Freaky forests

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ky forests
May 12, 2010 by Seysays

I rest my case
The big plan was to go biking in one of the many forests that surround Knysna but that plan was thwarted when we arrived at the place with the advertised bike trails to find that they didn’t actually hire bikes out. Helpful that, thanks. Might consider spelling that out no? Our only choice was to hire bikes out from a nearby town reachable via the N1 and seeing as though our hire car couldn’t carry bikes and I didn’t fancy riding along a motorway, it struck me that this bike riding lark for tourists hadn’t been properly thought through.

Instead, we gamely walked a short trail ignoring the chill wind blowing and feasted on our supermarket lunch of bread, cheddar cheese and crisps making like we were having a great time. A Plan B was needed and foolishly, we thought why not another forest?

To reach our next destination, we drove through an area where the black community live*.

We climbed upwards through the community on the road that seemed to continue forever, doubting we were going the right way at all. Finally, a sign and one other car parked, this must be it?

It seemed so but there was no ranger’s office and really no sign of anyone. Walking through the forest was like being part of the Blair Witch Project. Yellow symbols painted on trees to indicate a path made no sense, becoming ominous, where were they leading us to? Fresh dungs of an unknown provenance fed the imagination and my desire to delve further into the forest grew cold - I’d need to see a few more episodes of Bear Grylls first please. For a change then, it was me who called time on the adventure such that it was - the other one almost looked disappointed. Perhaps he had plans to leave me there.

*I’ve not said much about the political or cultural realities of South Africa, not because I don’t care, rather I’m not sure if I have the eloquence or knowledge to do the discussion justice nor is this perhaps the right context for it. Undeniable though, is the fact that economically at least white South Africans rule and frankly the conditions that the black and coloured (their terminology not mine) communities live in is appalling. It is testament to the spirit and humility of these communities (and supporters from across the racial divide and Mandela for sure) that the country has avoided disintegrating into complete chaos. It’s a very tight rope to tread, and people like Julius Malema (ANC Youth leader) threaten that delicate balance but people should be under no illusion about the inequalities that continue to fester. On a positive note though, the country seems to be consciously and honestly trying to come to terms with its history and from the level of personal experience, we were surprised at how genuinely warm and friendly everyone we met was, white or black, and I’ve felt more aware of my ethnicity and being a mixed race couple, more in parts of the UK and the US than I did in SA (though to be sure we weren’t in the conservative areas).

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