Addo National Park and Face Adrenaline

This weekend was fast and furious to say the least.  On Friday, Jorge and I set out heading to Addo Park.  We left Knysna at three in the afternoon, driving a rental car on the "wrong" side of the road.  That made things interesting right from the get go.  We booked reservations at a place called the Orange Elephant.  It is a backpackers that is located near the park.  It has a little pub also, so we were able to meet a few interesting people.  We got up early on Saturday morning, and we went to Addo.  We got into the park around 8:30 am, and there was a lot of fog; real handy when  looking for wildlife.  We did stumble across a big male elephant that was real close to the road.  We just sat and stared at each other for a while, and then we drove on.  It was real fun driving a rental car in the park.  We really did not care how rough we were on it.  We saw zebras, kudu, ostrich, elephants, etc.  It was not a good trip in the fact that we went 1 for 5 in the Big Five.  We did not see a rhino, leopard, lion, or water buffalo.  It was still a lot of fun though. 

Later that afternoon, I got the great idea that I would go on the three hour, experienced rider, horse ride.  We would ride through a remote section of the park looking for all types of game.  When I arrived at the stables, I was the only one that would be riding.  My guides name I can not say nor pronounce, so I was allowed to call him X.  He inquired as to my experience, and we decided that I was experienced enough to hang on and run away from a charging elephant or rhino.  The good thing about me being the only one was that we could go at whatever pace I could handle.  At the stables, X gave me a horse named Gaily. 

He told me that she was very calm, and did not run unless it was necessary.  I got on and rode her around the pen so we could get acquainted.  So here X and I go across the African country side.  We started out just walking.  He then said we can gallop, so Gaily took off.  It did not seem that she did not like to run.  She broke and started crow hoping, but I managed to hang on and regain control.  X finally caught up to me, and he was confused by Gaily's tactics.  We traded horses, and now I was riding Chester.  Chester was a much better horse, but he did not like to follow.  These horses were very trained, and they knew the same routine very well.  The ride was very fast paced.  We galloped and sprinted a lot of the time, so I had to regain my riding abilities very quickly.  We saw all kinds of wildlife.  We rode up on elephants, and that was really cool.  Just something about being in Africa on a horse, in the middle of elephants.  At one point we were chasing monkeys across the pasture full run; it was a lot of fun.  We saw all the same animals as previously mentioned.  On the way back, we came to a wide open pasture, and X said "Lets Go," and we were off.  As I mentioned earlier, Gaily was a follower, not a leader.  She was not to sure about being in front.  At times she would not pay attention to where she was going, and then she would look down and scare herself.  Now, X was a very experience rider, but he made the mistake of being too comfortable.  We are sprinting across this pasture, and Gaily startles herself.  She jumps about ten feet to the right in mid run and sent X flying.  I did not see him land, as he scared Chester.  Chester slammed on the breaks for a split second, so I went flying up on his neck.  He did not miss a beat and kept running as fast as he could.  I was just hanging on to his head and neck for dear life, and I contemplated letting go, because I had lost my stirrups, and I was in a tight spot.  I had no reigns at this point, so rather than falling over the front and then under him, I reached down and grabbed his bit and brought him to a stop.  It was amazing how comfortable he was with me riding on his neck and head.  That had my blood flowing, and I finally got re-saddled.  X came riding up to me and said he gave my ride a ten.  Good thing we were wearing riding helmets, as he had a bit dent in his after his fall.  He claimed he was okay so we continued.  We finally got the horses calm and headed back to the stables.  It was a ton of fun, needless to say, I am very sore today.  I caught back up with Jorge, and we made one last drive through the park.  We stumbled across these two male elephants fighting in the rode.  It was a great adventure. 

This morning I woke up and said "lets jump off something really high today."  So we went to Face Adrenaline on the way back to Knysna.  It is the world highest bungee at 216 meters, and four seconds of pure free fall. 

I do not know how I talked myself into doing it, but it was one of the most fun and intense moments of my life.  I got a dvd of the whole experience and a bunch of pictures.  My form was not great when I jumped, and I think it was because it is not natural to jump off of bridges. 

It was amazing.  I will be posting pictures and maybe a video later.  It was a great weekend in South Africa.