The 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is around the corner and tens of thousands of top international triathletes and their families are about to flock into Port Elizabeth for a week. Most will never have visited our beautiful city and will have no idea of what to do while they are here. And there is just so much choice – Nelson Mandela Bay is a traveller’s smorgasbord of memorable experiences just waiting to be tasted.
Whatever direction you decide to head, there is something to see and do, and there is so much variety – beaches, forests and mountains for nature lovers, vibey hangouts for city slickers, waves, wind and bumpy tracks for sporty types and history and creativity everywhere for the arty folk. Whether it involves beachcombing, hiking, surfing, eating, culturing, adventuring, chilling or socialising, our lovely little coastal city has it all.
All this choice can be a little overwhelming, so to help make your travel planning a breeze – for the Iron-men, Iron-women and their families and friends, and for everyone travelling to Port Elizabeth for the first time – here is our guide to Nelson Mandela Bay’s Top 5 must-see tourist attractions.
There is something to be said about sleeping in a bed that is so large you can’t reach both sides at once no matter how far you stretch. And when you plop back into a soft couch, surrounded by tastefully classy furnishings and breath-taking artworks, wearing a puffy white dressing gown while watching wild animals drink from a water hole outside your huge patio.
Add to that world class game viewing with a friendly, knowledgeable safari guide, sundowners with a spectacular African sunset as a backdrop and a spread of the finest cuisine served by friendly and attentive staff hell bent on making sure you have the time of your life.
This is what attracts thousands of tourists from across the globe to visit our malaria-free Eastern Cape game reserves and we were delighted to visit Founders Lodge to discover for ourselves where and how it all began.
What is it with camping? Why do people spend a small fortune buying equipment to live rough in the bush when they have a solid roof over their heads and a comfy bed at home?
Well, according to Google there are many reasons. I particularly liked Tim Dowling from The Guardian’s take on it – “Perhaps it’s because camping is to living as cooking is to barbecuing. It’s basically an outdoor version of housekeeping. There is something so primally satisfying about escaping from our reliance on infrastructure that it turns the most tedious chore into an adventure. Suddenly making toast is interesting, just because it’s so hard.”
For us, getting far away from civilisation into the wild is the absolute best way to unwind, destress and enjoy real quality family time together without technology. I have to confess though that the actual camping bit does not entirely float my boat. A resounding “Yes Please” to counting the stars at night, sharing stories around a campfire, long hikes and afternoon naps under the trees. But “Hell No” to poxy shared ablutions, leaky tents, deflating mattresses and noisy neighbours.
Despite the drawbacks, we seem to have become quite adept at camping (this has been our most financially viable mode of accommodation since we invested in making memories on our cross global expedition to the Canadian Rockies). I am even slightly at risk of becoming a happy camper. But there is still a very large part of me that prefers to swap the “c” for “gl”, to mitigate the roughness of living wild with a little bit of creature comfort and a lot less PT.
Glamping (glamorous camping) can be very expensive, in fact it’s quite easy to spend more to stay in a fancy tent than under a real roof. But we have discovered quite a few affordable glamping destinations – places in beautifully wild locations that have permanent tents with proper beds and built in lighting. Where you get to experience the real outdoors, up close and personal with Mother Nature, but still get a good night’s sleep. Where you don’t have to schlep half your house along and spend hours constructing a temporary abode but where you can still build a campfire and sleep with only a thin layer of canvas between you and the world.
Last week we hosted visitors from the United States. They were on a countrywide tour and were in the Eastern Cape to visit our famous Addo elephants. Their highlight, they explained to us, was sure to be the elephant back safari they had booked. I bit my tongue – clearly they did not know how cruel this is to elephants.
We too have ridden elephants. It was only when we met Lara Mostert, avid animal rights activist and owner of Monkeyland, Birds of Eden and Jukani near Plettenberg Bay, that we gained some in depth knowledge on what constitutes a true animal sanctuary, and how we can all make a difference by being responsible tourists who refuse to support facilities that place economics above ethics.
So if elephant back riding is cruel to elephants, how can it be that it is so popular among both tourists and locals? I guess it must be from a lack of information and education as surely most people would not knowingly support cruelty to these majestic and magnificent creatures.
When Cian was in Grade 6 last year, he was tasked with preparing an oral to persuade his audience about something he felt strongly about and he chose to tackle the topic of elephant back riding. His words are simple and emotive and I’ll bet they will cause you to think twice before you head off to ride an elephant.
Have you ever noticed a swish looking catamaran cruising along Port Elizabeth’s promenade? We certainly have, and have been itching to be the ones on board, watching the city from the water. So we booked ourselves tickets on Stampede Cruises and headed down to the harbour on a perfectly still and sunny PE morning.
