Dec 30, Friday

Left the hotel without having breakfast.  Today I’m driving along the Garden Route and this has to count as one of those 5-star days during my travels;  right up there with Isuzu Falls.   I was in search of breakfast when I spotted a nice little restaurant that also advertised Internet, in a little town called Wilderness.  Double whammy!   Got a message out to my immediate family to let them know I was OK, ate a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs with coffee made from freshly ground beans (another rarity, many restaurants serve Nescafé or other instant brands).   I had spotted an antique car lot nearby so went over to take some pictures to send to Bruno.

My plan was to stop in a town called Knysna, which is a MUST see town according to the guide books.   As I drove through the town and manoeuvred around the masses of tourists and cars, I was able to see that the only thing to do in the town was shop!   Not for me.  And trying to find a parking spot was going to be impossible by the looks of things, so I drove on.  

The next planned stop I was looking for my was the turn off that would take me to Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve.  The brochure indicated that you needed to book in advance, but I decided to drive in anyway and check it out.   About 10 km off the highway I turned off onto a dirt track leading into the reserve, passed a “game fence” where you had to push a button to get in, and push another button on the other side to close the gate behind you.  There wasn’t anyone at the gate, or at the house nearby, and no signs indicating in which direction to go.   I had driven a short distance along a dirt road, passed a grove of trees and was about to back out when I spotted a white vehicle in the distance.  Hoping that it was one of the game wardens I decided to drive on and try to catch up to it.   Best decision I ever made!  After going over a small hill, the vast expanse of the reserve lay ahead of me and wild animals were in the fields.  No fences !  Just me in my car and herds of animals!.  Now normally that would have been enough to scare me off, but I figured that if they were letting vehicles just drive in, the animals in this sector could not be too dangerous.  Right?   NOT QUITE !

  Huge antlers on this guy !

 Actually 2 colours of stripes on this type of zebra

I drove on in the diminishing dirt track, having lost sight of the white vehicle. I came to a cross road that finally had a sign (left to the Lodge, right to Reception) so I drove on to the reception area. The road ran along a high embankment on the left side, but wide open fields on the right. About one km later, the road opened up to a huge area and I could see the reception building off in the distance, plus the white vehicle I had seen earlier. I drove on toward the vehicle and stopped a short distance behind them. The reason they had stopped? 

There were Rhinos crossing the road. YES ! RHINOS ! ! ! 

Five of them lumbering along, all in a row, slowly making their way to a watering hole. AMAZING ! I hadn’t even started the game drive and already I had seen so many animals. And no fences between the animals and our vehicles. YIKES !  

  RHINOS ! ! !

After filming and taking pictures of the Rhinos, I drove on to the reception area. I enquired about the possibility of going on a game drive and was rewarded by an affirmative answer. Traveling solo does have its benefits; there is almost always room for 1 more.  I had a bit over 1 hour to wait but then would get to go on the 3 hour game drive.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.  I was so busy taking pictures and filming that I didn’t write down the names of some of the boks.  Hopefully an Internet search will fill in the blanks.

 The reception area with a Cape Buffalo skull & horns on the table

 The vehicle that would take us on our drive, with Alastair as our guide and chauffeur

  Close up look at the rhinos

 

      Mr. Macho !   Thankfully he had been fed that morning so we weren't too worried.  Did you notice we were in an OPEN vehicle !

  The lioness was sprawled on this branch and ignored us completely.

 Springbok

 Have to look up the name for these coffee coloured boks,  but I wouldn't mess with those horns !

  Zebras stood in the wind and did not move one inch.  We saw herds of them all over the property.

  Wildebeast !   The papa of these is an unusual tan colour, which explains why the babies are so light.  The tan coloured ones are worth a fortune.

  A regular black wildebeast

 More zebras.

 Check out the mane on these zebras.  Standing straight up.

 Eland

 Crocodile

 Cape buffalo

 These birds follow the big animals and eat the seeds from their poop !   Also lots of flies to feed on.

 

 Impala !  Above & below.  Yes they come in black as well !

  A view from our vehicle and one of the tracks we were on

 

I have to look up this boks name.  It is very rare, striped, and not native of South Africa 

 Hippos in the water.  See the bubbles?  Those are more hippos underwater.

 Beautifully coloured ducks.   As soon as the noise of the vehicle came close, they all took to the water.

 There were three giraffes on the property.  Two females & one male.  Female above

  The male.   The other female was pregnant and further off.

What a day.   Hopefully the first of many more game drives, but this will always remain very special to me.   I’m really in Africa !

I got back in the car and retraced my route back to Highway N2.  It was still fairly early and the route at this point still was inland.  

 View along the highway

I could tell from the map that if I kept going until I reached the exit for Jeffrey’s Bay, I could probably find a hotel near the ocean.  Beach area usually means hotels.  So off I went, no problem making the exit and driving down to Jeffrey’s Bay.  There was a logo of a bed on a sign (that means hotel) and I followed that straight down into town “The Savoy Hotel” on the main drag and just one street away from the beach.  THE INDIAN OCEAN beach !   The town was full of tourists for the holidays and although I had hoped to snag a room for 2 nights (spending New Year’s Eve here) there was only the one night available.  Oh well, at least they did have a room.  I dumped by backpack and headed out to find a restaurant since I hadn’t had any lunch.  There was a Mexican restaurant across the street with a balcony on the second floor so that’s where I went.   From my table, I had a view of the ocean.  The food was OK, the view was impeccable.   After finishing my meal I went down to the beach and waded into the cold waters.  There were kids playing in the water, but then kids endure cold water.  There were teenagers trying to surf on the small waves and fisherman further up the beach.  The sun was slowly setting and it was an amazing ending to an even more amazing day.  

 View from my restaurant table

  My feet are in the Indian Ocean !

 Do I look like I'm having a good day ?

 The beach at Jeffrey's Bay

But again, no Internet connection.