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Published: February 28th 2007
South Africa - April 2006
After our delightful adventure in Arathusa (see previous journal/blog entry) we returned to Pretoria to vacate our apartment and begin our three-month tour of southern Africa. Our place in Pretoria was so very comfortable and our neighbors so wonderful, that it was a bittersweet leave-taking.
When Kaye & Ernie arrived several weeks earlier we had gone to the sporting goods store and finished buying equipment to outfit the bakkie (pick-up truck). Our plan was to camp a good deal, stay in cabins at camp grounds if the weather was bad, and do hotels/motels/B&Bs for the much needed respite, i.e., a good long soak in a tub and the pleasure of indoor plumbing. We ended up camping quite a bit early on, but the cabin/motel option was used more toward the end of the three-month trip for various reasons.
Our very first stop after leaving Pretoria was in Itala Nature Reserve (April 1 & 2). Our campsite was one of the best of the trip - complete with shelter for cooking if the weather got bad, a trickling stream just below us, an outdoor shower and a flush toilet. The shower was my favorite
of the trip - you could look out into the trees while bathing but felt totally private.
We pulled into the campsite as it was getting dark (okay, not great timing I admit). Unbeknownst to us, Kaye had not been camping since she was a teenager. Ernie, to ease her fears, had assured her that the tent was large, certainly large enough to stand up in, and they would be comfortable. Well, as you can see (photo below left - Itala Campsite), the tent was nowhere near tall enough to stand up in. Kaye was not a happy camper at this point, but being good natured, made the best of it.
Then it is time to cook dinner so we whip out the cook stove and gas canister that the camping store guys had ASSURED us is had the proper attachments. The attachments didn't fit. There is one other campsite occupied this night, so ever sociable Ernie goes over, explains the problem, and asks if we could put a kettle of water on their stove. Well, only in South Africa (or Alaska) I say, this lovely couple had an extra stove and gas canister, and was happy to
Friends & Neighbors
Christmas in Pretorialoan them to us for our 2-day stay. We were so exhausted the first night that we just threw together a quick dinner and went to bed. The next night we pooled our resources with this interesting couple and had a fine dinner, complete with fresh salad as they had a refrigerator (generated off the SUV battery) and chilled wine, followed by dessert of Amarula over ice. Amarula is the national drink - a lot like Bailey’s Irish Cream, yum. Our new friends also were a great source of information about potential campsites, nature reserves, etc., and had great stories about early camping in South Africa. Fun night.
We had our best giraffe sightings/experiences in Itala. Those graceful creatures were everywhere and did not spook easily. We sat and watched a group of young males interacting - they were intertwining their necks in mock battle, chasing each other and generally keeping themselves and us entertained.
Sodwana Bay (April 3 & 4) was our next stop. It is a beautiful bay with a large, well maintained, shady campground. We were playing it by ear at this point; didn’t have any reservations at campgrounds, etc., except for Easter weekend
(Tsitsikamma National Park) and in Cape Town where our friends Sue & Peter Poole had arranged an apartment for us (their son’s wife’s parents’ place - they were in the US at this time, and we cannot thank them enough for their kindness to strangers). We wanted to go farther north along the coast, but were cautioned that our bakkie, which had high clearance and a differential lock (no 4-wheel drive), wasn’t good enough for the deep sand tracks we’d encounter going north on the east coast (toward Mozambique), so Sodwana Bay was as far north as we went.
Sodwana must mean “place of the ants” in the local language. We were not aware until we were breaking camp that ants (yes, we’d seen a few around, but nothing to get upset about) had completely infested our tent poles and every other crevice or opening they could find. It was as if they’d moved their entire colony into our tents, eggs and all, yes, they were all carrying white eggs as they scurried in and out of our tent poles. I cannot describe our manic behavior as we tried to battle this infestation! It must have taken an hour
of us beating the pools on rocks, then running to the bath house and flushing the poles with water, shaking the tents - and they still seemed to be everywhere.
Our next stop was Durban (April 5 & 6) and a much appreciated hotel stay. When Kaye and I went out to the bakkie to get some things, we noticed that in the lid of the cooler, in an indention, it looked like someone had spilled sugar. Upon closer examination we saw that they were ant eggs. On our trip to Durban the ants we’d inadvertently packed had collected all their eggs in one spot! We quickly took the cooler out and flushed the eggs away. That was actually pretty much the end (except for the odd ant or two) of the infestation, fortunately.
From Durban to Cape Town we were driving along the coast with spectacular scenery and choose to stay in smaller towns rather than the regular tourist destinations, although we did see some of those too. (Port Edward/Old Pont April 7 & 8; Kei Mouth April 9, 10 & 11; Grahamstown April 12; St. Francis Bay April 13 & 14) The entire coast of South
Africa is fabulous (see photos below). All the way to Cape Agulhas (see map) it is the Indian Ocean with warm waters teeming with shrimp, other crustaceans and warm water fish. After Cape Agulhas, heading toward Cape Town and then all the way to the border with Namibia (and beyond), it is the South Atlantic Ocean full of cold water fish such as cod and sea bass.
Tsitsikamma National Park (April 15, 16 & 17) is one of the many wonders of the South African south coast. The view from our camp included humongous waves - luckily the camp area was on high ground above the swimming pool and out of reach of the tremendous spray the giant waves were creating. The waves boomed and thundered constantly - quite exciting (see photo below).
From Tsitsikama we visited Plattenberg Bay and did a canopy adventure - where we were harnessed to wires and slide from tree top to tree top. This was the only really rainy day we had, and we were the only tourists that morning. Never having done a canopy “adventure” before I cannot tell you whether the rain added to or took away from the
experience. I can say it made it interesting. For one thing, you have to brake your descent with a gloved hand grasping the wire. The rain made that almost impossible, so our speed was excessive. Thank goodness they had safety brakes installed near the platforms on some of the more high speed descents - we’d have our eyes closed and be screaming, convinced we were about to meet the grim reaper in the form of a huge tree trunk. (See photos below)
Knysna (April 18 & 19) was our next stop. Nice town, but we most enjoyed going to Featherbed Nature Reserve nearby (see photo below).
We then had our sights set on Cape Town, but made a stop at De Hoop Nature Reserve (April 20) to get in more up close and personal animal experiences - we had the best Eland encounters there (see photo below). Then through the Little Karoo desert and into Cape Town.
Ah, Cape Town (April 21 - 25), justifiably listed as one of the ten places you must see before you die. Its stunning setting, coupled with great sights and first class restaurants, not to mention its proximity to the wine
country, make it a city you want to visit again and again.
But the real highlight for us in Cape Town was meeting Peter Poole’s younger brother, Doug, and his wife, Joan, who live in Hout Bay, just outside of Cape Town. Their house was one of the loveliest we were in, with a view to die for. The had a gathering of friends to which we were invited and spent a laugh-packed afternoon. (Note: Doug and Joan now live in Atlanta - they visited us in Tucson last month - and have leased their Hout Bay house to the US Embassy.)
From our base in Cape Town we ventured out into the wine country, which is breathtaking and such fun. The best known area is Stellenbosch, but Paarl and indeed the entire area is vineyard country.
Another outing was to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent so many years of his 27-year imprisonment. The white rocks that the prisoners had to constantly break (for no apparent reason) and the constant glare of the white sands caused eye damage and that is why you so often see Madiba (Mandela’s traditional Xhosa name) wearing
sunglasses.
The tours
of the island and prison are conducted by former inmates - wow, what a powerful experience! These former prisoners had so much dignity and were anxious to tell the stories about how Mandela and the other educated prisoners took it upon themselves to educate the other prisoners. This clandestine teaching took place in a
cave, which was basically the prisoners’ latrine, so the white guards wouldn’t go into it. Robben Island became an outpost of the ANC movement, and since they separated political prisoners from common criminals, that played right into the ANC’s hands.
Still another great outing was to Simon’s Town to see the colony of approximately 3000 penguins that have made that small town home.
The colony lives right in town - there are “Penguin Crossings” throughout town. These small African penguins don’t seem to be afraid of people at all and let you watch them feed their young and while sitting on their nests. We walked on boardwalks above and around them and they pretty much ignored us strange creatures and all our camera
equipment. They are so amusing to watch, particularly as they waddle so uncoordinatedly down to the water and then, once they
Kei Mouth Accommodations
This was our view! We were only going to stay one night and decided to stay three instead. hit the water, they are the fastest, most graceful swimmers imaginable. They also are nickering or braying
all the time - yes, they were originally called Jackass Penguins, and when you hear their brays, you understand why as they sound EXACTLY like donkies.
From Cape Town there are so many wonderful areas to explore, the best known is the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, together comprising Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, which includes Table Mountain. After staying in Cape Town proper, we stayed two nights at a lovely cabin in the reserve (April 26 & 27) - walked the beach, bird watched from our deck, sat in front of a nice fire in the cool evenings.
We were sad to leave the Cape Town area, but after a month of SA travel, we only had two more nights in South Africa (Velddrif April 28 and Springbok April 29) as we were heading into Namibia next. We pretty much made a bee-line up the west coast of SA toward the border crossing with Namibia (Noordoewer). Our next journal/blog entry will
be about Namibia, which was a completely different experience altogether.
NOTE: More photos below and
on second page
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