18th – 19th February 2013

In all the excitement of the last few days I have totally forgotten to tell you all about the game drive we went on at Oceana Beach and Wildlife resort! It was early in the morning and it was incredibly hot already.

We met Andrew and Judy and jumped into the open top truck and drove into the park that the lodge overlooks. Within a few minutes (after driving face first through a spider web complete with spider) we were in a small clearing among almost all of the animals! Zebra, wildebeest, warthogs, giraffes, boks of all kinds and even 2 rhino’s stood around grazing in the cool bowl. The ranger explained that they had all gathered together in the coolest area of the reserve and that it was quite rare to see them all together!

We slowly drove around and watched all the animals watching us warily. Suddenly we noticed the huge giraffe coming quite quickly towards us. He strode with purpose towards the truck and I began to feel quite nervous. The ranger watched him approach us and started to drive away slowly.

He explained that this gentle giant had always been quite calm but since the birth of his most recent young had become quite the protective father. He made it clear that he didn’t want us around and strode after us for quite some time…I had never imagined that a giraffe could be so menacing, especially after spending time in the presence of Gambit! 

We moved on and continued around the park, I loved to see the Rhino’s with their adolescent children, we watched them for a while wondering how any man could harm them. Rhino poaching is such a huge issue in Africa that most reserves wont even advertise having Rhino any more. Poachers are getting so brave that they go into reserves on a night and kill whole families of the animals for their coveted tusks. Many reserves have resorted to removing the tusks of the young animals in the hope that it may in the future save their lives but the poachers have been known to kill the animals anyway.

It saddens me to the core to see these beautiful, prehistoric, almost blind by nature animals. So strong but so vulnerable and with no hope against a man with a gun.

As we drove back towards the lodge we came across a family of a kind of antelope or bok, the father of the group stood proud with his HUGE stunning antlers pointing sharply to the sky. They literally stood like a family would for a group picture. Mum and Dad and the children huddled around them…all in the middle of the road we were driving along. One of the smaller ones broke free of the group and came straight to the vehicle and nuzzled the driver! We couldn’t believe it!

For such a careful, nervous animal she was very brave! It turned out that she was raised by hand in the reserve and knew the ranger. She let us all touch her briefly and then tried to stop us moving on, she seemed to want to play as her wary family looked on!

It is such a gift to be able to watch animals in their natural habitat and to know that they are protected to some extent and can live their lives like animals in the wild can do. 

After all the excitement of the weddings and the game drive and hanging out with Andrew and Judy and their family we slept well and on our last day together we woke up surprisingly fresh and excited about the day ahead…Andrew had yet MORE surprises up his sleeve and we ate our breakfast excited to get going.

We were meeting Andrew and Judy at 9 to go and see the elephants!!!!

The breakfast buffet at Fish River Sun was the BIGGEST I had ever seen and we said Hi to everyone with their smiling faces as they hurried around the dining area congratulating us and telling us how much of a wonderful day they had all had. It was lovely that we got to thank a lot of the people that had made our day so special.

We had been given a book by the pastor and had asked all of the singers to sign it for us so we had a special keepsake. As we left to more ululating we waved and almost had a little cry at leaving, everyone had been so welcoming and I felt truly honoured to have been able to celebrate with such truly wonderful happy people.

We met with Andrew and drove out to Grahamstown and on to Kwantu the elephant reserve.
Here you can meet and feed the elephants and also RIDE one!
There is such a lovely story behind the 4 special elephants at the reserve. Rescued from death by the reserve after catastrophic fires raged through the area where they lived. Hundreds of elephants were killed by the fires, 4 whole herds completely wiped out. Hundreds and hundreds of years of ancestry gone in an instant. A herd of elephants is a family. They are all related and as a rule herds do not mix, so when after the fires subsided and 4 lone elephants were found, all female, it was decided that they would be put down.

They would never be accepted by another herd, would not be able to protect themselves alone and would sadly have very little chance of survival…until Kwantu stepped in and offered to give the four ladies a new home…together.

Their unique situations and their immense sadness at the loss of their whole families meant that the elephants became sisters. They have formed their own small herd and go everywhere together, tail in trunk.

The 4 incredible animals stood before us and amazed us just knowing their story. We were introduced to them individually and they greeted us with a salute with their trunks. We fed them and ran our hands over their rough, wrinkly skin. They just look so WISE! Like they are looking right into your heart and weighing you up. I of course fail to mention that I was wearing a wedding dress as I greeted these magnificent animals so they probably thought I had absolutely lost my mind…oh…and it was 40 degrees and there was not. a. breath. of air. Still wet hot all around us.

I was allowed to stand near the elephants to get some pictures, they all enjoyed spraying red mud up my back as they tried to cool themselves in the midday heat and next, I was asked if I would like to go for a ride with Mapula, the leader of the group at 19 years old, not yet full grown but still the size of a small building.

I was happy with the way that the animals were treated and the life they had now, they meet people and are rewarded with food treats and have a lovely swampy pool that they spend most of their down time in. They have 5 star accommodation and acres and acres of land to wander in…so I said yes please!

I climbed up onto a platform higher than Alex’s head, shimmied up my wedding dress…(sorry Elbeth) and climbed on board Mapulas enormous back. Blankets covered her rough wrinkles and I sat behind her trainer and held on tight. I needn’t worry about falling off side ways she was so wide I would have rolled twice before reaching the edge!

As wide as a queen sized bed and about as tall as a regular door frame, she was a four legged hunk of a beast but as calm as still water. All four of the elephants came on the walk although the rest of the gang, Alex, Andrew and Judy didn’t come for a ride. They just like to walk together through the veld. We strolled at a slow pace along a track in the dusty landscape and watched bok and zebras graze all around us and eagles sore above us. It was so peaceful, serene and an incredibly humbling experience.

Luckily we didn’t go too far, I was worried my skin might actually melt off in the direct sun and intense heat as we strolled back to base. We fed the elephants again to thank them for having us and waved to them as they retreated understandably to their cold swampy pond to cool off.

I was in a little bit of a daze for the rest of the day really just amazed at the experience I had just had. We drove back to Grahamstown where we had forced our cooking upon Andrew and Judy. We stayed in a gorgeous little guest house around the corner from Andrew and Judy’s and waited there for them to finish work that evening.

We caught up on some ‘work’ and then hit the stores to buy dinner, Andrew only eats chicken so we decided what a great excuse to make a roast chicken dinner. We got to the Pick and Pay (the local supermarket) and Alex realised he didn’t have his wallet. I grabbed my shopping bags and went to start shopping while he whizzed back to Applebys guesthouse to bring it. He was gone forEVER! I had finished the shopping completely and was loitering around like an undercover shop security guard or just looking totally dodgy and wondering whether I should put my meat back when he finally appeared looking EXTREMELY unhappy and very very flustered!

He couldn’t find it. He had been back to the B&B, he had emptied all of our backpacks and it was no-where…as he spoke I had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach…I reached inside the shopping bag swinging from the trolley and there it was! Alex was furious! I had honestly not even thought to look in there until THAT very moment. Oooops…anyway, we paid for our shopping and waited for Alex to calm down a little then we hit the shops to try and find some thank you gifts for Andrew and Judy. We found the perfect things…books! Wrapped them beautifully and set off to cook some chicken.

We had such a lovely night with them both, sharing travelling stories and staring in envy at Andrews world map with pins everywhere he has been. We knew we would definitely be seeing these guys again somewhere around the globe. It was hard to leave that night, knowing we wouldn’t see them again in Africa. It is the HARDEST part of making so many incredible friends on this trip, knowing that we have to leave.

Luckily with the internet the world is a smaller place now and keeping in touch is easier than ever BUT there is absolutely nothing like sitting around with food and wine and enjoying great company.

We thanked Andrew and Judy until our mouths were dry and they drove us back to our little cottage, we snuggled up and as we drifted off started to look forward to the next step of our journey around Africa.
Andrew had one last surprise lined up for us, a honeymoon night in Cintsa in the incredible Prana Lodge. They had enjoyed their own honeymoon there and loved it so much that they just wanted us to experience it too. After a long drive we arrived in a tranquil paradise hidden away in the middle of nowhere!

Our room had its own little private plunge pool and an outdoor shower, an enormous bath tub and a huge bed. It was amazing! We were informed that we would be due for a thai massage in a couple of hours and if we so wished, to retire to the bar for afternoon tea.

We did of course head over for tea and home made muffins with meringue tops and were greeted by Gail, the owner of the lodge. We chatted to her for a while, and she introduced us to a honeymooning couple from New York who we ended up having dinner with. We spent the afternoon watching the lightening strike up a good old storm and then went along for our massage.

The Thai massage was out of this world! A tiny little lady appeared next to a man who looked like a slim sumo wrestler and they washed our feet, gave us robes and asked us to lay on the floor on a mat. All I can say is I have never known so much power in such a small package! I was picked up, rolled over, bent, stretched and pulled about until my entire body felt floppy. It was incredible, if you ever get the chance to experience it, DO! I felt a million dollars…an exhausted million dollars but all those dollars all the same!

We collapsed for an hour before dinner and met our new friends, I had the best pork belly I have ever eaten (that I haven’t cooked myself)…a perfect end to an incredibly perfect day…again Andrew and Judy…there just aren’t the words to thank you enough!