Addo Elephant Park

            

Vervet monkeys

Yesterday my parents and I completed the journey along the Garden Route highway to the harbor city of Port Elizabeth in Eastern Cape, South Africa. After a leisurely English breakfast at our guest house, we drove through Plettenberg Bay to the sugar-sand stretch of beach along the shore. The morning was just beginning when we got there and walking beside the soft tumbling waves was peaceful. Although the day was bright and the sun was shining, few people were out on the sand, presumably because of the winter season and cold breezes. Before heading out on the highway road, my parents pulled into a secluded gated forest. The painted board by the entrance read: “Monkeyland.” Perfect. What a wonderful surprise; my parents know me too well. My mom and I proceeded to go on a tour through the protected secondary jungle where we encountered species of monkeys from all over the globe. Each animal had been reclaimed from laboratories, zoos, peoples’ homes, and circuses. The tour was quite informative and for once, I was impressed with their conservation ethics.

Shirley and Grace at the canopy bridge in Monkeyland

African sunset

            We only stopped once more before PE—in a place called Jeffrey’s Bay and Strand Beach. The stretch of shoreline is world renowned for “supertube” surfing waves. Although the waves appeared gentle, there were still surfers trotting out into the bay and toppling in the surf. The water of the Indian Ocean felt cool to the touch, but that didn’t stop little children of every color from scampering in the foam and rolling in the mud. The rest of our journey led through forests with vines and thorns and herbaceous plants tangled in dense thickets, vast canyons and ravines with rivers far below hurling themselves into the sea, deep sapphire-blue mountains with mist shrouding their peaks, and hilly grasslands containing hundreds of asymmetrical boulders. We reached Port Elizabeth before dark and checked in to another guest house where a kind woman amiably welcomed us to a spacious room inside a walled manor. We drove to the coast for dinner at a restaurant called Ocean Breeze for a meal of prince prawns, hake, and calamari. While we sat, we watched the sun paint the sky with flames of orange and red before setting below the mountains.

Townships, remnants of apartheid

            The adventures of today were possibly even more exhilarating. We woke up early to head out to the Addo Elephant National Park. As we drove, the red African sun began to rise above the plains, illuminating rows and rows of cookie-cutter houses confined behind tall fences. Townships. Areas that during apartheid were reserved for non-white people outside the city ranks. I still am only beginning to understand the story of this country’s past.

Zebras

Kudu

            Addo Elephant Park exceeded our expectations. We drove around the large preserve in our own vehicle and without a guide and still managed to see an abundance of wildlife. The park encompasses 180,000 hectares (444,700 acres) and contains over 550 elephants. Most of the park lies along low rolling hills comprised of thick acacia woodlands and savannahs. The morning was lovely and we discovered hyenas, buffalo, warthogs (these guys were everywhere!), bushbuck, kudu, zebras, jackals, flamingos, mongoose… but no elephants. We were beginning to become concerned when lunch time rolled around and not a glimpse of an elephant had occurred. The frequent dung along the road told us they had to be around somewhere!

Warthog

Luckily, just as we pulled into a picnic area for lunch, two elephants were drinking at a nearby waterhole! We sat watching the pair until they slowly lumbered off up the hill in the distance.

African elephant herds

That was just the beginning… we drove into the heart of the reserve and pulled up at a large watering hole in an open savannah to find herds of buffalo, kudu, and elephants hydrating themselves in the afternoon sun. We stayed at the watering hole for an hour and a half… by the end of that time, we had seen almost 100 elephants that came within 10 meters of our car. Matriarchal herds with elephants of all sizes came and went from the water’s edge, socializing with each other and drinking deeply before plodding back into the acacias. It was spectacular and left us euphoric as we drove past eland, ostriches, hartebeest, and more elephants to the Southern edge of the park before heading back to our guest house for the night.

I can't reach!

The Garden Route

The view from the Garden Route road that leads East from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth along the Indian Ocean coastline

St. James, our point of origin

We spent today traveling across the splendid African coastline, leaving Cape Town behind for an adventure across South Africa. The Garden Route road leads East from Cape Town and travels directly amid the Indian Ocean and coastal mountains. The path along Africa’s Southernmost coast follows the steep montane slopes as they chart parallel to the shore. The mountain ridges amend the horizon to divulge an erratic and jagged line of peaks with serrated rims. The mountain line is backlit by a soft blue sky marbled with thin clouds. The mountains seem to stand as silent sentinels protecting the magnificent coast of Africa. The coastal beauty flourishes with bright flowers, deep emerald hills, and rises and valleys studded with pale boulders that glisten in the winter sun. If there is any place on Earth where the Garden of Eden would exist, it is here. After all, some of the oldest hominid remains were found in South Africa.

Coastal mountains

Try spotting all the penguins here

The beginning of the journey intersected through the wine country, a place completely evocative of Southern France. Enchanting vineyards and picturesque cottages flecked the vibrant green low-rising hills. Our path then led ephemerally along the coastal bluffs and rocky cliffs that plunge into the Indian Ocean. The red African dirt, turquoise sea, and green hues of the fynbos native Cape vegetation were utterly captivating. The coastal cliffs rose abruptly from the water and were tilted at peculiar angles presumably from tectonic movement. The faded-orange rocks were patterned with undulating striations, as if God had used an enormous paintbrush to decorate the rock faces. The effects of cumulative oceanic currents were evident in the disintegrated rock forms along the shore that looked like conspicuous pillars and columns. Along those rocky shores, we stopped for a moment to observe one of the largest African Penguin breeding colonies in the world. Hundreds of the gregarious flightless birds waddled along the rocks and basked in the warm morning sun. Monogamous pairs of penguins worked together to raise fluffy, demanding chicks. A flock of cormorants nested on rocky pillars nearby.

African penguins

Hermanus

We made one more stop along the coast at the whale-watching capital of the world, Hermanus, before the road began to head inland for a few hours. The landscape inshore was no less impressive than the coast. The terrain opened up into valleys of green farmlands and pastures with grazing herds of sheep. We passed fields of bright mustard flowers, contrasting radiantly with the blue mountains. Aloe plants blossoming with tall orange inflorescences lined the roadsides with color. Meticulously planted crop fields carved twisted furrows in the earth. We passed flocks of ostriches, looking curiously like gigantic feathered dinosaurs running across the hills. 

Mustard fields

Sunset in Knysna

Eventually, the road crested at a superb vista overlooking the vast ocean. We followed the coastline once more. The hills rose higher and higher as we reached the shore. The vegetation became reminiscent of California chaparral and coastal scrub and, for a moment, I felt like I was back on the Central Coast. The road led through a patch of deeply forested hills contiguous with the sea and we kept our eye on the horizon for calving whales and dolphins. We continued along the Garden Route through Monterey Pine and Blue Gum plantations, making the densely vegetated hills feel oddly like another familiar world. We could glimpse the smooth ocean in the spaces between hills. We passed through small European-esque coastal villages with pastel-painted houses stacked up along the hillsides, the front windows facing the sea. As we made a momentary rest stop in the harbor town of Knysna, the sun set behind the mountains, illuminating the clouds with shades of gold. We walked around Knysna, a charming upscale town with harbor canals dividing rows of chic shops and seashore restaurants.

It was only a few more kilometers until we reached our destination in Plettenberg Bay. We pulled into a charming guest house where we unloaded in a suite of two bedrooms, kitchen, and bathroom. We spent the evening venturing into town to explore. Plettenberg, a coastal African town, oddly reminded me of a European ski village with the enchanting shops lining a main road. It is a quaint and quiet place. We found a small take-out restaurant run by a delightful couple for a dinner of seafood and peri-peri chicken before heading in for the night. 

            The only perplexing things of the day were the chaotic slums we sporadically encountered mixed in between the primarily white towns. We would find ourselves abruptly surrounded by tin shanties, trash piles, and soiled children. The shacks would extend beyond the hills, choking the landscape with claustrophobic human presence and trading the vibrant green flora for gray and brown filth. The slums would flicker by as we sped past and vanish just as suddenly as they had come, almost forgotten and concealed in such a resplendent landscape. 

The Splendid Cape

Panoramic view down the Cape Peninsula from Table Mountain

Every moment I spend in this city I fall more and more in love. I continually find myself speechless with the splendor and magnificence of the landscape. Whether I am on the mountain where I work overlooking the valley and ocean below or driving along the striking coastline, this place has entirely captured my heart. Probably the most exhilarating day I spent in Cape Town occurred last week with a very kind local friend who so graciously took me around to all the fantastic attractions of Africa’s Southern city. We took the cable car up Table Mountain, one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. We drove along the vibrant coasts of both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. We walked the sugar-sand beaches in Fish Hoek. We drove along the Cape Peninsula where the mountains meet the sea with a thousand colors. We went to Boulder’s Beach where we saw wild African penguins and one curious penguin stepped on my toe. This may just be the most beautiful city on Earth. It is difficult to paint a picture with words of the beauty of this place, so I will use photos instead. By the end of that wonderful day, I decided that I never want to leave. Thank you, Matt, for showing me your stunning city.

The city

The Table Mountain Cable Car-- it goes straight to the top

Cape Town

The side of Table Mountain

The Cape Peninsula 

Proteas and Table Mountain

The coast

Fish Hoek

The bold little penguin who stepped on my toe

Boulders Beach

African Penguins