Safari with highlights!

Our final destination in South Africa was Addo, just north of Port Elizabeth. We stayed on a citrus farm in a hand built clay and timber hut(obviously, all mod cons included, together with a few insects and as many oranges you could eat). From here we planned to go on Safari, a highlight of our time in South Africa. I was actually a wee bit nervous about the whole Safari thing, Mark stating he was cool and he actually thought one on one with many a Safari park had to offer there'd be no contest. His perception and mine were slightly different and I was worried he may have a "Frank" incident, particularly after I'd witnessed him stripping off next to an orange tree after I pointed out- gently mind, that he had a beetle on his shirt collar! He later revealed he wasn't too fond of "Creepy Crawlies" (but obviously against the big 5 I'd be protected!)
At Addo we hoped just to get a taste for Safari, Addo is an elephant park and not renowned for other game. It's home to 450 elephants so we were pretty much guaranteed to spot at least one of the big 5. Addo also has lions, rhino, buffalo and the very shy leopard, this though had only ever been spotted by a handful of locals so we didn't get too excited. As well as Addo we booked on a safari at a private game reserve called Schotia which was also home to the big 5 plus plenty more. Addo was amazing, the elephants were luckily very thirsty that day so when we headed to one of the many drinking holes we were pleased with the company. The adults were huge, the family obviously led by a female, she knowing best. We weren't surprised to see the teenagers hanging out away from the elders, they were busy being all moody and hormonal- the males actually start discovering naughty business at about aged 12, still a few yrs later than the average teenage boy! The calves were busy playing- pushing one another into the water and generally misbehaving, alot of fun to watch.
So we'd spotted the first of the big 5, still alive too! In my opinion the elephants appeared the most sociable, wise and fun loving of the big 5, any others were considered a bonus. We were however, lucky enough to also see buffalo, more scary but hey, with that nice hair do can anyone take them seriously?
After lunch we continued the search in Schotia. Here we saw giraffe, hippo, zebra and 2 more of the big 5- lion and rhino. Whereas the elephants were my favourite, the lion's were Marks- not least for their hair do's, even more impressive than Mr Buffalo. I could see him watching, all green eyed and comparing high lights and wondering when he needed his roots doing!
It was actually a scary moment when the lioness decided she didn't like the look of us, she circled our vehicle numerous times and we thought we could be dinner as she appeared to get ready to pounce. Thinking it was our bright yellow ponchos rather than Mark's roots, I was considering stripping down as demonstrated by Mark earlier with the insect incident but luckily she must of had a better offer, blaming the poncho we later discovered a lion only sees in black and white!
A great end to an amazing county, 4 of the big 5 plus many more amazing animals, I guess we'll just have to return to spot the leopard- shame. It's now time for Oz......

Canoing, Rugby and a massive bungy jump...

Next we headed off to Wilderness, which is a beautiful town on the Garden Route. We had a fantastic view from our room of a lagoon surrounded by loads of trees. We hired a canoe and paddled up the river (I paddled, Tree just dipped the oar in the water occasionally). We then took a walk up to a waterfall and went swimming for about 10 seconds in the very cold water - obviously still warmer than Blackpool).
That evening was the big one - England v. South Africa. We ended up watching the match in the pub with some locals. Then about 20 oldies from what must have been a Saga holiday appeared. They stood up proudly for our national anthem. When England scored the try that never was I thought it was all going to kick-off. The hairy, mad locals against us and the geriatrics - we wouldn't have stood a chance. Fortunately South African won easily and we avoided another colonial battle (some of them were obviously there the first time). It was actually great to be in S.A. for the final. The South Africans are really passionate about their team and we've had a lot of good natured stick since Saturday.
Next we headed off to Plettenburg bay. Another lovely resort by the beach. Near here we drove to the Bloukrans River Bridge - home of the highest Bungee jump in the world at 216m. Without hesitation we both went for it. Tree went first and was very cool throughout. I too was ok. Not quite as scary as jumping out a plane. We apparently accelerated to 120kmh within 4 seconds. Those of you who know about my Frank Spencer tendancies will be relieved to hear that I avoided a comical accident on the world's highest bungee - although we are off to a snake farm shortly so who knows? Although it was all over very quickly it was an amazing feeling and would recommend it to anyone. The worst thing about the jump was that we had to get weighed first - as you can imagine it was bad news for both of us. We decided to go for a long hike the next day to get the exercise in. We walked in Robberg National Park and saw some fantastic scenery which included loads of seals along the cape. Its amazing in South Africa as we've not yet hit the safari but have already seen whales, sharks, penguins, ostriches and seals. Next stop is Addo national park, which is home to the elephants. I think we'll try and tame one and take it for a ride.

wine, whales, sharks and vomit!

After leaving cape town we headed for gourmet indulgence in Franschhoek. Literally meaning "French Corner" we weren't disappointed by the Vino and Fromage. With tastings for around a pound for 5 wines who would be? We managed 3 tastings(starting at 11 am), then 2 cellar tours, cheese platters, handmade chocs and champagne which were all washed down with a locally produced apple schapps at 43%! Walked, or possibly appeared to stagger, around the very beautiful and very sunny village. We were further spoilt by having the guest house to ourselves, pool and all!

We later left Franschhoek for Hermanus to Whale watch and Shark dive, slightly picking up the adrenaline pace! Although Hermanus has been voted the best place in the world to see the Southern Right Whale from shore we decided to try for a closer encounter out on the Indian Ocean. We were lucky enough to get pretty close to the whales and enjoyed a good few hours of watching the females protect their calves, water rise from the "blow holes", tails flap the sea and noses(calluses and all!) rise high in the air. Really incredible.

The following day we decided to greet a slightly more intimidating creature of the sea- the Great White Shark. We entrusted ourselves to Brian who'd "sailed the ocean for 50 years" (his skin certainly confirming this!) . We sailed out to Shark Alley and soon the Great Whites were as intrigued with us as we were with them. They enjoyed the bait of smelly tuna heads and from the surface we thought we were staring in Jaws, teeth and all! The time came to squeeze into the most unflattering wet suits ever followed by a nice squeeze into the "CAGE". With Mark at my side to protect me I've never felt so scared! No, we were surprisingly calm as the sharks circled the cage, looking somewhat graceful and slow moving- unlike Mark's movements after climbing out of the cage and just making the other side of the boat to vomit! What a sight-the sharks and Mark, least he did it with the wind!

So the wine, food and wildlife continue for another week here in South Africa....

Our first week in South Africa - the pictures

Our first week in South Africa

We've now been travelling for a week and have packed so much in that we need a holiday. Things didn't start to well with the flight. Tree was sat next to an extremely fat South African. He snored like a hippo for pretty much the whole flight. I was quite amused. When we arrived our sat nav decided to send us the wrong way and took us on a detour of one of the Cape Flats township. There were no problems but its a bit of a shock driving through a shanty town within an hour of arriving in the country. We stayed in a place called Camps Bay in Cape Town. This was a really nice place to stay and we were just a few minutes away from the beach. Not many people go in the water though because the currents come from Antarctica so it very cold. On our second day we climbed up Table mountain. This was a pretty hard uphill slog but the views were amazing. Next we went to the Cape of Good Hope which is the most south-westerly point on the continent of Africa. On the way back we stopped at a deserted beach and spotted a whale which was fantastic to see. We turned around and there were a couple of ostriches just 10 metres away. We've been really lucky because the weather has been really good and its only spring here. The food has been fantastic and we have been eating loads of fish, sushi, ostrich and springbok. We've also been having lots of good wine. Obviously this comes at a price so we have been running on the beach in an effort to maintain our peak fitness and should be set to run the London marathon when we get back.....