Day 10: Game Park Tour and England

(Can't make these photographs line up properly. That first photo is England, not our welcome committee at the game park).

Missed the two earlier games to go to a game park - can't come to Africa and not see a few animals. A 5 am start and a 3 hour drive to a park about 300km north of Cape Town called Inverdoorn. Not quite in the league of Kruger but at least we can tick the 'game park' box.

Inverdoorn is on a dry, elevated plateau, without enough vegetation to support elephants. But we saw docile and inactive lions and cheetahs, and a couple of curious rhinos came very close to the open 4 wheel drive vehicle. Our guide made a lot of fuss about a new-born buffalo, and explained that nobody rides zebras due to their weak spines. Throw in the odd giraffe, it was a decent experience if you're into animals. Highlight for Debbie was the explanation of the best ways to serve ostrich and springboks, which are both common on menus.

Back to Cape Town, and in the evening, England play Algeria. The stadium is adorned in flags of St George, and there are plenty of knights dressed in chain mail. England is very disappointing, although Algeria do play well. Biggest surprise for me comes from watching the England captain, Steve Gerrard, rather than the game. He was lethargic, passed poorly, and made little effort to cover back if he lost possession up the field. If I was Capello, I'd have had a cattle prod ready at half time to liven him up. And Frank Lampard is so frustrating - scores 20 goals from mid field for Chelsea this year, couldn't hit the goal for England if it was a barn door. Sheesh, what is it with these guys!

So I trudge back to my hotel, expecting to be mugged by some Nigerian who had a poor day scamming credit cards.