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Road Trip Day 4: Storms River Mouth

Wednesday, June 30

Tsitsikamma National Park, RSA

After we peered down into the Storms River Gorge, we found our way down a windy road off of the N2 to the Storms River Mouth portion of the Tsitsikamma National Park (wiki). This park was absolutely gorgeous, and was possibly Josh’s favorite part of the trip. When we get back to Africa, we will definitely be staying a night or two here. We sat and watched the waves crashing at the mouth of the river, then hiked an easy 1km boardwalk of stairs along the mountainside to the suspension bridges that cross the mouth of the river. We would have loved to stay the night here at the darling oceanside cabins but it was only 4pm and we still had way too much daylight. We were just now officially on the Garden Route here at the mouth of the river and wanted to see some more of it before the sun went down. On our way out of the park we saw some dassies sunning themselves – and then we got to see some vervet monkeys! There are vervet monkeys at Addo, but we didn’t find any, and now we’ve seen some! We were pretty excited.

Jeannette took a lot of pictures of waves:

A nice little cove:

There were great views from the boardwalk steps all the way:

A calla lily (one of our wedding flowers – 2 days from our 5 year wedding anniversary!)

We loved Storms River Mouth:

The bridges:

Looking back towards the gorge we were just at:

More waves:

The dassies (we saw their cousins this very morning!):

The cabins were right down by the water:

Vervet monkeys:

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off
30
Jun 10

Road Trip Day 4: Storms River Gorge

Wednesday, June 30

Eastern Cape, RSA

As we drove along the N2 towards Storms River Mouth, we crossed the Storms River on the Paul Sauer Bridge. We stopped here to put on our brave, big kid pants, walk back out on to the pedestrian walk portion of the bridge and peer down into the gorge. Now, we use the term “pedestrian walk portion” loosely. There was a barrier between the semis that came barreling towards you at high speeds, and you were allowed to be out there “at your own risk”, and there was corrugated steel laid down for you to walk across. At one time the steel had been screwed down – but after so many high speed vehicles tearing past, and the sheets warbling each time, the screws had warbled right out of their holes. Each sheet had maybe only one or two screws left. They shook and lifted like mad with each truck that ripped past. While we walked out to the middle on each side – we didn’t dally.

Great views coming up on the gorge:

Storms River:

Not so much of a barrier from the deep gorge or from the huge semis:

The gorge:

The gorge was deeeeeeep:

Jeannette’s eyes were a little light sensitive today. Haha!:

South Africa / Travel — Comments Off
30
Jun 10

Road Trip Day 4: J-Bay

Wednesday, June 30

Jeffreys Bay, RSA

The Garden Route begins at Storms River Mouth at its eastern end. The N2 from PE to Storms River Mouth is beautiful the whole way, even if not a part of the Garden Route. In fact, about 75km from PE is Jeffreys Bay. Supposedly Jeannette had seen this beach before as it was featured in (and became famous after) Endless Summer. But as this movie was a chore to watch, she doesn’t exactly recall. She will always remember visiting Jeffreys Bay though. It was gorgeous. We picked up some cappuccinos at a beachfront coffee house and watched an impromptu, pickup soccer game between some Brazilian tourists and local kids.

On our way out of town we stopped at the mall (a HUGE mall) to pick up medications for our now out-of-control colds. The pharmacist was super helpful and aided our navigation of the foreign under-the-counter-is-still-behind-the-counter-and-needs-a-pharmacist’s-sticker system.

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30
Jun 10

Road Trip Day 4: More Addo Elephant National Park

Wednesday, June 30

Addo, RSA

After we slept in this morning (to help our bodies get over our raging colds), we checked out and ate breakfast at the Main Camp’s restaurant. The goal was to drive back to Cape Town, with an overnight somewhere in the middle, via the famous Garden Route. We needed to get down to PE (Port Elizabeth) to get back onto the N2. We decided to drive through the Addo Park instead of taking teensy Route 335 next to it, to get to PE.

We saw some more warthogs and then we had another amazing elephant experience. An entire elephant family was near our trail and we had stopped to watch for a moment when, collectively, they decided the grass was greener on the other side of us. They crossed all around us, dozens of them, of all ages. And then stopped just to the other side of us. Their eyes seem to look right at you and it feels like they are communicating with you.

We crossed over the public road that cuts through the northern and southern parts of the park and drove the entire length of the southern half. We didn’t see any animals in there except zebras. We were out of the reserve and onto the N2 by 11am. We were sad to leave Addo and the elephants, but we were also loving our road trip and exploring South Africa. We felt we were on quite the adventure!

These ones walked around like a cellphone signal ad:

There’s a trunk in our trunk!

He was so happy! Trotty McTrotterson!

This little guy was right next to Jeannette:

This mama realized she was left behind and came towards us to join up with the rest of the group. We didn’t know if she was going to go AROUND us or not…

The landscape in the southern half was dramatically different – you could tell how much closer to the coast we were. (Zebras!):

Stadium in PE from the Highway as we were speeding past:

South Africa / Travel — 1 comment
29
Jun 10

Road Trip Day 3: Addo Elephant National Park

Tuesday, June 29

Addo, RSA

We were up by 5:30am, out before the sun, and at the gate when they opened. We started seeing animals immediately! There were kudu and elands feeding in the dark and as the sun came up we saw zebra and jackals.

The logistics of the park are such that upon entering the gate with your pass, you self drive in your car around on a series of loops and trails wherever you would like. The watering holes were a great hotspot to find animals, and in the early morning and early evening the open fields were a good spot to find grazing animals. Elephants traipsed wherever they pleased throughout the day and it was always exciting to happen upon a herd crossing your path.

In the morning, we only saw elephants from a distance – but by now (around 9:30am) we were starving and needed to find food. We left through a public road that bisects the northern and southern halves of the park and leads right to the village of Addo. Passing through the gate, the gatekeeper gave us a couple Rand and asked us to bring him back a Daily Sun. We couldn’t find anyplace to eat, but grabbed some local snacks and a Daily Sun at a gas station. We delivered our paper to the gatekeeper and then ventured down into the southern half of the park for about an hour. We didn’t see a single animal down there, and we were starting to feel a little cranky so we headed back up to the Main Camp in the northern half. On the way back to our chalet we saw A TON of elephants, up close and personal.

Seeing the elephants just stops you in your tracks. They are huge, majestic animals. We saw so many together in families. They have such intelligent eyes that look like they are full of understanding and wisdom. We got to see little babies nap in the shade of siblings and amble around, and young adolescents tussle with each other. The elephants were by far the highlight of our Addo time. We estimate that saw more than 60 elephants in our visit. Twice we were so close to them (us still in the car, of course), we were just a little nervous.

We took a nap at home around 1:30pm as we were both sick by now. After our nap we headed back to the camp restaurant for dinner, caught a bit of soccer, and then checked out the Main Camp’s underground hide where you could view game at a watering hole. We got to see kudu there while we were checking it out. After the sun went down we went on a guided night ride in an open safari vehicle. We didn’t see any lions, but we did get to see lots of nocturnal animals. There are only 10 or so lions in the whole park, which is how much the land can sustain. The guide tried hard to find the pride, and the party that went out before us found the the lions, but they were off on a hunt by the time we got out there. Back at camp we watched the first half of the Spain – Portugal game, but we were struggling with our colds, campfire smoke and general tiredness from the early morning, so we went to bed before the finish.

We saw many animals during our time at Addo, including a variety of birds, but here is what we marked off of our checklist that the Addo Park gave us: