The started at 3:15am when my alarm went off. We had a quick bite of food and some tea, and jumped in our Uber at 4am. Got to the airport before 4:30, checked into our flights, went through security, found our gate, and had some breakfast. Other than setting off the metal detector and getting a quick pat-down, we had no troubles.
A very quick 1-hour flight later, we landed in Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth. The name of the city was changed in 2021, so a lot of signs and things still say Port Elizabeth on them. Gqeberha is a word in one of the native languages of this region. It’s hard to pronounce for people who aren’t familiar with the language, and it’s really cool to hear someone pronounce it who knows how to do so properly. The language is one that has “click” sounds as part of their words. The “q” letter in the name represents a particular one of the click sounds. I tried, but I don’t think I can do it very well.
We didn’t stay in the city for long. We got our rental car, drove to a grocery store to get just enough food for lunch, and got on our way. I was surprised at how quickly I got used to driving on the left again, after not doing it for quite a while.
We had decided to do a self-drive through the Addo Elephant Park on this day, before doing our guided tours later. It was great to just take our time, and work our way though the park. We were having so much fun and finding so many interesting things that we ended up being really slow, and couldn’t fit in the last loop we wanted to do!
Sarah found some interesting birds right off the bat. But one of the really neat things, weirdly enough, were the dung beetles. There was elephant poop everywhere, and the dung beetles loved it! We didn’t actually see one pushing a ball of poop away, but we saw many of the very large bugs wandering around and gathering in the poop. In fact, we had to drive quite slowly in order to dodge the dung beetles that were wandering around on the road! They are endangered, and so we tried to be careful not to hit any if possible.
The first larger animal we saw was a warthog! We saw several more through the day, and naturally, we referred to them as Pumbaa’s.
We also saw lots of guinea fowl, often in large flocks. At one point we saw Jackals, which are kinda similar to our Coyotes at home. We saw them on the road from a distance, but when we got closer they hid in a grassy field. We still could see one of them with our binoculars.
We also saw a pack of monkeys. We weren’t sure which kind they were, but discovered later that they were baboons. A couple young ones were chasing each other around, it was very cute.
We saw our first elephants from a distance. First I found one across a field, then later we saw a larger herd from a lookoff point. But later, oh man. We came across some that were feeding by the side of the road, and at times we were within just a few meters away from them (we aren’t allowed to leave the vehicle while in the park, but we could have the windows down). They are amazing! It was fun to see them wander around, eat some grass, and interact with each other. One of them crossed the road in front of our car, and then crossed back later as we were watching them.
Later, we saw another herd at a watering hole. There was an adorable baby elephant with that herd. Later some smaller warthogs came to the watering hole, and one of the younger elephants appeared to be practicing its aggression. It would threaten the warthogs, wave its trunk around, and try to chase them out of the water hole. When the warthogs finally left, the young elephant raced after them, chasing them away. It was actually kinda hilarious.
We also saw an ostrich off in the distance. Didn’t get a great look at it, though. We also saw several Red Hartebeest and Kudu, which are both antelope-like creatures.
And we saw a herd of Zebras! There were several of them in the group, maybe 10. Later, another one came walking along by itself, and it had a bird riding on its back! Sarah figured it was a Fork-tailed Drongo. There were also several swallows flying around behind it as it walked. Sarah figured it out: as the zebra walked through the grass, it stirred up the bugs, and then the birds could catch and eat them. Good strategy!
Later we went to a “hide” – a wall that we could stand behind with little openings we could look through. It was in front of a watering hole. And there was a single, very thirsty elephant at that watering hole! It stayed there for quite some time, drinking water while we watched. We had a really good close-up view of it from within the hide. And the hide area was all fenced off so none of the creatures could get in, which is why it’s allowed for people to get out of their cars and check it out.
We also went to Jake’s Picnic Park, a fenced in area where people can get out of their cars, eat, use the washroom, etc. It’s named after a Rhino whose name was Jake, and who lived to be over 30 years old in the park.
Eventually, we were exhausted and took off for our lodging. We are staying at the Chrislin Lodge, and we have a very cute little cottage to stay in. Our lodging included a couple of 3-course meals at the in-house restaurant, and we had one of them tonight after arriving.
But before we get there, we had an…ahem…interesting driving experience. There was some construction on one of the roads on the way to Chrislin, and we had to go through a road that was down to one lane. I think the construction people wanted to route us around this section, but Chrislin was actually right in the middle of it. Anyway, so they told us to go ahead, and we started to go, and then we saw a car, in the same lane, coming right toward us! Whaaa???
Turns out that although the road was down to one lane (with pylons on either side, and rocks across the lane under construction), the construction workers weren’t actually stopping anyone from going on this street, in either direction! So when we met oncoming traffic, one of us would pull off to the side, and the other would go. It was kinda freaky the first time it happened, though! Not something we would see around home!
Anyway, we ordered what we wanted for supper when we got to Chrislin, got ourselves checked in, and we had a delicious meal. One of the meat options was Ostrich! We got that for one of our meals, and Hake (fish) for the other, and shared both.
The Ostrich meat (which is farmed) was actually really good! Very similar to steak, interestingly. We enjoyed it!
Next up, a guided day tour!
