Our ship's tour to the townships had been canceled, so we decided to venture out on our own. We found a taxi driver who would take us out to the Addo Elephant National Park. Little did we know, we would find such a great guide. He had lived in the bush in Namibia, was a hunter and had ran a game reserve of his own. We drove through the city and past the townships. They were huge areas of small block houses, tightly packed and crowded. Despite the changes that have taken place in the last 15 years, we were told most blacks still live under these conditions. Our driver gave us more insight into the local situation and ongoing and growing problems in South Africa. The Park, 60 miles from the city, is a sanctuary to many game species – and we were able to see loads of elephants, kudus, warthogs, ostrich and the “flightless” dung beetle! Our driver had a keen eye and could spot animals hidden from (our) view. We even saw carcasses of animals who had been recently devoured by lions. The game park was huge and we really only covered a small part of it in the 5 hours we were there! Beautiful day!
WOW,I am a captive audience! I love catching up with you and reading about your adventures, can't wait to hear and see more, looking forward to pictures!
ReplyDeleteNearly there I guess! Your trip to the game park sounded like fun, with a salutary insight into some real SA living conditions. I saw such conditions oin Soweto on 1998. The local guide was a good idea as they know where not to go too.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Cape Town. If you can get to Franschoek do so. The Cape Dutch style captivated us on our trip a few years ago, and such good wine to mellow the views still further....
Chickenpox and a long-awaited sniff of spring here. Cathy's been to the doc and been given antibiotics today to fight back on the Discovery cough and now a sinus headache. Germ-ridden passengers!
Enjoy the final phase. Love to both.
Mike & Cathy