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Published: June 14th 2010
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As usual I was up early and as I had nothing planned that day I went to McDonalds for breakfast then visited Bayworld.
I was one of the few people there that morning so I was able to spend about four hours chatting with various scientists and curators about Dolphins, African Penguins and Cape Fur Seals. I then met the curator responsible for fish and spent some time discussing fish care and watching him feed the tropicals, I couldn’t believe the size of some of those fish they were huge. The curator then pointed out a fish that just turned up in the tank one day; nobody at the aquarium has any idea where it came from. I also saw the Knysna seahorse, which is found only in one small bay down the coast.
The park also has an interesting Museum with a strong nautical flavour which I also enjoyed wandering around before setting off down the coast to get some provisions from the shopping centre. On the way back I popped into an Indian restaurant for Lentil soup before returning to the hostel, I was feeling knackered so I cooked a big fat steak and vegetable dinner before
going to bed.
The following morning I was picked up at 8.00am from the Lungile Backpackers hostel by a mini bus that was already full of other travellers, the trip to Addo Elephant Park took more than four hours. The first animals we saw on arrival were surprisingly a couple of normally nocturnal black backed jackals followed by a large male cape buffalo called Kudo and a number of warthogs.
When we saw our first wild elephants moving through the scrub I was awestruck and enjoyed watching them in their natural environment, but our driver seemed intent on catching them out in the open and would zoom off all the time. I was getting really annoyed as were some of the others on the bus at this clown’s behaviour, it looked like we were not going to spend anytime looking at the elephants as we started heading for the park exit, when we came upon a herd of about 20 animals including a baby and some young bulls. It was incredible to see my first wild elephants so close up.
It was then on to Scotshia game reserve where we had lunch before piling into opensided four
wheel drives for the trip onto the reserve, it was a fantastic experience as we saw a large range of antelope, giraffe, zebra, rhino, wildebeest and even some mongoose. It was exciting to encounter the reserves’ small pride of lions; I must admit I was quite nervous getting so close to them particularly in the dark.
Dinner and drinks were served at a bush camp and were of excellent quality, after dinner we clambered back onto the vehicles for a night safari which was fantastic, before heading back to Port Elizabeth (PE) arriving back at the hostel around midnight.
The next day was spent on the Baz Bus, the first driver talked at me for six straight hours, I was ecstatic when we had a driver change. The new driver was younger and took us through the Transkei region where Mandela hails from and pointed out one of Mandela’s houses as well as a few very seedy looking pubs. The Transkei has small villages on every rolling hill and reminds me of rural South Australia except the population is almost all black (Xsosa Tribe).
Finally after fifteen hours I arrived in Durban where I was thrust into
a tiny wooden shed sized dorm at The Anstey Beach Backpackers with five drunken snorers and no ventilation, I couldn’t stand it, I felt claustrophobic so I grabbed my blanket and pillow and went outside, the weather is similar to Queensland in winter so it wasn’t too bad.
Fortunately for me a worker at the hostel was still on the premises and let me into the lounge/kitchen area where I slept on one of the lounges for the next three nights, I even had access to a TV and a toilet.
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