Jim and Sheila's

After leaving Jeffreys Bay on Saturday afternoon, we drove for two hours until we reached Alexandria, a small farming town in the Eastern Cape. I’m not sure what we were expecting, but it’s safe to say we were expecting more than what was there. Even though it was 3pm on a Saturday, Alexandria’s small, local grocery store was closed (it had closed at 1pm). That was a big bummer, as we needed groceries for dinner that night and breakfast the following morning.

There was a very small convenience store opposite the Spar grocery store, so Tim popped in there to see what he could pick up. He returned to the car with a few bottles of water, milk, eggs, and chicory coffee – the only coffee available. We would make do!

We drove out of Alexandria’s main town – driving through town takes 90 seconds – and up a gravel road. Tim had booked us another Airbnb farm stay, just outside Alexandria. The Airbnb directions told us to turn off the big gravel road onto a smaller gravel road and follow it for 11km. Driving down this smaller road, we saw vervet monkeys and warthogs. Warthogs!

We kept driving, finally coming to a gate. Tim punched in the gate code and we entered the property. Immediately in front of us was a herd of goats. They saw our car coming and started to run down the road. One of the goats was quite the kicker, kicking all the other goats, babies included. We were definitely in the wild now.

Eventually, we saw a sign that said Office and turned left. We pulled around a circular driveway and parked in front of the office, which looked dark and closed. Tim rang the doorbell anyway…and nada. In fact, the entire area – office, laundry room, tack shop, other buildings – it was all dark and closed.

But then a couple of dogs came running out of somewhere and we saw two men behind them. Jim, the dad, and Guy, the son, introduced themselves as the farm’s resident owners and our Airbnb hosts. Turns out they had recently returned from a trip to Johannesburg, about 30 minutes prior. These men could not have been nicer. When they heard we missed the grocery store, they offered us butter and boerewors, a traditional South African sausage. We gladly accepted and, in the process of taking the food, met Sheila, Jim’s wife.

Jim and Guy gave us a key to Ed’s Place, the cabin where we’d be spending the next two nights, and shared directions for getting there. The kids said goodbye to the dogs, Scout and Gus; we piled back in the Toyota and drove two miles (mostly up a steep hill) to our cabin.

Along the way to our cabin, we saw zebra, eland, impala, and waterbuck. It was amazing and we were all riveted. Much closer to our cabin, we saw a huge cow herd, including baby calves (we may have been more excited about the tiny babies than the zebras).

Oh, hello, waterbuck and impala. You know, just a few animals you see on the way to your Airbnb.

Sunset on our first night at Ed's Place.

There were always cows, everywhere.

The cabin was quite cozy. The smell brought me right back to my grandparents’ farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. After dinner that night, we played a card game that Taylor invented. The game produced lots of laughs, as it had a lot of holes and thus, the rules changed constantly. 😉

On Sunday morning, we woke up to major wind. It was a gray, chilly morning, not ideal for exploring the farm. Plus, Tim made the chicory coffee and it was absolutely horrible. It was about 75% chicory and 25% coffee and Tim said he’s never tasted anything so bad in his life. Naturally, we opted to head into town for real coffee and breakfast, and to while away some hours out of the wind.

We drove past Alexandria to the next town, Kenton-on-Sea. We found the Kenton Bakery and plopped ourselves down for breakfast. The weather still wasn’t great, but the coffee helped.

Some fun with coffee at the Kenton Bakery. Unfortunately, they were all out of the Prince Harry.

We love outdoor gyms!

Afterwards, we walked down Kenton’s main road and found an outside gym. Wyatt could not have been happier (the kid loves gyms…probably because all you do in gyms is move and move some more).

We hit up the big grocery store in Kenton and picked up some items for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning. And then we drove to the Kenton beach and walked down and back. The beach was untouched and so beautiful – and lucky for us, the sun was starting to come out!

They're hard to see, but Taylor and Wyatt are those two tiny specs walking on the Kenton beach.

Earlier in the day, Jim had offered to take us on a game drive around his farm. In Kenton, we were on the fence, thinking maybe we’d just go back to the cabin, play some cards, eat dinner, and chill. But Wyatt pushed us; he really wanted to see some animals. We arranged for Jim to pick us up at our cabin at 3:45pm. We figured that would give us plenty of time to drive back from Kenton.

The drive time was not a problem; we made it back to the farm about 3pm. However, a herd of cows had gotten outside of their enclosure (the different herds are rotated every so often; the farm uses an electric fence to keep them in a certain area…seems like another animal – most likely a giraffe – may have taken down the electric fence and the cows got loose) and planted themselves firmly on the main road – the one and only road to our cabin. Tim pulled the car kind of close to the cows, but they didn’t budge. I got out of the car and walked up close and waved my arms and (kindly) asked the cows to move. They did start moving.

Cow herding. As one does.

This worked for a while, with Tim inching the car along behind me, until we came to a mom and her calf. Jim had told us that all the animals on the farm were safe, there were no predators, but that we should never corner a mom and her baby. I had visions in my head of an angry mama cow charging at me, and so I opted to jump back in the car. My time as a cow herder was over. Tim inched the car ever closer to the mom and baby; mom moved, but baby stayed put. Finally, finally, the baby moved and the rest of the drive was clear. It literally took about 12 minutes to get through a ¼ mile stretch of cows.

Jim retrieved us at 3:45pm and told us, next time, just drive right up close to the cows. They know to move. Check!

He piled us in his truck and off we went – off-roading. He immediately drove off the gravel path and onto the grass and rocky hill, a sudden and unexpected adventure.

We spent two hours with Jim, driving around his property, and so far, it’s been a major highlight of our trip. We saw more waterbuck and impala. And we saw giraffes! Ohmygosh, the giraffes were amazing. There were adults, teens, babies. We saw about 20 giraffes in all and watched them for a while, mesmerized. The ground shook when they ran. INCREDIBLE.

Just...WOW.

Near the end of our drive, Jim pulled up to a mountain overlook and pulled out a cooler of drinks. Because the wind was strong, we opted to tuck into a little grove with a picnic table. We stood around the picnic table, sharing Jim’s drinks and talking. Jim was fascinating. Tim and I could have talked with him for an entire day.

Snack and drink break during our game drive with Jim.

To our surprise, Jim was from Zimbabwe. But he moved to South Africa to escape the messiness of his own country. He and Sheila, who’s a South Africa native, have four children, all adults (the youngest is 20). The family has lived in Kenya and Tanzania. Jim also lived for a bit in Zambia. He had given up his “Zim” (as he called it) citizenship and opted for South African citizenship instead. He and Sheila used to be dairy farmers. In fact, they were prepared to move back to Zim and start a dairy farm there when their current farm property came up for sale. A friend of Sheila’s dad knew about the Alexandria farm property; Sheila’s dad convinced the couple to come see the property – in a bid to keep the family in South Africa – and it worked. Jim and Sheila decided to buy the property and start a game reserve on it.

We talked with Jim about South African politics; where the country’s been and where he thinks it’s headed. We asked him questions about the economy and townships and the different tribes here. He asked us questions about our life in the United States. In particular, he wanted to know what animals lived near us. “Uh, coyotes?” we responded.

Jim and Sheila also run Quest Africa, and Jim told us stories of the youth who participate and how they’re changed by the time they leave Quest. We already told Taylor and Wyatt they’re coming back to the farm at age 18 for the program (Taylor’s unsure; Wyatt is fired up).

The conversation was so filling and wonderful – as had the game drive around the farm.

Jim dropped us off back at our cabin and the four of us could not stop talking about the giraffes and Jim and life on the farm and all of it.

The next morning, we had breakfast and packed up. Jim had offered to show us the Cape buffalo, so we left Ed’s Place and drove over to Jim and Sheila’s house. Taylor and Wyatt were thrilled to see Gus and Scout again. We once more loaded up in Jim’s truck – Scout, too – and off we went.

These two love every dog they meet. Here's Scout!

We didn’t have to drive far to see the Cape buffalo, one of the “Big Five.” The Big Five are considered the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot: lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, and Cape buffalo. Jim drove right up into the herd and we got to see these huge mammals up close.

This would be the breeding bull. (He's a big guy.)

More big buffs.

Jim told us some wild stories, too, about breeding bulls attacking his car and puncturing tires; about trying to get blood samples from some buffalo (they were tranquilized) and having other buffalo charge him and the vet. Just wild stuff. We saw those buffalo horns realllllllly well and we don’t need to explore them further!

We were so thrilled to see the buffalo and watch them for a bit. Afterwards, Jim drove us back to his house and invited us in for tea. We probably spent another hour talking with Jim and Sheila. They wanted to know more about our life in America and we asked them questions about Quest and living in South Africa. Jim and Sheila also taught us how to eat rusks, dry biscuits that are extremely popular in South Africa.

We had assumed that you eat rusks straight out of the bag, which we had done, but really didn’t enjoy. We couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. But then Jim and Sheila shared that no, you’re supposed to dip your rusk into your tea or coffee, and then eat it. Aha! Eaten that way, rusks are delicious!

Soon enough, it was time for us to get on the road again. We hugged Jim and Sheila and thanked them for an absolutely incredible time. They are clearly special people, having built their farm and Quest Africa and so much else along the way; they are truly living a life full of purpose and community…and even in a short couple of days, we learned from them.

Saying goodbye to Sheila and Jim. 

Thank you, Jim and Sheila! And to all the animals we saw, we thank you, too. 😊