BIG 7 SAFARI:
Amazing overnight safari.
Marine cruise to Bird island include Addo elephant park, Port Elizabeth. South Africa
2 days, 1 night
(Code KB08)

With this diversity in mind, we will meet you at your place of residence at 6:45 am and drive you to the small boat harbour in Port Elizabeth. Here we prepare for an exciting day on the waters of Algoa Bay. After the safety briefing, we set sail in a south-easterly direction, passing Cape Recife and its Lighthouse.

Our route is designed to take us into the seasonal migration path of the Humpback Whales as they make their way either further north when they first arrive or on their return journey after they leave the northern extent of their migration to return back into the waters of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica itself.

These Whales will often be seen breaching, tail and fin slapping or simply cruising past our boat, providing us with amazing sightings of these gigantic creatures. Once we get into the path of the migration, we change course and head north east, following their path as we set course for Bird Island. It will take about 3 hours at sea to arrive at the islands, taking into consideration time spent stopping to watch the wildlife en route.

On arrival at Bird Island, we set anchor in the lee of Black Rocks and the seal colony for this is where we are likely to find the Great Whites lurking in wait for any unwary seals. It will take around 30 minutes for the sharks to scent the presence of the boat and come closer to investigate the intruder in their waters. While we wait, we have a light lunch and refreshment on board the boat.

Once the Great Whites arrive, there is a sense of excitement.   Intoxicated by the presence of these apex predators, we watch as they circle the boat, sometimes coming right up and touching the vessel. There is a focus, a sense of being drawn in, on the primordial power of these predators that find themselves at the very peak of the evolutionary scale.

We spend between an hour to two hours here before packing up and running back home along the incredibly beautiful Woody Cape dune fields, a vast expanse of aeolian or shifting dunes, as we make our way parallel to the coast to the largest island in the Bay, St Croix. It is while running along the coastline that we can anticipate spotting a pod or two of Bottlenose Dolphins surfing the shore break along the coast. There is a good possibility of getting some great photo opportunities with these playful marine mammals breaching through the back of the sunlit swells. We soon arrive at St Croix with its breeding colony of African penguins and, in most cases, a pod of Bottlenose dolphins.  After staying at this island for a while, we make our final run back to the harbour after an exhilarating day on the ocean in one of the wildest places left on this planet.

After getting your shore legs back, we board the tour vehicle and return to your overnight accommodation.

Overnight Port Elizabeth guesthouse, Bed & Breakfast, packed lunch on the boat.

Dinner is for own account.