Penguins

Port Elizabeth 72F  sunny and windy

Port Elizabeth (PE) is a major port city located about 480 miles east of Cape Town, on the Indian Ocean.  It is the 6th largest city in South Africa with a population of approximate 960,000. The name of the city was changed in 2013 to Gqeberha which is the Xhosa (indigenous tribe) name for the city.  The official name has never really caught on and even the Tourism information all refers to Port Elizabeth.

While there is archeological evidence in multiple caves of human inhabitants in the province surrounding PE dating 65,000 years ago, the Portuguese have documented mapping the area in 1488 but only for marking it on maps as a ‘landing place with fresh water’.  The Dutch East India company did have settlements in the area but not in the port area. 

Port Elizabeth was officially founded in 1820 with the arrival of 4,000 British settlers led by Sir Donkin.  Port Elizabeth was named after Donkin’s wife, who had died in India.  In 1872 a railway leading to the interior of South Africa from PE, cemented the importance of the port in importing and exporting goods.  There is a complex history of the struggles between the Dutch and Britain, the indigenous tribes (Zulu and Xhosa) and the cost of Apartheid. 

Today Port Elizabeth is considered the cultural, financial and educational center of the Cape Colony province. 

The economy is based upon automobile assembly, exporting of goods, manufacturing and foreign investment. Port Elizabeth contains many industries such as a Coca Cola plant, pharmaceutical plants and is a major car parts and building center for VW in South Africa.  The port has the biggest car moving apparatus in South Africa and the port was full of cars ready to be loaded.  Since the cars are all built to drive on the left, they are sent to Africa, Asia and Australia. Many, many cars were parked on the port terminal waiting for loading. This is only a portion of the parked vehicles from sedans to SUVs to trucks.

Tourism is another large component of Port Elizabeth’s economy as the climate, coastline and outdoor adventures attract domestic and international vacationers.  It is also a gateway for game sightings and whale watching year round.

On the ship we had received the same warnings about safety before disembarking that occurred at Durban.  In the cruise port there was an information booth where you could get a tourist map of the city.  On the back of the map were all sorts of helpful crime hints and all the police numbers you could ever want.  I especially enjoyed the section on what to do if you are attacked or hijacked. You will have to magnify but the instructions seemed a little conflicted.

I used Viator to book a tour from PE.  However, things didn't go exactly to plan.  I had done my research and knew exactly what I wanted to do.  There is an ethical animal sanctuary (animals unable to be returned to the wild) about 40 miles outside of Port Elizabeth that allowed Cheetah encounters.  Now the cheetahs had been trained for work in movies and were quite acclimated to humans.  Their website had pictures of the encounter and the tour company was aware of what I wanted to do.  They are gorgeous and built to run.  I was excited to say the least.

I met my guide and we discussed what I wanted to do for the day.  Out to the sanctuary and whatever time left, investigate PE.  Imagine my surprise when the guide in essence said he was willing to take me wherever I wanted to go but, the laws had changed in South Africa and animal encounters were no longer allowed.  Law changed? Like yesterday so no one had time to change their website?  Nope – at least a year.  Sigh.  Can’t argue with that as it generally means some human did something stupid and I know it really is less stressful just to allow animals to be animals.

There was a national park – the ADDO Elephant park at least an hour away or we could visit a smaller private park to see some animals.  I decided we would start the day with the private park (the ADDO was going to be filled with the tours from the ship) and go from there. The guide was also certified for game parks so he was a library of information on animals, birds, plants etc.

We started the day at the Kragga Kamma private reserve which was about 20 min from town.  Due to its size, it did not have predators at the park – no lions, leopards etc.  Well, they did have 3 lions but kept in a separate – large and natural- enclosure.  Those 3 were part of an eastern European circus and were abandoned in a railway car.  After rescue and rehab, they are spending the rest of their natural life at this park.  We had an overlook into their area, but they were to be undisturbed.

Here a few of the animals we saw.  In Kenya we saw the Maasai, reticulated and Rothschild giraffes.  The Southern Giraffe is only found, as expected, in the Southern African countries.  They have a unique pattern (as all species of giraffes do) which are dark rounded spots with some points on a tawny background that get smaller in size from the head to the toe.  I don’t know how well my pictures will show this but the coloration fades from head to toe – darker on the head/neck and lighter down to the toes.  The shapes of the ends of the 2 horns are different between male and female.  A group of giraffes living together is a fission (for your next trivia party).

White rhinos were present (no black rhinos) and their horns (made from their hair) have been cut to make them less attractive to poachers.

The back end of Bonteboks, an antelope found in South Africa and Namibia.

Another antelope, the Blue Wildebeest or Brindled Gnu.  Hopefully you can see the bluish stripes on the shoulder area that provides the name.

Of course there were other animals – elephants, zebras, and other hooved animals.  As usual we got to talking and watching and I forget pictures.  We also saw a Hoopoe.  A bird about the size of a Robin with a cinnamon colored body, black and white tail striping and a crown that they fluff up when startled.  My pictures don’t do it justice so here are some from the internet. First, a relaxed hoopoe.

 And the Hoopoe when he feels challenged. Or maybe a bad hair day? Or a good day?

 After the Park, we decided that a stop at the Penguin Rescue and Rehab organization was next.  African penguins (originally called Jackass penguins due to the braying noise they make) are endangered due to loss of fish feeding grounds (over fishing / climate change) and shipping incidents such oil spills, netting and other toxic materials.  SANCCOB organization is a nongovernmental rescue and rehab facility for all sea birds.  From cleaning birds due to oil spills, orphan chicks, injuries, or failure to thrive and other reported issues, they will address the physical needs while having a political arm to try to foster laws to help protect the birds.

The organization has a group of resident penguins and other sea birds – those unable to be successfully returned to the wild, and a hospital and rehab facility for those who can.  Their enclosure for the residents was being enlarged so we saw them in a smaller indoor enclosure.  We were also able to view some of the rehab activities but asked not to take pictures in the rehab area. These are the permanent residents. I wonder when the disco starts. The balls are actually enrichment as the light reflection catches their eye.

Every African Penguin has this pink patch above their eyes that is bare skin used in regulating their body temperature. If they get too hot, heat is released through their skin.

After this, it was time for a drive along the coast.  PE is a vacation destination due to its climate and beautiful beaches.  We passed through a number of towns or high end vacation home developments along the shore.  There was a combination of wide sandy beaches and very rocky beaches with stone monoliths jutting up from the ground at 45 degree angles due to tectonic plate movement.  And in some areas, the sand dunes are so high people can sandboard down them. 

As we worked our way back to PE we passed farms and estates that were quite lovely and peaceful.  Swimming pools are very common for every house vs a community pool.  However, even being outside of town almost every home had the high walls with barbed wire or spikes or electrified wire at the top.  We talked about a variety of subjects and somehow got to talking about utilities.  He said that it was very common for power to be cut every day in residential areas.   Always planned in advance and in fact, there is an app for that.  They can go online and determine if their neighborhood is affected and during what hours for the day.  Water is always a topic of government discussion.  Some time ago, Cape Town was in danger of running out of water.  Drought is common and people are encouraged to meet water consumption goals per person.  Trash pickup didn’t seem to be an issue as even the downtown looked pretty clean.  Until we drove past a township with the piles of trash.  

For lunch, I asked to go to a local spot – some place he would take family or visitors to.  He took me to his neighborhood which was outside the downtown district but part of the area with more colonial buildings to a small local hole in the wall chicken restaurant. 

Fernando’s is known, obviously, for their grilled chicken that is a mixture of Portuguese and Mozambique cooking/seasoning etc.  They spatchcock the chicken and I think do some precooking.  Then it is grilled in the bar area, cut into pieces and finished grilling.  It was pretty tasty although I did pass on the salad (following safe food instructions since it would be washed in regular water).

The real treat was sitting at the bar and watching the place fill with regulars.  It was like Cheers – people walked in the door and were greeted by name.  People knew at least someone already in the place.  The people running the place were the Mozambique half and were thrilled to hear I was from the USA.  One gentleman had a whole conversation with me – I think he visited LA and found how bad the traffic was, but I can’t say that was really the topic, due to his accent and speed of talking.  I smiled, nodded, and laughed when he did.  At the end, I turned to the guide who said – don’t worry, I still don’t know what he says half the time.

When we left, the guide tipped a man who watched over the car we had parked on the street.  Guarding cars for tips appeared to be a serious job that could lead to a fight if someone tried to steal another’s street. The guide indicated on some streets this was a common and appreciated job.  We were several blocks from his house, and he said he felt very safe in this area.

At the end of the day we stopped in a neighborhood bakery – apartments and some businesses, for a snack and coffee. Relatively quiet, people were out walking, traffic was light with pretty tree lined streets.  The front entrance had a locked metal gate.  We had to be buzzed in because the bakery had been robbed several times. The coffee was really good.  Everything I saw was normal for the people living in the area.

We then had some time to look at both residential areas and the downtown business area. 

We did not stop and walk around at any of the downtown sights.  He continually advised that was not safe and I don’t think he was being lazy.   Even when we were in the heart of the downtown area that had government buildings, shops and some street sellers, plenty of activity – it was always deemed unsafe.   The downtown area was busy, didn’t look dirty or filled with people begging etc and I asked why being downtown in the middle of the day was dangerous.  He said ‘look around, do you see anyone like us’?  He meant white.  I asked him what he did if he had to go to one of the government buildings to do something and he replied that he took 2 friends with him, both bigger and stronger than he was.  This was the guide I asked if these warnings were due to hatred of whites and he replied not really, just white means more money.  He has been mugged several times, we were a group of two not 50 and perhaps that affected his replies.  I am still trying to reconcile this experience. 

The one area I could get out for some decent pictures was the more industrial area.  For example, the area where the car manufacturing and pharmaceutical plants were located.

And their sports stadium where multiple games for the 2010 FIFA World Cup were place including the third place playoff. 

Back to the ship after a day that was not what I planned but certainly a different view.  Now I realize the following pictures are not great and you might have to magnify it to even see what I am trying to explain but, it happened. Before the ship started to move out of the port, I noticed a variety of birds flying around.  As I watched more closely, there must have been a school of fish pushed into the port area.  For the next 15 minutes there were 4-5 groups of dolphins (assumably feeding) in the port – probably around 20 dolphins.  And then the birds and dolphins were gone. 

Off to Cape Town!

Tot siens !