Hans and Marie Join Us - Exploring the Karoo

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We departed Knysna midmorning and enjoyed a pretty drive along the coast and through the pine forests reaching Port Elizabeth at noon.  Hans and Marie were waiting for us in the parking lot of their hotel and it was a fun meetup.  We headed directly to our house where we checked in and had lunch.  Our place was a really lovely three-bedroom home with a private pool.  A perfect first day welcome to the Airbnb experience for Hans and Marie.

We drove around Port Elizabeth a bit...not a whole lot to see, but we did visit the memorial overlook to Nelson Mandela and saw the wonderful mosaic.

The following morning we booked a full day tour of Addo Elephant Park that started with a great breakfast at Dungbeetle Lodge.  The lodge sits on a river and was quite lovely.  The staff were charming and the food was delicious.

 The national park is the thrid largest in the nation and hosted over 700 elephants along with an assortment of other critters.

 We were able to get out an walk to one of the waterholes.

 We enjoyed a really nice safari truck with comfy seats.

 Giant leopard tortoise.

 And...lions.

The next day we drove two hours east to Misty Mountain Lodge were we would take on a quad bike tour.  The lodge was lovely and we had a great lunch.

The quadbike tour ended up being a mess with poorly maintained machines that didn't start, stay running, and two had wheels attached with a single lug nut.  But we made the most of the it and enjoyed the short run out to the coast, the walk to the cliff's edge, and back.

We packed up and headed north into the high country and the town of Craddock.  Finally, something resembling Africa with a huge native population.  We arrived at our farmstay where we would be for the next three nights.  A truly great spot, a huge 100-year-old house on a large dairy farm, complete with a Zorse, pony, pigs, geese, lots of dogs, a guinea pig, rabbit, mongoose, and loads of birds.  We set up house and relaxed away the afternoon.

We drove to Mountain Zebra National Park and spent the whole day doing a self-guided game drive with a picnic in the park.  it was a great day and we saw lots of those special zebras...and a rhino.

On the following day, we drove two hours west to Graaf Reinet, a Boer War stronghold, and visited the museum and the national park to view the spectacular rock formations.  The museum is housed in the first governor mansion.  Beautify 19th century SA dutch architecture.

 The streets are lined with many homes of that period, now museums and businesses.

 Once in the park, we stopped at a lookout for our picnic lunch.

 Then we drove to the lookouts over the city.

 The Valley of Desolation is a huge canyon of dolomite columns and canyons.

 We spotted serval tortoises crossing the roads.

Later that afternoon we departed the park and headed north through a lovely gorge and valley to the town of Nieu-Betheda to view the eccentric home of Helen Martin, a woman who spent most of our very modest life adorning her home and gardens with art made from glass and cement.  It was both a bit creepy and beautfiul at the same time.

The next morning we readied ourselves for a long drive further north into the HIGH Karoo with the town of Ficksburg as our destination.  Here on the northern border of Lesotho, we rested on another farmstay for three days and nights.  What a lovely spot with really nice hosts.  Our cottage was 100+ years old and the farm had been in the same family.  Run by the great-grandson of the original landowner, it was a huge cattle ranch with a main house and the cottage.  To the rear of the property was the worker's homes...masonry small homes with electricity supplied by the landowners.  There was plenty of activity on the farm as we watched the cattle being fed, the gardeners keeping the grounds beautiful, and the ladies busy with laundry and clenaing.  Wnat a lovely place to stay.

We took a long walk around the farm.  There was a family cemetery dating back to the late 1800s.

 The worker cottages behind the barns.

 Vast lands to the distant mountains.

Beautiful Arabian.

 An old auction barn.

 Lots of curious cows...actually young bulls.

We reserved one day to visit the country of Lesotho, No., 72 on our world journey.  It borders Ficksburg.  An hour's drive from the farm got us to the border and shortly thereafter to Maseru, the capital city.  Lesotho is a very poor country, independent of South Africa and relying mostly on tourism.  it is surrounded by mountains and offers spectacular, yet remote and difficult to reach trekking destinations.  We spent a few hours in the capital city, did a bit of shopping and had lunch.  Then it was back across the border and to the farm for one last night.

We departed midday, as usual, and drove a few hours to Golden Gate Highland National Park.  The highway winds through the middle of the park and the views were spectacular.  We stopped for photos often.

At Harrisburg, we turned south and down along a huge reservoir for an hour, stopped at a viewpoint and had lunch.  There we met four local artists selling the cutest figurines and each of us bought a few of them.  Another hour further south got us to Dragon Peak where we rented a cottage for the night.  The views were amazing and we enjoyed dinner on the deck overlooking the green valley below and the mountains behind.  We were once again on the border of Lesotho.

Departing at our usual hour, we visited the local Bird of Prey attraction and took in the show.  The birds were awesome.