march 7 | main index | march 9

We were up at 5 am and out the door before 6 am this morning. Our first photo stop was at Gordons Bay overlooking Strand, but it was still rather misty so it was hard to see much at that point. We continued along the coast past Koeel Bay and Pringles Bay taking several photos of the ocean on one side and fynbos, mostly proteas and erica, on the other. On the way to Kleinmond, where Veda knew of a place for breakfast, a male chacma baboon was sitting on the edge of the road watching cars go by. We rolled the car windows up, stopped and Eric got a few shots before we were off again.

The Tides restaurant at The Beach House was the perfect little out of the way place for breakfast. We got a full breakfast buffet for R70 each. I tried the smoked fish of the day and some eggs while Eric stuck to the eggs and bacon. There was a fresh fruit and cheese platter with croissants and fresh juice as well (orange, mango and guava!). The place was filled mostly with German tourists staying at the hotel and the view simply could not be beat. We chatted a bit about Veda's tour guiding experience with the German and Italian groups she led. After breakfast, we walked around the property a bit and out to the beach. We were now entering whale watching territory (had it been the season).

At this point, we were trying to get back on the main road in Stanford, but missed the turnoff so we ended up in Gansbaai. About five miles after we stopped at the local library for directions and turned around we saw a turtle in the middle of the oncoming traffic. Alive, but I'm guessing scared to death. Veda immediately pulled a U-turn and drove back to get this little leopard turtle out of the highway. Miraculously, the turtle seemed unharmed even though an 18 wheeler had just driven past. We snapped a photo of our rescued friend and made our way back to the correct turnoff.

We wanted to reach the Garden Route Game Lodge in Albertinia no later than 3 pm, so we could relax a bit before the first game ride at 5:30 pm. On the way, we stopped off at Erica vineyards for a little wine tasting and dog petting. Our last stop before the lodge was an aloe farm where you can buy all kinds of organic aloe products from moisturizers to shampoo to tea (which, personally, did not look too appetizing).

Happy to be out of the car and near wildlife, we got into our rooms and ordered a bottle of wine and some chips to relax before the evening game drive. Unfortunately, Eric couldn't relax because he discovered the 128Mb camera card he had been using all day long was no longer working, with all of the days shots stuck until we got back to the US.

All the guests hopped on three covered trucks and we began our two-hour hunt for the Big Five. We saw the two elephants scaring up some cape buffalo first and as we drove further out springbok and white-tailed gnus (wildebeests) were grazing off in the distance. Over the next hill a giraffe pair graciously posed for our photos. Being the adventurous sorts, we really wanted to see the rhinos. So our guide radioed ahead to see where they were and we went in search of the two males. When we arrived at the proposed spot, the rhinos were acting shy and hiding behind some bushes making it very difficult to see them. So our guide actually backed the truck down into the ravine and went to take a look. Surprisingly, the rhinos decided we were harmless and approached us. By this time it was pouring rain, but all we could think about was how amazing it was to be thirty feet from two male white rhinos!

After this incredible experience, we dropped by the lion lookout where we could see a lioness and cub playing and feeding while the male was resting on the other end of the enclosure. They began calling to each other using this gruff panting noise that was so loud, you could hear it over a mile away. On the way back we saw some kudu, zebras and bontebok wandering around. Then we had our second amazing experience of the drive. Apparently, springbok females can delay their birth until they feel it's a good time. Because of the long-awaited rain, one female had decided to give birth right in the middle of the truck path. The other vehicle warned us because it had stopped and we looked over the edge to see a baby springbok less than 20 minutes old. We found out later the mother never came back (probably because of all the attention her baby was receiving), so the rangers took the baby springbok in and were taking care of it last we heard.

Exhausted and throughly impressed with our game drive, we grabbed the leftover wine from our fridge and took it to the boma for dinner. Ironically, we were served springbok along with lamb, tomato soup, cheeses, corn and sweet potatoes buffet style with chocolate mint mousse and spice cake for dessert. The springbok and tomato soup were amazingly tasty. Cute, but tasty.

march 7 | main index | march 9