Home Safely

We had a nice relaxing finish to our 2 month journey through the southern half of Africa. Following some strenuous hiking and close encounters with the amazing wildlife in this part of the world, it was time to sit back and enjoy some fine wines from the Franschhoek region in South Africa which has a French vibe to it, due to the arrival of the Huguenots in the 1700's. One of our favourite stops was at the La Bri winery where we shared a bottle of wine and a tasty cheese platter while admiring the lovely views from their deck. Another was at La Motte which could be the nicest winery that we have ever visited. The grounds were immaculate as were each of the buildings that we saw........the museum which documented the 400+ years of the property, the restaurant with its open kitchen and fancy décor and the tasting room overlooking the production and storage areas. When we weren't sipping wine, we did a 2 hour hike in the Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve which provided a scenic view of Franschhoek and the valley vineyards below, and the next day went to the Franschhoek Motor Museum which must have one of the finest antique car collections in the world. On display, in immaculate condition, they had over 80 vehicles in 4 large buildings, dating back to the Ford Model A in 1903. The vehicles we saw only represented 25% of their 300+ collection which is changed every 6 months.

Two nice dinners finished off a wonderful month in South Africa, a country which has a lot to offer. Even though we didn't experience it, I have a sense that there is there is an uneasy peace between the white and black populations. There is a tremendous gap between the have's and have-nots, and weekly wages are very low for the large majority of black people ($60-100 for home care providers, slightly more for farm workers). Townships (shanty towns) are being rebuilt (government assisted) but it will take many decades to do so. Hopefully Nelson Mandela's peace mantra will carry on through the narrowing of the gap. We certainly felt safe in South Africa. The locals showed no ill will, with many smiles and waves as we passed by. I'm sure they realize that tourists bring money to their country and the trickle down effect makes life better for them.

Overall, we had a fabulous time in Africa. Our Mount Kilimanjaro climb and the amazing wildlife encounters that we had will be lasting memories. Our 1,000 km. scenic drive along the south east coast of South Africa as well as the mountainous inland return route was a wonderful extension of Cape Town which we really enjoyed.

The 9 hour time zone difference has left us a tad out of sync now that we are home so we'll be taking it easy for the next few days. With a forecast of -20C later this week it might be time to start planning our next adventure :-)

A view of Franschhoek and the surrounding valley from the Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve

The view beyond the La Bri deck was even better than this...........but this tasted better

Part of the restaurant at La Motte taken just as they were opening up for lunch

Franschhoek Motor Museum - one of the 4 buildings displaying the vintage vehicles

Route 62 vs. Route 66

We have had a fabulous time driving back west, inland along Route 62. While Route 66 in the U.S. has had its day, it is no longer a match for this highway in the southern section of South Africa. You seem to be constantly in a luscious river valley with all kinds of agriculture (mostly fruit) with mountains on either side of you, or travelling through gorges and mountain passes with beautiful sights below.  The two most stunning passes, both over 25 km's long, occurred on a short diversion to Prince Albert (north of Oudtshoorn, not Saskatoon) where we stayed overnight on the advice of one of our hosts. On the way there we were impressed with the Meeringspoort Pass but the next morning the Swartberg Pass was even more spectacular, certainly on par with the Going to the Sun Highway in Montana which has been a favourite of ours. While in the area we also went into the Cango Caves where we ventured 600 metres into several large caverns and saw a large grouping of 1.5 million year old stalactites nicknamed the Petrified Forest. It was a nice place to be on a 40C day outside the cave. We could have gone further into the cave (1.2 km's) which would have involved some crawling and squeezing into narrow gaps, but there happened to be a nearby winery producing good port so we made the easy decision.

The next day, further along Route 62, in the middle of nowhere, we stopped at Ronnie's Sex Shop which had also been recommended by a host, after telling us it wasn't really what the name suggested. It was 10:30 am and Ronnie was there so we had a beer together at his small bar and he told me the story. He had bought the property with the intent of starting up a tourist quick stop shop but just before opening up his "buddies".........sounds like some of my friends........painted "Sex" on the wall next to "Ronnies Shop", telling him that it would attract more Customers. Once he got over his anger he decided to stick with the name and open it as a bar /restaurant instead. Since then (1997) the business has flourished and visitors keep leaving foreign paper currency on his walls and clothing articles which are personally signed, hanging from the rafters........it is quite a sight to see and it has become a popular stopover, made even easier by being included on all of the regional maps.

Today, after several more Pass crossings we finished our Route 62 travels and headed south to Paarl where we had our best meal of the trip at the Glen Carlou winery. Rhonda had the Rack of Lamb and I had the Pork Fillet. The meal was cooked and presented superbly, and together with some of their cellar wine on the deck overlooking the Paarl Valley, it made for a special afternoon.

We are now in Franschhoek, another wonderful wine area not far from Cape Town, where we will spend our final day before beginning our long journey back home. I will do a final post upon our return.

Meeringspoort Pass - just a small taste of things to come

Swartberg Pass - the safe stretch where they had built a partial rock wall

Cango Caves - large stalactites, stalagmites and columns, hundreds of thousand years old

16 years later and Ronnie still hasn't updated his original (and buddy-modified) sign

Ronnie himself behind his bar

Glen Carlou winery in Paarl - view from the deck with the Paarl Boulder (Ayres Rock look-a-like  -  really?) on top of the mountain

Fabulous lunch on the deck - we had some leftover wine to take home but no food

Pruning some of the wayward early vine growth

The Garden Route and Beyond

We continued driving east along the scenic coast with many stops along the way. Nature's Valley seemed like a nice secluded area to relax and at the opposite end of the spectrum, Bloukrans Bridge, 216 metres above the river, offered the world's highest bridge bungy jump. We watched several young people dive off the bridge and a few more on a live video feed in the cliff side pub. Our best stop however was at the Storms River Mouth Rest Camp within Tsitsikamma National Park. We stayed overnight in a lovely cabin overlooking the Indian Ocean. There were fabulous views and sounds from our deck and we sat mesmerized for several hours (or 3-4 beers whichever came first) watching the 15 foot breakers relentlessly pounding the rocky shoreline creating huge sprays. There was a perfect sunset that evening with the sun disappearing into the ocean. The next morning we took a short cruise up into the Storms River Gorge where the massive 70-90 metre rock walls created more scenic splendour. It was a wonderful place to stop and stay.

Further along the coast we stopped into Cape St. Francis to visit the Seal Point lighthouse, St. Francis Bay (beautiful homes along a canal based neighbourhood) and Jeffreys Bay (large sand beaches and a surfer's mecca). Port Elizabeth was our final destination, a large port and transportation hub for the region, but our main reason for stopping there was to visit nearby Addo Elephant National Park. Yesterday we spent 10 hours driving our car around just about every gravel road within the park and we saw all kinds of wildlife. The elephants were plentiful and we watched two young calves play for 10 minutes.......they were butting heads and trunk slapping one another.......it was quite entertaining to watch. At another stop we found two large male lions relaxing right beside the road, one on either side. After a short while one of them got up and walked right beside our car to cross the road looking for a little more shade. Rhonda quickly rolled up her window since the huge beast was almost within touching distance. Many other times during the day we had to stop and wait for tortoises or dung beetles to cross the road. Remind us to show you our video of the dung beetle in action.....quite hilarious.
One of our routine travel practices is to log our pictures at the end of the day. We both take lots of pictures, then Rhonda (who has a good artistic eye) edits the photos and I copy them over to the lap-top and catalogue them. After a full day at Addo she handed over the camera and declared she had narrowed it down to 73 pictures! I initially objected but after reviewing agreed that we did have a lot of good wildlife photos that would be a shame to delete. Don't worry, we will select a "best of" for the guest highlight show back home. It was a fabulous finish to our 800 km drive along the coast.

Today we will start our journey back towards Cape Town but this time we will take inland roads that wind through the mountains and though many wine regions so it should be scenic and pleasurable.

Tsitsikamma NP - Storms River Rest Camp

A perfect sunset for us to enjoy

Storms River Gorge boat trip - note the Suspension Bridge near the mouth of the river which we also walked to.

Addo Elephant National Park - Kudo and his Warthog bodyguards

Taken just before he decided to get up and walk right beside our car

Road traffic - you can see how easy it would be for them to flip a car (which has happened) if they become agitated

Play time - quite entertaining to watch

The flightless Dung Beetle hard at work moving its 'treasure' to a more secure spot while doing a headstand

"Happiness will never come to those who don't appreciate what they already have"

This was a quote (anonymous) I read the other day that rang true and helped explain why my loose change over here keeps disappearing. At most gas stations there is a squad of gas pump jockeys coming off the bench as soon as you pull in. One is waiting to fill your tank before you even stop while one or two others are already starting to clean your windows, every single one of them. At most parking lots, plazas or scenic areas, there are parking attendants pointing you to the best available parking spot and helping you park and back-up (stopping other traffic) when you leave. In most cases they are poor people working for free and do this for small tips (loose change, and the biggest coin here is a 50 cent piece) so they are happy even if you only have 10/20 cents to pass along. They are always smiling and it is a good reminder to all of us to appreciate what we have.
A friendly driving practice in South Africa that is a regular occurrence on the highways is slower vehicles pulling onto the paved shoulder to let faster ones pass by without having to go into the opposite lane. Vehicles that pass always use their hazard lights for a few seconds to thank the other driver. It is smart planning to build the slightly wider road and commonly used by drivers to help cut down on serious highway accidents.

Our trip so far on the scenic Garden Route has been wonderful. The route starts about 400 km's east of Cape Town along the southern coast with mountains on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other.  Mossel Bay was our first stop and we checked out Cape St. Blaize with it's cave and neighbourhood dassies (look like a guinea pig but their closest relative is actually an elephant ......   believe it or not). The next day we stopped at Victoria Bay, a secluded bay with a beautiful beach and big waves for the surfers, a wonderful place to chill for a few days (if we had only known). Later that day we went to Dolphin's Point in Wilderness and then on to Knysna where we did a short walk out to The Heads, two large rock formations on either side of an estuary where the ocean and rivers meet up for a gorgeous sight. Million $ homes are built on the hillsides to take advantage of the views which change with both the tide and the sun position. We had a late lunch on the waterfront at a Portuguese restaurant where I finally found small fish on the menu.......the sardines were still a little too big to eat the heads and tails but they were delicious.

Today we drove to Plettenberg Bay and spent half of the day hiking out to The Point at Robberg Nature Reserve. It was challenging at points when we descended from the cliff top to the seaside and had to scramble over large rocks that were wet after some brief showers. There were several showers during our 4 hour hike but the ocean winds in between quickly dried us off. Hundreds of Cape fur seals were barking, playing and lazing around as we passed them above the shore line. In one spot there were massive sand dunes and we had to climb 500 metres in soft sand which was a good workout for our legs. We are now at a guest house with fabulous views of a small valley below us, including a large thoroughbred horse farm owned by a former member of the Cosa Nostra who was living quietly here for 20 years in a remote spot but was recently nabbed by Interpol in Thailand and is trying his best to avoid extradition to Italy. The lovely property may be for sale soon :-), just in case my Ponytrail friends are interested.

Mossel Bay at Cape St. Blaze - a bassie. Looks like a guinea pig but it's closest relative is an elephant!

The Indian Ocean is supposed to be 4-5 C warmer than the Atlantic.....not yet

Dolphin Point, looking back at Wilderness. Only spotted a couple today.

Knysna Heads - ocean clashing with the river

Portuguese Sardines at the waterfront in Knysna

Plettenberg Bay, Robberg Nature Reserve hike - on the way to The Point

Menage a trois - 3 inch long crickets riding piggyback

Looking back at The Island (connected by a sandbar) and a Stone Age cave

Cape Town Gets Our Vote

We really, really enjoyed our time in this beautiful city. It has over 3 million people but it doesn't seem that big, perhaps because the small mountains break it up into multiple parts. We usually don't spend a lot of time in big cities........get in, see the unique sights it has to offer, then get out........but Cape Town has so much to do, both in and around the city, that it captured our attention and spirit for more than a week. We would highly recommend it as a destination.

One of the first things we did was to visit nearby Stellenbosch where there are 152 wineries producing good quality wines with great hillside views of the surrounding area. Admiring the scenery, especially at the Ernie Els vineyard where we had a patio lunch, only allowed us enough time to visit 5 wineries but we plan to return to the area if we have time at the end of our trip. That evening we were invited for drinks with our friendly hosts on their upstairs deck overlooking Cape Town and the harbour. We were joined a little later by a German couple also staying there and it turned into a late night session with an unplanned but delicious roti and potato curry dinner prepared quickly by our hostess Angela while Faizel stayed busy re-filling our wine glasses all evening. Learning about some of the struggles they faced prior to the abolition of apartheid made it even more special.

During the next two days we visited Robben Island which was used as a former leper colony and from 1961-1991 as a prison for political opponents of apartheid, including Nelson Mandela who spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars there. The tour was given by a former prisoner who spent 7 years there but has put his angry past behind him and moved forward. After that we returned to the harbour and walked around the V and A waterfront where there are many nice shops and restaurants along with several markets. Pocahontas become enamoured with an African drum (djembe), a mahogany goblet shaped device with a rope-tuned goat skin on top. She will be happy to entertain you all with it when we arrive home (good thing my hearing isn't what it used to be as she practices in our room in advance of her debut performance). The next day we hiked up to the top of Table Mountain, a very wide and flat mountain, 1085 metres above sea level, that looks like a table-top from below. The hike up the Platteslip Gorge had a steep and relentless gradient (700 metre elevation gain over 3 km's) but was not technically challenging, just lots of rock stairs to climb. Unfortunately the morning blue sky turned into a cloud table cloth on our way up so the panoramic views that we anticipated disappeared before the top but we did get some good exercise and found 3 geocaches along the way.

Another day we drove up the West Coast, the less-travelled shoreline, to see some of the sights there. At West Coast National Park we came across a tortoise street party and had to be careful dodging around the participants. We had a short beach walk with an even shorter entry and exit from the chilly Atlantic Ocean where the water temperature was under 15C. Then we arrived at St. Helena Bay, 516 years after Vasco da Gama first landed on his way to finding a new route to India for Portugal. Nearby Velddrif had hundreds of flamingos on the edge of a lagoon. Yesterday was a rainy day so we relaxed in our room and did most of the planning for our Garden Route trip which is up next. Today we walked around the downtown area visiting some of their grand old buildings and thru the lovely (Dutch East India) Company Gardens. Along the way we stopped at the Green Market Square and negotiated a win / win price for a pair of African masks to bring home with us. We finished the day with a drive up to the top of Signal Hill which has gorgeous views of the city below from all sides.

Tomorrow morning we will begin our journey along the Garden Route which runs along the coast, east of Cape Town. Small fish (sardines and anchovies for lunch) and more whales are hopefully on the horizon.

Cape Town - our cottage for the week. Table Mountain behind us and the city below.

Stellenbosch wine region - Ernie Els winery. View from our table over lunch

V&A Waterfront - restaurants, shops and markets

Platteklip Gorge - hiking up Table Mountain into the clouds

The best organized geocache that I ever come across - near the Cable Car Upper Station

West Coast National Park - checking out the chilly Atlantic Ocean

Cape Town - City Hall

View from Signal Hill - white elephant Stadium

Cape Town - central business district. Oil rig in upper left corner brought in for refurbishing

Ticket to Ride

We decided to take the train from Johannesburg to Cape Town to avoid the long drive. It was a good thing that we booked our tickets before leaving home because the 3 times / week journey is fully booked for the next 3 months as we found out at departure. Interestingly enough, the rail company  is having financial issues......their linen supply company has not been paid and with the stoppage in service we were advised to provide our own sleeping gear. After travelling on the steel highway for the 27 hour trip, which turned into 30 hours,  I had plenty of time to think about why that might be he case. There were many opportunity areas including their check-in procedures (too slow, no discipline), staffing (too many for the work being done), scheduling (unnecessary and lengthy stops), and revenue capture (pricing too low, missed opportunities). But then I remembered that I'm retired and not looking for more work. So I sat back and relaxed in our 2 person berth, enjoyed the $1.50 large cans of cold beer and embraced the views along the way, especially when we got within several hundred km's of Cape Town where the mountains and vineyards dominated the landscape. Other than showing up late at our guest house near the coast it wasn't much of an inconvenience and we got plenty of rest.

Since we try to always focus on 'the bright side of life', our good karma continued when we went to pick up our rental car. We had pre-selected an economy car for our final 3 weeks of driving around South Africa but since we showed up late because of our delayed arrival, and after most of the other tourists had picked up their 'economy' cars, we were given a free upgrade........to a BMW 320i. The glass is definitely half-full in our lives :-)

Our first impressions of Cape Town have been very positive. It is a visually appealing city with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other with some small mountains in between. Yesterday we drove out along the Cape Peninsula and into the National Park where we had short hikes to the Cape Of Good Hope and the Cape Point Lighthouse, with lovely ocean views, wild ostriches beside the road and many varieties of wildflowers in bloom. The Chapman's Peak drive was spectacular. We also visited a penguin colony at The Boulders on the east side of the Cape where we saw hundreds of African Penguins on the beach and more close to their nests. Today we drove east along the coast, another incredible drive with mountains on one side and the raging surf from the Indian Ocean on the other. Our target was Hermanus, known for whale watching, and it delivered on it's promise. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up a picnic lunch and some cold beers, and then sat on an ocean side bench just out of town and watched the show in front of us on another beautiful day.  After lunch we walked further down the coast to see a mother Southern Right Whale and her youngsters feeding on the krill less than 100 metres from the rocky shore. They were difficult to capture on camera as they quickly emerged and then disappeared back into the water. What a treat to watch though.

We are now back in Cape Town where we have rented a lovely cottage, attached to a house with friendly owners, for a week. It has a nice view of the Harbour from our deck and Table Mountain is behind us. There is a lot to explore in and around the city and we are looking forward to the next week.

The Cape of Good Hope - the most South-West point of Africa

Cape Point Lighthouse

Wildflowers - many more colourful ones but not as voluminous

Wild ostrich near the windy Cape

African Penguins on the beach at The Boulders 

Hermanus - our ocean side picnic spot where we saw our first whale

Where's Waldo the Whale? - she re-submerged just as our slow-reacting camera clicked. We got better views (but no good pictures) later as we walked further along the beach. Sorry, you had to be there.

A Return Visit to the Scenic Panarama Route

Since leaving Kruger NP we have spent two days relaxing in and around Grasskop, a small town near the centre of the scenic Panarama Route. Our first visit was to the Mohololo Rehab Centre where they are caring for animals injured by vehicles, hunters or snares. They help them get healthy again but many cannot be returned to the wild especially the younger ones who never learned to hunt properly and would be at risk on their own again. We saw lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs, eagles and vultures being cared for.

The rest of our time was mostly sightseeing with stops at the Three Rondavels (3 tall and round rock formations), the Blyde River Canyon, Bourke's Luck Potholes (water eroding softer rock), the Berlin and Lisbon Falls ( with a steep scramble to the base), a short hike to a mountain-top rainforest, God's Window (picturesque panoramic view) and The Pinnacle (tall rock formation in the middle of a gorge).

Today we found some paved roads having wonderful views but with potholes that could hide large animals. They had many roadside pothole warning signs and some that also had a large explanation mark attached to them. Perhaps it was an area that Saskatchewan benchmarked for road conditions. Just saying. We are now on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Tomorrow we will board an overnight train that will take us to Cape Town at the southern end of Africa. Cheers.

Mohololo Rehab Centre - a Cape Vulture landed on my arm to retrieve a meat snack (as planned)

Leopard recovering from a snare injury

Blyde River Canyon

Bourke's Luck Potholes

Lisbon Falls - view after a steep scramble to the base of the falls, forgot my bathing suit :-(

Kruger Delivers

We just finished a wonderful week in Kruger National Park which is in the NE section of South Africa. Our week started with a 3 day hiking safari on the Napi Wilderness Trail which is in the southern area of the park. There were 5 other hikers, all from Germany (two recent Spanish converts), and we got along well with our two guides and a camp cook. The days started with 4:30 am wake-up calls (the morning bird symphony made it a little easier) at our permanent en-suite tent so that we could get out early to see the morning action before the wildlife had their mid-day siesta in the 35C heat, of which we also took advantage. We then went out in the late afternoon for some more action. We hiked about 15 km's each day, most of it early in the day. It was a fascinating and peaceful experience. We never saw any other people on our walks, only the wildlife, and there was lots to see. Our guides carried rifles in case some of the more dangerous animals were disturbed by our presence. The guides tried to maintain a 40 metre distance for our safety. Only twice (rhinos and elephants) did they see a disturbing signal and ask us to back off quickly. We observed lots of Cape Buffalo, White and Black Rhinos, Elephants, Giraffes, Wildebeests, Zebras and just about every kind of antelope (there are many) that you can imagine. There were many types of birds, warthogs, baboons, vervet monkeys and other small creatures as well. We came across leopard tracks but didn't spot any. An unexpected highlight was a night drive on the way back from a sunset hike where we saw cheetahs and a large group of hyenas who were happy to approach our 4x4 to snack on the front bumper insects. Our driver didn't let that continue for too long because he told us their next step would be to feed on the wildlife dung that was in the tire grooves which could lead to a punctured tire (that none of us were interested in changing). One day at our campsite a large bull elephant came within 20 metres of our tent (separated by a fence) and when I got closer for an even better photo, he looked at me, shook and bellowed which sent me scampering away like a primary school girl. Our head guide (Kali) later told me the fence was to keep other animals out, nothing but the Great Wall will stop an angry elephant. Shortly after we saw the whole family in the river bed below our site which helped explain his angst for protecting the young calves which I had not initially noticed. Elephants have incredibly long memories so from now on I will need to be a lot more cautious when I am near them. Overall, it was a great experience, just us and mother nature and we would highly recommend it (thanks for the tip Shay).

From there we drove to the middle of the NP and spent 3 nights at the Satara Rest Camp in a rondeval which is a circular hut with an 8 metre ceiling and a thatched roof. From there we did morning and evening drives in our rental car to many different areas of the very large Kruger park......now that we think we know what to look for. Actually it is quite easy in Kruger, the wildlife is very visible from the road and often we needed to stop quickly to wait for the herd to cross the road, or make sure they wouldn't step in front of the vehicle while feeding on the roadside vegetation. We also somehow turned into "view snobs", only slowing down for a quick look if the larger beasts weren't within 50 metres of the road. The herds were always fun to watch.......mothers nurturing / teaching their babies, young ones playing around and males trying to establish their dominance......did we teach them or did they teach us? The highly recommended S100 road did not disappoint as we spotted all kinds of wildlife in the first 2 km's including a jackal, and on a return trip we saw lions, relaxing rather than hunting. The Oliphants area in the north had a more varied landscape (escarpments, more water) and the rest camp there had a scenic view of the river valley below. Driving around KNP we favoured dirt roads that had small rivers alongside where there was lush vegetation and the wildlife seemed a little more varied, including hippos and crocodiles. The opposite side of the road often had an open plain making for ideal viewing. It was nice to move along at our own pace but we still found ourselves sticking to the routine of getting up early in the morning to observe the most active part of the day. Our evening drives both ended within 5 minutes of the camp gate closing for the night so we took advantage of that active window as well. Kruger certainly offers everyone the opportunity to explore it on your own, as long as you remain in your vehicle at all times.

We are now back in the very scenic Panarama Route area just west of Kruger. I had trouble adjusting to being back in normal traffic. The speed limit within the NP was 50 km/hour (and 40 km/hr on the dirt roads) so for the first hour outside the park it was difficult to get the speedometer above 80 km/hr in spite of the 100 km/hr speed limit. It not only seemed extremely fast after a full week at the slower limits but I was still anticipating animals to emerge from the bush onto the roadway as had come to be commonplace.

Another update to follow in a few days.

Our hiking safari home - an en-suite tent overlooking the Napi River

Majestic creatures that move gracefully along

Black Rhino - harder to find than the slightly larger White Rhino

Didn't see a red light or a Stop sign but figured we should wait anyway.

Teamwork in action

They often grazed and moved along with the wildebeests

A late afternoon sighting of the nocturnal hyena

Kudu with a nice rack