After spending our last morning in Port Elizabeth in the Red Location township, we headed back to the city for a quick tour around the city (which, as it turns out, is the only thing we hadn’t really done at this point).
We went past the stadium (World Cup fans probably recognise it) and zoomed through Port Elizabeth’s many beautiful houses to the start of Port Elizabeth’s Route 67.
Route 67 is a walkway through Port Elizabeth, created by multiple artists in celebration of Nelson Mandela and to celebrate the dawn of a new era in South Africa.
The rain clouds, which had been threatening all morning, finally opened up and poured. Thankfully though, this didn’t last long as the best way to see Route 67 is on foot.
The rain however did mean that the flag here had to come down quite early, which led to something of a mini-parade (while we waited for the rain to clear) and watched the largest flag I’ve ever seen come down from the mast. (Not the most interesting thing in the world but I just couldn’t get over how large that flag was).
We carried on the walk once the rain stopped, pausing every so often to take in the artwork which reflected South Africa’s history – like this old black woman who was voting for the first time in her life. She couldn’t walk, didn’t have access to a wheelchair and insisted on voting so her neighbour took her to the poling booths in his wheel barrow. She was fast-tracked to the front of the queue when everyone else noticed her and her story went on to inspire many people across the country.
Our walk eventually led us to the city centre…
…which eventually led us to Nandos. (Don’t judge 😉 – Nandos comes from South Africa so it’s like totally legit! Hahaha!).
Somehow, our afternoon plans to have a brai yet again got thrown out of the window (given the weather, probably not a bad idea too) and instead, we headed to Addo National park (again).
This trip back was a great way to cover off some of the animal sightings we’d missed on our earlier trip (for instance, we saw cheetahs in the distance resting after a feeding – they were too far to photograph though – which is another reason why a private safari adventure is a great way to go as they can go off road on their own park).
Talk about major side-eye, right?
It must be that time of the year – all the animals seem to be getting jiggy with it here this season!
The last time we were here, we’d seen just a couple of cape buffalo – this time they came our in their droves…
…even the zebras had a good showing! 🙂
The landscape here is absolutely stunning, by the way.
Seemingly out of nowhere, we got the opportunity to tick off another big one off the big 5 list – lions!
As night time drew close, we slowly made our way to the exit of the park, only to be stopped partway by a random irritated elephant. For a few minutes, the cars wouldn’t get past and couldn’t understand what was going on – turns out, the male elephant was fighting with another male elephant who we couldn’t see as he was hidden in the bushes. Soon enough, the other male came out and the fighting ensued. To say it was exciting and terrifying would be something of an understatement. 🙂
The final sighting we had before we left was number 4 of the big five sighting and the rarest one yet – the black rhino! Alas, he/she wouldn’t come any closer but a sighting’s a sighting’s a sighting! 🙂 And it’s a pretty good ‘un to finish off the park with.
The very next morning was all about making no plans… well, almost no plans. We did have one plan and that was to head out for a mid-afternoon massage before starting our journey back home to London…
… a city which dazzles at sunrise!
See what I mean?
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