South Africa #25

The main industry in this area is forestry and game. They trees they harvest are eucalyptus and pine, an odd combination for sure. It’s weird to see a big old bull pine beside a eucalyptus tree. 

The weather is overcast today, and a few raindrops. We’ve been lucky so far, the rainy season is about to begin in a couple of weeks, so fingers are crossed for good weather. By 8:30 it’s all burned off and the sky is blue.

Tonight is a camping night, and the guide cooks for us, so our first stop was a mall in Jeffries Bay so that Wellington (the guide) and Allan (the driver) could pick up the groceries for dinner and the next mornings breakfast. I know that I seem  fixated on food, and that’s because I am fixated on food. What we eat, how we eat, where we eat and with whom we eat is an integral part of what makes us who we are and makes the world go around. 

Food is pretty cheap here. A good lunch, including coffee or a glass of wine is maybe R80 which at today’s rates is about $10 Cdn. Grocery stores are even cheaper. Yesterday I bought a banana, a bottle of orange juice, a little container of yogurt, a giant cinnamon bun, a Kit-Kat bar (it was lemon and mango flavour...how could I not?) a tiny bag of shortbread cookies, a fresh bun and 2 of those instant coffee cappuccino things for in the room tonight. It came to less than $6 Cdn. I like it when we get to buy our own lunch fixings at a store and eat outside. Almost all the breakfasts are included and quite a few dinners, but no lunches. 

Anyhow, the groceries were procured and we are on our way to Addo Elephant Reserve.

Alan, the driver, is pushing the cart, he is from Limpopo. Wellington is in the camo, he is our guide and is from Zimbabwe.

Every mall has a McDonald’s in the parking area, as well as a KFC. As I said before, we could be in Anytown, North America. The stores are similar as well, instead of dollar stores, they have The Crazy Store. They do have Woolworth’s, but they are much higher end than ours, they’re similar to a Hudson’s Bay. 

Also lots of wind farms. It’s a windy country...sometimes I think I could be in Lethbridge, Alberta. My once lovely and sleek hair is now a colourful Brillo pad. ☺️

There are a lot of gated communities in this area, huge and populated by whites only. I still am surprised at the division between white, black and coloured people. We’ve been told that even though apartheid is in the past, it will take generations upon generations to actually accept that fact.

We see a lot of hitchhikers, and a white man will pick a black hitchhiker up, if he is driving a pick-up. The black man won’t be allowed to ride in the front, he will be in the box of the truck. And if the driver has dogs in the back, they’ll move into the cab of the truck and the hitchhiker will ride in the box. There is such a line between the races, and it’s not a fine line. 

South Africa #24

After the waterfall hike we came back to the resort to relax, and I changed out of my disgusting and sweaty clothes. Rinsed a few items out and hung them all over the room like a Chinese laundry. A few of us wandered over to the local village and had a great lunch of pizza and beer. Except I had pizza and coke. 

And maybe I had some ice-cream as well. Just maybe....



This is the pizza place, we just sat and relaxed and watched the local animal life.



This is the local animal life. 

And before I knew it, it was supper time! I swear, even though I’m doing so much walking, I most assuredly won’t be losing any weight.  Supper was at “Marilyn’s 60’s Diner”, a restaurant dedicated to Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, and all things 50’s-60’s. It was very bizarre to find a place like this in the middle of Nowhere, Africa. I didn't take a picture of my dinner because I had the All-American Bacon & Eggs.  

I don’t really eat breakfast at breakfast time, so I have been craving bacon and eggs, “breakfast for supper” is always a hit with me.

Tomorrow is our first game drive, so we were in bed early so we could get an early start.

South Africa #23.

After the waterfall hike, we met back at the trailhead where the bus was parked and waited for everyone to finish, and then we walked to “The Suspension Bridge.” It was really nice, and a 2km walk so it was a bit more exercise, but I was sort of expecting a Capilano Bridge type.

After the waterfall hike...just relaxing. 

It was fun watching the kayakers (is that spelled right? Looks weird.)

And this is short because all of a sudden I’m exhausted and tomorrow is an early start.

South Africa #22.

Since this is a hiking tour, today was a hike day. We had a buffet breakfast and were on the road by 7:30.

I didn't realize that we were so close to the Indian Ocean and that it would be so visible as we hiked. This trail is called The Otter Trail, although there were no otters. The settlers gave things odd names. Although maybe “otter” means something else in Afrikaans or Dutch (South Africa was colonized by the Dutch)  You should look it up and let me know.

The trail started as a gradual climb along a well travelled path amongst the leafy trees. It was cool and relaxing.

We saw a giant locust, it was huge and jumpy. It was easily as long as my hand.

We also saw giant African killer bees. Well, I exaggerate, they were giant, they were African and they were bees, but they were not killer. They were massive though, I’d say the wingspan was an easy 2.5 to 3 inches. I kid you not. 

And more locusts.

Before long the terrain changed to both good and bad. The good was the Indian Ocean in all it’s turquoise glory was on my left, and the bad was the boulders that we had to clamber over were as big as refrigerators and small cars. My knees were literally bruised the next morning.

These boulders went on for 2-3 km. It was hot and pretty tough going. The end, however, was this:

Dipped our toes and turned around for the trip back. At one point the speedy hikers were quite far ahead and the slower ones were behind. I was wandering along by myself and heard a rustle in the bush. I saw a snake come out, and he (she? Who knows with snakes?) was across the path with his head in the bushes on the other side before his tail appeared. He was large! A bird came swooping down and pecked at him and whipped his head back towards her and opened his mouth, but then he slithered quickly away. He was diamond patterned, shiny and pitch black. I google-imaged it...sure enough, a Black mamba....only the deadliest snake around. I did not put my hands near any bushes after that let me tell you! They do have signs everywhere saying “Beware of snakes.”, but I didn't think I’d see one. 

I took my time after that, enjoying the scenery and being careful where I walked. It was a fairly hard hike, but worth it for the scenery and feeling the spray on the Indian Ocean on your face. When I showered that night, the water in my mouth was salty from the Ocean air.

 

South Africa #21

On our way to George. We are leaving Route 62, the wine route, and entering The Garden Route. I’m not sure why it’s called that, there aren’t any gardens to see, but perhaps the landscape and temperature is more conducive to gardening than the wine route. I don't actually know. The landscape is much greener, and we are climbing over the Larangeberg Outenique Mtn Range and will be heading down towards the warmer coastal area soon where the weather is warm year round. The mountains are not as “craggy” as at home, these are much older and have had time to smooth themselves out. (Hardly a geological term, but you get my meaning.) 

Oyster farming is huge in this area, but I never did see oysters on a menu. Like the shoemaker’s kids I suppose.

We are seeing a lot of zebras and springbok on the sides of the road. Here’s food for thought: as Canadians we say “zed” as the last letter of the alphabet. Americans say “zee”. The proper way to pronounce zebra is to rhyme it with Debra. Our guide corrects us constantly. So why do we pronounce it the American way (zeeee-bra) instead of the correct way? Too much American influence. In any case, seeing wild zebras just gives me goosebumps.

We are now driving though Tsitsikama National Park where our home for the night is the Storms River B&B. Another amazing place. This flower is The Bird of Paradise. 

The rooms are beautiful, as usual. 

The pool was surrounded by lemon trees.


We walked over to the tiny restaurant for dinner where I had 2 South African dishes, for dinner it was boboti, similar to shepherds pie, as far as the ground meat goes, with an egg-bread topping but the spices were more Moroccon; cinnamon, nutmeg, apricots and currents. It was delicious. For dessert I had Malva pudding with a custard sauce, very similar to UK sticky toffee pudding. 

Early to bed as the next morning was another hike. I kept my windows open to smell the air. There are jacaranda trees all over and the smell is just incredible. 

Not too sure what goes on inside this building, nor am I sure that I want to know.

South Africa #20

Now we are headed to the Bloukrans Bridge bungy jump...not that I’m jumping! It’s the highest bungy jump in the world at 709 feet and one of the girls is taking the plunge. Literally. 

First we stopped at a grocery store to grab some lunch fixins’ and we ate outside in the sun. The birds immediately made plans on how to get a snack.

“What? No, I’m not scoping out the food, I’m totally looking somewhere else.”

“Quick, I’ll steal this one whole you distract them with your shiny feathers.”

Eventually we arrived at Bloukrands, and man, did that bridge look high! Only 3 of us chose to walk out to the jumping-off area via a rope and checker plate walkway. It was bouncy and I enjoyed it, I like heights. Our jumper-girl arrived at the spot by zip line. Just look at the top of the bridge and see how tiny the cars are to get a bit of perspective.

This is where we walked. 

And this is the area where they strapped her in and threw her off. They music is pumping and the staff is dancing and getting getting everyone really hyped up.

And that was that...it was a really fun thing to watch. Now we are on our way to the city of George where another hike awaits us. Hopefully not as hard as Table Mountain.

South Africa #19

So that last one was #18, so now I am at #19. Same day as the Cango  Caves, and now we are off to an ostrich farm. I don't generally like these types of things because they’re usually super boring. The camel breeding farm in India was a prime example, all we saw were camel backsides and a bunch of bored camels in pens, although I did try unpasteurized camel ice-cream.  But the ostrich thing was included, so what do you do? However, I was greatly mistaken, it was so interesting and informative. The local guide was really funny, as well as having an answer to every question we had. 

A few tidbits for you, that you may or may not have known. The males are black and the females are grey. They both take turns sitting on the eggs. We probably all knew that already, but did you know that the males sit on them at night and the females during the day? The reason is twofold. Firstly, most predators come out at night and the males are much stronger and can defend the nest better, and secondly, being black means the males absorb more heat during the day and are warmer as they sit on the eggs at night. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me.

One ostrich eggs is the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs and takes 6 hours to hard boil and needs to be cracked open with a hammer. Not just any half-assed hammer, but a good strong one. The meat is cholesterol free, and is so healthy for you, but the eggs are loaded with all that extra cholesterol and they are not healthy at all. If one were to have a diet of nothing but ostrich eggs, you would be dead within a month. And yes, they will steal your earrings and your glasses and anything sparkly you might have on you...brooches, bracelets etc. They had a display of items found in one ostrich’s tummy....pop/beer caps, a heel from a woman’s shoe, a lipstick, many rocks, rings and more.

“What? No earrings? Be gone then...”

“Just sittin’ in the sun, getting warm, waiting for my night shift.”

“Geez! Do you mind? Can’t a girl sit on her eggs without all you paparazzi taking photos?”

Just a man and his ostrich....



We were allowed to stand on the eggs, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. They can hold a lot of weight, and how embarrassing would it be if they broke when I was the one on them? Not to mention the smell.

South Africa #18

I’m beginning to wonder if I’m ever gonna catch up on this blog. I tend to ramble on and on. You must be wondering when the “real” Africa is going to happen....enough already with malls and hotel rooms and foodie pix. But, I love food and hotels and malls always have really clean bathrooms. 

This morning we had breakfast in the resort, an then headed off to the Cango Caves. I’ve been in caverns and caves before and never really liked them, but these were something else. First off, the fellow who was our guide was really very good, and secondly, these caves are massive, so you don't feel claustrophobic in the least. Really, you don’t. 

We followed him down...down...down...and he explained about the origins of the caves, explained about stalactites and stalagmites and how long they take to form and all that stuff that we all learned in school but have probably long forgotten. When we reached the first major cavern, he did the “shut off the lights so you can experience true total darkness” thing. I did not like that at all , and I may or may not have grabbed at a German girl beside me. She may or may not have grabbed back. There may or may not have been cave spiders mentioned and I may or may not have peed just a little.

But the lights came on and it was like something from an Indiana Jones movie. I fully expected a bad guy to be at the top of the stairs. The cavern was huge.

So now I will post a few more pictures of the various sights we saw. After the tour ended we passed through the inevitable gift shop where I bought some nifty food items...more about those later. 

Th colours and formations were unbelievable, it was like a fairyland. There are miles of tunnels and rooms, one tour was “the adventure tour” which involved squeezing through tiny opening on your belly. No thank you. 

South Africa #17

After our quick visit to Ronnie’s we continued on towards our destination for the night, which is the town of Oudtshoorn. The scenery along the way was spectacular. We are still in the area known as the wine route, but the whole thing is Route 62 and the area is the Klein Karoo, which means “small desert.” It’s the longest wine route in the world. Our driver is very amenable to stopping for photo opportunities whenever we ask, which is so nice as taking pictures from a bus window is such a hit or miss affair and generally full of blur and reflections.

We arrived at our hotel by 5:30, the Kleinplaas Self catering resort. It’s pretty fantastic! We each have tiny little “apartments”.

This was all for me. Comes with everything you need...all the dishes, coffee, more pillows than I could use and a bed for every few hours.

I tossed my suitcase on the bed(s), gave my hair a half-assed brush and headed out for dinner. In hindsite I should have cleaned up a bit more as it was a fairly nice place, but we all looked (and probably smelled) the same.  

The sun was just setting as we walked to the restaurant. Beautiful sunsets here, but holy cow the sun sets fast. It happens, literally, within a minute or two. You snooze you loose is true in this case. I have missed many a gorgeous shot by admiring it for a second too long. The sun plunges down like it’s been dropped.

Arrived at the restaurant one minute later and it was pitch black already.

I had an ostrich cutlet and a creme brûlée for desert. They were both fantastic.

Then we walked home and I decided which of my four beds to sleep in and was out like the proverbial light in 5 minutes. I am a night person and at home I’m usually up until at least midnight, but here I’m in bed and asleep by 9:30 or 10. It’s quite restful and I might have to change up my habits when I get home again. Who knew there was such a marvellous world out there at 6 AM? 😉😊