I have finally been through all the photos from our big trip and come up with a highlights package of 277. Should be more manageable than the 10,000 we took! You can find them here if you are interested (you'll need to copy & paste the link):
http://picasaweb.google.com/lgallafent/LillyPaulGoAroundTheWorldAbridgedVersion#
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Friday, 5 November 2010
Vino, Vidding, Fishy
(As Julius Caesar definitely didn't say)
On Friday we left Cape Town driving north through the Western Cape, which appears to be sparsely populated, hot away from the coast, and fairly scenic, especially up in the Cederberg Wilderness Area where ancient geology has left shrubbery dotted over carved mountains forming an orange and green frame to wide valleys.
On Friday we left Cape Town driving north through the Western Cape, which appears to be sparsely populated, hot away from the coast, and fairly scenic, especially up in the Cederberg Wilderness Area where ancient geology has left shrubbery dotted over carved mountains forming an orange and green frame to wide valleys.
It's not a proper travelogue photo unless you take it from a moving vehicle
Up here, it's all about the journey not the destination (except when your journey is interrupted for 10-20 minutes for roadworks that have brought a mile or more of road down to a single lane so that they can work on 100 metres of it at a time).
Our actual destination is Clanwilliam, which is a one horse town and even the horse leaves on Sundays (as we discovered when we tried to find lunch and dinner within 50km the day after the wedding). But the church for the wedding was really nice - simple whitewashed walls and yellow flowers - and the wedding went off very well. Unfortunately I was painfully aware that the positioning of the video camera trained on the happy couple meant that I would be in the background just to one side of them throughout the ceremony, and so despite a scorching hot day I had to make absolutely sure I didn't nod off during the sermon.
The happy couple - congrats guys!
Then we all piled into a bus to head to the bride's family's estate 10km outside town, a beautiful 1920s farmhouse set against a stunning mountain backdrop. A refreshing breeze and a couple of drinks sustained us through to dinner in a classy marquee, and I have to say it was a brilliant venue with many thoughful touches for the day (loved the table plan written on hearts hung from a tree) and we had a great evening.
Many thanks to Karen and Gav for inviting us and we wish them a very happy married life.
The gradual blurring of Lilly's picture is intended to represent her evening
60km west on the coast is Lambert's Bay, to which we all headed the night before the wedding for a famous braais (or barbecue, as popular here as you'd expect given the amount of sunshine). We were a bit bemused to find that it was held in what looked like the first shack an enterprising caveman ever pulled together, and caught unawares by very cold sea breezes. My fish-eating fellow diners gave it a very good report (even though our too-early arrival had caused us to discover that some of the fish was frozen), and the seafood carried on coming for some time while I waited over an hour for something that wasn't fish to finish cooking.
There are a few other small towns up here - we stopped for lunch at Citrusdal - but nothing to really hold your interest beyond the scenery.
For our last day or so we drove back down to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, just outside Cape Town and the heart of wine country. It feels like a different country entirely - somewhere in southern Europe, perhaps, with picturesque 19th century buildings and fancy restaurants.
A quarter of Stellenbosch and the whole of Franzhhoek seem to be put on entirely for tourists to have a base while they drive around the many dozens of wineries that take up almost every inch of space here in between the mountains.
My turn to be designated driver so Lilly could enjoy the vino while I enjoyed the views - Guardian Peak had the best view of the half-dozen we visited (see photo below), but against some stiff competition and many beautiful estates.
You could pass a few relaxing days here quite easily.
Chocolates paired with wine at this one
Just a bit of mist in the background on our last day
Designated driver from the POV of designated drinker
Monday, 1 November 2010
The Great SA Cape
The first impression of Cape Town is always going to be of Table Mountain. I firmly maintain that every city would be improved by a great big scenic mountain, and we should give up on the Olympics and import a huge pile of rocks into the East End of London. Table Mountain is fairly scenic in its own right but in a meteorological phenomenon I don't quite understand, it often ends up with its top swathed in clouds (the 'tablecloth') even when there isn't another cloud in the sky. Just a couple of hours after getting to Cape Town we found ourselves on a balcony with a beer watching the cloud roll across the mountain at surprising speed. It has quite a wow factor.
Cape Town can be unbelievably windy and the first time we tried to go up the mountain the cable car was closed, so we eventually made it up on Thursday afternoon. Because of the improbable cloud, you have to pick your day carefully (and tip: beat big queues by buying a ticket online, it's valid for 2 weeks). The tablecloth was forming when we got up there, so we had spectacular views in 3 directions but didn't bother doing a long walk for a southerly view - as the cloud gradually rolled over us we realised that, yep, you really can't see a thing through it.
Well worth going up - in a nice but disconcerting touch, the cable car has a revolving floor so everyone gets a decent view on the way up. (You can walk up but I'd played football the previous day so thought we'd take the easy option for once. We bumped into friends at the top who vindicated our decision by telling us it had taken them 4-1/2 hours and, yes, they would be taking the cable car down.)
On Tuesday we drove around the side of Table Mountain and down the east coast of the cape, first to Muisenberg to take photos of colorful beach huts (a great expanse of beach crawling with tiny marine life, with a lovely backdrop of False Bay), and then on to Kalk Bay and Simon's Town for lunch.
All of these feel like little English seaside towns but with better weather, which was doing its best to make up for the previous 2 days with one of several scorchers. In late October, a scorcher in CT is perfect weather - not quite too hot because the breeze off the sea keeps you cool.
Just beyond Simon's Town is a penguin sanctuary at Boulders Beach - you have to pay to go down to the two beaches to see the penguins, which are mostly lying around doing nothing in the afternoon sun, although you can also see quite a few for free on the side of the walk between the beaches.
At the bottom of the cape is Cape Point national park, which is certainly scenic enough to merit a visit - a drive and a walk takes you up to the old Cape Point lighthouse, and then round to the Cape of Good Hope which is the southernmost tip of the cape (but not the country) and unbelievably windy.
I made my way out onto the rocks for a photo, nearly lost my sunglasses to the wind when I turned round, and came back covered in sea salt.
Finally we drove back up the West Coast, a truly stunning drive, especially with the late afternoon sun, for a sundowner near the beaches of Camps Bay. Recommended.
Cape Town is definitely a good place to have a car - it's an easy place to drive (hard to get lost with Table Mountain always visible and the centre has a simple grid); public transport is very limited and there are quite a few good places to visit away from the centre; and parking is easy. There are a lot of 'parking guards' throughout CA - it's casual employment, ie they work for tips, but they will keep an eye on your car and you give them a little tip when you get back. These ubiquitous guards also make the place feel a bit safer since you're rarely on an empty street, and they'll help direct you in and out of tight spaces.
On Wednesday we drove up to Blouberg and Big Bay, which boast long sandy beaches and a great view of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background (see also above).
There's a brand new development here with what look like decent options for a scenic lunch or dinner, though we were too early. Instead we had lunch at the Waterfront, a big area of the docks that has been turned into a shopping and eating area - it maybe feels just slightly too sanitised and tourist fodder, but still a pleasant area to pass a couple of hours.
In the evening we had a football match - a rather cobbled together and patched up team consisting of some friends from university, and some other friends and family of the groom. Under the circumstances losing 6-3 felt respectable, and the local side we played against were a decent bunch. I had a good chat with one of them about career-threatening and deliberate fouls, but I should stress that this was nothing to do with anything that happened in the match.
In our last day and a bit, we ticked off a few of CT's noted museums. The slave lodge was fairly pointless - hint to museums, if you're devoting an entire room to a *replica* of a table on which something once happened, you probably need to try a bit harder. (A temporary exhibit on Mandela is quite informative, albeit just a lot of text on walls, but if you go through the permanent collection to it, you will eventually realise that you're reading it backwards. Great planning.) The District 6 museum - devoted to the stories of coloured people who were relocated from this part of CT - has a bit more imagination but the few stories I had the energy to read were banal, and I imagine your time would be better spent with a book on the subject. The South Africa National Gallery is the best of the three, although part of it was closed to put in a new installation. A large photography exhibition and a smaller career retrospective were nicely staged.
All of these are in the centre, along with an airy little park (named The Company's Gardens), the colourful houses in the Bo-Kaap (Muslim area), cheap souvenirs in Greenmarket (Lilly bought a vuvuzela to add atmosphere at our football match), and the bars, shops and cheap hotels of Long Street, where we were staying.
Crime is always a bit of a worry in SA - the Garden Route is pretty safe but even here hotels will suggest you don't walk outside the busiest streets at night just in case. All the coastal areas just around CT felt fine but this central area is the one where a bit of extra care feels necessary - and I was happy to park an empty zero-excess rental car on the street here overnight, but I'd be less happy with my own. Having said that, we didn't have any problems and it's handy to be so central. We were easily able to sample the local Nando's (good mains, disappointing sides, one song stuck on loop the whole time) and find somewhere for a drink - the most surprising being inside an exceedingly noisy Irish pub post-football, when we discovered that the upstairs was trying to be a classy piano bar, albeit with the vibrations of downstairs massaging you through your chair. But there's plenty of choice on Long Street, lots of them with balconies.
So we enjoyed CT - 4 nights felt about right (we missed the botanical gardens and decided not to bother with Robben Island), and highly recommend a car for at least a day or two to see the cape.
Now we're off to a wedding, then back to the vicinity of CT to see the vineyards of Stellenbosch...
Table Mountain and Cape Town from Blouberg
Cape Town can be unbelievably windy and the first time we tried to go up the mountain the cable car was closed, so we eventually made it up on Thursday afternoon. Because of the improbable cloud, you have to pick your day carefully (and tip: beat big queues by buying a ticket online, it's valid for 2 weeks). The tablecloth was forming when we got up there, so we had spectacular views in 3 directions but didn't bother doing a long walk for a southerly view - as the cloud gradually rolled over us we realised that, yep, you really can't see a thing through it.
Well worth going up - in a nice but disconcerting touch, the cable car has a revolving floor so everyone gets a decent view on the way up. (You can walk up but I'd played football the previous day so thought we'd take the easy option for once. We bumped into friends at the top who vindicated our decision by telling us it had taken them 4-1/2 hours and, yes, they would be taking the cable car down.)
On Tuesday we drove around the side of Table Mountain and down the east coast of the cape, first to Muisenberg to take photos of colorful beach huts (a great expanse of beach crawling with tiny marine life, with a lovely backdrop of False Bay), and then on to Kalk Bay and Simon's Town for lunch.
All of these feel like little English seaside towns but with better weather, which was doing its best to make up for the previous 2 days with one of several scorchers. In late October, a scorcher in CT is perfect weather - not quite too hot because the breeze off the sea keeps you cool.
Just beyond Simon's Town is a penguin sanctuary at Boulders Beach - you have to pay to go down to the two beaches to see the penguins, which are mostly lying around doing nothing in the afternoon sun, although you can also see quite a few for free on the side of the walk between the beaches.
This penguin says "Hello Esther!"
We did see 3 active penguins on the beach by the boulders, as they appeared on the beach, waddled into the water, swam at and just around a wading Lilly, and then waddled up through a small gap between boulders and off towards all the other penguins. Lilly emulated them with a quick swim in a very cold sea.
Oh yeah, and this bright red 3-inch-long insect. Lilly refused to handle it so the photo could show the scale
At the bottom of the cape is Cape Point national park, which is certainly scenic enough to merit a visit - a drive and a walk takes you up to the old Cape Point lighthouse, and then round to the Cape of Good Hope which is the southernmost tip of the cape (but not the country) and unbelievably windy.
Lilly demonstrates the hat shell be wearing to Ascot next year
That's the Cape of Good Hope at back left
I made my way out onto the rocks for a photo, nearly lost my sunglasses to the wind when I turned round, and came back covered in sea salt.
Lilly's hair demonstrates the wind slightly better than mine
Finally we drove back up the West Coast, a truly stunning drive, especially with the late afternoon sun, for a sundowner near the beaches of Camps Bay. Recommended.
This is Hour Bay, part of a great drive
Cape Town is definitely a good place to have a car - it's an easy place to drive (hard to get lost with Table Mountain always visible and the centre has a simple grid); public transport is very limited and there are quite a few good places to visit away from the centre; and parking is easy. There are a lot of 'parking guards' throughout CA - it's casual employment, ie they work for tips, but they will keep an eye on your car and you give them a little tip when you get back. These ubiquitous guards also make the place feel a bit safer since you're rarely on an empty street, and they'll help direct you in and out of tight spaces.
On Wednesday we drove up to Blouberg and Big Bay, which boast long sandy beaches and a great view of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background (see also above).
There's a brand new development here with what look like decent options for a scenic lunch or dinner, though we were too early. Instead we had lunch at the Waterfront, a big area of the docks that has been turned into a shopping and eating area - it maybe feels just slightly too sanitised and tourist fodder, but still a pleasant area to pass a couple of hours.
In the evening we had a football match - a rather cobbled together and patched up team consisting of some friends from university, and some other friends and family of the groom. Under the circumstances losing 6-3 felt respectable, and the local side we played against were a decent bunch. I had a good chat with one of them about career-threatening and deliberate fouls, but I should stress that this was nothing to do with anything that happened in the match.
Yes, our mascot is dressed as a tramp. He'll calm down when someone gives him a can of beer
In our last day and a bit, we ticked off a few of CT's noted museums. The slave lodge was fairly pointless - hint to museums, if you're devoting an entire room to a *replica* of a table on which something once happened, you probably need to try a bit harder. (A temporary exhibit on Mandela is quite informative, albeit just a lot of text on walls, but if you go through the permanent collection to it, you will eventually realise that you're reading it backwards. Great planning.) The District 6 museum - devoted to the stories of coloured people who were relocated from this part of CT - has a bit more imagination but the few stories I had the energy to read were banal, and I imagine your time would be better spent with a book on the subject. The South Africa National Gallery is the best of the three, although part of it was closed to put in a new installation. A large photography exhibition and a smaller career retrospective were nicely staged.
All of these are in the centre, along with an airy little park (named The Company's Gardens), the colourful houses in the Bo-Kaap (Muslim area), cheap souvenirs in Greenmarket (Lilly bought a vuvuzela to add atmosphere at our football match), and the bars, shops and cheap hotels of Long Street, where we were staying.
The Bo-Kaap - I was tempted to burn out the car on the left to make for a better photo, but there was probably a car guard somewhere in the vicinity
Crime is always a bit of a worry in SA - the Garden Route is pretty safe but even here hotels will suggest you don't walk outside the busiest streets at night just in case. All the coastal areas just around CT felt fine but this central area is the one where a bit of extra care feels necessary - and I was happy to park an empty zero-excess rental car on the street here overnight, but I'd be less happy with my own. Having said that, we didn't have any problems and it's handy to be so central. We were easily able to sample the local Nando's (good mains, disappointing sides, one song stuck on loop the whole time) and find somewhere for a drink - the most surprising being inside an exceedingly noisy Irish pub post-football, when we discovered that the upstairs was trying to be a classy piano bar, albeit with the vibrations of downstairs massaging you through your chair. But there's plenty of choice on Long Street, lots of them with balconies.
So we enjoyed CT - 4 nights felt about right (we missed the botanical gardens and decided not to bother with Robben Island), and highly recommend a car for at least a day or two to see the cape.
Now we're off to a wedding, then back to the vicinity of CT to see the vineyards of Stellenbosch...
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
From N1 to the N2 in 10,000km or so
After Addo, we gave ourselves 4 days to drive the 900km to Cape Town - a simple drive along the N2, a major road which is in good nick. A chunk of this is known as the Garden Route, one of SA's premier destinations for its attractive scenery and a host of seaside towns, all sitting on hillsides to give the best possible view to as many houses as possible.
We had two days of glorious sunshine in Port Elizabeth and Addo - clear blue skies gave us a proper safari feel. Sadly when it came to our days driving the Garden Route, we went from overcast to torrential rain, so we dropped a few of our plans (scenic drives, walks through national parks, boat rides on lagoons, etc). Shame - it's an attractive area full of outdoor activities and great beaches.
From Addo we drove back through Port Elizabeth, where we'd spent our first night in SA. Big long beach, couple of modern outdoor malls, nothing to write home about (we didn't have time to check out the centre).
We stopped for lunch in Jeffreys Bay, apparently a major surfing destination, though it felt a bit run-down. We saw some big waves, but only a couple of learner surfers.
From there we drove 150km to Plettenburg Bay, with small mountains (or large hills) forming a picturesque scene on our right all the way - it looks like somebody has planted a line of trees along the ridge of most of them, just to jazz up the profile. Occasionally we passed a sign warning us not to feed the baboons under penalty of fines. Then we passed a troop of baboons on the roadside, and duly withheld food. Another common sight is a roadsign with a picture of a cow and a phone number underneath. I hope that's not a dodgy chatline service. Other useful signs ban the letter S and warn about a tractor that looks a bit like a teapot.
Driving is interesting - we've mostly been on the N2, a major road with usually just a single lane in each direction but a wide hard shoulder. SA drivers' desired speed seems to vary wildly 30% either side of the speed limit, with convention being that slower drivers move onto the hard shoulder to let faster drivers past (thanked with a blink of the hazards, acknowledged in turn with a flash of the headlights; a system complex enough to feel like an old Commonwealth tradition). Which is nice, except that if someone moves over you feel obliged to pass them, even if you're in a clear no overtaking zone. It's just about safe as long as nobody is doing the same in the opposite direction.
Plettenburg Bay is perched along the side of a hill overlooking the ocean and a lagoon. Seems like a big tourist destination - there are lots of attractions for outdoorsy types nearby, which would be more tempting on a sunnier day than we had - but I'm not sure what to make of the town.
The CBD was dead on a Friday night, with a lot of restaurants but only one bar. We fancied a drink before dinner so gave it a go, though it was pretty quiet (it becomes a club later in the evening). One guy drinking on his own asked the bar staff "Where do people go before they come here?" He got a slightly blank look and the reply "Dinner?".
On Saturday we took a boat trip whale watching. Whales swim very close to the shore around here - you can often see them from land in a few places - and we spotted our first whale almost immediately. It's interesting to see the clear personality types - the male who rushes to the front and won't relinquish that position, the pushy females who 'elbow' everyone aside and block them... But enough about the other tourists on the boat.
We saw a few whales, including a mother (with youngster in tow) being bothered by a lecherous male, but I didn't find it that interesting - unfortunately whales don't poke above the surface all that much, so you don't see them do much. Occasionally they dive and their tails fly up, which is photogenic, or they splash their flippers.
Even if you choose a boat that is licenced to go fairly close, you're not close enough for it to be properly exciting. Lilly really liked it.
I thought it was beaten hands down by half a dozen dolphins we ran into on our way back, who were in playful mood and were happy to swim alongside the boat and jump out of the water, even if they hadn't quite sorted out their synchronisation. Actually a better dolphin sighting than when Lilly went swimming with dolphins in NZ.
We returned to shore by aiming the boat at the beach and opening the throttle - nice.
We had lunch and craft shopping at Old Nick, the sort of place that has me fearing for my wallet. Lilly bought a monkey ball - allegedly a fruit the size of a grapefruit that monkeys scoop out to eat, then leave the outside to dry and play with it as a ball. Not sure when the monkeys learn to decorate it in various colours and markings.
Now, did you miss seeing any animals on safari? The good news is you can probably find it in its own specialist enclosure on the Garden Route. As far as I can tell, these all take in animals from overcrowded zoos or former pets or injured animals that can't be released back into the wild - they try to give these animals a decent lifestyle, and they aim to do conservation work as well.
We went to two. Tenikwa specialises in big cats, which each have reasonably decent enclosures, and visitors can go in (accompanied) to most of them. They have African wildcat, caracal, leopard, cheetah and serval. The only ones you can't visit are adult cheetahs and the leopard - whose idea of playing is hurling himself against the wire mesh fence that separates him from you - but that still means you get closer than you ever would at a zoo.
Really beautiful animals, especially the leopard's combination of power and perfect markings.
One of the caracals was very friendly, accepting strokes from everyone but taking a particular liking to rubbing against my legs. I'm sure the gentle nip he gave to my calf was pure affection.
The cats all seemed healthy and well-treated, not some terrible exploitative tourist trap.
Oh, and they have baby meerkats. We spent 20 minutes in Addo looking (unsuccessfully) for a baby meerkat that some <well-intentioned/evil> person told us about. Good things come to those who wait.
We also went to Monkeyland, a giant forested area that houses 450+ monkeys from 9 different species. I feel sorry for the 2 species that have only 1 representative (including a golden gibbon that walks disconcertingly like a man at times).
The 1-hour guided tour is mandatory but worthwhile since you'd be hopelessly lost without it and possibly miss out on a very long rope bridge through the treetops. Either take an umbrella or watch out for non-toilet-trained monkeys overhead!
Monkeys are always good value so - even though only 1 of them was African - this was an hour well spent. There's a giant aviary next door for those who prefer birds.
We spent Saturday night in Knysna, the largest resort town on the Route. It's a bit livelier than Plett, but even the street with the majority of restaurants (apart from the waterfront where there are loads) was dark and quiet.
Knysna sits on a huge lagoon, connected to the sea via a narrow passage. It would be stunning on a sunny day, and you could easily spend a couple of days here at least in summer. We went up to the eastern Heads, above the passage, for the best view, and even on a misty Sunday morning it was quite impressive.
But then the rain started, and after lunch (Lilly recommends the local oysters) it was torrential, so we gave up and drove on to Mossel Bay (end of the Garden Route), where the rain remained torrential.
We missed out a couple of scenic diversions over winding dirt roads, since we could barely see the car in front on the main road. Mossel Bay apparently has sunny days 80% of the time, and has been so dry that its reservoirs are 11% full. After our day there, I imagine they're full again. MB's special trick is to have north-facing (ie sun-facing in the southern hemisphere) beaches and hills despite being on the south coast, and our hotel had great views over the town and beaches. On a stormy Sunday, sadly, there's not much to do, and eventually we gave up and found a noisy pub to watch the Arsenal match, drove down to 'the Point' at the end of town just for a look, and had dinner in an atmospheric Cuban restaurant. (There are loads of Cuban restaurants in SA. I have no idea why.)
A lot of the signs in MB use Afrikaans names, unlike anywhere else we've been. If you keep your wits about you, you'll probably realise that Kaapstad is Cape Town and if you're looking for Church St then it's Kerkstraat.
Finally, we set out on Monday, pursued by occasional rain, to knock off the remaining 400km to Cape Town, which weather forecasts assured me would be sunny. The scenery isn't quite as good as on the Garden Route, but still very pretty in places.
We stopped for lunch in Swellendam, home of some old Dutch architecture and a very impressive church.
And after that the skies generally cleared, so by the time we got our first view of False Bay, below Cape Town, it was a lovely day.
Next: 4 days in Cape Town, catch up with friends who are also here for the wedding, and a football match.
We had two days of glorious sunshine in Port Elizabeth and Addo - clear blue skies gave us a proper safari feel. Sadly when it came to our days driving the Garden Route, we went from overcast to torrential rain, so we dropped a few of our plans (scenic drives, walks through national parks, boat rides on lagoons, etc). Shame - it's an attractive area full of outdoor activities and great beaches.
From Addo we drove back through Port Elizabeth, where we'd spent our first night in SA. Big long beach, couple of modern outdoor malls, nothing to write home about (we didn't have time to check out the centre).
We stopped for lunch in Jeffreys Bay, apparently a major surfing destination, though it felt a bit run-down. We saw some big waves, but only a couple of learner surfers.
From there we drove 150km to Plettenburg Bay, with small mountains (or large hills) forming a picturesque scene on our right all the way - it looks like somebody has planted a line of trees along the ridge of most of them, just to jazz up the profile. Occasionally we passed a sign warning us not to feed the baboons under penalty of fines. Then we passed a troop of baboons on the roadside, and duly withheld food. Another common sight is a roadsign with a picture of a cow and a phone number underneath. I hope that's not a dodgy chatline service. Other useful signs ban the letter S and warn about a tractor that looks a bit like a teapot.
Driving is interesting - we've mostly been on the N2, a major road with usually just a single lane in each direction but a wide hard shoulder. SA drivers' desired speed seems to vary wildly 30% either side of the speed limit, with convention being that slower drivers move onto the hard shoulder to let faster drivers past (thanked with a blink of the hazards, acknowledged in turn with a flash of the headlights; a system complex enough to feel like an old Commonwealth tradition). Which is nice, except that if someone moves over you feel obliged to pass them, even if you're in a clear no overtaking zone. It's just about safe as long as nobody is doing the same in the opposite direction.
Plettenburg Bay is perched along the side of a hill overlooking the ocean and a lagoon. Seems like a big tourist destination - there are lots of attractions for outdoorsy types nearby, which would be more tempting on a sunnier day than we had - but I'm not sure what to make of the town.
The CBD was dead on a Friday night, with a lot of restaurants but only one bar. We fancied a drink before dinner so gave it a go, though it was pretty quiet (it becomes a club later in the evening). One guy drinking on his own asked the bar staff "Where do people go before they come here?" He got a slightly blank look and the reply "Dinner?".
On Saturday we took a boat trip whale watching. Whales swim very close to the shore around here - you can often see them from land in a few places - and we spotted our first whale almost immediately. It's interesting to see the clear personality types - the male who rushes to the front and won't relinquish that position, the pushy females who 'elbow' everyone aside and block them... But enough about the other tourists on the boat.
We saw a few whales, including a mother (with youngster in tow) being bothered by a lecherous male, but I didn't find it that interesting - unfortunately whales don't poke above the surface all that much, so you don't see them do much. Occasionally they dive and their tails fly up, which is photogenic, or they splash their flippers.
Even if you choose a boat that is licenced to go fairly close, you're not close enough for it to be properly exciting. Lilly really liked it.
I thought it was beaten hands down by half a dozen dolphins we ran into on our way back, who were in playful mood and were happy to swim alongside the boat and jump out of the water, even if they hadn't quite sorted out their synchronisation. Actually a better dolphin sighting than when Lilly went swimming with dolphins in NZ.
We returned to shore by aiming the boat at the beach and opening the throttle - nice.
Beached. You had to pay extra to go on a boat that didn't insult you.
We had lunch and craft shopping at Old Nick, the sort of place that has me fearing for my wallet. Lilly bought a monkey ball - allegedly a fruit the size of a grapefruit that monkeys scoop out to eat, then leave the outside to dry and play with it as a ball. Not sure when the monkeys learn to decorate it in various colours and markings.
Now, did you miss seeing any animals on safari? The good news is you can probably find it in its own specialist enclosure on the Garden Route. As far as I can tell, these all take in animals from overcrowded zoos or former pets or injured animals that can't be released back into the wild - they try to give these animals a decent lifestyle, and they aim to do conservation work as well.
We went to two. Tenikwa specialises in big cats, which each have reasonably decent enclosures, and visitors can go in (accompanied) to most of them. They have African wildcat, caracal, leopard, cheetah and serval. The only ones you can't visit are adult cheetahs and the leopard - whose idea of playing is hurling himself against the wire mesh fence that separates him from you - but that still means you get closer than you ever would at a zoo.
Really beautiful animals, especially the leopard's combination of power and perfect markings.
One of the caracals was very friendly, accepting strokes from everyone but taking a particular liking to rubbing against my legs. I'm sure the gentle nip he gave to my calf was pure affection.
The cats all seemed healthy and well-treated, not some terrible exploitative tourist trap.
Oh, and they have baby meerkats. We spent 20 minutes in Addo looking (unsuccessfully) for a baby meerkat that some <well-intentioned/evil> person told us about. Good things come to those who wait.
We also went to Monkeyland, a giant forested area that houses 450+ monkeys from 9 different species. I feel sorry for the 2 species that have only 1 representative (including a golden gibbon that walks disconcertingly like a man at times).
The 1-hour guided tour is mandatory but worthwhile since you'd be hopelessly lost without it and possibly miss out on a very long rope bridge through the treetops. Either take an umbrella or watch out for non-toilet-trained monkeys overhead!
Monkeys are always good value so - even though only 1 of them was African - this was an hour well spent. There's a giant aviary next door for those who prefer birds.
Shopping monkeys - the missing link between our simian ancestors and Lilly
We spent Saturday night in Knysna, the largest resort town on the Route. It's a bit livelier than Plett, but even the street with the majority of restaurants (apart from the waterfront where there are loads) was dark and quiet.
Knysna sits on a huge lagoon, connected to the sea via a narrow passage. It would be stunning on a sunny day, and you could easily spend a couple of days here at least in summer. We went up to the eastern Heads, above the passage, for the best view, and even on a misty Sunday morning it was quite impressive.
But then the rain started, and after lunch (Lilly recommends the local oysters) it was torrential, so we gave up and drove on to Mossel Bay (end of the Garden Route), where the rain remained torrential.
We missed out a couple of scenic diversions over winding dirt roads, since we could barely see the car in front on the main road. Mossel Bay apparently has sunny days 80% of the time, and has been so dry that its reservoirs are 11% full. After our day there, I imagine they're full again. MB's special trick is to have north-facing (ie sun-facing in the southern hemisphere) beaches and hills despite being on the south coast, and our hotel had great views over the town and beaches. On a stormy Sunday, sadly, there's not much to do, and eventually we gave up and found a noisy pub to watch the Arsenal match, drove down to 'the Point' at the end of town just for a look, and had dinner in an atmospheric Cuban restaurant. (There are loads of Cuban restaurants in SA. I have no idea why.)
A lot of the signs in MB use Afrikaans names, unlike anywhere else we've been. If you keep your wits about you, you'll probably realise that Kaapstad is Cape Town and if you're looking for Church St then it's Kerkstraat.
Finally, we set out on Monday, pursued by occasional rain, to knock off the remaining 400km to Cape Town, which weather forecasts assured me would be sunny. The scenery isn't quite as good as on the Garden Route, but still very pretty in places.
We stopped for lunch in Swellendam, home of some old Dutch architecture and a very impressive church.
I got out in the rain to take this photo. Hope you appreciate it.
And after that the skies generally cleared, so by the time we got our first view of False Bay, below Cape Town, it was a lovely day.
Next: 4 days in Cape Town, catch up with friends who are also here for the wedding, and a football match.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Safari So Good
This is our first time on safari and rather than shell out a fortune on private game reserves, we thought we'd try out a national park, Addo Elephant Park. We're very pleased with it - plenty to see and surprisingly good value for money.
Safaris in SA are advertised around the 'Big 5' - elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and rhinoceros - so any reserve wants to be able to claim all 5. Addo stretches a bit - it has 1 leopard, and that apparently hasn't been seen for 2 years (though the guide that told us this emphasised that they know he's still alive from his tracks - obviously briefed on false advertising lawsuits) and 10 lions.* 450 elephants though, so you'd be unlucky not to see one.
* They introduced more lions and hyenas a few years ago to try to control the kudu population - kudu are large deer with beautiful curly antlers that can jump 3m up, higher than the fence, and there has been a lot of kudu immigration. Unfortunately the predators seem to have preferred the taste of some of the other animals, cutting down their numbers without denting the kudu, so a few lions were shipped out again.
The park is impressive with various different 'biomes', a lot of human-height vegetation and some big grassy plains plus a few watering holes. Further afield there are loads of cacti and patches of dense undergrowth. You can drive at will on a network of paved and unpaved roads, and tours can take you down other paths in specialist vehicles. So what you see is pretty much luck - what animals are near the road when you pass - but we had a great time driving around spotting animals and almost everything we saw, we had a close encounter with.
On our first 2-hour drive, we managed to see none of the big 5, but notched up some beautiful kudu, plus large tortoises, warthogs and ostriches amongst others. Then we took a guided night tour - excellent guide in a big jeep with a big spotlight - and immediately hit gold with a shy elephant and, at a distance, almost all the lions in the park. Things got a bit quieter after that but a tongue-twisting black-backed jackal wandered over to say hello, and we spotted a few smaller nocturnal creatures.
Up not-too-bright but very early the next morning for a sunrise tour and a major highlight - found the lions again and this time they were about 15m away.
There were 7 lions in 2 groups a few metres apart and the younger lions from one clearly fancied a bit of a ruck with the other group - cue a lot of posturing, ground-pawing and urinating until the older lions told them to stop showing off. Amazing scenes.
After that we found a few side-of-the-road elephants and a buffalo from a long distance - 3 of the Big 5 in a 2 hour trip.
Eventually, under our own steam, we found a buffalo up close ("Lilly, stop the car." "Why?" "Because there's a buffalo 2 metres away."), and we came across a group of meerkats - we thought we'd scared them away as they legged it towards their burrow, and then we saw the jackal chasing them. The meerkats made it - just. We drove past again half an hour later and a few meerkats were peeking out, and the jackal was staring at them from 20m away wondering if he'd get another chance.
Our last morning summed up the element of chance perfectly - for 20 minutes we saw literally no living creature larger than the flightless dung beetle unique to Addo (which has right of way on all roads)*...
...then a kudu, and then suddenly 5 elephants - including 2 babies** - walking down the road towards and then past us. Fantastic scenes.
* We did however see some impressive - and in one case only half-eaten - carcasses.
** Note to my dad - baby elephants do not, it transpires, clatter around making lots of noise, so that was a poor analogy.
So we really enjoyed Addo. If you're determined that you absolutely must see certain animals, or you want to obsessively complete your checklist (they do give you pictures of each animal with boxes to tick) you may get the odd disappointment, but if you're happy to just enjoy everything you come across you'll do well. The accommodation is good - we had quite a charming little cottage with a balcony surrounded by greenery and frequently visited by birds that looked like they might stop to help with the housework. You can self-cater (the on-site shop is tiny, but at least not a rip-off), and the tours are good value.
Just one tip - the directions generally suggest that if coming from the south, you drive up outside the park and enter by the main camp. That road is dull and not particularly quick. Far better to enter at the south end (the Matyholweni Gate) and drive up through the park - slightly slower, but you will actually be on safari while you do it. We realised this in time to leave that way.
(Oh, if anyone was on tenterhooks at the end of my last post - got my bag back the following day after some extremely unimpressive customer service from BA in SA, who apparently cannot ring an overseas mobile to confirm whether a bag has arrived - presumably they usually only lose domestic customers' luggage.)
Safaris in SA are advertised around the 'Big 5' - elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and rhinoceros - so any reserve wants to be able to claim all 5. Addo stretches a bit - it has 1 leopard, and that apparently hasn't been seen for 2 years (though the guide that told us this emphasised that they know he's still alive from his tracks - obviously briefed on false advertising lawsuits) and 10 lions.* 450 elephants though, so you'd be unlucky not to see one.
* They introduced more lions and hyenas a few years ago to try to control the kudu population - kudu are large deer with beautiful curly antlers that can jump 3m up, higher than the fence, and there has been a lot of kudu immigration. Unfortunately the predators seem to have preferred the taste of some of the other animals, cutting down their numbers without denting the kudu, so a few lions were shipped out again.
We spent a little while on our first drive trying to photograph a kudu from maximum zoom range. In retrospect we should just have waited for one of the dozens we'd see up close.
The park is impressive with various different 'biomes', a lot of human-height vegetation and some big grassy plains plus a few watering holes. Further afield there are loads of cacti and patches of dense undergrowth. You can drive at will on a network of paved and unpaved roads, and tours can take you down other paths in specialist vehicles. So what you see is pretty much luck - what animals are near the road when you pass - but we had a great time driving around spotting animals and almost everything we saw, we had a close encounter with.
On our first 2-hour drive, we managed to see none of the big 5, but notched up some beautiful kudu, plus large tortoises, warthogs and ostriches amongst others. Then we took a guided night tour - excellent guide in a big jeep with a big spotlight - and immediately hit gold with a shy elephant and, at a distance, almost all the lions in the park. Things got a bit quieter after that but a tongue-twisting black-backed jackal wandered over to say hello, and we spotted a few smaller nocturnal creatures.
Up not-too-bright but very early the next morning for a sunrise tour and a major highlight - found the lions again and this time they were about 15m away.
"How fast are lions over 15 metres, and why haven't we got any windows?"
There were 7 lions in 2 groups a few metres apart and the younger lions from one clearly fancied a bit of a ruck with the other group - cue a lot of posturing, ground-pawing and urinating until the older lions told them to stop showing off. Amazing scenes.
After that we found a few side-of-the-road elephants and a buffalo from a long distance - 3 of the Big 5 in a 2 hour trip.
Eventually, under our own steam, we found a buffalo up close ("Lilly, stop the car." "Why?" "Because there's a buffalo 2 metres away."), and we came across a group of meerkats - we thought we'd scared them away as they legged it towards their burrow, and then we saw the jackal chasing them. The meerkats made it - just. We drove past again half an hour later and a few meerkats were peeking out, and the jackal was staring at them from 20m away wondering if he'd get another chance.
Our last morning summed up the element of chance perfectly - for 20 minutes we saw literally no living creature larger than the flightless dung beetle unique to Addo (which has right of way on all roads)*...
...then a kudu, and then suddenly 5 elephants - including 2 babies** - walking down the road towards and then past us. Fantastic scenes.
* We did however see some impressive - and in one case only half-eaten - carcasses.
** Note to my dad - baby elephants do not, it transpires, clatter around making lots of noise, so that was a poor analogy.
So we really enjoyed Addo. If you're determined that you absolutely must see certain animals, or you want to obsessively complete your checklist (they do give you pictures of each animal with boxes to tick) you may get the odd disappointment, but if you're happy to just enjoy everything you come across you'll do well. The accommodation is good - we had quite a charming little cottage with a balcony surrounded by greenery and frequently visited by birds that looked like they might stop to help with the housework. You can self-cater (the on-site shop is tiny, but at least not a rip-off), and the tours are good value.
Just one tip - the directions generally suggest that if coming from the south, you drive up outside the park and enter by the main camp. That road is dull and not particularly quick. Far better to enter at the south end (the Matyholweni Gate) and drive up through the park - slightly slower, but you will actually be on safari while you do it. We realised this in time to leave that way.
(Oh, if anyone was on tenterhooks at the end of my last post - got my bag back the following day after some extremely unimpressive customer service from BA in SA, who apparently cannot ring an overseas mobile to confirm whether a bag has arrived - presumably they usually only lose domestic customers' luggage.)
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