By rbhargava
This past Friday, Nov 21st, I arrived back home to New Jersey after my 17 day trip backpacking through South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. As you may of noticed, I was not able to post anything during the trip due to a complete lack of access to computers! So through this post and the next few I hope to share some of my memories during a very enjoyable trip traveling through southern Africa with some amazing friends.
On the evening Nov 2nd, 6 of us left Stellenbosch by bus to travel to Port Elizabeth. Although only six of us were leaving, a group of 10-16 people came to send us off at the bus stop - as some close friends wanted to give us one last goodbye! Our group was composed of 4 Germans, one girl from Hong Kong, and of course me. The overnight bus to PE was quite the experience, as we later found out we had taken the cheapest "budget" option bus available. Sitting next to my friend Maren, we tried to keep ourselves entertained while cockroaches crawled up and down the window and South African Christian gospel music played overhead the entire night. We survived the journey though - and arrived in Port Elizabeth around 5am in the morning.
On our first day of the trip, we rented two tiny Polo cars to drive all the way up to coast to Durban with over the next several days. We went to the beautiful Sardinia Bay just outside PE before relaxing a bit at our cozy backpackers - Lungile Backpackers. In the evening we met a friend of a friend in downtown PE, who gave us a nice walking tour of the city as well as the Casino and joined us for dinner on the beachfront.
The second day of our trip was an obvious highlight for all of us as we took our two Polos to the famous Addo Elephant Park and were treated close encounters with countless elephants as well as buffalo, warthogs, eland, kudu, and several other animals. At more times than we would have liked we found ourselves stuck with elephants blocking the road. There was once when a very territorial elephant event drew a line in the road with his front foot, placed a large stick along the line, and waved its ears at us - clearly indicating that we should not come any closer. Driving through the park and encountering wild animals the entire day was a true joy, and we all enjoyed some adrenaline pumping moments.
On the 3rd day we left Port Elizabeth for Chintsa - a small town on the Wild Coast. Stopping in Port Alfred and East London, we spent the majority of the day on the road. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and rainy - something that would define the majority of our rip along the coastline that is world famous for beautiful sunny days year round. At Chintsa we stayed at the gorgeous Buccaneers Backpackers where we were treated with a well deserved homemade meal by the kitchen staff there. In the evening one of the managers of the backpackers took some of us to a dam to enjoy the sounds of wildlife in the approaching full moon night. Sitting along the dam with a small group of backpackers from all around the world and listening to the sounds of frogs burping in the middle of the forest was an experience I won't forget. Just like many moments during my Spring Break, I felt quite apart from the rest of the world and thoroughly enjoyed the company of the random other backpackers who were with us. And with that, I knew my trip was off to a success!