Lots of catching up: Lions, Snakes, and Vacation Brain...

So we've found a net connection for today. Of cousre the place is closing in 30 minutes - until Jan 7 - for the holidays...so again, not sure how much we'll have time to type here!!

Port Alfred's bridge-lighting was...intertesting. For a small town, I'm sure it was quite something! But it didn't strike us as much of anything. Just a few lights on the bridge, which change color every few seconds or change pattern...Sort of like our favorite light show @ Grand Coulee Dam! In any case, we ate at the braii -- some pretty awful sole (fish) but some good salads and more of this delicious malva pudding that is a ZA tradition (much like bread pudding, with an amarula - mulberry - cream sauce atop).

So a quick rundown of the last few days:

We left CPT and headed into Knysna ("nize-na"); halfway there, as Nate was in the gas station grabbing some candy, I panicked. Oh *NO*! The passports are still in the Cape Town hotel safe!!! We called and they'd found them, locking them in their own safe until we could return to collect them -- which will be this weekend. Case #1 that we're really relaxed.

Case #2 came the next day, when we left the Knysna hotel and got all the way to Plettenberg Bay beach -- about a 40 minute drive -- when we realized we still had the key to the Knysna B&B...We phoned, and of course they didn't have a spare. So we sunned at the beach and frolicked in the waves for about an hour or two, then backtracked to Knysna to drop the key. We picked up some veg burgers @ Wimpy (like Burger King) and then back thru Plettenberg and along the Garden Route until we got to Jeffrey's Bay the famous surf spot. Not much of a town, as I know our dear friend Elisa had mentioned! But the waves looked nice. Of course, at this stage we also looked again at our map and realized we had more than 100 miles yet to drive -- we thought it was only about 30... So off to the car to punch it toward Addo.

(Incidentally, before we move on to Addo, we saw on tv yesterday that 14 swimmers had to be rescued from Plett Bay due to high rip tides. Fortunately we missed this opportunity!)

So, off to Addo for our animal experience. We checked in to our hut, made from dung and mud with a thatch roof (E, it was "an astounding thatching job!"). I admit I was a bit concerned with the spartan hut at first, but it turned out to be quite lovely - and so very relaxing. We had a nice dinner @ the facility, in the open air, and met an interesting couple from London. She, Camilla, a former music-biz manager who toured with Zappa and Tina Turner and quite a few others. He, Tim, a former teacher and current writer -- had a lot of inteeresting tales to tell.

Off to sleep, awoke to breakfast, then were picked up around 10 for our full-day game drive. First, in a van, to Addo Eleophant Park, where we saw approx 100 of the gentle giants, mostly drinking from the watering hole. Also saw some darling, yet hideous-looking, warthogs bandying about. Had a nice lunch, then they drove us to Schotia Game Park where we transfered to an open-air jeep with a canopy top -- this is what we envisioned for our safari, for sure!

First off to see the antelope species, more warthogs, and loads of gorgeous giraffe. Had a quick stop for tea, then entered the gated portion of the park -- where the lions live. There are 5 in total, and we found 4 nearly immediately. We didn't search for the 5th, as she is suspected to be pregnant and has been aggressive toward vehicles lately -- attempting to climb atop! The 4 we saw were very regal, and frightening...I will never forget the look of locking eyes with them, very clearly knowing who's boss. Mostly they snoozed in the sun and left us be, though one younger female hissed as we drove nearby -- and then our guide parked the Landy right in front of her...I was not too comfortable! We also saw another cape cobra -- I say another because our guide looked at the picture of our first snake sighting on Cape Point and ID'd it as such...What luck?! Shot some excellent pictures at the game drive, which we'll post to Flickr at some point. After the lions, we saw some subumerged hippos, then had a nice braii at the 'lapa' or gathering place. Approx 200 people (I think?) in total, and we sat with the 10 who wre on our jeep. Saw a few more animals at night, including the elusive nyala, then driven back to our mud hut amongst the stars. What a day! I couldn't sleep at first, over-stimulated by all that we saw.

Drove to Port Alfred, and that's where you find us now. Tomorrow off to the Little Karoo to a town called Oudtshoorn, then to Stellenbosch (wine country) for our last night in the area. We've heard British Airports may be striking, so could have an interesting trip back to London and then home on Jan. 1...

What is happening at home? We saw that Jamie Lynn Spears is preggo, and Amy Winehouse was released from jail - why was she there? And dear Seattle, what are we going to do without the Croc?!

We keep forgetting that it's nearly Christmas, but we do wish you all the best for the upcoming holidays!

XOXO and Merry Merry!
*A and N