Our next stop was just a few hours down the road at Jeffery's Bay (J-Bay). We found a nice place to have lunch and more importantly, a milkshake. Took a bit of a snooz on the beach and jumped back in the car for our final push to our destination, Addo. Once again we were unsure of what we would find. We arrived in a lush, amazing setting. We were greeted by two beautiful german shepherds and the owner, Dave. We were shown to our room and Jess and I were in a bit of shock. We were pretty sure that we were being shown the wrong room. There is a beautiful view over looking  a river. The room itself was beautiful from the outdoor shower to the porcupine quill lampshade. We were both pretty certain this was not in our budget. As it turned out, we had been upgraded. The rooms we were supposed to have were being renovated and as a result we got bumped into what looked like the best room in the place.

 
The next morning we awoke and drove to the game park. Addo Elephant Park lived up to it's name. We saw more Elephants than I could have ever imagined. We spent the day gnawing on biltong and dried fruit.

 

One Great Raodtrip

Ingredients:

• One sturdy vehicle
• Dried fruit nuts and biltong, enough to sustain you through hours and hours of driving
• Ipod loaded with songs you can sing along to
• you best friend in the seat next to you.
• one map book preferably with tattered pages and a lot of character

Shake vigorously for 3-10 days and enjoy.

It was Monday afternoon, Jess and I had just finished helping with a new program where she works at the sustainability institute (more about that later). We rushed to her little farm and packed all of the necessities and we hit the road with the killers blaring. We started our little adventure off just perfectly. As we drove the sun sunk behind the mountains of the western cape and the stars came out to guide us to our first destination. We made it to Storms River in just 51/2 hours. That was some kind of record. The journey seemed to fly by, but by the time we got there we were pretty exhausted and ready to flop into bed. We had no idea what to expect at the Tube n' Axe. We walked up to a backpackers filled with young people and one very friendly bartender who showed us to our diggs for the night. We were pretty happy to find two beds and a door that locked. We fell into bed and slept beautifully. In the morning we awoke to find that our first stop was actually stunning.

 
Jess decided to take a little nap in the morning sunshine.


Jess took this shot as I looked out at the beautiful view.

We decided to have a little hike at Storms River National park to the Swinging bridges. The hike was easy and the views were stunning. We took in the sounds and smells and enjoyed every step. The bridges were long and narrow and stretched across a beautiful blue river mouth.




 







Looking down it becomes obvious that the confluence is home to many many sharks. It is a bit of a thrill to walk over sharks on a swinging bridge. On the hike back we decided it would be a good idea to walk down to one last little cove.

 Jess and I couldn't help ourselves. We stripped down to our skivvies and jumped in. The water was so refreshing, it was a relief to wash off that film of dirt and sweat. After our swim we scampered past the enclaves of tourists and jumped in the jeep to continue on our adventure.

There is something fascinating about sitting with a troop of vervet monkeys. They are so playful and child like while at the same time, incredibly strong and agile. It is like watching cirque du soleil on steroids. In my previous life I worked at the primate center at UC Davis. I use to sit outside the cages for hours observing the primates. I loved it, but it left me aching a bit for the poor critters that would never know what it meant to be a wild monkey. If Charlie didn't have his heart set on seeing a lion kill I would have sat with them all day.

One of my favorite critters to view is the elephant. It is so completely different to see them in the wild. Elephants need to wonder around and zoo's in America just can't offer them the sort of space that they need. Add to that the fact that elephants are so intelligent and social and you begin to understand why they just don't belong in captivity. We happened upon a little family of elephants that decided to take a dip in the lake. This little baby elephant was LOVING it. he kept splashing in the water and trumpeting with excitement. Then he would dive into the water and roll over on his back and send a spout of water into the air.