Adventures in East London, South Africa

Last night Iain and I arrived in Durban from East London on the South Coast of South Africa after a 10 hour bus ride.

We went to East London to meet some of Iain’s family. His Aunt, Uncle and one of his cousins live there. This was the first time I was able to meet the Crowder family and we were very happy staying with them over the two weeks we were in town.

The most memorable part of East London (aside from spending time with some of the Bundy side of the family) was visiting The Lion Park. We had the opportunity on the last day of our visit to hold a nine-week-old white lion cub named Sasha. What a beautiful creature she was. We got to play with her for about 20 minutes and even got to cuddle her. She felt like a warm, live teddy bear with white fur and blue eyes.

The Lion Park itself sells these Lions to other game reserves for about 50,000 Rand (South African currency), which is about $6000 CND. I wanted to buy one to take it home but unfortunately had nowhere to put it. Our appartment is a little too small and I don't think my parents want it in their back yard, even though they were talking about getting a dog. I also got to feed a giraffe and it kissed my face! I didn’t expect the giraffe to be so fearless and accidentally screamed in its face when it wrapped its foot-long black warm prickly tong around my hand. Poor thing. I didn’t mean to tramatize it. It lost its appetite for a while until I apologized and gave it a handful of yummy veggie pellets.



We were very happy to spend some time in East London and enjoyed a side trip to Port Elizabeth for a night to meet with another of Iain’s cousins, Mike. He’s 6’7”! There were quite a few relatives there and we enjoyed a nice lunch getting to know some of them. It had been 25 years since Iain had seen them.

What are we going to miss most about that leg of the trip? Obviously the family we left behind who welcomed us so wholeheartedly into their homes, but also the beaches, the little lion cub Sasha, and the three cats and two dogs that we became friends with while staying with Becky and Neville. Needless to say, with three cats in the house and Iain and I both being allergic to them, our most purchased item those two weeks was antihistamine.

Thanks Crowder Family for a wonderful visit and for some valuable family time.

We're now off to explore the streets of Durban. I hear there is a professional surfing competition in town this week. Maybe I'll enter to see if I can win... stay tuned to find out what happens to us next. Oh ya, and I ripped off one of my toe nail in a swinging door. That was really pleasant. Hopefully we have no more injuries for a while! Wish us luck!