Addo National Park
After our guided adventures in Kruger National Park, we ventured off for 2 weeks on our own. We took an early morning flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth on the south east coast of South Africa. We rented a car from Hertz and headed to Addo Elephant National Park for a self drive. It rained on the hour drive to the park and we saw for the first time, townships. So many black Africans live in appalling situations with little or no services like electricity, water or sewage. Later, in Cape Town we visited a township.
We stopped for a meal in the park before beginning our drive through the park. The rules for the drive were... 1. don't get out of your vehicle at anytime. 2. stay on the road at all times (some paved, some graded dirt) 3. avoid running over, turtle, snails, and piles of elephant dung...and dung beetles....oh yes, DRIVE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD! AlWAYS!
Port Elizabeth and a little south
We opted to spend our first two night in Saint Francis Bay, just south of Port Elizabeth. Our flatlet was over a garage on a canal with kayaks and canoes available. It had a small kitchenette, bath, sitting area inside and a private deck and the important comfy kingsized bed. The owners were delightful and let us wash two loads of clothes and hang dry them. We walked the beaches and shopped the small village and tried five different restaurants. Food was very inexpensive.
My sketch time is mostly limited to the time we wait for food to get to our tables now. No more leisurely afternoon breaks where I can draw and Christopher can take a nap. This little community at Saint Francis Bay was delightful. We met a couple walking to the local dining spot, (a water sport dockside restaurant) and joined them for dinner...pizza and wine. It was second pizza is free night and I ordered a glass of a recommended Merlot to go with! It was $5 and they left the bottle on the table...turned out that was the price for the whole bottle. I took it home and shared with our airbnb hosts.
I learned that Chenin Blanc, a favorite wine in South Africa, is always served with ice on the side. I like it that way, cold and refreshingly pleasant! We spent two nights here and had only a short two hour drive to our next airbnb.
