I'm almost (but only almost) embarrassed to tell you this is the view from our room at the Robberg Beach Lodge in Plettenberg Bay, as I ramble on pointlessly about our last few days. But someone has to do it!
What a fabulous place to be. And if I may, another shameless plug, this time for the hotel group that have been hosting us here and in the game reserve. Lion Roars Hotels https://www.lionroars.com are just simply fabulous. Yes I know that identifies one of the possible lodges we were staying in, but I am reasonably confident no would be poacher is reading this in that much detail 😉😂! And whilst I won't actually name check her without her permission, I can say that the Reservations Manager is second to none!
So here we are. Having drifted south and west, we find ourselves at our beach part of the trip. Miles of beautiful golden sand lapped (actually assaulted) by the Indian Ocean. I am sitting watching possibly the longest straight rolling wave I have ever seen. It is virtually dead straight, and at least 1 kilometre long. Doesn't look much good for surfing, I think it breaks too quickly, but it would certainly mess up your hair!
But I better go back a few days... It was hard to tear ourselves away from the beauty and excitement of our beautiful lodge in a beautiful game reserve. But we had to. Only the leopard had evaded our eagle eyes, but then our guide had seen one in 8 years so perhaps our chances were low 😉.
It was early afternoon before we got away as Andy and Elisa, hard cases that they are, opted for the final game drive on our last morning - in the rain ... and cold! Nareesa and I stayed tucked up in bed in our "tent". Judging by the shivering at breakfast we chose well, even if we missed the family of elephants crossing the road. They later turned up at the waterhole outside the lodge, just to piss Andy and Elisa off. And the buffalo had been earlier too. The sort of place you can see the wildlife without leaving the comfort of your own bar!
And so late in the afternoon, a couple of days ago, we found ourselves checking in to our guest house in Stormsriver. Not quite up to the standard of our safari lodge it had nevertheless cracked 8.7 on bookingdotcom and was the best rated accommodation in the village. Took us 5 minutes to realise some dodgy dealings had been done. 4 stars! My arse! Whist I accept they don't have responsibility for the rolling electricity blackouts that are plaguing South Africa at the moment, not having a working heater when they do have electricity is a bit crap. We sat and played cards as late as 9 o'clock in our down jackets, then headed for cold bedrooms to wrap ourselves in as many blankets as possible. Ok, it was cheap, but so is just about everything to us. The owner was charming and welcoming and friendly, but at this time of the year, without electricity, heat and, as it turned out, water because it was on an electric pump, they aren't going to get any return visitors. We cut our losses and headed for Knysna for an admittedly upmarket hotel, but for little more than an extra 50% cost. And here is an idiot at the Knysna waterfront.
And here is the sunset from that very same spot.
But all that said, we still managed a fabulous day in Tsitsikamma National Part at the mouth of the Storms River. What a beautiful place. We had intended to kayak in the gorge, but we all wimped out when we discovered that the rough sea meant a 30 minute hike first and then a freezing paddle up river. And no hot showers afterwards. They supplied wetsuits but they only work if you are actually in the water!
So we satisfied ourselves with a walk to the suspension bridge across the mouth of the river, an encounter with dassies (rock hyraxes) and, of course, a coffee and cake stop. Actually I think the cake was missing!
Our dassie encounter.
A great lunch in Stormsriver including, but not exclusively, obviously, a rather excellent Greek salad! I really should have started a points system.
So that will do for another episode of sick making junk. Just some pictures to finish, mostly of the rather magnificent Stormsriver National Park, where someone saw a leopard just a few days ago. Not us though. The hunt goes on! Not up there though.
Four idiots at the bridge.
Two intrepid adventurers (aka idiots) crossing said bridge.
Three bridges. Not the one outside Crawley.
Paying by card to get into the National Park.
So that's it from me for now. Tomorrow a long(ish) walk around the Robberg Peninsula - the big lump in the middle of the picture (no, not me). Perfect weather predicted, around 20º, cloudless skies and little wind. Factor 50 at the ready.
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