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Published: June 5th 2011June 5th 2011
Re-routed
I returned to Cape Town from Zambia, dragging my injured ankle through OR Tambo (Johannesburg) and Cape Town airports. The size of the swelling increased significantly during the flight...by the next morning, there were purple lines where I'd wrapped the bandage around it. For the symptoms, it didn't hurt all that badly. Stephen at Amber Tree loaned me an ankle brace, which helped a lot. I had a few days to rest it before Áine showed up. When she got in to Cape Town, I went out to meet her at the airport. We decided to stay a few days in Cape Town, before heading out the Garden Route. I had covered some of the route before, but we had more time this time around, so we aimed to get further east. With 2, we could also drive further while one rested. It was more of a holiday than backpacking, so I took a break from writing my journal - as such, this blog entry will be a brief rundown of what we did...
In Cape Town, we simply enjoyed the atmosphere. We went to the waterfront and all along Long Street, as well as to a few fine restaurants - best of which was probably Arnold's, whose Springbok shank is legendary. Due to my ankle, we couldn't climb table mountain, but we decided to scale it after returning. We rented a car, from the slightly dodgy tempest again, and struck out on the road. We headed out to Cape Point, stopping at Hout Bay, Boulders Beach and Kalk Bay, as well as taking in the views at Chapman's Peak. It was fairly foggy and rainy, but the views were still great - except for Cape Point, where it was windy and pissing rain. We headed to Swellendam for the night; the backpackers was full, so we stayed at a B&B - a nice little place called Lulu's. In the morning, we shot up to Oudtshoorn. We visited Cango Caves, where we took the adventure tour - over 180m underground, through 4 very tight spaces. The first was Lumbago Alley, wide but low. Then, the tunnel of love - tall, but very narrow. The Devil's chimney looked impossible, but somehow I made my way up the 40cm wide tunnel. Finally came the Letterbox; it was not so long, just a hole really, with a 1 meter slide after it. However, it is 27cm at its tallest point. And bugger me if I didn't get stuck when I first tried it. Luckily, when I flattened my shoulder blades, I slipped through. We went to Cango Ranch in the morning, where Áine petted a cheetah and tiger cubs, and I went cage diving with crocodiles. In the evening, we went to Buffalo Bay. It was cool as always, though there was a huge storm that night, and the roof was repeatedly slamming. We got very little sleep, but luckily we didn't have too far to go. Storms River, and Dijembe backpackers, were just a quick drive up the road. We took a little break from driving when Áine jumped off a bridge. Yup - the world's highest bungy. Áine jumped like a pro.
After a night at Dijembe, and a few Savannah ciders, we headed up to do the Ziplining at Tsitsikamma. At first I was wondering about the heights, but after doing the first one it was amazingly fun. The only bad thing was how quickly it was over. 10 or 11 slides, some through narrow rocky sections...great craic. We moved on, past Grahamstown, to a place called Manley Flats. The Yellow Piano Inn was amazing - from the hand-raised zebra and the 4 month old Impala (which Áine got to bottle feed) to the incredible dinner they cooked us for 50 rand (sushi followed by honey and sesame chicken), it was a legend of a place. They had built it themselves, using bottles of various colours to create amazing murals in the walls. We went to Cintsa, the furthest east we would get. Buccaneers backpackers was quite the place, a few minutes walk to the lagoon and beach and 8 hectares of wooded land surrounding. It was a huge place, ranging from camp grounds through bars and a pool up to independant units and a restaurant. We lit and cooked on the braai both nights, under the stars.
From Cintsa, we headed to Schotia game reserve again. This time around, we booked their luxury safari tent. This trip cost 200 euro, and included breakfast, lunch, dinner, wine, a private guide for the two of us, and an amazing tent set right out in the bush. There was nobody around for miles, except for warthog, impala and rhino (the lions were in the other enclosure, luckily). The tent was large and and very luxurious, lit by candles. We had a shower built into a tree, and a bath tub in a hut which was open on three sides; nothing between you and the bush except for a few inches of ceramic. An amazing experience, and a funny mix of the wild and the civilised. The game drives, too, were awesome. We got within feet of crocodiles on foot, and quite close to some hippo on foot also. From the Landy, we got right up on all sorts of creatures, not least of which were 5 adorable lion cubs. Justin, whose father owns the reserve, was amazingly knowledgable, especially with ornithology.
After Schotia, we headed further west to Wild Spirit lodge in Nature's Valley. A very hippyish and laid back place; they cooked us an amazing bobotie (kind of like lasagne, but totally different...no pasta, for one thing). We walked down into the vast wooded crater shape beside Wild Spirit to an 80m waterfall. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient water to take a dip, but it was pretty cool all the same. A lovely golden orb spider guarded the entrance to the woods. After Wild Spirit, we drove down to Wilderness, staying at the beach house for a couple of nights. We had a full on braai there, featuring lamb, chicken and beef sausage (called boerwors). We spent quite a lot of time on the beach, and walked along the train tracks to meet the "cave man". Some time ago there was a restaurant in a cave outside Wilderness, which shut down after a flood. This strange dude moved in, decorated it with seashells and flotsam, and started taking in homeless and parolees until they got back on their feet. A very odd chap; I'm reasonably sure he was a eunach.
From Wilderness, we went to Warmwaterberg, which has...warm water springs. Duh. You can't swim at the source, so it's pumped into big pools. The water is around 45 degrees, very relaxing and pleasant. We dipped for around 4 hours, had dinner, and re-dipped. There was rain and lightning, and swimming in hot water and cool rain was just flipping awesome. We stayed in a permanent on-site caravan - much to Áine's disgust (EDIT: I am at pains - literally - to point out that the problem was not the caravan, but the STATE of said caravan. It was pretty "mature", like blue cheese.) - and struck out in the morning. Our panultimate night was spent in Spier, a large wine estate in Stellenbosch. I had visited previously, but this time we spent the night. It is an amazing place, commercial, but still charming. Even their basic rooms were huge. We had dinner at the Moyo restaurant there, which consisted of a huge buffet of meat and vegetable dishes and lovely desserts. The wine at Spier was fantastic, and we had a tasting session as well as a bottle with dinner. They also have cheetah and raptor sanctuaries, which we visited, getting to hold some birds of prey on our arms. This was Áine's birthday, so we celebrated with some milk tart - a delicious South African dessert.
Finally, we returned to Cape Town. Áine flew home the next evening, after we climbed Table Mountain, and I made my booking to head to India. I decided on Mumbai, and booked for the 10th of May.
There are more photos belowPhotos: 52
Displayed: 28
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I returned to Cape Town from Zambia, dragging my injured ankle through OR Tambo (Johannesburg) and Cape Town airports. The size of the swelling increased significantly during the flight...by the next morning, there were purple lines where I'd wrapped the bandage around it. For the symptoms, it didn't hurt all that badly. Stephen at Amber Tree loaned me an ankle brace, which helped a lot. I had a few days to rest it before Áine showed up. When she got in to Cape Town, I went out to meet her at the airport. We decided to stay a few days in Cape Town, before heading out the Garden Route. I had covered some of the route before, but we had more time this time around, so we aimed to get further east. With 2, we could also drive further while one rested. It was more of a holiday than backpacking, so I took a break from writing my journal - as such, this blog entry will be a brief rundown of what we did...
In Cape Town, we simply enjoyed the atmosphere. We went to the waterfront and all along Long Street, as well as to a few fine restaurants - best of which was probably Arnold's, whose Springbok shank is legendary. Due to my ankle, we couldn't climb table mountain, but we decided to scale it after returning. We rented a car, from the slightly dodgy tempest again, and struck out on the road. We headed out to Cape Point, stopping at Hout Bay, Boulders Beach and Kalk Bay, as well as taking in the views at Chapman's Peak. It was fairly foggy and rainy, but the views were still great - except for Cape Point, where it was windy and pissing rain. We headed to Swellendam for the night; the backpackers was full, so we stayed at a B&B - a nice little place called Lulu's. In the morning, we shot up to Oudtshoorn. We visited Cango Caves, where we took the adventure tour - over 180m underground, through 4 very tight spaces. The first was Lumbago Alley, wide but low. Then, the tunnel of love - tall, but very narrow. The Devil's chimney looked impossible, but somehow I made my way up the 40cm wide tunnel. Finally came the Letterbox; it was not so long, just a hole really, with a 1 meter slide after it. However, it is 27cm at its tallest point. And bugger me if I didn't get stuck when I first tried it. Luckily, when I flattened my shoulder blades, I slipped through. We went to Cango Ranch in the morning, where Áine petted a cheetah and tiger cubs, and I went cage diving with crocodiles. In the evening, we went to Buffalo Bay. It was cool as always, though there was a huge storm that night, and the roof was repeatedly slamming. We got very little sleep, but luckily we didn't have too far to go. Storms River, and Dijembe backpackers, were just a quick drive up the road. We took a little break from driving when Áine jumped off a bridge. Yup - the world's highest bungy. Áine jumped like a pro.
After a night at Dijembe, and a few Savannah ciders, we headed up to do the Ziplining at Tsitsikamma. At first I was wondering about the heights, but after doing the first one it was amazingly fun. The only bad thing was how quickly it was over. 10 or 11 slides, some through narrow rocky sections...great craic. We moved on, past Grahamstown, to a place called Manley Flats. The Yellow Piano Inn was amazing - from the hand-raised zebra and the 4 month old Impala (which Áine got to bottle feed) to the incredible dinner they cooked us for 50 rand (sushi followed by honey and sesame chicken), it was a legend of a place. They had built it themselves, using bottles of various colours to create amazing murals in the walls. We went to Cintsa, the furthest east we would get. Buccaneers backpackers was quite the place, a few minutes walk to the lagoon and beach and 8 hectares of wooded land surrounding. It was a huge place, ranging from camp grounds through bars and a pool up to independant units and a restaurant. We lit and cooked on the braai both nights, under the stars.
From Cintsa, we headed to Schotia game reserve again. This time around, we booked their luxury safari tent. This trip cost 200 euro, and included breakfast, lunch, dinner, wine, a private guide for the two of us, and an amazing tent set right out in the bush. There was nobody around for miles, except for warthog, impala and rhino (the lions were in the other enclosure, luckily). The tent was large and and very luxurious, lit by candles. We had a shower built into a tree, and a bath tub in a hut which was open on three sides; nothing between you and the bush except for a few inches of ceramic. An amazing experience, and a funny mix of the wild and the civilised. The game drives, too, were awesome. We got within feet of crocodiles on foot, and quite close to some hippo on foot also. From the Landy, we got right up on all sorts of creatures, not least of which were 5 adorable lion cubs. Justin, whose father owns the reserve, was amazingly knowledgable, especially with ornithology.
After Schotia, we headed further west to Wild Spirit lodge in Nature's Valley. A very hippyish and laid back place; they cooked us an amazing bobotie (kind of like lasagne, but totally different...no pasta, for one thing). We walked down into the vast wooded crater shape beside Wild Spirit to an 80m waterfall. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient water to take a dip, but it was pretty cool all the same. A lovely golden orb spider guarded the entrance to the woods. After Wild Spirit, we drove down to Wilderness, staying at the beach house for a couple of nights. We had a full on braai there, featuring lamb, chicken and beef sausage (called boerwors). We spent quite a lot of time on the beach, and walked along the train tracks to meet the "cave man". Some time ago there was a restaurant in a cave outside Wilderness, which shut down after a flood. This strange dude moved in, decorated it with seashells and flotsam, and started taking in homeless and parolees until they got back on their feet. A very odd chap; I'm reasonably sure he was a eunach.
From Wilderness, we went to Warmwaterberg, which has...warm water springs. Duh. You can't swim at the source, so it's pumped into big pools. The water is around 45 degrees, very relaxing and pleasant. We dipped for around 4 hours, had dinner, and re-dipped. There was rain and lightning, and swimming in hot water and cool rain was just flipping awesome. We stayed in a permanent on-site caravan - much to Áine's disgust (EDIT: I am at pains - literally - to point out that the problem was not the caravan, but the STATE of said caravan. It was pretty "mature", like blue cheese.) - and struck out in the morning. Our panultimate night was spent in Spier, a large wine estate in Stellenbosch. I had visited previously, but this time we spent the night. It is an amazing place, commercial, but still charming. Even their basic rooms were huge. We had dinner at the Moyo restaurant there, which consisted of a huge buffet of meat and vegetable dishes and lovely desserts. The wine at Spier was fantastic, and we had a tasting session as well as a bottle with dinner. They also have cheetah and raptor sanctuaries, which we visited, getting to hold some birds of prey on our arms. This was Áine's birthday, so we celebrated with some milk tart - a delicious South African dessert.
Finally, we returned to Cape Town. Áine flew home the next evening, after we climbed Table Mountain, and I made my booking to head to India. I decided on Mumbai, and booked for the 10th of May.
There are more photos below
Photos: 52
Displayed: 28
Displayed: 28
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