Cape Town to Hogsback

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Day 2 to 5 - Oudtshoorn – Tsitsikamma – Addo Elephant National Park – Hogsback



So this morning we were up at the crack of dawn for the departure from Cape Town for our Tucan Adventure. Waking up in our ocean view ensuite bedroom was our last chance to enjoy what most of us would call ‘living in luxury’. Waking up in a tent for the next 54 days was our accommodation now, and adding in the odd unexpected visit from a baboon, hippo, lion, scorpion, elephant, hyena or any other African animal you can think of and it becomes our luxurious accommodation.



Alex said her tearful goodbyes to the legendary Nardee (the greatest Cape Town host you could hope for) and we sadly left Nards to start our trip with our new group. There was going to be only six of us for the first 10 days or so, followed by a further 11 more people joining us in Pretoria (just outside of Johannesburg).



Our tour guide, a young Northern Irish girl named Sarah, had made sure the previous day at the debriefing that we were on time and ready to go, as well as being aware of all of our little rules throughout the trip. Her main gripe was on hygiene and always washing your hands and when she stated that no one had ever really been sick on one of her trips, she was already off to a good start and in Alex’s good book.



Our ‘truck’, not to be called a bus I had already been told, was a massive yellow beast that looked like it was ready for an African adventure. Our group consisted of - Robin, from Cornwall in the UK, who was a professional photographer doing some work with Tucan Travel and runs his own windsurfing company; Gary and Keisha - a couple from Sydney and Helena - from Ireland and who, proving how small a world we live in, was the older sister of Alex’s past roommate Siobhan from Sydney. And lastly Josh – our Bus Driver and ‘master animal spotter’ we had been told.



After a long drive we arrived at our first campsite in Oudtshoorn, a large grassed area surrounded by goat paddocks, next to a large house with a big balcony, like what I imagine a wealthy person in Africa’s house to be. We put up our tent, and saw our ‘luxury accommodation’ for the first time. The tent appeared heavy duty and very strong. We then went to the Cango Caves, a cave network of tunnels and chambers under a limestone ridge in the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains in Africa (4 million years old). It was amazing and exceeded our expectations. Our guide was a South African man who stole the show demonstrating to us why the caves were once used for music concerts. He turned the lights off and in pitch darkness sang. See our GoPro video1 to enjoy.



The first night was what you could call nice and relaxed, involving cooking and cleaning duties and a drink in the bar at the restaurant. The only thing preventing what should have been true relaxation for me was the fact that after deciding NOT to bungee jump after watching the Australian girl at Victoria Falls jump and the rope breaking, I had been bullied and peer pressured by Alex, Gary and Keisha into bungee jumping tomorrow off of the biggest bridge bungee in the world – 216m! Only I know how scared I am of heights, but you can’t say no right?!? So, much of my ‘relaxation’ was spent trying to visualise myself conquering my fear of dying, soiling myself, wetting myself and other fear induced sensations that I felt. Maybe the potential side-effect from anti-malarial medication of psychotic dreams may decide to come on tonight too.



I woke up with a sense of calm and to my knowledge, no psychotic dreams had been had. Then the realisation that I was to bungee jump today instantly made me not want to be alive today. Why the hell did I decide to do this I thought. We were out on the road at 7am, as we had a super busy day. Our first stop was the Ostrich Farm in Oudtshoorn. We saw Ostrich eggs in the process of hatching in a heated chamber, and found out how strong they are when we all stood on one and it still was in tact (they can withstand 200kg). Breakfast the following morning was great as we all shared one ostrich egg, which was the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs. It tasted very similar too. Ostrich riding was the next event, with Alex experiencing her maiden ride (see GoPro video2). I could not see us doing this in Oz so this was pretty cool. I was a little (25kg..) over the weight limit so had to sit this one out. This tour again exceeded our expectations, it was great.



Our next stop was the Cango Wildlife Ranch. It was a worthwhile visit giving us the chance to see a male and female White Lion, which are not found in the wild now. They are very rare and when in the wild were killed by their own species. We also saw numerous other animals including hippos, crocs, snakes, a white tiger, cheetah’s and leopards. Being not in the wild it didn’t do a lot for Alex and I, obviously wanting to see them out in their natural habitats but if we were unfortunate not to spot them throughout our trip, I guess we had at least seen them there.



The next stop was a three hour drive away – at Tsitsikama, above the Bloukran’s River, where Alex, Gary, Keisha and I were to jump off the dreaded 216m bridge…We all signed ourselves up, weighed in, harnessed up, GoPro connected, went to the toilet three times to ensure was empty. We all headed out along a gravel path towards the bridge. It was all going surprisingly well up until this point. We came together as a group of jumpers - there was about 12 of us. We were debriefed and then we headed for underneath the centre of the bridge to the launch off area. As soon as we walked onto the wire mesh bridge walkway my body completely froze and I felt any strength and courage I had tried to build up disappear, knowing for real now what I had signed up for. I genuinely felt like I couldn’t do it, I felt completely shattered! We had to walk a few hundred metres along this walkway, the whole way looking straight down to the valley below, all 216m of it. A guy in front said if you are not feeling nervous now then you are not normal and that did make me feel marginally better. The launch pad was thankfully all cemented so we were now visually blocked off from the drop below. Alex was feeling no nerves at all and she didn’t hesitate in telling me this. I can’t say this calmed my nerves. One of the conditions of me doing this was that I could jump first out of the four of us. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out like this and Keisha was first off out of the whole group. Alex was next out of the four of us and she powered off like she had no worries in the world (see GoPro video3) performing a very elegant dive. I was next off. The moment had arrived and I was trying my hardest not to think, and just do. My whole body felt like it had basically shut down. After asking the guy continuously if I was connected to the rope I was led to the edge of the launch pad and was mercilessly pushed/dopped off. See GoPro video 4 to see why I have now been nicknamed by my amazing girlfriend Alex ‘tweety bird’. Our budget had been slackened also by Alex for ‘special circumstances’ to buy the video footage of me just to get another perspective of my bird impersonation. I have the feeling I won’t hear the end of this one for a while. (see facebook for this one).



Our campsite that night was in the Tsitsikamma National Park, a beautiful spot looking out on the Indian Ocean. I had a celebratorty I’m still alive drink, while Alex was talking about needing a scarier challenge.



Day 3 – Alex and I<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> woke up early this morning and went for a run out to the famous Storms River suspension bridge round by the point. We encountered a small family of baboons on the path along the way, and were thankful they didn’t chase us. After a little PT workout on the bridge we headed back to camp.



We drove today to the Addo Elephant National Park for our first taste of animal spotting. We did an afternoon game drive in the Tucan Truck. We were told before that due to the thick vegetation that animal spotting was often poor so we didn’t have too high expectations. The highlight was at the end of the drive where we saw many warthogs and kudu.



The following morning we did an early morning game drive and this turned out to be amazing! We spotted our first elephants (see video5) and watched as they walked over to a waterhole. We then watched as one of the baby elephants fell into the water hole. It was unable to get out and this led to the herd of elephants going into a frenzy (see video 6). We then watched on for the next hour as the elephants worked together to help the baby out of the water. Josh, our driver, said in over 10 years of doing this job he had never seen anything like it, so we knew we were very lucky.



Our next stop was a place called Hogsback in the Eastern Cape region, a small village in the Amatole Mountains above the Tyume Valley. This was a very scenic spot and had a lot of constant rainfall. Alex and I went for a walk and passed the locals who tried to sell us magic mushrooms and other random souvenirs. We walked up to a waterfall and got completely drenched when it bucketed down. It was a spectacular place and it was a shame we had to get back for ‘cooking duties’ otherwise could have spent longer exploring the area.



That’s all for now, stay tuned for the next instalment.

<br style="page-break-before: always; mso-special-character: line-break;" clear="all" /> Love Simon and Alex xx

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Comments

[Colleen McQueen]

Day 2-5
What a way to conquer your fears Simon, congratulations. Did you eventually enjoy the experience, perhaps in retrospect? Can't wait to see the videos. Well written episode, really feel part of the adventure Keep on enjoying the adventures Colleen