Garden Route - Elephants and Mountains (day 11) Wed 18/12/2002   Left PE driving aimlessly through an industrial areal on the outskirts, finally reaching the correct road that would take us up north towards the Addo Elephant Park. The sighting of an Elephant had been one of the main goals of my sister which now was finally about to come true. Got to the park and after having purchased some water on this very hot day we drove our super Golf into the enclosure to seek out some of the 322 odd Elephants living in the park. After some small and far away sightings we succeeded at seeing a group of 3 bulls at one of the water holes which would cross the road only a short distance away from our car. Our lucky strike didn't stop there though, after some more driving we came across two large herds at a different watering hole, with lots of young elephants having a good time playing with each other or bathing in the muddy water, of which we naturally took lots of pictures. The afternoon we spent driving up into a mountain range between Grahamstown and King Williams Town where we would be spending the night "Away with the Faries". The place did not exactly enchant Nicole at first sight, but again we managed to avoid the dorm and got our own little Xhosa hut with a small kitchen and bathroom, set in a little garden up the road with a fantastic view of the Hogsback mountains. Hogsback's Fairies (day 12) Thu 19/12/2002   Started early and went on a walk through the forrest at the bottom of the garden from the hostel, after having taken some pictures of the 3 hogs in the morning sunshine. The walk would take us in a large circle around to three waterfalls, the farthest and largest being called Madonna and Child where we stopped for a short bath. Returned to our hut for a small snack and then headed off towards the hogs, the higest rising just above 1850 metres. Found the 4x4 track which according to our hostel staff was easily drivable with a normal car completely impossible to navigate and turned back to find a more accessible road. Started on our ascent from 1200 metres but due to Nicole's fatigue we turned back at around half way, which turned out to be a great move as the top of the hogs were getting covered in clouds. Had some drinks at the Bar after home cooked dinner and mused about our incredible luck with the Xhosa hut and the weather.	Away with the Faries - Bag End, Hydrangea Lane - Ph:(045)962 1031
Elephant Bulls - Addo Elephant Bull - Addo Addo Elephant Park Elephant Family Fireplace in Hogsback Hut Xhosa Hut - AwtF Pano Away with the Faries Hogsback Mountains Madonna and Child Waterfalls Pano Madonna and Child Nicole in Waterfalls Richard in Waterfalls Richard in front of Falls Nicole Complaining about Hike Return from Hike Breakfast Outside Hut
Buccaneers in Cinsta (day 12) Fri 20/12/2002   Started our drive down from Hogsback towards East London where we had lunch at the seafront in o'hagans pub celebrating Nicole's Irish connection, after which we continued on to "Buccaneers Hostel" at Cinsta about 30 minutes drive East of East London along the coast. The hostel consistently gets rave reviews because of it's location, food, atmosphere and activities program they put on for guests - turns out the location really is quite spectacular overlooking the Cinsta lagoon and the Wild Coast, with some very nice chalets that sleep 6 people in 3 rooms, sharing a bathroom and kitchen. Wandered along the beach in the afternoon and had a mouthwatering evening braai at the hostel bar, after which I proceeded to get very drunk talking to Matt the barman and Suzanne a Kiwi working in London. Ended up being the last guests stumbling out of the bar together with Matt at 4:30 in the morning - what an unforgettable evening.	Buccaneers Backpackers Ph:(043) 734 3012
View from Room in Cinsta Visitors in Room Port St Johns
Port St. Johns (day 13) Sat 21/12/2002   After a small breakfast on the large sundeck of the Buccaneers at 9 in the morning we started on our drive to Port St. Johns, however since I was still completely drunk Nicole would be driving all the way (3.5 hours). Unfortunately she did drive a little too fast in some places and was propmtly caught for speeding, resulting in a R200 fine, which she cleverly negotiated down from the original R700. Arrived in PSJ in the early afternoon after having passed many dead dogs and a dead horse in the middle of the road and checked into the Ikaya hostel which is located in the middle of a subtropical rainforrest just off Second Beach. The hostel was well endowed with chickens and kitchen equipment but suffered slightly from the absence of a shower, so we ended up using the hose in the garden as a makeshift one. Walked along the Second Beach and almost checked into another hotel for the second night but ended up staying at Ikaya in the end. Dinner was very nice at the Delicious Monster just above our hostel with some cool live music and outdoor dining. On a more general note, the coastal region here in the Transkei was noticeably more humid and hot than East London and the vegetation seemed much greener and denser than along the other parts of the coast we had visited. Very impressive was also the Mngazana River mouth with it's steep canyon like features and the large reddish brown river flowing through it below. The Wild Coast (day 14) Sun 22/12/2002   As we had no bread left we walked to the next door lodge that was serving breakfast only to be told by the owner that there were already 4 people there and he was expecting another group of 4, hence would not be able to serve us breakfast, it being Sunday after all. So we drove into town and bought our own stuff at the very well stocked Boxer Supermarket and headed off on a hike along the coast to the sugar slug rock. We reached the rock after about an hour and stopped there for snacks and a short dip in the rockpool there. Returned to our hostel in the evening and cooked our own dinner after another hose shower in the garden. Went to bed very early as we were planning to leave at 5 in the morning to return to East London and the nice Buccaneers hostel.	Ikaya Second Beach - Ph:(047) 564 1266
Rockpool Richard Rockpool Nicole Hike Along Wildcoast Sunrise Near PSJ Hut at Sunrise Near PSJ
Return to Cinsta (day 14) Mon 23/12/2002   Our plan to get going early succeeded and we started driving at sunrise which turned out to be about 4:50 am. The early start and the drive through the bright green and yellow coloured huts on the rolling hills of the Transkei at sunrise proved to be very spectacular, so we stopped for a quick panorama photo some 40km short of Umtata. The idyllic scenery would soon be overshadowed by a fatal accident which we passed only minutes later, with people still wandering around in shock or lying on the ground. This was an extremely sobering experience as we were discussing wether we would have actually been able to help (there were already several stopped cars and an abulance had already been called) without gloves and other AIDS protection. Got into East London at 9:00 and headed for a cinema to watch the second part of the Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers. Must have been the cheapest show as we both only paid about 2 EUR to see the 3 hour film - incredible. The film was awesome with truly magnificent shots of the landscape and the battles between Orks and Man but did not have the same depth to the story as the first installement. Had a picknick lunch outside the mall and headed back to our hostel in the afternoon, which we would spend on the beach. After having cooked a small dinner we returned to the bar where the pub quiz was about to start, didn't last all the way through the very exhaustive quiz though and took off to bed early. The last of the fun along the Garden Route in part 4.	No Map Buccaneers (see 20/12/02 for details)