Day 88 & 89 - April 1 & 2, 2025 - Tuesday & Wednesday- Gqeberha, South Africa & Sea Day

Gqeberha, formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E. is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa with a population of about one million.

We were scheduled to arrive at 6:00 AM and we were to meet for our excursion on the pier at 8:25 AM.  I was up at 5:00 AM and observing my Geo Tracker app, I realized we would not reach landfall by 6:00 AM.  We were dressed and in the Cafe for breakfast just before 7:00 AM and I noticed a change in the ships position.  I again checked the Geo Tracker app and realized we were making a turn.  We continued to turn until we were headed back out to sea.

Following breakfast, we returned to our cabins and waited for some announcement.  It was over an hour before the captain announced that they had aborted entering the harbor due to the wind but felt that conditions were getting better, and he would try again.  Later still, the cruise director announced the "new" meeting times for the tours.  Our tour was not to meet at 9:45 at the Chef's Table restaurant. 

We arrived at the Chef's Table at about 9:40 along with a couple of other groups.  At about 10:15, it was announced that they were rearranging the departure times and now our group was to meet back at 11:00 AM.  At this point we decided to skip the excursion (it was an included one and thus no extra charge) and just take the shuttle to town. Many people had 7- and 8-hour safari type excursions scheduled and would be late returning to the ship.  

Looking at the Geo Tracker app, it is my belief that the captain had decided to totally abort going to the port of Gqeberha, otherwise why would he have traveled almost 10 miles back out to sea before returning, rather than just wait to see if the wind conditions would improve.  The wind was only around 20-25 mph.  

The cruise director made the statement during her announcement that she begged the captain to not miss the port because she had two entertainers who were boarding.  Also, I expect they would have to refund tens of thousands of dollars in excursion fees for the missed port.  

Anyway, we took the shuttle to the Boardwalk Complex, a hotel, casino, mall development which was quite beautiful.  We enjoyed walking thru the mall and then down to the beach, directly across from the mall.  I have no photos; I didn't take my camera.

Wednesday has been a relaxing day at sea.  We attended a thought provoking lecture this morning by Steve Burrows CBE entitled "We are Stardust."  He examined what we know about Earth, what we don't know, and what we don't know we don't know.  

Later in the morning, our naturalist and photographer, Richard Lovelock, presented a lecture and photos about the animals he has photographed since boarding the vessel in Sri Lanka.  

Tomorrow we are looking forward to an 8 1/2-hour tour along the coast to the southern-most point of the Cape and of Africa.

Day 87 - March 31, 2025 - Monday - East London, South Africa

 I was awake early this morning and was on deck 8 walking at 4:50 AM.  We are currently at latitude 32.5 S, or about the distance south of the equator as Macon, GA is north of the equator.  The temperature is beginning to reflect this latitude, it was 68 degrees this morning. 

East London is a city on the Indian Ocean, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It’s known for its beaches, such as Nahoon and Cove Rock. The Buffalo Pass is a road crossing a forested valley and the Buffalo River. Fossilized human and animal footprints dating back 125,000 years have been found in The Nahoon Reserve.

Our excursion in East London is to the Noonan Reserve and the Dassie Trail, a boardwalk thru the estuary.  It is only 1.2 miles but there are other trails in dry areas leading into the forest.

After a very irritating ship exit procedure, we were aboard our coach and leaving the port at 8:45 AM.

Unfortunately, a bad start only resulted in a bad tour.  

Our first stop was the Dassie Trail, it was part boardwalk and part trail thru the woods.

(stock photo)

We spent 1.25 hours walking the 1.2-mile trail, stopping frequently to be enlightened about the flora.  We saw no fauna, although we were told there were over 400 species of birds in the Reserve.

We then made our way to the Pine Creek Restaurant & Farmstall, where we were treated with refreshment, either a beer or a soft drink.  This stop took another full hour.

At least they had a funny sign.

After our one-hour beer stop, we then made our way to the Nahoon Point.  We were told we had 45 minutes to explore and visit the museum.  The only problem was the museum closed at 4:00 PM and by the time we exited the bus it was already past 3:45.

We decided to take the boardwalk to the beach.  It was beautiful.  Nahoon Point is known for the discovery in 1964 of a child's fossilized footprint which dated back 125,000 years.  For several decades, it was the oldest fossilized footprint every discovered.

During the 4 1/2-hour tour, we spent 1 1/2 hours either traveling (mostly short distances), boarding and un-boarding the coach or waiting for stragglers to make their way back to the coach.  Add the 1.25-hour hike, the 1-hour beer break and 45 minutes at Nahoon Point and we have the tour.

And this only cost us $200 per person.  Since there was no admission to either location we visited, I guess this is the most expensive beer I have ever had.  To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  

When we arrived back to the ship we were greeted by a line of Viking staff, with song and given an iced Bailey's coffee. As we exited the coach, Antonio, the Restaurant Manager, announced each couple or person by name with a megaphone, "Mr. & Mrs. Abernathy have arrived".  Antonio is the only one who could have done this.  He knows every person on board by name. Perhaps they knew how bad our day had been...

Birds of the Day - the only two sightings all day were at the port and taken from my veranda.

Giant Cormorant

Black Back Gull

Tomorrow, we arrive early in Gqeberha, South Africa.  I am hoping for a better day.

Day 86 - March 30, 2025 - Sunday - Durban, South Africa

Durban is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town.  The city population is about 600,000 people, but the metro area is almost 4.5 million.

Early morning in the Durban Harbor

The Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal was beautiful, but empty.  There were no venders, no stores and no ATM's, just a nice large building.

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Our excursion today was to the Tala Game Reserve, a private Reserve located about 1.5 hours north-west of the city.

Our transportation thru the Tala Game Reserve

Plains Zebra or Burchell's Zebra

South African Ostrich

The Cape Giraffe or South African Giraffe

Blue Wildebeest

Blesbok or blesbuck antelope, the one with the white face.

Impala

White Rhino - the name does not refer to the color but from the Afrikaan's word "weit" which means wide and refers to the animal's mouth which is adapted to grazing on grass.

All of the rhinos here have been de-horned to reduce poaching. On the black market the horn can bring as much as $11,000.00 per OUNCE.  Rhino horns are made of keratin, the same material as human hair and fingernails, and are a major driver of rhino poaching, with the horns being used in traditional medicine and as status symbols, particularly in China and Vietnam. 

Janet and Carl watching the Rhinos.

Now for the Birds of the Day

Blue Crane - South Africa's National Bird

Reed Cormorant or Long Tailed Cormorant - note the feather he had just groomed out which is floating by.

Egyptian Goose

Jackal Vulture - sorry, not a great photo...

Cattle Egret

The countryside once you left the city was beautiful during our 1.5-hour ride, unfortunately the same could not be said for the city.  We were warned numerous times NOT to go into the city - it was not safe.  After riding thru the city, I could appreciate the warning.

I was surprised at how much trash was in the streets.  This was quite a contrast to Mombasa, Mozambique where the streets were almost spotless.

The unemployment rate is South Africa is over 30% which is evident in the number of people loitering in the streets.

The Old Post Office - a grand old building

We arrive in East London, South Africa tomorrow around noon.  We have a walking excursion planned in the Nahoon Point River Reserve.  It is supposed to be one of the most scenic coastal Reserves in the country.

Day 85 - March 29, 2025 - Saturday - Richards Bay, South Africa

Lake St Lucia is home to more than 800 Hippos, 1200 Nile Crocodiles and an abundance of birdlife. This is also the largest Estuarine system in Africa. (stock photo)

Today is our first of 5 ports in South Africa. which has a total coastline of over 1700 miles bordering the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The population of South Africa was 62 million in 2022 with black compromising 81.4%, colored (their designation of mixed white and black) being 8.2% and white only 7.3%.

The history of South Africa is so extensive, an entire encyclopedia could not contain it.  South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human-fossil sites in the world.  It has been the site of occupation by various invading tribes in older times and in colonization periods was occupied by the Dutch, and then the British after being first "discovered" by the Portuguese in 1487.  The history during the past 100 years has seen turmoil as the country obtained independence from the British and went thru the Apartheid era and now in the post-apartheid period since 1994.

Richards Bay is a relatively "new" city.  The town began as a makeshift harbor that was set up by Commodore of the Cape, Sir Markus Eugene Brown, during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. In 1902, Cathcart Methven, the harbor engineer for the Natal Government, in his Zululand Port Survey recognized the potential of Richards Bay as a new harbor for the eastern shore.

In 1935 the Richards Bay Game Sanctuary was created to protect the ecology around the lagoon and by 1943 it expanded into Richards Bay Park. The town was laid out on the shores of the lagoon in 1954 and proclaimed a town in 1969.

At one point the Port of Richards Bay was the largest coal export facility in the world.  This honor is now the Australian port of Newcastle New South Wales.  The city's population is only about 60,000

Our tour today is to the Lake Lucie estuary for a two-hour cruise and hopefully see some hippopotami and perhaps other animals.  The map above shows Lake St. Lucia near the coast north of Richards Bay.

The Lake Lucie estuary is estimated to contain 1200 Nile crocodiles, and 800 hippopotami as well as elephant, leopard, black rhino, white rhino, buffalo, giraffe, waterbuck, kudu, and hyena to name a few.  

We arrived in port around 10:30 AM, but since this is our first port in South Africa, a face to face is required with emigration.  We were some of the first to get our clearance, but our tour meeting time wasn't until 12:30 so we watched the movement of tons of coal from our veranda.

It was a long one hour and thirty minutes to the estuary.  Then a 30-minute delay for everyone to use the bathroom facilities.  There were only two toilets for the men and two for the women.

After the 4 buses loaded on the two boats, our journey began.

I found it amusing that the boat operator gave the obligatory demonstration of the use of a life vest.  Then a few minutes later after our cruise began, he explained about the great number of crocodiles in the estuary.  He emphasized that "you might not see them, but they were there.  Just jump in the water and you would find them fast."  I guess in case of a boat mishap, the life preservers would keep us afloat until the crocs could find us!

Nothing like a good local beer...

while watching for Hippos.

We spotted one single crocodile.

                                                                            Bird of the Day

                                                                The African Fish Eagle

Bonus bird of the day

The African green bee-eater (not a great photo, but they are so fast!)

The following are a hodge-pog of photos taken from the coach on our trip back to the port.

You don't see many of these signs in Georgia...

The next three photos are just a few of the modern version of the traditional African hut called a Rondavel.  Traditionally these were made of mud with grass roofs and used as dwellings.  Today, many homes, especially in rural areas use them for storage, and even guest houses among other things.  

Typical scenes along the road.

Along the way we saw forest after forest of these slender tall trees.  After a little research, I learned these are a type of Eucalyptus tree which is raised as crops primarily as paper pulp.  Richards Bay has the second largest pulp mill in South Africa.

This is one of the many forests we saw, some stretched for miles and miles.

The cruise was nice, but I am not sure the 90-minute cruise to see a few hippos was really worth the three-hour, thirty-minute ride there and back.  I did enjoy the scenery though.

We were almost 6:00 PM returning so Kay and I went to the Cafe for sushi and sashimi.  The tuna sashimi is absolutely the best!

Tomorrow, we arrive in Durban South Africa at 6:00 AM and have Tala Private Game Reserve tour.  I am hoping to see more animals tomorrow.