Jay & Nicole's Adventures
Trip Back to Pretoria (from Cape Town) - April 2002 
 (click any picture to get enlargement)

After spending three glorious months in Cape Town we headed back towards Pretoria, which is about a 1500 mile trip.  We took 2 week to get to Cape Town, but the return trip was to be only 6 days, but along the same "Garden Route" that we took down.  We had a choice of places so we picked the best spots that we noticed on the way down.  Note that on the way down was over the Xmas holiday and we had no real choice in lodging. 

We drove along the coast of the Indian Ocean.  We swam & boogie-boarded, as the water was much warmer than in Cape Town (it's like comparing San Diego's ocean temp. with San Francisco's)    
Cliff area; nice views
Beach area; cool day

Tamed Elephants 		Our next stop was at the Knysna Elephant park.  In the surrounding forests an elephant species developed that thrived in the forests; unfortunately there are now only 3left! The park is hands-on & supports research. 
Not happy at all! 


Ahh, with food he's happier, except his trunk feel rough and is like a vacuum cleaner 


Come on Nicole, don't feel his tusk like that, his girlfriend is jealous! 
The next adventure on the trip, besides driving on roads that were poorly maintained and in the middle of the wilderness, was to a Canopy Park.  This park is situated ABOVE a forest and to tour it, you had to slide from towers built in trees.  There are only three parks like this in the world and it was a lot of fun!  A few co-workers of Nicole's met us there and joined in on the adventure ... don't we all look sooooo cute?


The group perched on a tower; about 80 feet up. 


In harness and sliding,  gloves control speed 
At slides end, the feet come up for a soft landing 
Overall, the trip was quite enjoyable and we were happy that nothing went wrong; unlike the trip down when a hail storm broke the windshield.  We took notes along the way and, since we will be making this trip once per year, we hope to continually stay at nicer spots.  That way we will see as much of the areas 
we traverse through as possible.  We already have reservations for next Christmas and are looking forward to our return trip to the Cape Town area .....


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