Although that might seem like a title I would give a place 'the adventure province' was none of my doing. This little slogan seems to be attached to almost every poster, sign and tourist brochure I've seen in East London. So with this I started thinking. Adventure province... Well, it is true that the Eastern Cape holds the former highest bungy jump in the world, amazing game reserves, the Wild Coast, Jeffereys Bay and the only snow skiing resort in South Africa. Being right in the middle of all this 'adventure' and East London being quite the adventure in itself, we set out to discover what this place actually has to offer. So here's to the little adventures of our own:
Drifter go-karting - Forget a tarred track or steering wheels that actually have any control of the direction of your front tyres, and try drifter go-karting! Due to Jason's pretty sketchy steering, my skilful drifting and a rather sharp corner (which Jason decided to treat as a straight and ramped right up the tyre barricade) I was well in the lead. Jason quickly caught up after a quick kart swap, did a tricky little manoeuvre past me but then seemed to slow down (just enough for me to start passing him) in the dreaded sharp corner. I don't know if it was the wind in my face or the mud on my clothes but I ended up feeling way too brave and flawed it straight over the corner and into a mass of tyres! So with a seriously bruised knee we had had our first bit of an adventure.
The Lion park - This was like stepping into a supercharged version of an old McDonald farm with rabbits, turkeys, chickens, lamas, some type of reindeer thing, peacocks, ducks, tigers, lions, a giraffe, tortoises, meerkats and a cheetah. The ducks were my absolute favourite and spent the day waddling (and quacking) a few steps behind us, and often strolled rather close to the cheetahs strategically placed paw.
After enjoying the beauty of it all we finally got to a rather intense looking enclosure. There were big 'no entrance' signs and the mesh was much smaller than any of the other enclosures. "This must be something dangerous!" Jason said, at almost the exact same time a small little dachshund popped through a hole in the fence... Two more shadows appeared....belonging to no other than the 8 month old lions. Compared to a fully grown dachshund these things looked gigantic. The lions seemed to make a beeline towards the little dog and after a few sniffs, a playful paw (from the lion) the dog had finally had enough. He turned around and snapped at any piece of fluffy mane he could get a hold of and surprisingly enough the two lions sheepishly backed off.
Seriously, who would have thought that that little dog was probably the reason they had the fence put up in the first place ;)
After enjoying the beauty of it all we finally got to a rather intense looking enclosure. There were big 'no entrance' signs and the mesh was much smaller than any of the other enclosures. "This must be something dangerous!" Jason said, at almost the exact same time a small little dachshund popped through a hole in the fence... Two more shadows appeared....belonging to no other than the 8 month old lions. Compared to a fully grown dachshund these things looked gigantic. The lions seemed to make a beeline towards the little dog and after a few sniffs, a playful paw (from the lion) the dog had finally had enough. He turned around and snapped at any piece of fluffy mane he could get a hold of and surprisingly enough the two lions sheepishly backed off.
Seriously, who would have thought that that little dog was probably the reason they had the fence put up in the first place ;)
Adventure putt putt - You know it's pretty serious when even ordinary putt putt is taken up to the "adventure level". After numerous retakes, fishing my ball out the pond and defeating the difficult course with a reasonably low score (no, we did not count the retakes), an adventure it was.
Hemingways Mall - This is no ordinary mall! With there Tuesday and Wednesday night specials, which include gambling, dinner, dessert and ten pin bowling or go-karting we have at least two nights of adventure guaranteed every week.
Hemingways Mall - This is no ordinary mall! With there Tuesday and Wednesday night specials, which include gambling, dinner, dessert and ten pin bowling or go-karting we have at least two nights of adventure guaranteed every week.
Mpongo Private Game Reserve- With extremely overcast skies we contemplated whether or not to drive out to Mpongo Game Reserve but ended up deciding that we would brave the cold. We happened to be the only ones visiting the reserve and were introduced to Ozzi, the 7 week old lion cub! When I say introduced I mean we managed to hold and play with the adorable little guy! It is so hard to believe that this cutest little lion cub would be rejected by someone, let alone it's own mother. Unfortunately with a very sudden down pour Jason was asked to bring Ozzi inside and our game drive was cancelled. So we tried again the next day. We spent a good 20 minutes playing with Ozzi again (Jasmine would definitely be jealous if she knew how much I liked this little cat), saw Simba the 7 month old lion and lots of other cute little animals. The game drive was really nothing to rave about as the highlight was spotting a lone giraffe pretty far in the distance. None the less, the beautiful scenery and obviously being able to play with a lion cub was absolutely perfect
With every attempt of driving to the airport, mall or gym the taxis alone are sure to bring some form of adventure to your day. Oh, and did I mention ANY car can be a taxi in this place. I guess this really is the adventure province...