Day 100: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

We had heard not so good things about Port Elizabeth, so when we asked the excursions group and going to a game reserve, we said that we did not want to sit on a motor coach as it drove through the park. They said that they were working on a trip that used jeeps, so we put down tentative. A few days before the stop, they said that they confirmed the jeeps so we said yes to the excursion. We had to do a different immigration thing for South Africa, so booking the excursion through the ship expedited the departure process, and we were off and on our way pretty quickly. It was an hour and a half to the game reserve, and we were surprised with how beautiful it was after all of the negative comments we’d heard. We passed other game reserves and saw giraffes, zebras and ostriches on the way. When we arrived, we grabbed a drink and snacks and loaded up on the jeeps.

Our driver was the first one out and drove to a hilltop, pulled out his binoculars and drove down a hill to this

They said they have the “big 5”, which are lions, leopards, buffalo, rhinos and elephants, IIRC. We didn’t expect to see all 5, but one or 2 would be good!

We were cruising down a rugged road (we really did need the 4wd vehicles) and there was an elephant. Our guide, Pumbs, reversed and took us towards the Elephant who was ambling away. As we were watching him, we spotted another on the hill a ways away. Then another popped out of the bush, and the there were three.

Before lunch, we drove around a bit more, and saw the skeleton of a giraffe killed by lions, and another of the big 5:

They took us to a scrumptious lunch, where everything tasted better than the last. They fed the monkeys before we arrived so they wouldn’t harass us for our food! As we headed back to our busses after lunch, we hoped to see the lions, but alas, it wasn’t to be. All in all a fantastic day! That evening back on the ship, everyone seemed to be smiling, having had similar good experiences at the various game parks surrounding Port Elizabeth! That night, we celebrated our French friend, Hugetta’s birthday

What a memorable day!