Known as the 'Friendly City' it is the fifth largest city and and third largest port in Algoa Bay. The first Europeans to live in the Eastern Cape were Dutch farmers, however it was the British who built a stone fort in 1799 and laid the foundations for the future Port Elizabeth.
We had an early start to get to the Schotia Game Reserve today and we had an excellent time. We managed to see four of the big five. No leopard but lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and plenty of antelope such as impala, nyala, reebok, springbok etc.
Although it is a private game reserve it hasn't been able to completely protect the animals, such as rhino, from poachers. Sadly, it seems that the corruption in South Africa starts at the top with their politicians.
There were nine of us in our jeep and we all got on very well. Unfortunately we had some light rain at the start but it dried up in time for our second drive. We had a hearty lunch at the lodge, including as much wine and beer as we liked, before our drive back to the ship.
On the drive back we watched a car narrowly miss another when overtaking only to do the same manoeuvre again but this time hitting the car coming towards him. Despite pieces of car flying around and the other driving stopping he just sped off. I had heard about the reckless driving and the lack of enforcement by authorities so I wasn't surprised when Scott told us that 57% of driving licences in South Africa are fraudulent.
We were back about 3.30 so took the shuttle bus into town. It was Easter Monday and there was a fair and entertainment taking place down by the beach. We had a stroll around before coming back for dinner.
One day at sea tomorrow before reaching Cape Town.
No comments:
Post a Comment