R335

We booked into Somerset Lodge last night and what a gem that turned out to be. A lovely room, a hot shower and a very comfortable bed and a super hosts in Deon and Celeste du Plessis. Passionate about there town, know there surroundings and keen to share there passion and  knowledge and wants you to experience this as well. Not to mention the very affordable rate this came at. We will definitely be back there when next in Somerset East. Camping at Bestershoek is fresh off the menu!!!We went for a superb pizza at Somerset on Main. This is an old house converted into a restaurant and it is beautiful. Both of us thought that it reminded us of  Bacardi's in Kloof street. It was not as busy and bussling, but it had the same sort of atmosphere.
Today we travelled the R 335 from Somerset East to Addo, which was not on the travel plan, however with Besterhoek not materializing, we decided to take a chance and see if we could not get a camp site for the night at Addo and , by the Grace of God, we got the last site for the night.
Well again we travelled off  he beaten track. It was the road less travelled and thus the beauty of it was excessive. It is like the less people do the route, the more beauty there is for you to experience. We travelled up the passes and down the passes and wished that it was not all ' in the cloud" travelling, but as we gpt over the top of the Suurberg mountains the mist lifted and we could see the never ending rolling hills of the Eastern Cape. The Suurberg Pass is one to put on your "bucket list " if this is your sort of thing. As we got closer to Addo  a few commercial operations showed up. The one was the Elephant Backed Safaris and the other was a rather new looking lodge with Ice cream coloured chalets, largely visited by hired Corollas and the odd Spark.
We arrived in Addo at about 2pm and immediately went to "stake our claim"  and then went off to do a trip through the park. The park is GREEN and LUSH and totally different to the last 3 times we were here. Not an elephant in sight, but hundred of birds, herons in large numbers, Blue Cranes and Korhaan and lots of Kudu and plenty of Warthog. Hopefully we will see some Elephants when we travel through the Park on out way to PE where we are going to spent 2 nights with family/friends.
It remains to me a special  treat to travel through Addo and experience the difference every time. (sound a bit lke a Woolies ad) It just is such an humbling experience to know that nature is just always there and doing what is right at the right time, while we all stress and strain about stuff we can do nothing about.