Blog Update – 15 – 18 January 2013

We left Willows early, bound for ADDO, but first having to drop the dogs off at Audrey.   It had been raining the night before so the ground was boggy and marshy.   John drove the campervan into the kennel parking lot but now, this was the million dollar question, how was he going to get out again…Audrey advised us not to turn on the lawn, we were likely to sink, the ground was so wet.  So, the zook was unhitched and the van was turned.   Quince and Gypsey, armed with their beds and their BARF, settled in quite happily to their new home for three days.  Now it was some ‘time out’ for the folks.

It didn’t take us longer than an hour to reach ADDO.  The road from PE to ADDO was in need of some ‘tlc’.  Potholes, narrow sides and one of the locations we went through had hundred, upon hundreds of plastic bag flowers, yuk, it looked a sight…surely people must begin to feel the effects of living like that…..it certainly doesn’t take long to rally the town and clean up.  Such apathy and degredation in the Eastern Cape, yet some places are just so beautiful like the Wild Coast.

We booked in at ADDO and found the campsite, small but neat.  All the sites are gravel but private.  Big trees, water points and ablutions within walking distance.  We found a really cool shady site and set up, then armed with binos, camera and birdbook, set out for our first game drive.    Just minutes from the gate, we were met by a hyena, wow, this was going to be a lucky trip,  I could feel it in my bones.

We wandered down to a waterhole and came across hundreds of ellies, just frolicking in the water.  Babies, juveniles, mothers, fathers, grannies and matriachs, altogether in one big swimming pool.  So gentle, slow, like they haven’t a care in the world.  We spent the rest of the afternoon just watching them playing, of course John’s camera didn’t have a break at all.

Our first evening, we had a braai, then met up with Claude and Huguette who had, had to game watch in their campervan, so we invited them to join us the next day on a game drive.  Early next morning, round 5.30am we set off with our Canadian friends.  It was their first ‘real bush safari game drive’ and with real Saffa’s nogal…..we decided to do the whole park, so went from ADDO main camp right to the end where there is another entry.   We were once again treated to a display by the ellies, second to none.  John and I, on our gamedrive later on came across two magnificent male lions, lying in the shade, close to the road..we were obviously the first spotters so had prize view, wasn’t long after that, the whole camp got to hear of the lions, so we ducked, back to camp, it was beginning to get very, very hot in the car and we hadn’t bought enough water with us.  That afternoon, we discovered the swimming pool.  With temps in the upper 40’s, we headed for an afternoon of wallowing.

Our last morning in ADDO was relaxed and a bit cooler.  We had to leave by 10ish so we could collect the dogs by noon, otherwise we would have had to collect them the following day, more expense…..we decided to head towards Willows again for the night before heading to Grahamstown.  We arrived at Inn Good Hands, just before the noon bell…the dogs were so delighted to see us, Quince just about knocked John flying and Gypsey was a close second.  They had been superbly looked after by Audrey and Co, but were delighted to say their goodbyes and climb aboard the campervan.

We stayed just the one night at Willows, it was too late to make headway to Grahamstown and we hadn’t actually had any confirmed booking arrangements with them, despite several emails which had remained unanswered, so we hoped for the best and trusted we would get in.