22nd May, Plettenberg Bay
Unfortunately Knysna had very little to offer, the beach was out of rage and there were no hiking trails or other activities I was interested in, so I decided to switch over to Plettenberg Bay by Minibus. The Minibus was an experience of it's own. I had to walk from the hostel (Knysna Backpackers) to a market, and plenty of small busses where already waiting to pick up people to go to other villages. The real bad thing about my "Minitaxi" was that the driver wouldn't leave until the bus was full. So there where 9 people on the bus, waiting for almost one hour, sweating, in very uncomfortable position (two woman even had all their wooden dishes with them), including me. The driver was gone most of the time, I guess to find the 10th person. But to do myself a favour I finaly paid the price for the 10th person and we were able to leave.

I spent the rest of the day, expect a lunch break at the local Mexican restaurant (excellent chilli) on the beach, a "blue flag" beach, as the owner of my new hostel assured me.. I stayed at a Backpackers called "Nothandos" (which means "love" in Zulu), a very nice and clean place, owned by a white couple. I had two bedrooms on my own (no snoring like in the previous nights!!) including a bathroom and hot shower. The hostel was located next to an shopping mall and it was only a 15 minute walk to the beach.

23rd May, Robberg
I spend most of the day hiking around the "Robberg, a peninsula about 15 minutes away from the main city. There are three hiking trails to explore the Robberg, a 20 minute walk, a two hour walk and a five hour walk. It wasn't the best weather and the cliffs get slippery during rain so I went for the 2 hour walk. The cliff and the vegetation was very interesting, and sometimes the trees and bushes would grew high enough to create a natural roof that would keep away the train.

Side-Note: Robberg is about to become a world natural heritage. If you are on Robbberg and look at Plettenberg Bay, you realise that, like in every other bay, a big chunk is missing. Well, the big chunk that is missing and makes Plettenberg a "bay" is actually the Falkland Islands close to South-America. The rocks that you find on Robberg are exactly the same rocks you will find on the Falkland islands and that is one of the major proofs that there once was one big continent called Gondwana or Pangea.

The day ended with an typical South African Barbecue, organised by the owners of the hostel. Plenty of steaks and "Borkworst", some kind of sausages, accompanied by my favourite drink, a cider called "Savana".

24th May Dolphin-Tour, Port Elisabeth
To watch Dolphins is a "Must do" of South Africa. And Plettenberg Bay is a great place to do so. They have an very unusual launch method known as the "dolly trailer system", where the passengers remain on the boat while it is pushed into the sea. It is kind like a roller coaster ride and the way how you get back on the beach is even more exciting, full speed towards the beach and pray no one gets in your way! On the three hour boat tour we saw hundreds of dolphins, jumping out of the water and mating around. It was beautiful to see those peaceful creatures in their natural habit. We also tried to see whales, since their season had just started, but unfortunately no Moby Dick showed up. We finished the boat-ride with a visit at the robe-colony at the Robberg peninsula.
I left Plettenberg Bay after the amazing dolphin tour and took the bus to Port Elisabeth. I didn't use the Baz-Bus this time since a normal Bus looked cheaper, but after my arrival in Port Elisabeth I had to pay another 40 Rand for the taxi- to get to my hostel, the PE Backpackers, which equalised my savings. At night I went bowling with an English couple (guess what, on an around the world trip for one year…) and Peter, a guy from the Czech republic who was running the hostel as part of his pratical training. I also booked a tour to the Addo Elephant park for the very next, to keep me busy and not waist to much time just hanging around on the beach or at the hostel.

25th May, Addo Elephant Park
Addo Elephant Park was 1,5 hour drive away from Port Elisabeth, and on the way our tour guide stopped at a township and told us about Apartheid and how it affected his live.
He was a "coloured", which for example meant that he had to live in a designated area and the education-opportunities were bad compared to the education a white person, still better then those of a black person. Out of 10 Rand, 1 Rand would be spend on education for a black person, 3 Rand for a coloured person and the rest would go into educating a white person.

But as we all know, Apartheid-laws are gone so things have changed. The problems are still big in this country and it will take many years to solve them, but its much better then it was before.
My personal feeling is that South Africans are very proud of their country and there is one person everyone is looking up to, and that's Nelson Mandela. They are going to change the name of Port Elisabeth into Nelson Mandela Bay, with a 25 meter high statue of him at new harbour they are currently building.

But on to the Elephant Park. Unfortunately for us we didn't get to see a lot elephants and the tour guide told us that it was one of his worst days. Usually visitors end up seeing hundreds of elephants, whereas we only saw about twenty to thirty the entire day. But since it was my first game-drive ever, I didn't mind at all and was fully satisfied to see Zebras, Antelopes., Giraffes and yes also a few Elephants.
A little advice: When driving around in the park you are not alowed to leave the car, so keep in mind that lots of drinking will fill up your bladder and then you will, just like me, pray for a stop.