Fragile blue air almost cracks as I walk along the stomped snow pathways. The snow tinkles like crushed glass as it is scuffed by careless boots. With sun shining on the mountain tops, the air deceives me with its crisp cold. Walking across the lake, my mind soars with the upswept trees lightly decorated with snow clumps. The tiny breeze caresses my almost-frost-bitten cheeks. Reversing direction, seeking the protection of the Chateau, I pass an exhilarated tourist who asks, only a bit in jet, "Frozen hard?!" "Well, I survived!" quip I, "and so have others, if the the footprints are to be believed." In fact a dozen or more thrilled visitors dot the lake's surface, puffy in winter gear - and these are the non-athletes. So many others are pouring exertion into snowshoeing and skiing on ... read more

We rose half-an-hour early today to improve our chances of going up Table Mountain– and it worked! Although we arrived at opening time (8:00), we were by no means the first visitors: into line at the base of the gondola, almost no wait, then into the large round pod. Signs warned us NOT to hold onto the rails or the walls – because the platform rotates, giving everyone a view in all directions and giving everyone a few moments with a “missing window” for great photos. What excitement as we rose high above the steep slope – then suddenly the rock face itself was almost within touching distance! Dramatic lesson in the power of maths to calculate the exact path for the gondola. Steep only on the Cape Town side, Table Mountain roughly recedes on the ... read more

A change of pace today as we slowly visited sites around Stellenbosch. For a few hours this morning we visited the Stellenbosch Village Museum, walking around on our own, looking at the restored historic Dutch Cape houses. The Museum is perhaps unique: within a small space were four houses, each from a different historical period (1680-1870), each successive house bigger than the last. In each house a docent gave a little talk and answered questions. They were dressed as housekeepers according to the period they represented. The rooms in the houses had many artifacts, such as four-poster curtains and beds, dressing tables, commodes, toys, office tools, tea sets including samovar... read more

As an impromptu event this morning, we stopped at the Sedgefield Craft and Farmers Market. The air was cool with the sea mist enveloping the landscape. Hundreds of people were parked in the large market area, and most seemed to have come to eat at the many food stalls. Even the vegetable stalls mostly seemed to have bagged and processed foods, like jam and chutneys. The craft market was much more interesting. Booths ranged from semi-permanent artists’ shops to plastic tarps on the ground. At one of these latter I glanced at the stone carvings and spotted a tiny hippo. Immediately my imagination put it with the other tiny souvenirs at home. The carver’s larger works were elegant, unusually textured and lightly abstracted. As we chatted, he revealed that he had toured from Vancouver to Toronto ... read more

Today was our longest driving day – 400 km. Last night Chantelle, our local guide, convinced first us and then Duane that we should visit a big-cat breeding program to see leopards, which otherwise were “missing” from our “Big Five” list. Eventually, Duane came round, discovering that this route was 63 km shorter than his planned route. The drive was on secondary highways – patched asphalt and no hard shoulders. This country route allowed Duane to convey how the settler movement encountered this area. In the period of 1820 – 1827, shiploads of English men were brought to settle the area and establish the colony. (Later Irish “Colleens” were brought out to become wives – shows how desperate things were on all sides.) Most of the men quit the bush within a year, but those who ... read more