Nikki in South Africa. Part 1

My apologies for the lack of blog post since arriving in SA. I'll try and catch up quickly... starting with  Nikki's 2 week visit to South Africa.  Nikki, Eric & I made a last minute decision to flee the stormy weather in Cape Town & fly to Port Elizabeth, the starting point for a road trip.  Our road trip evolved as we traveled -- from the beaches of the "Wild Coast," to the hogsback mountains, on to Addo Elephant Park. A visual snippet of the diverse landscapes we visited below & full set of photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/maikanicholson/SANikkiSPhotos?feat=directlink


Driving on the "wrong" side of the road & shifting with the left hand - not as difficult as one might think!

We spent night one in the town of Chintsa (pronounced in Xhosa with two clicks of the tongue) @ Buckaneers Backpackers & woke up at dawn for sunrise, yoga, "redbacks" and running on the beach. Definitely a top 10 sunrise.

The next day we hiked along the wild coast coast near Morgan's Bay...the dramatic cliffs backed by rolling green hills reminiscent of Ireland perhaps?

Our next stop was Hogsback in the Amatola mountains, featuring aptly named Hog 1, Hog 2 & Hog 3. This area reportedly was an inspiration for the fictional landscapes of J.R.R Tolkein - a South African, who knew?

2 days in Hogsback featured 2 great hikes, the oldest tree in South Africa, 5 waterfalls, one bathtub in the middle of nowhere, one 30m high tree house, a windy summit, 3 very breakable clay animals sold to us by the 'kamikaze kids'

Eric and I approaching Hog 1

A windy Summit

After Hogsback we headed on to Addo... a dramatically different landscape yet again. We were fortunate to come across Chris (crisscross adventures), who was an amazing guide for Addo Elephant NP and the surrounding area.  He grew up in Addo and had an incredible wealth of knowledge of the landscape & wildlife in the NP & surrounding area as well as an innate ability to spot wildlife in the bush.  He also guessed my birthday to the year, month and DAY on the first guess. He say he "has a sense about certain people"..... eerie. Below a trip with Chris Pickels & co. on the Sundays River.

Kudu, warthogs, buffalo, flightless dung beatles.....and of course elephants galore! 

To be continued.....