Elephants, elephants and more elephants!

We were already docked in Port Elizabeth, South Africa when I woke up this morning. Port Elizabeth has recently been renamed Gqeberha (pronounced kuh-BAIR-kha). Gqeberha is known as the "Friendly City" and the "Bottlenose Dolphin Capital of the World" due to its massive, year-round dolphin populations in Algoa Bay.

 

Good morning, Gqeberha!

 

Knowing that we would be away from the ship most of the day and that our excursion would go through lunch, we made sure to eat a nice breakfast before we left for today’s outing – a trip to the Addo Elephant National Park. The third largest national park in Africa, Addo Elephant Park covers over 630 square miles. It is home to many different animals, including over 850 elephants! 

After breakfast we climbed on a bus (thankfully modern with AC) and were taken from the port to Addo park, about 1.5 hours away. There we met our guide and boarded 4x4 open-air vehicles for a 2 hour ride around the park. 

 

Dung beetles have right of way!

 

It may sound funny that a bus carrying dozens of people must stop if a dung beetle is trying to cross the road. Our guide explained why they are important. Google goes further "Dung beetles are crucial ecosystem engineers. By feeding on and burying animal waste, they increase soil fertility, cycle carbon, suppress nuisance pest flies and livestock parasites, and improve soil aeration and water infiltration. Their vital services save the agricultural industry millions annually." 

 

our driver and guide

accommodations inside the park can be rented

 

We saw more elephants by far than any other animals, but we also saw female lions with cubs, kudus, wart hogs, zebras, mongooses, giraffes, a bird (which I’ve forgotten the name of) and dung beetles. 

 

lioness sleeps in the grass

lioness (left rear) and her 3 cubs

grazing male kudu

wart hogs on their way to somewhere

Have you ever thought about how an elephant drinks? They use their trunk like a straw to suck up the water, then with the trunk they deposit the water in their mouth. 

 

sucking up water through the trunk

 

water is transferred from trunk to the mouth

On our return, our bus stopped to watch a whole herd of elephants moving alongside the opposite freeway. Our guide said that in all the years he had done guided safari groups, it was the most elephants he had ever seen together at one time! 

 

males going nose to nose

 

Friend or foe? I don't know.

The weather was so pleasant and we were even a little cold in the 4x4! Tomorrow we will definitely take jackets. I learned a hard lesson today. While today’s cell phones can take great pictures, they can only maintain quality if not zoomed out too far. The temptation for me is to frame the photo as I see it, and since I was quite a distance from my subjects, I zoomed in too far on many of them. Unfortunately, probably half of them had to be deleted. Ugh!

However, I did get a few close ups that were keepers.

 

Durban, South Africa

Here we are in Durban (nicknamed “Durbs”), the third most populous city in South Africa after Johannesburg and Cape Town. Our Currents newsletter today is titled “Explore Durban” which I find a bit ironic since our cruise director warned us (twice) over the PA system last night about being careful with handbags, phones and money, removing jewelry, staying in groups, being alert to our surroundings, etc while exploring this city! A coastal city with a major port and tourist hub, Durban is known for its high levels of theft, armed robbery and violent crimes against both visitors and locals. Knowing this didn’t really encourage me to want to “explore Durban.”

We arrived late last evening shortly after 5 p.m. No way did we want to venture out after dark, especially after all the warnings about our safety! We considered eating dinner on the back deck but decided it was a bit too chilly with the clothes we were wearing.

 

hmm....maybe not!

 

looks like everyone else had the same idea

Durban has a population of 3.9 million people for the greater metropolitan area. It is a highly ethnically diverse city with large Zulu, White and  Indian/Asian populations. Its first languages are English (49.8%) and Zulu (33.1%). It has a crime index of 80.4 paired with a safety index of 19.6. 

It has a natural harbor which is the busiest port in South Africa. It is known for its “Golden Mile” beach and world renowned Indian-inspired cuisine.

Durban - a busy port city

views from our deck

from the deck - not as pretty by day

I was not happy this morning when Ronnie announced that he was going to run off the ship, but thankfully he had a good run and returned safe and sound. The weather here has been very pleasant today - a nice change from all the heat we’ve had to endure in many of the countries we’ve been in. The further we get from the equator, the more pleasant it is. 

Golden Mile run opportunity - Point Durban (photo credit: Ronnie)

Since we were here in 2023, I had planned to stay on the ship knowing that we have excursions planned for the next 2 days. But after lunch we changed our minds and decided to walk to an outdoor shopping area nearby, perhaps a half mile from the ship. By that time, there were lots of people out - both locals and tourists. I did a bit of souvenir shopping and then we were both ready to head back to the ship.        

 

Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal

 

uShaka Village Walk

Golden Mile beach

hand carved giraffes come in all sizes

tiny beaded animals

We've enjoyed sitting on our deck this afternoon/evening. There are quite a few what I would call "party boats" that come by. They are full of people, music, noise and a lot of twerking or whatever it's called these days. Many of the women are dressed in colorful long dresses or all white with colorful (artificial) leis around their necks. They basically just ride around the bay, oftentimes coming by the ship to check us out.                                                                                                                                                                                   

party boat nearing sunset

                                   

party boat after dark

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

Rainy day in Maputo, Mozambique

It was threatening rain when we docked in Maputo, Mozambique this morning. Maputo is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It currently has a population of approximately 1.1 to 1.27 million residents within the city itself. We felt like we saw most of them today – ha! We had originally planned to go to the Feima market that we visited in 2023. However, before breakfast a friend offered us their excursion tickets because he had been up sick all night and didn’t feel like going. I was a little disappointed because I really wanted to go to the market, but it was a kind offer so we accepted. Ironically, the tour was named “City and Sun.”

view of Maputo-Katembe Bridge from our balcony

By the time we exited the ship, it was already raining and it continued to rain without letting up the entire day! ☹ Trying to dodge potholes full of water and climbing in and out of the van with umbrellas and wet shoes made for a much less enjoyable day.  Since the tour was ridiculously overpriced, there were only perhaps 10 or 12 of us. The van was air conditioned and better than expected, but the tarred roads were full of potholes.

Our first stop was the Central Railway Station. We walked through the CFM Train Station Museum which was thankfully covered.

 

vintage locomotive

Maputo Central Railway Station

modern passenger train

Above are some art displays inside the small train museum.

From there we were driven to the Maputo Central Market. Our guide pointed out significant landmarks as we rode, including Independence Square and City Council. There were an abundance of nuts (mostly cashews) for sale, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and lots of wood carvings and trinkets. Most sections were cleaner and better organized than most markets we've seen. 

 

approaching Maputo Central Market (seller sticking purses in front of me)

women peeling shrimp (right) and broom seller (red shirt)

Maputo fruit & veggie vendor

a good selection of wigs

cashews and baskets for sale

colorful plastic shopping bags

After walking through the market, we visited Saint Antonio’s Cathedral and did a "drive by" of the Iron House. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_de_Ferro We could have walked through it but with the rain, all except for a couple of us opted to just lower the window and snap a quick photo.

We were supposed to visit the Tunduru Botanical Gardens but that would have been impossible with the steady rain coming down. 

 

St. Antonio's Catholic Church

Iron House

inside The Sé Catedral de Maputo (Cathedral of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception)

candles burning inside cathedral

Water was rushing down the curb when we exited the van, but those of us willing to get out went inside the church for a quick look around. 

I had been happy to learn that one of our stops was to be the Feima Market which was the one I had originally wanted to visit. We did go there, but it was raining and not much fun at all. Vendors had make shift tarps over their wares but some were full of water and dripping anyway. It’s not easy to shop outside under an umbrella in the rain! 

some were lucky to be under covered roof

rain interrupted this checker game (bottle caps for checkers)

very clever recycling

 

Above are examples of very clever use of items we would normally throw away. Christmas tree is made of soft drink cans. Silver elephant and crocodile are made from soda can tops. Alligator is made from metal bottle caps, etc.

 

carved wooden figures

I haven’t mentioned the high pressure sales people at every entrance and exit and who will follow you around out in the open. They are aggressive and persistent and you absolutely don’t make eye contact with them unless you want them to escalate the pressure. And it’s not just one but several at the same time. While sitting on the bus, I saw a lady from the ship stop to look at something. All of a sudden she had seven men surrounding her with their wares. It is difficult, but to be expected. We have been warned as we move around Africa from this point forward not to wear flashy jewelry and to pay careful attention to our handbags, etc. These people don’t take “no” for an answer – at least not easily.

By this time, we were tired of the rain and our feet were wet and we were both ready to get back to our home away from home. Oceania was running a shuttle every 30 minutes back and forth from that location to the ship, so we saw our opportunity to bail out. Our guide wasn’t real happy with us because our next stop was the hotel and lunch. But it was already after 2 pm, so we headed back to the ship for a late lunch.

It would have been enjoyable, but rain puts a damper on the best laid plans. I don’t think either of us would ever vote to visit Maputo again.