Thankfully, fate was on our side this time! My dad is notorious for getting flat tires on a certain dirt road in Washington, but here, he has managed to weave in and out of the many potholes along the dirt roads in Addo Elephant Park without a flat.
After the rental car incident, we drove up to a citrus farm near Addo. Part of it had been turned into a Bed & Breakfast. I have no idea how my mom found it, but it was super cool. Mom and I cooked dinner in a very badly stocked kitchen, but it turned out great. The next day, we drove into the park for our last game drive of the trip. We saw a bunch of new animals. A tortoise, two Black-Backed Jackals, a Red Hartebeest, an Eland, and a whole herd of Cape buffalo; just to name a few. In the earlier drives, my dad said that it felt like a zoo, because the animals were fenced into the park. He only took this back when we saw the herd of Cape buffalo bathing themselves in a water hole. It was a great day full of family time and fun.
From Addo, we drove to Jeffery's Bay. I know my mom gave most of the details, but one of the highlights was the Oreo milkshake at Kitchen Window's.
Ben closed his eyes right before mom took the picture. Standard.
After Jeffery's Bay, we went to a small town near Storms River Village called Tsitsikamma, pronounced "titseekamma". After a day of rain and puking, we attempted to go for a hike nearby. Key word being "attempted". The river had flooded over on to the trail, so we just sat down and had a snack instead.
The next day, we went into the national park and hiked the first part of the Otter Trail, the most famous backpacking trail in South Africa. It was amazing. The view of the coast was stunning, and the water was a beautiful shade of aquamarine.
Tsitsikamma was wonderful (minus the puking incident), and I would love to go there again some day. The next post will include my birthday and the De Hoop Nature Reserve. (It turns out, ostriches are really weird, and should not be considered birds.)
Bye for now!
-Abby
Abby, I’m so jealous of all these animal sightings! I never heard of a Red Hartebeest but looked it up and love its long “painted” face! As you probably can guess, I’m also super jealous about that Oreo shake!!!
ReplyDelete- Jeff
Abby, this is a good post. I enjoyed reading it. You may wonder why this comment is coming so many days after your post. The answer is that I am 71 years old and until I was about 67 or so, I had never heard of a "post," except that word used to describe sending a letter in the mail. I have had trouble "finding" your blog posts. Aunt Kristi sent me the link in an email, but then her email disappeared among my older emails. Anyway, I am catching up now.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you and your mom intersperse photos in your posts. And I think you chose the exactly correct word to describe the color of the water, aquamarine. I agree ostriches are not birds because they cannot fly, right? Can you think of another "bird" like creature that cannot fly? It is the kiwi, and national bird of New Zealand.
Love, Grandpa Bill