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Published: July 11th 2015
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By now, you all now it...the summer school holidays have started! We wake up early, are in bed by 10pm, and we do....a lot! So after nearly a week in Shelly Beach, we are back on the road!
If you are a serious diver and know South Africa pretty well, I'm sure you were expecting a blog from Port St John's and great pictures of the sardine run. For those who have no clue of what I'm writing about, here is a little explanation. Port St John's is around 4 hours drive south of Shelly Beach. It is better known as the world capital of shark attacks....as the place with the most casualties per year in the WORLD, but these are either surfers, swimmers or dogs, not divers!
Once a year, for maximum two weeks, just around the 1st of July, a huge migration of sardines pass by there.....millions of them, in tight schools....you get it? It's a feast for....the sharks, the dolphins, the birds, the seals and the whales. You spend your day on a boat....jump in and out into the cold water....most of the time snorkeling, sometimes diving for few minutes....next to the
bait ball of sardines...and you enjoy it!
This experience is minimum a whopping 250usd per day per person. And most overseas guests will book a multi-days stay...pay ahead...and just hope that the sardines are neither there too early or too late! Sadly for the last three years, the experience was rather average. The water is also too cold for Tiffany to stay a full day wet on a zodiac. So the plan was...if it's amazing, I'm driving down for a very long day with Leslie. Let's call it the advantage of local connections. But it was just average, and I'm moving in three years to the area...so there are going to be many more sardines run for me to come...and the day it's worth it, you'll see me driving at 3am...and taking some crazy pics! Just google it...sardine run Port St johns!
So no sardine run, so let's go skiing! Sure, I can see those smiles! Well, sorry, the skiing was on my wish list...for a long while. This is the 5th continent skiing for the kids....and the last one for me. Didn't ski Antarctica...not sure I will ever do! There are very few
places you can ski in Africa! There is Tiffindell where we went, and just on the other side of the mountain, Afriski in Lesotho....than your next option is out of Ouarzazate in Morocco....but not much snow here too. Amin told me you can ski in Algeria....but not much infrastructure, and not the safest place to be right now. We have skied in Lebanon, but that's not Africa!
Tiffindell, here we are! I first drove the 7-8 hours to the very small village of Rhodes. It could have been faster had I rent a four by four...but my little Toyota Corolla is for sure not a SUV! The landscape in the Drakensberg is just out of this world, and they seem to have sort out a lot of the potholes since my last long drive in South Africa...finally! Well, this is till you turn right at Barkly East for a good 42km of dirt track. This is not for everybody, but thousands of kms of these in Argentina....guess I can cope with it!
We arrived in Rhodes just before sunset...yes, this is 4.45pm....we are deep in the winter here...winter with full gorgeous blue skies! We
are staying for the night at Walkerbouts. They are THE B&B in Rhodes, even throwing in dinner...not cheap, but the village is really cold at night, and we had a good night...nice dinner and breakfast....and the kids first time stay in a Rondaveil in South Africa.
8.30am, and it's time for me to drive the 25kms to Tiffindell. We didn't see any "normal" car on the way in...and out! And trust me, on the way in, I never experienced such a gradient...poor little Corolla, I'm happy you are not mine...and even in first gear....it is slightly terrifying!
So, I made it...the car too...and one the way back, we could take our time to take pictures of that insane ride....Not for everyday...well, at least not for me! Tiffindell, the base of the resort is at 2720 meters....so they have some snow, but also produce a lot. The area is so dry, just by looking at the vegetation, that I don't think it does snow a lot here. So they have some snow, and they make some! Today, half of the main run was open. That's a good 500 meters long slope, between 3000 meters and
2700 meters. They were not even sure the full run would open this year....no snow coming, and humidity is too high to produce artificial snow. The snow on which we skied, was mainly artificial.
If you want to stay at Tiffindell, it's minimum a three nights stay. I know, all South Africans will tell you how fun the place is. I guess they ski one day...party the first night...and next day go straight back to the bar instead of the two slopes....well, actually three if you include the beginner one! I was told that only 10 to 15% of the guests could be considered here as "experienced"...and yes, it's 100% South Africans....minus us!
We had an amazing day...we must have ride 25 times that T-bar. The skiers are mainly teenagers with very few adults. There are queues in the morning, and none in the afternoon....and this is the middle of the school holidays for the locals. No ski pass checks here...it's all a civilized world where you will hear mainly Afrikaans, some English, and very small amount of Zulu.
I'm sure the party time at night must be amazing, but from
Joburg, if I have a week, I'd rather fly to Chile or Argentina to ski in July. At the same time, skiing Tiffindell seems so remote. You can cross the world in a day...but getting here, will often take you more than one day!
Tiffindell was my last "ski area" to ski in the South Hemisphere....done it from Argentina, Chile, to Australia and New Zealand....but today it was so much fun...we skied Africa....and we had an amazing time...even if it was only a fun 500 meters blue run!
Next...we are driving to Queenstown...no kidding!
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Bonne Mamy
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ce voyage
Génial ce blog et toutes ces photos de Bonheur ! continuez à en profiter un maximum....