Monday, April 11, 2005
4 weeks remain!
SO from Lesotho we travelled south along the length of the Drakensburg and south west through the colourful Xhosa villages of the Transkei into the Karoo. The Karoo actually occupies an area of about one third of South Africa, but the best bits are perhaps around Graaf-Reinet in the central-south of the country.
The landscape is very desolate with barely anyone living there, some wierd rock mountain forms and just scrubby vegetation. Graaf-Reinet is like an oasis - very Afrikaaner with the Dutch Reform Church as the centre piece and some lovely cape architecture. It is a good base for walking in the local mountain ranges that overlook this barren and silently still scene. There is also a good nature park full of a variety of antelope and wildebeest - including the gemsbok which was our first sighting of this impressive beast with long, pointed antlers jutting from its head in a large V-shape.
Our plans changed slightly from here as a lot of places were fully booked for Easter, so we went due south to the Tsitsikamma National Park. This is a park of spectacular natural beauty along the dramatic coast line of the south. Grey cliffs topped with lush green vegetation, plunging into white foaming waters surrounded by the blues of the sky and sea and punctuated by the occasional waterfall tumbling onto weathered rocks.
We went from there to Swellendam (via the Garden Route - not really worth a mention as I thought it was probably the least impressive part of SA that we had been to so far), a peaceful, attractive town backed by craggy mountains curtained in cloud. We hired a lovely cottage with amazing views for a couple of days. This allowed us to walk in the mountains which was stunning - great views but lots of big spiders everywhere!.
Then we stayed in MacGregor for a night - a very small village which was even cuter and quieter than Swellendam. Another great cottage and a little sampling of wine from the various local vineyards was the order of the day.
Hermanus, on the south coast was next for some white shark cage diving. I wasn't intending to go as I thought the sea would be too rough and didn't fancy feeding the fish all afternoon. But I was assured it would be OK - so I went. Was totally fine seasickness-wise as I made sure I overdosed on seasickness pills. This experience was not actually "diving" with sharks - but swiming in a cage and diving under the water holding your breathe. We saw 7 different great whites, which was quite exciting - a couple came pretty close to the cage for a close up view while we were in there. When one of the guys was in the cage the shark really jostled the cage for a while - looked very cool to be there. All quite controversial really - a lot of the locals do not think the cage diving is a good idea as the tours tempt the sharks in with bait and then the sharks see humans in cages so start to associate humans with food. I guess the story of the British guy being bitten by a shark off Noordhoek has been in the press in the UK too, but here it was a big story and various people are blaming the shark divers for luring the sharks closer into the coast.
More wine was in stall when we spent 2 days in Franshhoek (we were here 5 years ago and it is still such a beautiful part of the world) - lots of good food and wine - really perfect lifestyle. Then on to Paarl - another wine producing area which was also good. More nice food and wine and some lovely cheeses.
From there to Paternoster (an old fishing village) on the West Coast - which I fell in love with. We found another cottage - a whitewashed building in the style of a fisherman's cottage right near the sweep of gorgeous beach. The local fisherman catch crayfish so the first priority was to pop down the road to pick up a couple for dinner, which the owner of our cottage cooked up for us - yummmmm! A couple of days strolling along the beaches and seeing the local area was just fantastic - relaxing and heavenly.
Then to the Cederberg mountains - 2 long walks there - here the Wolfberg crack and arch was the highlight - scrambling through a long crack int he rocks and onwards and upwards towards the large natural rock arch. There were interesting rock formations everywhere. Nearby was the Sevilla trail near Clanwilliam where there are many good San cave Paintings. The San people inhabited this area of Africa from around 25,000 years ago until the ninetheenth century when they were pushed out by a combination of the Whites and other black tribes. They left behind a fascinating legacy of painting in the various caves they sheltered in. Most of the paintings seem to have been done to show other San groups what animals can be hunted nearby and which directions they tend to be found in. There are also representaions of group gatherings, men and water sources nearby - some of which are in excellent condition given how old they are thought to be. We also spotted a very large black snake here - about 5 ft long - which was a little nerve-wracking.
And now we are staying in Cape Town in the suburb of Noordhoek (thought we would try somewhere different in Cape Town this time). Noordhoek is very rural yet close to the city. Given we saw most of the sights last time we were here 5 years ago we have been chilling out a little more this time. Managed to fit in a trip to Robben Island though which was interesting - not just the Mandela information but the whole history of the island as a prison. We were shown around the high security prison by a previous inmate who was incarcerated for his political beliefs for 7 years. One of the many shocking things to learn whilst there was the discrimination between races went on even in gaol with the blacks being given less food than the "coloureds" or "Indians". The blacks were not even allowed the same amount of clothing.
However - as with many places that you can visit in this Rainbow Nation there is a surprising spirit of reconciliation and a willingness to forgive the past and move on to the future. The retiring British High Commissioner says that she has never worked in a country where there is so much hope for future success. I think that is evident on a trip around this country and although there are enormous problems to be confronted, providing the government can run the country the hopes of the people should remain optimistic and the people can proactively try to improve things gradually over the years.
From here we are travelling overland to Livingstone in Zambia via Namibia and Botswana, and after a couple more days back here in Cape Town - we fly hope to Heathrow. Am trying not to think too much about that and appreciate every day we have left. Will be a shock to be back, but also it will be lovely to see a lot of the readers of this blog once again.
The landscape is very desolate with barely anyone living there, some wierd rock mountain forms and just scrubby vegetation. Graaf-Reinet is like an oasis - very Afrikaaner with the Dutch Reform Church as the centre piece and some lovely cape architecture. It is a good base for walking in the local mountain ranges that overlook this barren and silently still scene. There is also a good nature park full of a variety of antelope and wildebeest - including the gemsbok which was our first sighting of this impressive beast with long, pointed antlers jutting from its head in a large V-shape.
Our plans changed slightly from here as a lot of places were fully booked for Easter, so we went due south to the Tsitsikamma National Park. This is a park of spectacular natural beauty along the dramatic coast line of the south. Grey cliffs topped with lush green vegetation, plunging into white foaming waters surrounded by the blues of the sky and sea and punctuated by the occasional waterfall tumbling onto weathered rocks.
We went from there to Swellendam (via the Garden Route - not really worth a mention as I thought it was probably the least impressive part of SA that we had been to so far), a peaceful, attractive town backed by craggy mountains curtained in cloud. We hired a lovely cottage with amazing views for a couple of days. This allowed us to walk in the mountains which was stunning - great views but lots of big spiders everywhere!.
Then we stayed in MacGregor for a night - a very small village which was even cuter and quieter than Swellendam. Another great cottage and a little sampling of wine from the various local vineyards was the order of the day.
Hermanus, on the south coast was next for some white shark cage diving. I wasn't intending to go as I thought the sea would be too rough and didn't fancy feeding the fish all afternoon. But I was assured it would be OK - so I went. Was totally fine seasickness-wise as I made sure I overdosed on seasickness pills. This experience was not actually "diving" with sharks - but swiming in a cage and diving under the water holding your breathe. We saw 7 different great whites, which was quite exciting - a couple came pretty close to the cage for a close up view while we were in there. When one of the guys was in the cage the shark really jostled the cage for a while - looked very cool to be there. All quite controversial really - a lot of the locals do not think the cage diving is a good idea as the tours tempt the sharks in with bait and then the sharks see humans in cages so start to associate humans with food. I guess the story of the British guy being bitten by a shark off Noordhoek has been in the press in the UK too, but here it was a big story and various people are blaming the shark divers for luring the sharks closer into the coast.
More wine was in stall when we spent 2 days in Franshhoek (we were here 5 years ago and it is still such a beautiful part of the world) - lots of good food and wine - really perfect lifestyle. Then on to Paarl - another wine producing area which was also good. More nice food and wine and some lovely cheeses.
From there to Paternoster (an old fishing village) on the West Coast - which I fell in love with. We found another cottage - a whitewashed building in the style of a fisherman's cottage right near the sweep of gorgeous beach. The local fisherman catch crayfish so the first priority was to pop down the road to pick up a couple for dinner, which the owner of our cottage cooked up for us - yummmmm! A couple of days strolling along the beaches and seeing the local area was just fantastic - relaxing and heavenly.
Then to the Cederberg mountains - 2 long walks there - here the Wolfberg crack and arch was the highlight - scrambling through a long crack int he rocks and onwards and upwards towards the large natural rock arch. There were interesting rock formations everywhere. Nearby was the Sevilla trail near Clanwilliam where there are many good San cave Paintings. The San people inhabited this area of Africa from around 25,000 years ago until the ninetheenth century when they were pushed out by a combination of the Whites and other black tribes. They left behind a fascinating legacy of painting in the various caves they sheltered in. Most of the paintings seem to have been done to show other San groups what animals can be hunted nearby and which directions they tend to be found in. There are also representaions of group gatherings, men and water sources nearby - some of which are in excellent condition given how old they are thought to be. We also spotted a very large black snake here - about 5 ft long - which was a little nerve-wracking.
And now we are staying in Cape Town in the suburb of Noordhoek (thought we would try somewhere different in Cape Town this time). Noordhoek is very rural yet close to the city. Given we saw most of the sights last time we were here 5 years ago we have been chilling out a little more this time. Managed to fit in a trip to Robben Island though which was interesting - not just the Mandela information but the whole history of the island as a prison. We were shown around the high security prison by a previous inmate who was incarcerated for his political beliefs for 7 years. One of the many shocking things to learn whilst there was the discrimination between races went on even in gaol with the blacks being given less food than the "coloureds" or "Indians". The blacks were not even allowed the same amount of clothing.
However - as with many places that you can visit in this Rainbow Nation there is a surprising spirit of reconciliation and a willingness to forgive the past and move on to the future. The retiring British High Commissioner says that she has never worked in a country where there is so much hope for future success. I think that is evident on a trip around this country and although there are enormous problems to be confronted, providing the government can run the country the hopes of the people should remain optimistic and the people can proactively try to improve things gradually over the years.
From here we are travelling overland to Livingstone in Zambia via Namibia and Botswana, and after a couple more days back here in Cape Town - we fly hope to Heathrow. Am trying not to think too much about that and appreciate every day we have left. Will be a shock to be back, but also it will be lovely to see a lot of the readers of this blog once again.
More of South Africa and another Kingdom
We left Swaziland to head east to Sodwana Bay in South Africa to check out the world's most southerly coral reef. This is yet another one of the "world's best dive sites" - every time we dive we seem to go to one of these. The place itself seems to be a bit of a rip off if you don't want to dive as they seem to charge people nothing to dive (15 pounds per dive is as cheap as it gets anywhere) and then stick up the cost of accommodation and food to make up for it.
That said - the diving itself was impressive. We only got one dive in on the first day as the seas were too choppy for me (apparently it is never like this!!), but on the way to this dive we had a great experience by bumping into 3 dolphins, so we were able to jump out of the boat and swim with them for a while which was awesome fun. The diving itself was a joy as the water was so warm (about 27 deg Celcuis) it felt like having a bath. Beautiful brightly coloured fish everywhere, wonderful corals and some great spotted moray eels sticking their heads out for a look about.
Just south of Sodwana Bay are the St Lucia Wetlands which is apparently Africa's largest estuarine area and is famous for hippos (which sometimes walk through the town at night) and crocs along with a splendid array of birds. The beaches here are amazingly beautiful and deserted with the warm Indian Ocean crashing into them to dramatic effect. There are lots of interesting rock pools nearby (bringing out the child in me - where was my little fishing net when I needed it!) and the wetlands themselves which play host to more than just hippos, crocs and birds - including many antelope.
Now for a bit of history - I had always wanted to visit the battlefields of South Africa having read about some of these battles in various books on the country. The battlefields area is large but conveniently a lot of the battles from the Boer-Zulu, to the Anglo-Boer to the Anglo-Boer all took place in the same sort of area of the country - around Ladysmith and Dundee - a little east of the Drakenburg mountains.
We overnighted in Dundee giving us the chance to visit 3 different battlefields. We started at Isandlwana - the site of a great Zulu victory over the British in 1879. About 20,000 Zulu warriers launched a successful attack on under 2,000 British soldiers (rather inconspicuously dressed in bright red!) with the infamous Zulu battle formation of body, haed and horns of a bull. The British were totally surprised, overwhelmed (and led by a complete idiot, is seems retrospectively) and those who were not slaughtered, fled over rough terrain to escape. The site itself is impressive to visit and the places of rest of the bodies are now marked with piles of white-washed stone which is actually quite dramatic when placed in the arid hills surrounding the site. From there we passed just a few kilometres down the road to Rorke's Drift where the Brits staged a remarkable defence on the same day againsts a far bigger Zulu force. Only 100 fit Welsh men successfully defended an area from an onslaught from over 4,000 Zulus. This victory was exaggerated at the time to detract public attention away from the devastating defeat at Isandlwana, but did result in the most Victoria Crosses being awarded of any battle ever - 11 in all.
Blood River was the site of a viscious attack on a Boer laager by a huge Zulu army in 1838. The Boers were trying to find new land to settle on after the Great Trek from the Cape but did not seem to appreciate that the land they moved into was already inhabited by local tribes. The resulting attack led to a bloody defeat to the Zulus and the blood of 3,000 Zulus stained the nearby river red. The Boers on the other hand suffered no fatalities, which presumably entrenched their opinion of them being God's chosen inhabitants of Africa. There are 2 museums to the war - the first is an Afrikaaner museum which is pretty biased in favour of God's chosen people, and second is supposedly a "positive reinterpretation" of the war from a Zulu point of view which perhaps puts a fairer spin on the detail.
From history and culture to the staggeringly beautiful scenery of the Drakensburg - a highlight of anyone's trip to SA. This vast mountain range is packed full of stunning views and sublime mountain vistas. We stayed up in the northern range and did a few days of excellent hiking. The best day was the hike to the top of the Amphitheatre - a 3,000m summit, and at 3 times the height of Table Mountain affords splendid views of what seems like the whole of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Getting to the viewpoint is the top of the Tugela Falls - the second highest in the world and peering over the 1,000m drop with no barrier, as the mist clears around you to reveal the green, crevassed, moulded landscape around you is pretty exhilarating.
Another highlight of this area is its proximity to Lesotho so we took the advantage of a tour into the Kingdom to sample a little of the life there. It's a bit tricky to get around Lesotho without a 4x4 anyway and certainly the road on which we entered the country would be impossible in our Nissan. The border crossing we went through was probably the most remote I have ever been too - the Lesotho side didn't even bother to staff their side as only a max of 5 vehicles ever use this way. There is a steep, rocky descent into Lesotho which was exciting in itself, then we arrived in a little village which we explored for most of the day. The local school are trying to improve their site which we looked around. We also walked up to some caves to look at some of the San paintings - of which more in the next blog - visited a sangoma (a local traditional healer), sampled tasty food and local brew. The kids form the village were an absolute delight and helped to make this trip one of the more magical moments of this year away. One girl befriended me and seemed keen to show off all her dance moves. She then proceeded to walk ahead of me tying the tall grass in hidden knots across the path which I consistently tripped over much to her obvious delight. The people here were all very friendly and we had such a happy time here. The scenery is simply out of this world too with little mud walled rodavels nestled in steep valleys surrounded by overhanging cliffs dotted with San paintings from 25,000 years ago. Would have been good to have spent more time here but it is definitely worth while to visit with a local guide and you need a very sturdy vehicle to get around.
That said - the diving itself was impressive. We only got one dive in on the first day as the seas were too choppy for me (apparently it is never like this!!), but on the way to this dive we had a great experience by bumping into 3 dolphins, so we were able to jump out of the boat and swim with them for a while which was awesome fun. The diving itself was a joy as the water was so warm (about 27 deg Celcuis) it felt like having a bath. Beautiful brightly coloured fish everywhere, wonderful corals and some great spotted moray eels sticking their heads out for a look about.
Just south of Sodwana Bay are the St Lucia Wetlands which is apparently Africa's largest estuarine area and is famous for hippos (which sometimes walk through the town at night) and crocs along with a splendid array of birds. The beaches here are amazingly beautiful and deserted with the warm Indian Ocean crashing into them to dramatic effect. There are lots of interesting rock pools nearby (bringing out the child in me - where was my little fishing net when I needed it!) and the wetlands themselves which play host to more than just hippos, crocs and birds - including many antelope.
Now for a bit of history - I had always wanted to visit the battlefields of South Africa having read about some of these battles in various books on the country. The battlefields area is large but conveniently a lot of the battles from the Boer-Zulu, to the Anglo-Boer to the Anglo-Boer all took place in the same sort of area of the country - around Ladysmith and Dundee - a little east of the Drakenburg mountains.
We overnighted in Dundee giving us the chance to visit 3 different battlefields. We started at Isandlwana - the site of a great Zulu victory over the British in 1879. About 20,000 Zulu warriers launched a successful attack on under 2,000 British soldiers (rather inconspicuously dressed in bright red!) with the infamous Zulu battle formation of body, haed and horns of a bull. The British were totally surprised, overwhelmed (and led by a complete idiot, is seems retrospectively) and those who were not slaughtered, fled over rough terrain to escape. The site itself is impressive to visit and the places of rest of the bodies are now marked with piles of white-washed stone which is actually quite dramatic when placed in the arid hills surrounding the site. From there we passed just a few kilometres down the road to Rorke's Drift where the Brits staged a remarkable defence on the same day againsts a far bigger Zulu force. Only 100 fit Welsh men successfully defended an area from an onslaught from over 4,000 Zulus. This victory was exaggerated at the time to detract public attention away from the devastating defeat at Isandlwana, but did result in the most Victoria Crosses being awarded of any battle ever - 11 in all.
Blood River was the site of a viscious attack on a Boer laager by a huge Zulu army in 1838. The Boers were trying to find new land to settle on after the Great Trek from the Cape but did not seem to appreciate that the land they moved into was already inhabited by local tribes. The resulting attack led to a bloody defeat to the Zulus and the blood of 3,000 Zulus stained the nearby river red. The Boers on the other hand suffered no fatalities, which presumably entrenched their opinion of them being God's chosen inhabitants of Africa. There are 2 museums to the war - the first is an Afrikaaner museum which is pretty biased in favour of God's chosen people, and second is supposedly a "positive reinterpretation" of the war from a Zulu point of view which perhaps puts a fairer spin on the detail.
From history and culture to the staggeringly beautiful scenery of the Drakensburg - a highlight of anyone's trip to SA. This vast mountain range is packed full of stunning views and sublime mountain vistas. We stayed up in the northern range and did a few days of excellent hiking. The best day was the hike to the top of the Amphitheatre - a 3,000m summit, and at 3 times the height of Table Mountain affords splendid views of what seems like the whole of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Getting to the viewpoint is the top of the Tugela Falls - the second highest in the world and peering over the 1,000m drop with no barrier, as the mist clears around you to reveal the green, crevassed, moulded landscape around you is pretty exhilarating.
Another highlight of this area is its proximity to Lesotho so we took the advantage of a tour into the Kingdom to sample a little of the life there. It's a bit tricky to get around Lesotho without a 4x4 anyway and certainly the road on which we entered the country would be impossible in our Nissan. The border crossing we went through was probably the most remote I have ever been too - the Lesotho side didn't even bother to staff their side as only a max of 5 vehicles ever use this way. There is a steep, rocky descent into Lesotho which was exciting in itself, then we arrived in a little village which we explored for most of the day. The local school are trying to improve their site which we looked around. We also walked up to some caves to look at some of the San paintings - of which more in the next blog - visited a sangoma (a local traditional healer), sampled tasty food and local brew. The kids form the village were an absolute delight and helped to make this trip one of the more magical moments of this year away. One girl befriended me and seemed keen to show off all her dance moves. She then proceeded to walk ahead of me tying the tall grass in hidden knots across the path which I consistently tripped over much to her obvious delight. The people here were all very friendly and we had such a happy time here. The scenery is simply out of this world too with little mud walled rodavels nestled in steep valleys surrounded by overhanging cliffs dotted with San paintings from 25,000 years ago. Would have been good to have spent more time here but it is definitely worth while to visit with a local guide and you need a very sturdy vehicle to get around.
