Humans can achieve quite a lot in 30 years! It's shame some of our number never grow up and learn stuff, and then vote greedy orange clowns into power.

A Wrong Un

Haha, about right..

Springtime in England

As Blur once said in 1993, modern life is rubbish..

RSA - Part VII

 

The next stop on our journey was the Addo Elephant National Park, it's essentially an area the size of Surrey with a fence around it and is home to around 700 elephants and all manner of other animals including, lions, leopards, rhinos, buffaloes, zebras, various antelope, hyenas, jackals, caracals and warthogs (plus a ton of birds and reptiles of course!)

We were staying just outside the park and our hotel provided a 4x4 vehicle and guide with which to tour around finding and spotting animals. We set out early in the morning and one of the first things we saw was this little fella (above) standing in a bush! Apparently Meerkats like to stand guard using elevated lookout posts to see further, I guess this little guy was "head of security" for the clan for that day.. 

Next we came across this pair (above) making their way down to a watering hole, such majestic creatures and the young ones were super cute! Once we reached the water hole in our Land Rover we saw a whole troop relaxing there, a magnificent sight, elephants of all ages just chilling out under the blue sky (see below)

Whilst watching the elephants a family of warthogs passed through, a mother and three babies, of course these animals are now officially known as "Pumba's" (see below)

There were of course loads of other animals running around, too many to post, but here's a little collage of a few of the beasties we were lucky enough to see.

Unfortunately we didn't see any big cats at Addo, apparently they are quite difficult to spot, however the next stop on our journey ticked that particular box, after Addo we were off to a private game reserve about 100km away called Lalibela, the big five were calling and we had a taste for it now. Read more in the next installment.