Day 2 - Starting from Day 2, I'm on a 4-day Safari through SAS called Elephant-Back Safari and Treetop Canopy. Yup! ELEPHANT-BACK SAFARI! lol It's a trip where you go and ride elephants, take them on a walk, and feed them. We also go zip-lining in one of Tsitsikamma's indigenous rainforests. At about 9am we headed off to Cape Town International airport to take an hour flight to Port Elizabeth. The view from the plane was amazing and it ranged from rolling mountains to white sand beaches with light blue waters. When we arrived at Port Elizabeth International Airport, we were met by our tour guide, Marianne, for the duration of the trip. She's a really sweet older lady that acts like a mother to all of us. She is originally from the Netherlands, but called South Africa her home many years ago. We had about an hr drive from Port Elizabeth to our backpackers lodge called Orange Elephant Backpackers. It was a nice cozy eco-lodge that is big on saving water and recycling what they can. When we arrived we were greeted by the owner, John, and his volunteers showed us the rooms we'd be staying in and where the bathrooms and showers were. The lodge had a room that was more of a dorm style with 5 bunk beds in a round hut. The hut only had the 5 bunks beds inside and then the showers and bathrooms were outside next to it. The others who were lucky had rooms in the house and the 2 boys got a nice room with their own indoor shower. Most of us were pretty jealous, but it was a good experience to be in the hut jam-packed with girls. So yes, the bathroom and showers were outside as well as a sink in it's own little stall. The bathroom was a normal toilet stall and on the other side of the showers, a makeshift sink counter (made out of a Singer sewing machine stand, a bowl for a basin and handcrafted counter). The shower stalls were quite something. There were two showers that had a wooden pallet on the floor and a long metal pipe going up by the door that connected to the shower head. I've never seen a shower like this before, but you pore something like kerosene or lighter fluid in this removable metal box at the bottom of the pipe, light it with a match, and line the hole of the pipe up to the hole of the metal box. It creates sort of a vacuum for the pipe. You now have your water heater! You feel the pipe about eye level and when it gets warm about 3-5 minutes later then you know the shower is ready! You turn off your water heater by just cover the flame in the metal box with a sheet of metal to suffocate the fire. It was really interesting and of course I had to try and shower in it! Sadly, one of the workers saw me walking towards the shower stall later on that night and he lit it for me. I think he thought I wasn't going to be able to do it myself. =[ Sad, but it's okay. After they showed us our rooms, we had a nice lunch near the reception building that had benches outside, a stone grill, and tables. We had hamburgers that were made by a local butchery. At about 2:30pm we headed over to Addo Elephant National Park and went on a game drive! We had open vehicles and rode around the national park and saw lots and lots of elephants! We saw some very close to us too! We also saw warthogs (Pumba!), antelope, zebra, and ostrich (from far away)! It was a really good first game drive and glad we got to see so many herds of elephants. We headed back to the backpackers lodge, chilled for a little bit, watched rugby and ate a delicious steak dinner! We all hung around, talked story, played cards, and watched rugby. I headed back to the rooms later that night, showered, and passed out at about eleven. It was a really great first day with the relaxing flight, game drive, cozy lodge with really nice staff, and great food! We had an early morning the next day! We had to leave the next day by 6:15am to go and ride elephants!
Miho =]
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