We said goodbye to our home at The Nightjar and drove along the N72 through beautiful rolling hills and farm land towards the ‘Sunshine Coast’. Luckily for us it was living up to its name and the winter in South Africa was turning out to be perfect. Clear blue skies and bright sunshine. A tad nippy in the evening but we could cope with that.
Our destination was Kenton-on-Sea which turned out to be a lovely seaside town nestled between two rivers. We immediately warmed to the place and the helpful lady in the tourist information office sorted us out with accommodation at ‘Withnail’. We were hoping Uncle Monty was not in residence! It turned out that ‘Withnail’ is the home of another lovely older couple, Gail and Mike. We had our own house complete with huge living room, kitchen and most importantly DSTV (SA’s Sky) so we could watch some of the world cup. We immediately asked if we could stay for 4 nights instead of the original 2 as we felt so at home. Luckily they could accommodate us and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.
The coastline here is really incredible and we took this all in as we walked along the beach around Kenton. The coastline is very dramatic with huge sand dunes, rocky outcrops and massive waves pounding in. The beaches are devoid of development and the sand stretches for as far as the eye can see. The ocean looked a tad chilly, so didn’t go for a dip.
Addo Marine National Park
We were super comfortable at Withnail but we dragged ourselves out for a day trip despite the grey clouds gathering overhead. We were heading for the marine section of Addo NP close to the small town of Alexandria. This area of natural beauty has recently been incorporated into control of SAN parks and so the wildlife should get better protection.
There are 2 walking trails here, a 2 day hike and a short 7km day walk. Due to the unpromising cloud and drizzle we decided to do the day walk. The trail is called the ‘Dassie Trail’, which is what South Africans call hyrax. So we were hopeful of catching site of some of the closest relatives to the elephants we had seen in the main section of Addo.
The trails was clearly marked and we followed it through the forest. As this was the marine section of Addo we were expecting views of the ocean and the famous ‘Alexandria Dunes’. I guess you have to do the 2-day hike for that as we were stuck in the forest. However, it was a very beautiful forest and we enjoyed the short walk before having our picnic back at HQ.
To get back to Kenton we took the bumpy gravel back road along the coast via Boknes. Now we were afforded the sea views we had craved and we could even see the massive mounds of sand stretching along the coastline.
Bathurst
Gail had recommended visiting Bathurst on a Sunday in order to visit the farmers’ market. So, following a lazy morning we set off for Bathurst which is an old settlers village founded by the British in the 1820s. It was only about a 45 minute drive through lovely scenery and is only 10 minutes inland from the seaside town of Port Alfred.
We arrived in the small village and were immediately taken with the place. A lot of visitors come for the Sunday market and a mooch around the many craft shops and art galleries. Unfortunately due to our slow start we had managed to miss the market and had to settle for lunch in the Pig and Whistle. This is the centre of village life and is in fact South Africa’s oldest pub. It was very busy and we had to settle for a seat outside. It was actually a bit too nippy for dining alfresco but being the stalwarts that we are we braved it out. Our stalawrtness was tested severely as we had to wait about an hour for our roast pork (well we were in the ‘Pig’) dinner. The fodder was ok and good value at £4 but by now we were too cold to enjoy it properly.
After lunch we walked around the village and drove up to the ‘toposcope’ which provides wonderful 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside and even down to the sea at Port Alfred. We popped into Port Alfred on the way back to Kenton. It looks a nice town set on the Kowie River and has a fine stretch of shoreline, but we only admired the coast from the car as it was rather blustery.
Pumba Private Game Reserve
We decided to take advantage of a special offer we had seen advertised in conjunction with the Grahamstown Festival. At R750 pp for a game drive and lunch at the lodge it seemed a good deal as the private game reserves are mega-bucks to stay at. We hoped, but didn’t expect to see the famous ‘big 5’! All their literature bangs on about the big 5 and they reckoned we would even spot their celebrated white lions.
We arrived at the reserve, signed in, had a brew while the ranger gave us a briefing. He thought we should see lions and elephants but not rhino as they have had some bad times recently. Six of these incredible beast had been poached on their land in the last 3 weeks. When will people stop killing these creatures? So, due to this illegal killing the rhinos are even more nervous than normal and therefore sightings are now rarer.
The park is beautiful and we spotted lots of warthogs, well how could you visit Pumba and not see that creature, along with lots of antelope. We searched all over the park for the lion and elephant with not even a sniff. However we did pick up some rhino tracks and seconds later I spotted an armour-plated grey rear end disappearing into the bush. So we had spotted the most elusive animal in the reserve! One of the highlights was watching the giraffes. We love these long-necked critters and it was interesting to watch one close up struggling to digest some bones. We learned that they chew on bones to supplement the calcium in their diet. It is however not common giraffe behaviour so good to observe. Saying that giraffes are not endemic to this area of South Africa as the trees here are not really to their liking. This is the reason there are no giraffes in the Eastern Cape national parks such as Addo.
We were getting extremely cold by now despite the fleece-lined poncho we had been given and were glad to get to the lodge for lunch. The spread provided was tasty and wine was even thrown in for free so who could turn that down? We were a little disappointed with the animal sightings but all in all an enjoyable trip and fair value for a private reserve.
On the way back to Kenton we dropped in to Grahamstown to see what the festival was all about. We wandered around hoping to get a feel for the festival vibe and see some street performances. However, we didn’t really experience much apart from some stalls selling crafts that you see all over Africa. I think you need to be more focused and pick out the events you want to see from the tome of a programme. The town itself is a pleasant place with lots of historical buildings and nice looking cafes. We drove back via Bathurst and it still looked a nice village on a grey Monday afternoon.
