Sand sculpture
Plettenberg Bay view from our balcony
We spent 3 nights at the very quirky but lovely hotel “Grand Café and Rooms”. Nobody can accuse it of being a bland chain hotel!
Plettenberg Bay (or “Plett” to the locals) has some very nice beaches and restaurants.
We met up with Bodil & Jacob, a Danish couple from our Namibia tour group for dinner as they were staying at an Elephant sanctuary nearby. We got on very well with them and hope to see them again in Scotland or Denmark soon.
We visited Monkeyland. The monkeys are free within a large forest park. There isn’t enough natural food in the forest so they come down for extra meals.
Monkeyland has Capuccins, Vervet, Gibbon, Squirrel, and Howler monkeys.
Funky Gibbon
Capuccins are the most common monkeys in the park. They’re named after the monk’s caps just like the coffees. They’re not so frothy though.
Cheeky Capuccin
They have the world’s biggest collection of ring-tailed lemurs – even more than in their native Madagascar. Lemurs aren’t monkeys though so maybe they should have their own “Lemurland”.
Ring-tailed lemurs with babies
The next day we visited Tenikwa wildlife centre. They rehabilitate animals for return to the wild where possible. We went for a morning walk with Duma the cheetah. The safety instuctions were basically to stay 5 metres away, don’t turn your back, and don’t run. I don’t think a 5 metre head start would help much if Duma decided to run for you though. I don’t think the direction you’re facing would matter much either.
Duma walking 5 metres away
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- Duma considering where to go
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- Duma roaring (OK it was just a yawn)
We then watched Duma and the other cheetahs being fed their breakfast of raw meat. I’m not quite sure why we went for a walk just before Duma got his breakfast though. Maybe the handlers hoped to save some chicken.
The centre has a white lion. A genetic mutation which means that it can never be released as they are killed by their relatives in the wild. It’s not only humans that are racist.
White lion roaring (OK – it was just yawning too)
We walked through the enclosures of the some other big cats with our guide.
Caracal
Serval
Meerkat on sentry duty
We didn’t walk through the Leopard’s enclosure though. Apparently it would definitely eat us, and even the guides can’t go in.
Leopard roaring (OK it was just yawning too)
St. Francis Bay was a lovely stopover with a Port and a Cape of the same name. Maybe St. Francis used his Cape to conceal the Port?
Boats definitely need a lighthouse to keep them away from this coast and rocks.
Cape St. Francis lighthouse
We’ve never seen sea anything like this. It wasn’t like waves rolling in a line from the sea. The whole sea was up and down in all directions. It was hard to stand still for a photo.
Dramatic waves
We spent a night in St. Francis Bay and headed off towards Port Elizabeth the next day. We made the mistake of driving through PE city centre which wasn’t pleasant.
Michelle somehow found a penguin sanctuary nearby, and got a final penguin fix. She’s addicted to them, although I’m not sure if she’s really searching for a chocolate biscuit.
Port Elizabeth was really just a stop for us to catch the first of our 3 flights home early the next morning. We were actually the first to check-in, go through security, and had airside to ourselves for a bit before we boarded the flight to Jo-burg.
Now back home for a few weeks before heading to South East Asia via New Zealand for Christmas with Cameron and Eithne and Hong Kong for New Year. We’re going backpacking to Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Southern Thailand.
