Thursday, Day 89 - Apr 5 - 10am to 7pm, East London, South Africa

East London is located on the Eastern Cape of South Africa and is home to the country’s only river port. Founded in 1836, East London lies on the coast of the Indian Ocean between the Buffalo River and Nahoon River. Its sub-tropical climate and beautiful natural environment make East London a popular tourist destination, with nearby safari reserves for those looking to catch a glimpse of the Big Five game animals. We visited this area in 2015 on our driving trip from Kruger National Park to Cape Town. At that time we enjoyed the beautiful coastal area while staying in a family run, small resort on the Wild Coast just north of East London. We sail along the Wild Coast for a while then arrive at the dock around 10AM after having a leisurely breakfast and watching the sail in up the Buffalo River.to the pier.

This is our first time at this port and today we had planned to do a free ship’s tour to visit the Xhosa tribe and learn about their unusual culture. But, after the last few tours we decide that two hours walking around with thirty minute blocks of lectures/demonstrations while standing in the noon day sun was just too much. The tour started at 10:30AM, translate 11AM, and is scheduled for four hours - one hour there and one hour back plus two hours walking and standing! That put us outside from noon to 2PM....no thanks.

Dick does not want to do anything period, so he stays aboard the ship except to see Carolyn off on her afternoon tour. Carolyn had a good time yesterday and since there is space on one of the four safari tours she is doing the Mpongo Safari, a Regent Choice excursion with an extra fee, leaving at 1:25PM for four hours. It includes a drive through downtown East London which is an interesting, busy town with some of its Victorian era buildings still in use, mixed with pure African scenes like the chaotic taxi depot. These vans take over a street and that becomes the gathering spot where people catch the vans that drive all over the country side bringing people in to work or shop and taking them back home again. Then there are the street venders and chaotic street congestion!

Next we drive out into the stunning Eastern Cape countryside, which is worth the tour by itself, and on to the beautiful setting of Mpongo Game Reserve. Mpongo is home to many varieties of hoofed animals and four of the Big Five. We get to the park about 2:30PM and have a welcome drink of fruit punch plain or with a kick then board our open safari jeeps at 3PM for our two hour game drive. It is really about an hour early for the best viewing, still a little hot for the animals to be out in the open, but we see a lot anyway.There are 19 of us on the tour and the jeeps hold 10 each. The two jeeps head out in different directions with the drivers looking for game. Our driver points out a monitor lizard just as he is heading off the road for cover and then a few birds. Soon he sees some naylan and we head off road for a closer look. As we work our way around the park both on and off road we have many good interactions with various animals: 

 Naylan

 Female Naylan

 Zebra

 Besbuck

 Impala

 Giraffe

 Kudu

 Wildebeest

There are only three elephant in the park but the guide doesn’t see any signs of them. He says they are hard to find. There are four leopards, but they are even more elusive. The saddest story is that their last rhino was killed by poachers a couple of weeks ago. 

The sun is low in the sky when we stop for sundowners and snacks in a cool, pleasant park-like area by a creek. It has been a nice safari and the off-roading to see the animals is fun and reminds Carolyn of our time in Tanzania in 2009.

Back at the lodge we visit the enclosure where several families of white lions live. They are rescue animals from sad situations and don’t know how to live in the wild. This is sad as they are beautiful animals.

From the reserve we head back to the ship by way of the Eastern Beach which is very popular with the locals and tourists alike. It has been a very nice tour; worth doing!

Carolyn gets back about 6PM and hurries to get cleaned up for dinner. The dining room is dead tonight. Many passengers are off the ship until Cape Town on private or ship sponsored safaris. Dinner is excellent! We have one of our favorites, veal scallopine with polenta and Grand Marnie souffle. While we are eating, the Captain announces that all are back on board and we are just waiting for the pilot! We have been doing a lot of that since we got to South Africa. Also we are in for a rough night and day at sea with 20 to 30 knot winds, five to 12 foot swells tonight and through tomorrow. Jack wants his bed belt tonight!