Tuesday 14^th April 2015 – Day at Sea.

It is cool with intermittent rain today. We had a late breakfast and went up to the Atlantic room for a coffee. Here we heard a full account about how a gentleman passenger died yesterday during a tour to the Zulu village. – Very sad.

Our final rehearsal for the choir started half an hour early and we just about made the songs acceptable before our performance. Come back Catherine!!

We received the news that FW de Klerk (Nobel prize-winner and former President of South Africa) was joining the ship tomorrow in Port Elizabeth for a lecture followed by a Q&A session - before getting off again when we arrive in Cape Town. (Typical! We actually get off the ship in Port Elizabeth for our overland “Garden Route” safari, re-joining it in Cape Town. So, we’ll miss him!)

In the evening we went to see “The Equaliser” starring Denzel Washington. It was a remake of the Edward Woodward TV series and we didn’t think it was as good. Towards the end of the film the ship got a little “lumpy” so we decided to leave as Nesta wanted to “investigate” (i.e. have a cigarette!)

It was pouring down and the water in the swimming pools was cascading across the decks! In view of this, Nesta decided to go back to the cabin and have an early night – we do have to get up at 5-30am in the morning after all! (This is because the passengers doing overland tours have to go through South African immigration again … why?)

 

Wednesday 15^th April 2015 – Port Elizabeth for the Overland Garden Route.

The ship parked on time, and we got up and charged off at 6am to the Connexions Room for our immigration inspection as requested. When we got there we were informed by a shame-faced officer that the authorities had changed their minds! We could have had another two hours sleep!

We met up with the twelve other passengers going on the Garden Route, were taken to our luxury coach and we set out at 8-30am. Our guide is called Scott and our driver is Mohinder  

After a non-scheduled tour of Port Elizabeth (Scott had forgotten to bring water bottles, so we had to go to his house to pick them up) it was out on to the N2 highway. Our first stop was the Tsitsikamma National Park at the aptly named Storms River Mouth. We walked around the headland to the mouth of the river and saw some spectacular waves breaking over the rocks. It was colder than anticipated and also rained so we were soon back on the coach and heading down the coast to the seaside town of Plettenberg Bay.

We booked into the five-star hotel in time for a very nice three course lunch with panoramic views over the bay from the restaurant.

We had a huge room, complete with four poster bed, and a terrace which led to an infinity swimming pool 10 metres away. Unfortunately, it was a little cold for swimming but we did go for a walk to the nearby beaches. It felt a lot “safer” than in Durban – but we did see security guards everywhere.

The hotel had free internet so Ian updated the laptop whilst Nesta enjoyed a luxurious soak in the massive bath. Soon it was time for more food – this time a four course dinner – and then we decided to have a quiet night. (The weather had other ideas as we were woken up by a tremendous thunder clap followed by torrential rain. Glad we were on land, in this weather, rather than on board ship!)

 

Thursday 16^th April 2015 – Overland Garden Route and Safari.

During breakfast Colin Norton (one of the other passengers) saw on his tablet that the visit of the QM2 to Port Elizabeth was front page news in the local paper. Upon reading the story, however, we were shocked to learn that a second passenger has died - this time shortly after returning to the ship from a trip ashore.

From Plettenberg it was back on the N2 until we came to the Little Brak River turnoff. From there it was a thirty minute drive to the Botlierskop Game Reserve.

We were greeted to a glass of champagne on a terrace overlooking the reserve where we were given our itinerary. We noticed that it said “beverages extra” so brought this to the attention of the staff – as when we booked we were told there were to be complimentary beers and wines… After checking with the management we were informed that local beers and wines were indeed complimentary so we decided to take them up on it by ordering a very nice Shiraz to accompany lunch!

After lunch we were escorted to our tents (not the sort that Ian can remember from his time as a scout) these had air conditioning (which worked as a heater as well) a sunken bath, electric blankets, Wi-Fi and even an outdoor shower! (Fortunately it was a little too cold to try this out!) Each of the tents were in their own private area of land and the staff also laid on golf-carts to take the more elderly of our number to their tent. (Unfortunately, we were deemed fit enough not to need the golf-carts…)

At 3pm we met up for our first safari. We climbed aboard two Toyota Landcruisers and went in search of elephants. We found a family of four in one of the valleys and watched them for about 20 minutes. The Rangers (ours was called Marco) kept us informed of what was on the Reserve and what we were likely to see. Next it was off to the Rhinoceros compound. These animals are protected by law but poaching is such a menace (even on private reserves) that they have to be carefully monitored. Their horns are cut off to discourage attacks from poachers (one rhino horn is reputedly worth about two million rand), there are trackers in the bush 24 hours a day to keep an eye on them and, every two days, a helicopter flies over the park to count them! Even with all this monitoring, Marco said that it is likely that rhinos in the wild will become extinct in South Africa by the year 2025 - because in a country with 40% rural unemployment, someone is always going to take a chance to get rich… How sad.

We saw lots of different antelopes, wildebeest, ibis and zebras and were in time to see giraffes walking into the sunset as they made their way into a different valley for the night. Just as dusk approached, the trucks turned into bars and spirits, beers and wine were served! Ian had a couple of whiskies and Nesta vodka and tonic followed by an introduction to Amurulu (A bit like Baileys). It is made from the Murula fruit that grows on trees in the Reserve and which are actually the elephants’ favourite snack!

It was dark when we returned to our tents and there was just enough time to change for dinner. On the menu there was crocodile tails, ostrich and game sausages but we decided that we would stick with zebra and gemsbok steaks! All washed down, of course, with the complimentary wine…

We didn’t spend too much time talking after dinner as we had a 5-30am alarm call booked for our early morning safari!

 

Friday 17^th April 2015 – Overland Garden Route and Safari.

We woke before the alarm went off and had fun trying to find our clothes! Although the tent had electricity, lighting was limited to two bedside lights and down lighters in the bathroom – not enough to illuminate the sides of the tent where our suitcase was!

At 6-15am we were back on the trucks – all wrapped up against the cold – and were even given a hot water bottle each (in a zebra patterned cover) to help us all keep warm until the sun got up!

Marco drove us to the far side of the reserve where the lions live. There are three animals here, two lionesses who are sisters and a male called “Chris!” They were all rescued from a breeding programme and are living out their lives here. In the wild, cubs stay with the mother for at least two years, in which time they are taught how to be a lion. They then leave the family and fend for themselves. Lionesses usually produce cubs when they are six years old and then again when they’re eight and eleven. In captivity the cubs are taken from the mother at six months and bred repeatedly from the age of two. When they are too old they are sold to hunting companies who charge (mostly Japanese, Chinese and American) “hunters” mega bucks to shoot them!

Chris and the girls need to be fed every two weeks as they never learned how to hunt - but the sight of them roaming across the bush at dawn was awesome. Apparently lions only roar at sunrise and sunset and because we were there in time we got to hear their chorus! (Nesta also remembered to turn on the record button on the camera – so we have the proof!)

We left the enclosure and drove up a steep track to a plateau overlooking Mossel Bay for African Hot Chocolate amongst the zebras. African Hot Chocolate differs from the traditional drink in that Amurulu is used instead of milk! Although it was only 7-30am about half a dozen passengers decided to try this concoction and even the Rangers seemed impressed!

The African “Big Five” consists of Elephant, Water Buffalo, Lion, Rhinoceros and Leopard and it is only the Leopard which is missing from this Reserve. The Buffalo however are not too sociable and took a bit of finding. According to Marco they are more dangerous and unpredictable than lions and after mosquitos and hippos are the third biggest killers of humans. We eventually found a group but it was noticeable that Marco stayed in the truck to give his commentary!

Eventually we went back to the Lodge for a 9-30am breakfast after which it was back to the tent to pack, in time for an eleven o’clock check out.

The itinerary said that we would now walk to the Day Safari Lodge (where there is a souvenir shop) before another three course luncheon… None of us were hungry in the slightest - so Scott asked if a packed lunch could be made up which would enable us to have a few extra stops during the five hour journey to Cape Town.

One of these extra shops was at a “Bottle Shop” (off-licence) which was duly cleared out of their stocks of Amurulu!

The scenery was still spectacular, although different. We passed through the farming belt with their acres and acres of wheat and quinoa. There were also lots of farms with both beef and dairy cattle and sheep. It looked a bit like the M6 going through the Lake District at times. The next area was the apple growing belt (yes, Nesta did buy some cider!) and, before the range of mountains which protect Cape Town, finally a wine producing area.

We travelled through Sir Lowry’s Pass and stopped at the top to take pictures of the Cape Flats and the city in the distance. It was very windy but fortunately the wind was blowing in the right direction – Scott says there has been instances of cars being blown off the road here.

We safely descended and then drove through the townships on the outskirts of Cape Town. They are made up of metal shacks (which are too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter) with plastic roofs secured by rocks – They were, however, were all connected to electricity cables and we noticed that most of them had satellite dishes! Social housing is being built but, as fast as a family can be rehoused, another one has moved into the original shack. There doesn’t seem to be an easy answer as there is not enough work to go round and yet migrants are still coming in from rural areas and even from abroad. (Incidentally we saw on the news that riots had occurred in Durban the day after we left - as black South Africans were protesting that their jobs were being taken by immigrants from Nigeria and Somalia)

After experiencing rush hour in Cape Town, we made it back to the ship at 6-30pm. We were welcomed back with a free glass of champagne in the Verve Clicquot Bar (One of our favourite waiters, Ryan, managed to produce a few more!) and we all said our goodbyes to Scott. What a great experience!

Strangely we didn’t feel like eating in the restaurant and as we had had three “full-on” days we decided that we would unpack and have an early night.