South Africa 2024
At the risk of stating the obvious, . Africa is big: well bigger than you think. The Mercator Projection of 1569 is still used as the standard way of depicting the spherical globe on a flat map. The main effect is to distort and exaggerate the size of objects further away from the equator, such as Russia and the UK, and therefore suggest Africa and Brazil, for example, are smaller than they are by comparison. Africa remains the same size, i.e. big. In December, we were in Aswan, Luxor and Hurghada, Egypt. Cape Town is 4,500 crow flown miles from Hurghada. At Aswan, near the Sudanese border, we were definitely in an Arab and Muslim country, teetering on the fringes of the Sahara desert. At the other end of Africa just a few weeks later, there's no sand and the infuences are (still) French, Dutch and English. The Red Sea coast and desert are striking but South Africa.... towering mountain ranges, rocky coastlines, green valleys: it's a long way away. And nobody has hassled me for a tuk tuk, boat trip or his cousin's shop yet. (We liked Egypt, but it had its moments).
Cape Town the long way round
Back in the mid-1970's, in the first Japanese cars in the UK (driving schools, hire cars), the steering column switches were the "wrong" way round (indicator on the right, wipers on the left). In the intervening years, commonality must have been agreed because I don't recall it being an issue. Until today. The Foreign Office travel advice web page for South Africa actually lists one of the major hazards for foreign visitors as being the local drivers and the car hire company helpfully issued a leaflet advising of areas in which it was not safe to drive. Still: only 20 minutes or so from the airport to the hotel: what could possibly go wrong? Answer; trying to cut through three lanes of aggressive traffic to escape a nonsensical one-way system while indicating with intermittent wipers and a splash of screen-wash. Then trying to negotiate a tight roundabout with wipers on full monsoon setting. Obviously, got there in the end but having found a slot in the hotel car park, it's Ubers all the way for the next few days.
PS: Cape Town airport arrivals hall has a "Firearms Collection Point". Didn't ask.
As everywhere, Ubers are a a bit of pot luck as to whether you get a brand new Merc or a 20-year old Toyota: the difference in Cape Town is that they are spookily immediate. Press the "confirm" button and Mike or Angelo or whoever will be picking you up in one minute...oops, he's here. That said, one driver then confessed up front that he was not going to follow the prescribed route but would take us on a nice scenic drive. Murder? Kidnap? Worse? No: turns out he really did want to show us some nice views and scenery on the way to the Botanic Garden (although he did massage the price somewhat). We had read about the welcoming friendliness of the locals but it seems it really is a thing. Passing strangers in the street will ask "how are you?" and actually expect an answer. When a stranger asks if you need help with crossing the road or finding some building, nerves immediately go on to alert, but it turns out they actually want to help you cross the road etc. Vibe: Melbourne with bigger hills.
The only reason Nelson Mandela was let out of his 2m x 2.5m cell, with its bucket toilet, floor mat and two blankets, for more than an hour a day, was when heavy labour, quarrying for limestone, was introduced. On other trips, places like Phnom Penh's Killing Fields or the barracks at Auschwitz seem tragically banal now, so too Robben Island just 10km off the Cape Town Coast. Political prisoners were jailed for life for acts of "sabotage" against the brutally apartheid regime, after their campaign of peaceful resistance was ended abruptly in 1960 by the Sharpeville massacre, where 69 peaceful protesters were shot, many in the back, and killed. Deciding to make the prison into a memorial museum was a good move: an even smarter one was making ex-inmates the tour guides. Derrick Basson was jailed for seven years for setting fire to a government office but ended up serving "only" five as international pressure forced the government to back down. Derrick now tells visitors he is humbled to be able to thank visitors from abroad for their support. Gulp. On the way back to the boat, the island's 1,999 solar panels are pointed out: not only is the island self-sufficient in electricity, but it also avoids the dreaded load-shedding. We had seen signs warning of this in shops and hotels ("we stay open during load shedding") but didn't appreciate what it was. Apparently the infrastructure is so tired and under-invested that routine power cuts are scheduled every day and publicised by phone app. The signs advertising "we stay open" and "no load shedding" just mean that facility has a back-up generator. The guide explaining this was almost apologetic about the state of things and the lack of investment: nothing to worry about there - you should see what the UK has managed to achieve with water and sewage since privatisation. All our hotels and guesthouses had either generators or batteries as back up up until Plettenberg Bay. At 8pm, the lights went out (including the delightful Christmas lights still running the length of Main St) and the soundtrack to this African night was the throb of diesel generators. Except at our accommodation, so it's teeth cleaning by torchlight.
The weather on Cape Town's 3,000 foot Table Mountain is notoriously changeable. We were lucky, with just a little haze and a gentle breeze. There was no warning, however, that the cars gently rotate during the vertiginous ascent, which is a bit unnerving the first time. A brilliant circular walk at the top with 360° views for miles, then back down. Just an hour or two later, however, operations were suspended completely for a few hours as a wildfire raged on the mountainside just below the cables. Passengers were stranded at the top until the flames were brought under control. The other architectural highlights of the city are all clustered within walkable distance and plenty of people were indeed walking, although maybe it might have been a bit different after nightfall.
Red or white?
Only 30-or so minutes from downtown Cape Town on the six-lane highway back past the airport to the deservedly famous wine town of Stellenbosch. There's a bit of mist around this morning so the spectacular mountains suddenly make an appearance seemingly out of nowhere as the sun breaks through. It's wall to wall blue skies by the time of the first tasting at the questionable hour of 10am. Three wineries and 18 (count 'em) wines later and frankly telling white from red is enough of a challenge without analysing the varietals and vintages. Did I say the scenery is stunning? This was supposed to be a group tour by minibus but as other guests had cried off, turned into a private tour by car (not ours, I hasten to add). Thus a chance to have some one-to-one time with a guide to get some background on how it feels to actually live in 21st century South Africa. In short, and only one person's opinion, but a massive missed opportunity to move the country and economy forward after the end of apartheid and the political system remains beset by corruption. On the other hand, generally safer and more secure than it was and slowly the townships are being improved, albeit with some reluctance on the part of the inhabitants allegedly. Still an odd juxtaposition to be driving past a township with jerry-rigged wiring and a forest of Portaloos with a belly full of decent wine. At the end of the apartheid regime, there was approximate parity between the pound and the Rand: now £1 buys nearly 24 Rand so the economy has taken a battering, but good news for visiting Brits.
After Stellenbosch and neighboring Praal, Franschoek is the third of the major wine towns of the Western Cape. Although described as a one-horse town a few years ago, "funky", "hipster" and "chic" are the current buzz words. There's just one street, but coffee shops outnumber anything useful, there's a Sunday Market with artisan craft stalls and home made bread and plenty of upscale estate agents. And you can't throw a stick without hitting a vineyard. Theoretically, put the car keys away as there is a wine tram (of course) to whisk between wine tastings. Except the tram only connects four wineries: for all the rest, there are buses, albeit buses dolled up to look a bit like trams. That said, the logistics are well organised: tram A connects with bus B after just the right time for a tasting or two, then merge seamlessly onto bus C and so on. Timetables and route plans are issued with the tickets so all very straightforward. Worth doing a bit of advance research as to which wineries do which sorts of wine, food accompaniments and other distractions. We misjudged the last one (Boschendal) which had lovely grounds in which to enjoy a curated flight of six wines. However, the allotted hour did not allow for the 15- minute each way joutney from the tram stop to the tasting area, so it was all a bit bit rushed. Then it rained, admittedly not much but enough to be locally newsworthy.
Karoo and the Garden Route
So a week on and still occasionally indicating with the windscreen wipers, just not as often. Two hours down from the hills to the coast at Hermanus, which on first impressions is very Cornish. Grassy gardens onto cliff paths, bustling promenade restaurants, very green low-rise housing estates, but without the stag parties and surfers. Short stay but we liked Hermanus. We were told not to walk the famous cliff paths at night: "nobody is going to hurt you, but you might fall off". Hermanus is known as a whale-spotting town, but all the boat trip kiosks are shut up for the summer as the Southern Right Whales won't be back until May or June, but the sea still entrances.
Our guesthouse host in Hermanus insisted we took the long way round to the famous Garden Route, following route 62 through the Karoo national park, rather than the main highway along the coast. And he was right. Up towering mountain passes, through twisting river valleys and across expansive plains bordered by distant mountains and with huge skies, this was one heck of a drive. A few lessons learnt: there may be two lines marked on the road, but custom and practice dictates there are four. Ignore the double white lines in the centre, slower vehicles will generally move over onto the hard shoulder to be overtaken but the opposite is also true: if someone coming in the opposite direction is overtaking, be prepared to pull over to let them through. And when overtaking trucks, they'rè longer than you expect. An artic will be pulling another semi-trailer, making a train nearly 100 feet long. All of that said, the roads are generally immaculate: billiard table smooth with very little traffic. There are a lot of random roadworks but no traffic lights: what would be single lane working and queues in the UK are flagged here literally by someone leaping in the road and waving a red flag to warn of danger ahead. The temperature nudged 42°C as we descended from the Karoo through Oudsthoorn, over one more mountain pass and finally down to the Garden Route.
The N2 road which was a 6-lane highway between Cape Town and the airport is now down to two lanes but, with speed cameras everywhere, none of the four-lane high jinx described above. Central Knysna is a bit of a let-down after Hermanus (although apparently completely safe, the walk down through the centre felt a bit edgy), but the surrounding area around the lagoon is delightful. A California-style sea fog flowed into the lagoon through the narrow Heads pass from the ocean and persisted for the short drive to the other main Garden Route destination Plettenberg Bay, or Plett as the locals would have it. Apparently a good place for spotting whales and even Great White sharks (I wonder what is in the Shark Bite Kit located at the back of a beach like a defibrillator) but when it's not even possible to see the sea, that's a bit academic. The mist burned off eventually to give a couple of hours of sunshine before dark and more load shedding.
However, the mist returned and persisted, with fingers creeping up the steep hills from the sea to give Plett High Street an eerie light. Therefore not the day to remember that, being in the southern hemisphere, we should look for the Southern Cross at night. It was pointed out and explained to us by a stargazer during a nocturnal barbecue in Australia ten years ago but tonight, not a chance. And checking to see if water really drains down the plughole the "wrong" way, frankly couldn't tell.
Wildlife and wine
6:30am and the sun has been up for an hour or so. 15 minutes on challenging dirt tracks in a Toyota 4x4 have brought us to a bunch of scrub and bushes where, right next to the track, three lionesses are stretched out in the shade, yawning and settling in for a hot day. But I'm rushing ahead.
And so on to the grande finale. 300 miles east from the end of the Garden Route at Plett and on to the Shamwari game reserve east of Port Elizabeth. The first 290 miles were on fast, quiet roads, with just a couple of interruptions for roadworrks. The last ten miles over very rough potholed roads took the best part of an hour. To be fair, the lodge advised only tackling the road in a 4x4 or SUV, but the hire car was already booked by then. Managed to make it with all four tyres and he exhaust more or less intact. After a welcome G & T and a quick lunch on the lawn, with rhinos and giraffes visible in the valley below, it's off for the first of four game drives. Just as in Tanzania four years ago, the vehicle of choice is the virtually indestructible Toyata LandCruiser of indeterminate village. Rhino, giraffe, impala, springbok all picked off in fairly quick order, then half an hour with an inquisitive herd of elephants then another half hour trying and succeeding in tracking down two cheetahs in the long grass. But also as in Tanzania, rain threatened for a while and the sky was increasingly lit by massive forks of lightning, so time to retreat to the bar.
Tomorrow, one last sunrise game drive, that 14km drive out over the gravel road then the long trek home. Great food and drink (at great prices), great hospitality, great sights, great trip. Rerurn already being discussed...
Sent from my Galaxy
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