Driving around the park with Milou and Loes

Volunteering at the park is a 5 day a week arrangement and weekends are off for volunteers. It's the perfect time to plan for weekend trips to Port Elizabeth or even further. I had been wondering what to do and luckily for me, Milou and Loes were coming down to the park to drive around for a day.

 I had never been on a ride around the park by car and it was also a perfect opportunity to catch up with these two friends whom I had met earlier on at wilderness while travelling down. We had agreed to meet at 7 am at the front desk and they arrived promptly. After signing in at the park we set off and Loes drove first while Milou navigated.

Elephant passing by the car

The brochure given by the park had a checklist which showed the animals we could spot as well as  little box to tick those we have seen off. The first animal spotted was a hyena and it was lucky as hyenas weren't so commonly seen. It was also at close proximity and walking across the road nonchalantly.

 The good thing is that most of the animals in the park are pretty used to vehicles and often venture close which makes it rather important to keep heads and arms within the vehicle.
 As we drove by it wasn't uncommon to see rangers stop to ask people to stay in the car as most of us were preoccupied with taking pictures.

Dash-board view

After a few hours of driving we stopped by for a break at Jack's picnic site and then carried on back to drive more. The park has various magnetic notice boards where anyone can update the location of animals seen and we updated the location of the hyenas and looked out for where the lions were before setting off. The weather had earlier seemed like it would rain but it didn't and the sun was out again, much to our delight.

Dinner at the park restaurant

One of the park's smaller residents

Driving on, we eventually stopped by the park's restaurant for coffee before heading out again. Only having been for the 2 hr game drive, I was amazed at the number of animals we spotted for the day. It was so much more then I had seen the past week moving around the park and nice to be able to take breaks and carry on. Loes was very determined to see the lions and after an hour or so we finally spotted a few trucks all clustered around what seemed to be just grassland. Moving closer we realized what the excitement was about...lions ! There were two males and a female hidden in the grasses and it was rather amazing at how camouflaged they were.

 After viewing the lions, we made our way back to the main camp. The only animal we had truly missed were the cape buffalo for that day and we did catch a glimpse of one as we made our way back. It had been a long day and it was time for a well deserved dinner at the park's restaurant.

The restaurant at the park serves really good Springbok steak and surprisingly wasn't expensive for a restaurant at a national park. The girls were staying at Aardvark backpackers (http://theaardvarkguesthouse.co.za/) and I decided to spend a night there as well. At a 100 rand for a bed, it was well worth spending a night at the safari tent dorm and I got a lift back to the park the next day. Loes was leaving and it was goodbye to her but I would be able to meet Milou again.

It had been an awesome weekend.