The day started early as I woke up several times in the morning to loud animal calls. The lodge, being higher up was not a place the animals visited but their calls were close enough to wake us up. The temperature had fallen quite low in the morning and two of my friends who had curled up on the floor were up early due to the cold. Sunlight was a relief as it warmed up a cold morning. The night had passed like a beautiful dream and we started packing up early as we did not know what time the vehicle back was arriving.
After packing up, we heard a cry that a herd of elephants were passing by the viewing platform we had stood at the evening before. There was a watering hole there and the elephants were stopping by to cool themselves. It was rather amazing that though cautious of us, they showed no other signs of being disturbed or scared, carrying on with routine as they would always.
One came rather close to the platform, observing us as much as we observed her. We noticed that she was wearing a GPS tracker, similar to the ones we had fixed on a few days earlier on the elephants.
As the herd passed by, many members stopped by to drink and splash water on themselves before following a trail back to the forest, just some distance ahead. We spent a good 45 minutes watching the elephants before the last one left the watering hole. It was nice to see such animals at close proximity since we were always in a bakkie at the park viewing them. Our ride out arrived in a short while and it was goodbye to a beautiful lodge in the midst of the animals and lush nature.
Returning back to the lodge, Salomia informed Phillipe and me that she had arranged for transport to Port Elizabeth. I had made plans with my room-mate to head to Port Elizabeth for the second weekend since we were both avid divers and wanted to check out the waters in PE.
The taxi arrived in about an hour's time and we quickly did some packing before the one hour drive down to Lungile Lodge. Returning back to a familiar place definitely felt good and we headed out to the boardwalk for a meal and to sign up for a dive.Walking along the beach and wandering around the boardwalk definitely was a change from the nature we had been used to the entire week and we signed up for a dive on Sunday. After a refreshing meal at wimpy, it was time for an early night back at Lungile. Saturday would be for another adventure; jumping off the Bloukran's bridge, the world's highest bridge bungee jump.
It was a day to look forward to as we rested early, rather excited for the weekend ahead.
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