The Mini vs Maxi Challenge - From the West to the East

Day three of the tour dawned bright and sunny in Tsistikamma. It is one of those paces that is full of charm and beauty, which makes it difficult to leave, especially after the wonderful hospitality of our hosts Chris and Irma.

To get the most of the atmosphere I took an early morning walk before breakfast, through the gardens and the picturesque village, which is set below the majestic mountains of the Tsitsikamma. Imagine waking up to this every morning.



A two and a half drive brought us to the Elephant House at Addo, where we were ushered into an establishment that was full character and old world charm, with its wide verandas and lush well kept gardens.



This is a place to stay if you are looking for peace and quite, good accommodation and excellent food. Our gourmet three course lunch with our host that was superb, to say the least.

The Elephant House is a stone's throw away from the Addo Elephant National Park, which was our next destination. As we were driving on to Stutterheim after the tour, we decided to  do a self drive in the MAXI teams VW Amarok. This vehicle is amazing. It is just as comfortable on the dirt roads as it is on the tar.

The Addo Elephant National Park is one of my favourite places in the Eastern Cape. Whenever I go there I am never disappointed. This time was no exception. I have never seen the Park looking so lush. The countryside is awash with a blaze of colour from all the flowers - it looks like spring has sprung early this year.

With all the vegetation and surface water the animals were not as concentrated as they were in the drier months, but we were not disappointed - here are three of my favourites, elephants, kudu and warthog.

From here our next stop was the Manderson Hotel at Stutterheim, but that is tomorrow's story.