warrpath4x4
Adventurer
love the globe in the background lol. i hope to do something like this one of these years.
unURBAN Adventures - Alaska to Argentina to AFRICA!
- Thread starter unURBAN
- Start date
Port Elizabeth
Finally, after 7 weeks of waiting in Argentina and Norway we arrive in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Port Elizabeth is on the Sunshine Coast, but we must have done something wrong because our first day here it rained the whole day.
So our first day in Africa was spent in front of the fire place. Good place for planning our route for the next few weeks.
It is always the same arriving in a new place or new country while travelling, we have to find food. Sounds basic, and it is, but compared to home you never know where your closest supermarket is. After getting the instructions from the hostel we took our backpacks and headed off, and 25 minutes later we were at the supermarket. Compared to arriving in Latin America without speaking any Spanish, arriving in South Africa was easy since it is all in English. At home when you go into your local supermarket you know where to find everything, and it doesn’t take you to long to shop everything you need. On the road, every supermarket looks a bit different and off course the selection in each country differs quite a bit. We spend some time to find all the items we would like. About two hours after we left the hostel we were back with the food. Then we had a second look at the orange juice we had bought and realized that it was not only orange juice, it was mixed with something that not even the producers knew what was. Apple or pear, or something totally different??
Port Elizabeth has a great beach that is good for a walk (we still have not tried it for swimming). If you do not want to sit on the beach there are plenty of cafes and restaurants with great ocean view.
One afternoon we meet up with fellow travelers Mandy and Christian at one of these restaurants. (Christian is something so unusual as a Norwegian overlander!!! First Norwegian overlander we meet on our travels). We managed to sample three bottles of South African wine, good start for the South African wine tasting!
Beside this Espen has finished the work on our website. I have not done much, but time goes by anyway.
Now we hope the waiting is soon over because we are ready to go travelling again and see some of Africa.
Malin
Finally, after 7 weeks of waiting in Argentina and Norway we arrive in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Port Elizabeth is on the Sunshine Coast, but we must have done something wrong because our first day here it rained the whole day.
So our first day in Africa was spent in front of the fire place. Good place for planning our route for the next few weeks.
It is always the same arriving in a new place or new country while travelling, we have to find food. Sounds basic, and it is, but compared to home you never know where your closest supermarket is. After getting the instructions from the hostel we took our backpacks and headed off, and 25 minutes later we were at the supermarket. Compared to arriving in Latin America without speaking any Spanish, arriving in South Africa was easy since it is all in English. At home when you go into your local supermarket you know where to find everything, and it doesn’t take you to long to shop everything you need. On the road, every supermarket looks a bit different and off course the selection in each country differs quite a bit. We spend some time to find all the items we would like. About two hours after we left the hostel we were back with the food. Then we had a second look at the orange juice we had bought and realized that it was not only orange juice, it was mixed with something that not even the producers knew what was. Apple or pear, or something totally different??
Port Elizabeth has a great beach that is good for a walk (we still have not tried it for swimming). If you do not want to sit on the beach there are plenty of cafes and restaurants with great ocean view.
One afternoon we meet up with fellow travelers Mandy and Christian at one of these restaurants. (Christian is something so unusual as a Norwegian overlander!!! First Norwegian overlander we meet on our travels). We managed to sample three bottles of South African wine, good start for the South African wine tasting!
Beside this Espen has finished the work on our website. I have not done much, but time goes by anyway.
Now we hope the waiting is soon over because we are ready to go travelling again and see some of Africa.
Malin
Updates
We are working on our info section on our website:
The latest updates are, finally, our camping coordinates for South America
and of course the details from the shipping of our Patrol from South America to Africa.
More soon!
E&M
We are working on our info section on our website:
The latest updates are, finally, our camping coordinates for South America
and of course the details from the shipping of our Patrol from South America to Africa.
More soon!
E&M
Last edited:
Ruined Adventures
Brenton Cooper
Perfect! We'll be borrowing these if you don't mind :sombrero:
We can't wait to see what you guys get into while crossing Africa!
Thanks for comments!!
Ruined Adventures, you are more than welcome. There might be a favorite places list coming out as well. Take some pictures for us.
Detslider, you found them! We never took notes from Mexico as we were mostly using the Church&Church "Camping in Mexico".
E&M
Ruined Adventures, you are more than welcome. There might be a favorite places list coming out as well. Take some pictures for us.
Detslider, you found them! We never took notes from Mexico as we were mostly using the Church&Church "Camping in Mexico".
E&M
valeriano
Observer
We are working on our info section on our website:
The latest updates are, finally, our camping coordinates for South America
and of course the details from the shipping of our Patrol from South America to Africa.
More soon!
E&M
Awesome updates.
They will definitely be handy in my next trip.
Addo Elephant National Park
After picking up the Patrol in the port it took us one afternoon to get organized again. Because we shipped the car on a roll on roll off ship (that means the car is not locked all the time) Espen had removed everything from the front so that we could lock it all up in the back behind the cargo carrier. Everything meant: stereo amplifier, fridge, water filter, water pump, fire extinguisher, inverter, batteries, cables and all the loose stuff that you put into the cab of your car. It took some hours it put it all back in, but then we were ready for the road again.
First stop was Addo Elephant National Park 65 km north from Port Elizabeth. In the early 1900 agriculture in the Addo region was growing. For the farmers elephants caused problems because they damaged crops and were competing with the farmers need for water. Therefore, elephants were hunted down. One man was contracted by the government, and between 1919 - 1920 he killed 114 elephants. In 1931 a reserve that was set aside to protect the 11 remaining elephants in the Addo area was proclaimed National Park. From 1931 when the park comprised about 5 000 hectares it has grown to 164,000 hectares divided into five biomes today. There are more than 500 elephants in the park today, and other spices like the flight less dung beetle, Burchell’s zebra, warthog and hippo was reintroduced over the years. In 2003 spotted hyena and lion was introduced to the park.
When you drive into Addo Elephant National Park and are waiting to see the largest mammal in Africa it is fun to see all the signs that says that the dung beetle have right of way. It is probably because they are not so easy to spot on the road when you are looking for animals that weigh thousands of kilos and not a 5 cm large beetle.
It was pretty cool to see the first elephants outside our own Patrol. We did drive many of the different loops in the main part of the park on our first day, and these were some of the animals we saw.
But we did not see any of the large predators, hyena or lion. Our first night in the roof top tent in Africa was spent in the main camp in the park, and we had a good night sleep.
Next morning was Espen’s birthday so we had a good breakfast before we entered the park for our second day. The first few kilometers were really quiet and we hardly saw any animals. After quite a while we could see more and more branches and bushes on the road, and more and more elephant poop. When we got closer to a water hole we saw the elephants and they were all over the place. We drove a bit closer and stopped the car and it was amazing sitting there watching and listening to the elephants. Some was done drinking and were walking away from the water hole, others were drinking and others were on their way to the water hole.
I had to try and count them and I counted 78 elephants, but it was hard to see them all as they were standing in clusters. Guessing I think it most have between 80 and 100 elephants around the water hole. After watching the elephants for an hour we moved on.
Just a few hundred meters down the road we saw a black backed jackal as it was closing in on carcass. One of the large predators most have hunted their meal earlier that morning and now the little that remained was left to those who got there first, and the jackal was the lucky one. When we had a closer look at the carcass we could see that it was a baby elephant on the remaining skin on one leg. It is sad to see, but all the animals in the park have to live and that is the circle of life.
As the day progressed and we had seen many elephants, zebras, warthogs, deer’s and buffalos we kept on looking for the lions. We would really like to see a lion. In the afternoon we meet a car in a junction that told us that they had seen two young male lions a bit further up the road half an hour earlier. We drove looking, but did not see any lions. So we took another loop. Still no lions. To be able to get to the exit gate before it closed we had to leave the park. Driving towards the gate we saw the two male lions coming towards us.
It was incredible to have this to large cats walking past us only one meter away from the car. A perfect ending to Espens birthday.
Malin
After picking up the Patrol in the port it took us one afternoon to get organized again. Because we shipped the car on a roll on roll off ship (that means the car is not locked all the time) Espen had removed everything from the front so that we could lock it all up in the back behind the cargo carrier. Everything meant: stereo amplifier, fridge, water filter, water pump, fire extinguisher, inverter, batteries, cables and all the loose stuff that you put into the cab of your car. It took some hours it put it all back in, but then we were ready for the road again.
First stop was Addo Elephant National Park 65 km north from Port Elizabeth. In the early 1900 agriculture in the Addo region was growing. For the farmers elephants caused problems because they damaged crops and were competing with the farmers need for water. Therefore, elephants were hunted down. One man was contracted by the government, and between 1919 - 1920 he killed 114 elephants. In 1931 a reserve that was set aside to protect the 11 remaining elephants in the Addo area was proclaimed National Park. From 1931 when the park comprised about 5 000 hectares it has grown to 164,000 hectares divided into five biomes today. There are more than 500 elephants in the park today, and other spices like the flight less dung beetle, Burchell’s zebra, warthog and hippo was reintroduced over the years. In 2003 spotted hyena and lion was introduced to the park.
When you drive into Addo Elephant National Park and are waiting to see the largest mammal in Africa it is fun to see all the signs that says that the dung beetle have right of way. It is probably because they are not so easy to spot on the road when you are looking for animals that weigh thousands of kilos and not a 5 cm large beetle.
It was pretty cool to see the first elephants outside our own Patrol. We did drive many of the different loops in the main part of the park on our first day, and these were some of the animals we saw.
But we did not see any of the large predators, hyena or lion. Our first night in the roof top tent in Africa was spent in the main camp in the park, and we had a good night sleep.
Next morning was Espen’s birthday so we had a good breakfast before we entered the park for our second day. The first few kilometers were really quiet and we hardly saw any animals. After quite a while we could see more and more branches and bushes on the road, and more and more elephant poop. When we got closer to a water hole we saw the elephants and they were all over the place. We drove a bit closer and stopped the car and it was amazing sitting there watching and listening to the elephants. Some was done drinking and were walking away from the water hole, others were drinking and others were on their way to the water hole.
I had to try and count them and I counted 78 elephants, but it was hard to see them all as they were standing in clusters. Guessing I think it most have between 80 and 100 elephants around the water hole. After watching the elephants for an hour we moved on.
Just a few hundred meters down the road we saw a black backed jackal as it was closing in on carcass. One of the large predators most have hunted their meal earlier that morning and now the little that remained was left to those who got there first, and the jackal was the lucky one. When we had a closer look at the carcass we could see that it was a baby elephant on the remaining skin on one leg. It is sad to see, but all the animals in the park have to live and that is the circle of life.
As the day progressed and we had seen many elephants, zebras, warthogs, deer’s and buffalos we kept on looking for the lions. We would really like to see a lion. In the afternoon we meet a car in a junction that told us that they had seen two young male lions a bit further up the road half an hour earlier. We drove looking, but did not see any lions. So we took another loop. Still no lions. To be able to get to the exit gate before it closed we had to leave the park. Driving towards the gate we saw the two male lions coming towards us.
It was incredible to have this to large cats walking past us only one meter away from the car. A perfect ending to Espens birthday.
Malin
Hi Detslider,
Will take a look at my notes and get back to you! Thanks for checking!
E
You are absolutely right, these coordinates are way off. I have no idea how that happened, and I cant find the El Recreo in my waypoint list?! Looking at the map, I would say El Recreo is at approximately N15 34'36.30" W89 59'08.90". The place is on the right hand side of the road just before you come in to the town centre, and as far as I remember it was a sign by the road. Big building, easy to spot. Sorry for that
E
Last edited:
unURBAN
it's always raining somewhere in South Africa...
it's always raining somewhere in South Africa...
Yup..... Like right now in Plettenberg Bay!
Are going out camping this weekend with Graeme and Luisa from www.a2aexpedition.com on Baviaanskloof 4x4 Trail. Hope the weather improves a bit till tomorrow morning...
E
Are going out camping this weekend with Graeme and Luisa from www.a2aexpedition.com on Baviaanskloof 4x4 Trail. Hope the weather improves a bit till tomorrow morning...
E
lostworldexpedition
Explorer
Wow! Good B-Day E!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
SEETHEWORLD349
Observer
THANK YOU
WOW ive been reading this thread since last year and i feel in a way a part of your trip/crew
thank you guys for the adventure you are taking us on and for the inspiration to change my life, because of this thread i took a trip to moab came back and got a land cruiser booked my spot for the maya rally and have began to get back in shape as preparation for a soon but not soon enough trip around this ball we call earth.
from my family and I
Thank You
WOW ive been reading this thread since last year and i feel in a way a part of your trip/crew
thank you guys for the adventure you are taking us on and for the inspiration to change my life, because of this thread i took a trip to moab came back and got a land cruiser booked my spot for the maya rally and have began to get back in shape as preparation for a soon but not soon enough trip around this ball we call earth.
from my family and I
Thank You