Day 10 - Last day on the coast

J'Bay to Port Elizabeth

We woke up and headed for the beach for a long walk. Lots of nice shells to pick and some hot great surfers to watch. Beach is nice but town of J'Bay, not so much. A bit run down and architecturally uninteresting. The place we stayed (an African Experience) was right on the beach. Inspired by some locals who had parked themselves between our hotel and the beach, we decided to try to have a braai but when we got to the local grocery store, the meat either looked nasty or it had MSG added. So braai was abandoned and we drank wine and nibbled on whatever we could find that looked edible and didn't require any preparation or cutlery.


After shell picking, we drove to Port Elizabeth, checked into our hotel and headed for the beach for lunch. Port Elizabeth is not a pretty town, but the water is nice and it seems a lot more integrated and African than other places we visited. We saw quite a few mixed race couples and some Muslim women. We had lunch at Vela's Cafe which was disappointing, but followed lunch with a nice walk and then prepped for our early flight. We found a place called Fusin on Stanley Street for dinner and had some phenomenal sushi on our last day near the sea.

Day 9 - Seals don't smell so nice

Today, we actually set our alarm, got up and had breakfast and headed for the main beach for a bit of kayaking. By 10 am, we were paddling out to sea. Kirsten took the front and JJ took the back. Kirsten was not terrifically impressed with JJ's rudder skills as we seemed to cover twice as much water zig zagging back and forth than our guide who strangely paddled in a straight line. The sky was blue and the water crystal clear (enough to look out for sharks). Our guide was Arnold, a long time Plettenberg inhabitant (who does this trip on average 2x per day). We paddled for about 45 minutes at which point Arnold pointed to a peninsula about the same distance further and said that we could turn around now or continue to the peninsula to see a seal colony. With determination stubbornness, we pushed on even though it was getting rougher and we were getting tired. We finally reached the peninsula and saw about 100 seals lounging around on the rocks and playing in the surf. We didn't stay long, mostly because the smell was horrible (and our guide was worried about our ability to make it back). Thankfully, the wind and the waves were with us for the return and we got back much quicker (although JJ swore he would never share a kayak again with Kirsten due to her poor performance and strength on the way back). We went back to the hotel had some lunch and then JJ disappeared for a well-earned massage. Then it was time to say goodbye to Plettenberg and head to Jeffrey's Bay.

Day 11 - JJ loves his airport lounges

Port Elizabeth to Ulusaba via Johannesburg

Today, we got up at the crack of dawn and headed to PE airport for our 6 am flight to J'berg (notice our 'local' abbreviations - we've assimilated). Airport check in on South Africa Airlines was incredibly smooth. We're sure that this has nothing to do with the, er, "different" security standards (e.g., finally we didn't have to chug or throw away our water bottles). We arrived on time into J'berg, fully expecting to need to fend off the greatest criminals known to mankind who lurk around the airport searching for hapless tourists like ourselves. Thankfully, urban myth was just that and we successfully found our contact who took us to the first staging area for our flight into Ulusaba on the well known Federal Airlines (FA). Our flight was (un)scheduled to depart at 09:05 am. There is a special terminal about a 5 minute van drive from the main terminals for (un)scheduled flights (translation: gather at the terminal around scheduled flight time and then wait until further notice). We were greeted by the baggage handler who unloaded our bags and held them up and stated with great assertiveness, "These are your bags. I will look after your bags" (translation: open your wallets now and give me some currency to look after your bags) followed by an expectant pause. At 11:00 am, 6 of us were lead to a nine seater propeller plane by the pilot/co-pilot/flight attendant/baggage handler (the original handler seemed to have disappeared after vowing to look after our bags). The pilot/co-pilot/flight attendant/baggage handler happened to be one individual.

One hour and one stop later we landed on a small airstrip and were greeted by our Ranger, Sam. We were guided to the airport lounge (aka fancy hut with a nice deck) where we were offered bubbles or juice. Kirsten thought it was a bit early for bubbles so had an oj. JJ went for the bubbles. We chatted with our new friend Sam and JJ seemed to get comfortable in the airport lounge, so much that a 1/2 hour later, Kirsten was shooting him 'finish off your bloody glass so we can get to the lodge' looks. But to no avail, she had to resort to directness and finally said "down the hatch" and we were finally on our way to what we now know as heaven.

Ulusaba is a private game reserve on the western border of Kruger National Park. After we were shown our room and given the house rules (don't walk alone at night, always lock your doors and windows because baboons are like rock stars, they will come into your hotel room and trash the place, if you want a drink and there is no bartender, fix your own and make one for your Ranger), we set out on our first game drive. First sighting was of 4 lions who had just taken over the territory after killing one of the pack of 3 existing lions and chased the other 2 off that morning. JJ, being the fan of CSI and Law and Order, asked the Ranger what was done with the body to which he responded, "I don't know". We then saw some kudu which JJ kindly reminded us he had eaten for lunch. We then got to see elephants, impala, rhinos and a few other species whose names escape us. We were quietly watching a huge pack of impala when JJ's mobile phone range (to the tune of the Magnificent Seven) which promptly sent the pack into the brush. We stopped for a little appero but had to wrap it up quickly when it started to rain torrentially. A half hour later we were back at the lodge and soaked to the bone but thoroughly satisfied with our first safari. After changing into dry clothes, we headed to dinner where JJ charitably conversed with the lone frenchies who didn't speak a lick of English (and Kirsten conveniently feigned not speaking French). Then it was to bed...resting up for the 5am wake up call.