Port Elizabeth, South Africa

            Sunday, 11 Feb 2018 – Port Elizabeth is one of the largest cities in South Africa.  It is situated in the Eastern Cape Province, 478 miles east of Cape Town.  However, we didn’t go into the city at all.  This morning, we met in the Insignia Lounge for our 5-hour tour by 8:45 AM, and by 9:00 our bus had departed the pier.  For the next 1.25 hours the bus headed north across the Swartkops River to the Addo Elephant Park.  The scenery was not too much different from the Southwestern U.S.A; most of the dry, reddish ground was bare except for dwarf junipers.  However, in some places we saw fruit trees planted in neat rows, obviously watered by irrigation.  Then, after a 20 minute “comfort stop” at the Park entrance, we boarded a 4X4 safari vehicle for a 2-hour ride through the Elephant Park.

This spectacular national park stands as living proof of the success of South Africa’s conservation efforts.  The original section of the Addo National Park was founded in 1931, in order to provide a sanctuary for the mere 11 remaining elephants in the area.  Proving to be very successful, the park currently houses more than 600 elephants and a large number of other mammals.  According to Carl, our guide, the park is now as large as the country of Belgium!

Although we had been told that Port Elizabeth is usually cooler than Cape Town, we were surprised to find ourselves in light rain before reaching the park entrance.  After all, South Africa is suffering from a severe drought, and we had heard the forecast of a 10 percent chance of rain!  However, when we boarded, seats in the open 4X4 were already rather wet.  Since our vehicle (unlike other 4X4’s sitting nearby) had heavy plastic windows that could be loosened from the canvas top above and allowed to hang at the open sides (thereby pretty much blocking the rain as well as the view), our group was not provided with plastic ponchos.  But the two of us had brought along ponchos from a previous cruise; but fortunately for rest of our group, the rain didn’t last very long.

Our vehicle allowed us to observe the animals in a fairly close manner – if we were lucky.  Soon, a lion was spotted in the distance; despite, Jesse’s continued efforts to point him out to Sally, she never actually saw him.  Next, we saw a zebra, closer and on our side of the road.  (We saw a whole herd of zebras later.)  The next animal we spotted was a warthog.  Although he was alone, we soon saw a family of warthogs, some quite young.  One or perhaps two types of antelope (called kudu) also came into view.  However, the greatest treat was to see a herd of elephants fairly close: several adult males, many females and younger elephants, and at least one baby still suckling.  Possibly 100 or more elephants were in that group.

African Elephants

These particular elephants are a somewhat smaller species of the African elephant, and are reddish rather than grey like most African elephants.  Although the adult males were easy to spot, they also seemed to carry themselves in a different way from the females.  Time passed far too fast as we sat watching the elephants (no binoculars required), and our guide announced that, regrettably, we would have to head back to the entrance.

Before leaving the park, we saw more animals of the types we had already seen.  After making use of the comfort center, we boarded our bus again for the trip back to the Insignia.  Although we reached the café at 2:00 PM, normal closing time for lunch, it stayed open later today to feed the hungry people returning from their tours.  And we were grateful.  Between lunch and dinner, Sally took a long nap, making up for a skimpy sleep last night.  At dinner in the café, we happened to meet up with Christina and Spiro, so we ate with them and shared our adventures, and later, danced with them in the Insignia Lounge.  During dinner, they told us that they had spent a few weeks in South Africa during the early 1980s, and described how dispirited and hopeless the black workers in the “white” area looked at the time, and remarked that they no longer appear that way today.