On Tuesday morning, as I was going to the office with my fellow volunteers, one them asked me if I was keen on going on a roadtrip. How could I ever turn down a road trip? The idea was to go to Plettneberg Bay and Mossel Bay along the Garden Route (the N2). Our adventures were to include a trip to a game reserve with a tour on horseback and a tour at an elephant sanctuary, and possible hike. I immediately acquiesced to the adventure and began preparing myself for our adventure.
On Friday afternoon, we departed the office slightly after noon. Our vehicle of choice for the trip was a Honda with room for 6 people. After packing the car and making a stop at the local pic-n-pay for our lunch and driving snacks, the adventure to our Mossel Bay hostel began. The weather was glorious, and the drive had magnificent views. The car creeped up the mountains surrounding Cape Town. Once reaching the summit, it was possible to see all of Cape Town and the surrounding suburbs. The view was spectacular. I thought of how tiny the city appeared in the valley in comparison to the gargantuan size of the mountains. Our trip included a stop to take pictures of the lush mountain valleys filled with yellow rape seed flowers (I think these fields were rape seed- but they could have been something completely different). I am presently trying to finish reading Les Miserables, so this adventure gave me adequate time to read and now I am less than 100 pages from being finished with a book I started reading over a year and a half ago.
Our first official stop was in the village of Swellendam. Here we stopped for bathrooms and treats for some people. This village was typical small village with absolutely nothing to see- so we ended up changing drivers and continuing on our adventure. We arrived in Mossel Bay just before sunset. The hostel of choice was that made out of an old sleeper trains. This hostel is incredible (Santos Express) and I would highly recommend this hostel to anyone traveling along the garden route. We slept in doubles and I shared a room with the darling Heloise. After depositing belongings and claiming beds in the sleeper cabins, a sunset walk on the beach commenced. The beach, on the Indian Ocean, was lovely. I ended up getting very wet feet at this beach while I tried to embrace the ocean. I did not mind having wet feet especially since I was in such a wonderful place.
Our night continued with dinner and other merriment including the game of asshole- which I previously had not encountered. If you are not familiar with this game, it is a card game that is often used to create an inebriated state, however, we did not purely participate in this game for this reason. I don't drink- but enjoyed playing and ended up winning the presidency 3 times- which was great considering that the first two rounds resulted in my earning the spot of asshole and vice asshole. After our final game, some of us decided to walk on the beach before heading into our comfortable train home. The bar/hostel dog is a small dog who Sarah named Skippy. The walk on the beach involved this loveable dog and his wonderful personality. I enjoyed seeing the stars and walking along the beach at a late hour without having to worry too much about predators lurking in the bushes ready to attack me. I was frigid that evening, so I slept with my winter parka on- Heloise thought I was a little crazy, but at least I was warm. In the morning, we ate a lovely continental breakfast and said goodbye to our hostel that provided us with shelter for one evening. We departed for the Rhino Lodge Game Park and the views only became more beautiful as we continued along the garden route. Fortunately, arrival was perfectly timed. The location for our tour commenced in a building that reminds me of my aunt Vannesa's house. It is filled with African sculptures, skins, sticks, and metals. The effect is one to create a home feeling while visiting the game reserve. Our guide prepared horses for all of us. My horse was named Bless and he is the dominant male. He was nice and friendly, although, at the end of our tour my bum was quite sore. The park included white rhinos, impala (rooibok), springbok, hippos, crocodiles, waterbok, wildebeest, lions, and plains zebra. The lions were taken from a zoo so they never learned how to hunt properly, and the reserve gave them more room to roam. The horses were well behaved and the stories to describe the behaviors of the wildlife were great fun to hear. I enjoyed the perspective of being out with the wildlife while among them on horses. I don't find the experience to be authentic, or natural, but I did enjoy it.
On our way to our next adventure, lunch was purchased at a lovely cafe called the peppermill. The owners were bohemian and the food was incredibly fresh. I had a kipper pate, which was scrumptious while others had falafel, ostrich, or regular hamburgers. After the natural lunch, I encountered one of the saddest things I have yet encountered in Africa regarding wildlife. We visited an elephant sanctuary that was meant to house elephants that would have otherwise been culled during one the periods of elephant overpopulation in Kruger. The elephants in the park were retrieved from Chinese merchants who were planning on using the elephants in circuses. Elephants are incredibly bright and gifted animals. I was hoping to go to a large reserve with hundreds of elephants who were allowed to roam freely throughout the land, however, I was greatly disappointed to learn that this park was far different. The park only houses 6 elephants. After a brief introduction into elephant anatomy, the group of avid tourists was introduced to 3 of the elephants. Each of the tourists had the opportunity to walk with the elephants- the elephant sticks its trunk in the right hand of an acquiescing visitor. The elephant drips mucous onto the hand, although the feeling is quite unique. At the conclusion of the 3-5 minute walk with the elephant, the visitor has the opportunity to feed the elephant some sweet potatoes.
After walking the elephants into a nice location in the woods, the elephant performed tricks. I found this portion of the program disheartening because the reason why these elephants were placed in this sanctuary was to give them the opportunity to evade the hardships of the circus- and this was as much of a circus as a formal one. It was nice that visitors could pet the elephant- which is incredibly hairy, feel the tail- which hair feels like wire, and look into the mouth of the elephant.
Once the elephants were done with the abuse by humans, they were paraded back out into the open field where visitors gave the elephants more sweet potatoes. People who had paid the elephant guides 500 Rand could ride the elephants. This was almost too much for me. Fortunately, I didn't fall for this trap. The people who partook of this additional luxury trotted around the small field for about 5 minutes. Eventually, our guide released us from this torment and horror, asking us to visit the curio shop before leaving- which I avoided instead to sit outside in the sunshine to drink some nice juice.
After departing the wretched elephant park, our group made its way to our next hostel in Plattenberg Bay. The hostel had a huge fire and braaiing area. In this hostel, all 6 of us shared one large room. Heloise, Ryan, and I ventured for nice hike to the ocean while the others rested on our first night. The trail to the ocean was treacherous, but we made it just in time for sunset. I was amazed at the strength of the currents and the force of the waves pummeling the seashore. Our return included a walk through the very touristy city center that was quite dead at 6pm on a Saturday night, and scoping out of the local grocery stores.
For dinner we had a braai at the hostel. I had squash while everyone else had some nice boerwurst. The night ended with a fun version of pictionary (even with a description card asking for a drawing of the heathrow airport) and the paper game. I took a much desired shower and all headed to bed. Sanford snored throughout the night, but I am obviously immune to it because I awoke this morning and did not complain about the unpleasantness of snoring.
In the morning, I read while everyone else slept. Our hostel was filled with people from England on a surfing tour- in the morning they were all gone because they were doing a sunrise surf. After a nice breakfast in the hammocks, we left for the beach. At the beach, Heloise, Ryan, and I jumped in the glorious ocean for a quick swim. The water was cool and clear. I felt so cleansed, and after leaving the water, I didn't feel nasty like I sometimes do after swimming in the ocean. As we changed and dried off, we spotted a whale. The whale was close to the shore and showed its tail several times. It was magnificent. I have never seen a whale, and watching it blow water and surface and resurface beneath from the ocean was something that I don't know how often I will have the opportunity to repeat. The members of an English rugby team also watched on with our group. While we were watching the majestic beauty of this creature, an annoying tour group in a boat was trying to launch itself into the ocean. It took over 30 minutes for the group to be placed correctly in the water. A baki was flooded in the process and 2 tractors had to be employed to correctly position the boat. Although incredibly irritating, it was nice to have something else to observe while we watched the whale.
Once leaving Plattenberg Bay, our adventure continued in Knysna. This village is overly touristy and sterile. A Sunday morning craft market was the epitome of this sad reality. All of the goods were overpriced and not of a high quality. Perhaps, the turn out was low because of the rain... The area where the craft market was held had two african drummers to inspire the african spirit in an area that could have been Hilton Head or Florida. The main goal in attending this area was to consume oysters. I had my first introduction with raw oysters- and they were delicious, but I don't think that they are truly an aphrodisiac. As the journey continued, I began driving. The first stop was another craft market. The goods were the same as you would find in any craft market in South Africa with much of the work coming from Northern African countries such as the Congo.
I don't know if my passengers liked my driving, but I stopped several times for views that were spectacular. We again were lucky to see a whale swimming around in the ocean at one of the lookout points. I drove for a great distance and enjoyed passing numerous people while my passengers slept deeply. Rain came down intermittently, and a gorgeous rainbow was formed. I tried to stop so that our group could take pictures, but this was futile, because just I was trying to stop, the rainbow dissolved. At the end of my driving experience, the search for the next petrol station became of great interest of the group. The landscape is fantastic, but with no towns around we became fearful that the amount of petrol left in the vehicle would not suffice to bring us to the city. Luckily we were able to locate one so that the car could be recharged and the passengers could relieve themselves. The rest of the trip was uneventful. I showed Heloise how to make a paper crane and she showed me how to make pretty paper boxes. We arrived back in Cape Town close to 7, which gave me enough time to go shopping for groceries and unpack.... until next time
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