May 2016 – The Easy Chair talks back

On Tuesday we started week 2 in Knysna. Its a beautiful town on the Garden Route set on a lagoon with 2 “heads” guarding it from the Indian Ocean.

The Garden Route (Afrikaans: Tuinroete) is a stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africawhich extends from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant and ecologically diverse vegetation encountered here and the numerous lagoons and lakes dotted along the coast. It includes towns such as Knysna,Plettenberg Bay and Nature’s Valley; with George, the Garden Route’s largest city and main administrative centre.

We stayed in an inn at the top of the mountain overlooking town, Falcons View Manor.

Falcons View Manor’s history has a strong connection to the Thesen family, who played an integral role in the development of Knysna as a timber town. The Thesen family home, Hill House, has become Falcons View Manor, an official heritage building. And while the hotel retains its original charm, the rooms in the Manor House have recently been refurbished to satisfy contemporary tastes.

13123133_10154186484638724_4868981249096797123_o — The Heads

We did some shopping after touring the Heads and Thesen Island and headed out out for our 4 hour trek to Gansbaii (HANS-bye), the Great White Shark capital of the world. We had just been informed by our gregarious host Renee of the White Shark Guest House that our dive (Thursday the 28th) had been cancelled due to wind and waves.

So we had a nice meal in town and headed out earlier the next day to get extra time on Cape Town with the hope of returning Sunday for a dive when the weather cleared.

We drove from Gansbaai directly to Cape Point National Park along the ocean. Between St. James and Kalk Bay we ran into almost an hour delay to construction that had been going on for a couple of years now.

After we got through we stopped at the Salty Dog restaurant in Simons Town, a fish and chips place. We were starved so it worked. Onto Cape Point, now racing a rain front due to our construction delay.

With the weather Cape Point was less than spectacular. The highest point actually is a lighthouse not the Cape of Good Hope itself. We learned that the Cape of Good Hope is not where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet but instead the most southern point in Africa. The 2 oceans meet at Cape Agulhas though this is a point of debate among South Africans.

This was Thursday. Friday, my birthday, was grand. We “ubered” down to the waterfront and did as most tourists do at some point, shop. The dollar was worth over 14 Rand so prices were great. I got handmade wooden sunglasses, a beautiful hand painted ostrich egg and some Cohibas as birthday swag.

We rode the Cape Wheel and got some great shots from this vista. We has lunch at a Belgian restaurant (Den Anker) where everything was cooked in beer (go figure)!

On Sunday we toured the Stellenbosch and Franshoek wine regions with our friends. A great synopsis in on the video below!!!

On our final full day (Sunday May 1), we split up as I really wanted to do the shark dive and Lisa wanted to go to Table Mountain. The weather was perfect for both as you can see!!

_AFR6311 — View from Table Mountain of Cape Town

Monday morning prior to going home (Cape Town >> Johannesburg >> London >> Dulles >>Greenville) we said our good byes to the Sittlingers our friends who we missed terribly and commit to seeing more than once every 15 years!

_AFR6345 — Lisa and Mary overlooking Camps Bay Beach

After we left Sabi Sands we flew from Skukuza to Port Elizabeth via “Joburg”. Airlink, the regional SAA carrier did not have a baggage agreement with British Air, which was our second leg. As such, we had to collect and recheck bags in Joburg with an 80 minute connection. A mistake by the wholesaler our safari agent used to book our domestic airfare but it all worked out fine!

We picked up our rental car near dusk in Port Elizabeth. A very harrowing 50 km drive to Addo through Motherwell a poor section where people jaywalk in 60 mph traffic with no lights and dark skin.

We arrived unscathed at Woodall Country House, a beautiful spot about 8 km from Addo National Elephant Park. We had a wonderful dinner and a sound sleep after a long day of travel.

The next day after breakfast we took the car up to the north gate of Addo. We didn’t have high expectations after our safari but remained open minded.

Immediately after entering we saw a watering hole on the left with a solitary elephant and a few Cape Bufffalo. Warthogs were EVERYWHERE!

We cruised to the famous watering hole where the elephants “came out around 11” according to Ruan, the ranger at Woodall. It was called Hapoor Dam and the parking lot was full of cars but no elephants. We cruised to the picnic area and Kadouw lookout which had some amazing vistas (insert photo link) and some zebras sleeping right next to the road.

Back to Hapoor and still no elephants (only warthog families at the “beach”). SO we drove on to the next watering hole: Marion Baree. Jackpot! Two to 3 dozen elephants of all sized enjoying a rather small narrow strip of water.

We saw a solitary elephant after leaving right next to the road. we shut off the engine and he went within 3 feet of us as he went behind the car

Saw some miscellaneous game as we departed the south exit. Disappointed that we had our trunck inspected as people apparently do hunt and kill wildlife within the park.

Onto the N2 and onto Knysna, 3 hours away.