Re: South Africa Report Pt 2
- From: "tim....." <tims_new_home@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:50:59 +0100
Day 4: My friend drops me off at Simon's Town station and I catch the train
to CT. My friend is sceptical that this is a "safe" thing to do for a
person on their own with luggage and a camera around my neck but everybody
else I have spoken to thinks that it's OK. There another affluent person
just behind me with similar luggage - he's on his way to the airport (so he
tells everybody who phones him). I don't fell the slightest bit threatened
by this ride.
I pick up the car and drive out of town. I'm off to the game parks in
Western Cape. Stop off at the first service area as I need some (drinking)
water. Whilst in the shop there a wonderful smell from the attached bakery
so I buy an early lunch, this is something UK services could learn from!
There's a huge choice of pies (this is something of an SA speciality) and I
decide that given the variable quality of restaurants eating from the bakers
each day could be a good move!
I arrive at Swellendam, which the guide says is an interesting small town,
not in my opinion it isn't. I drive north onto the scenic Route 52. This
is an interesting road through the "Little Karoo", starts off as a
spectacular mountain pass and then wonderful, almost desert, scenery. I
come to a point where they are resurfacing the road and have only a single
lane open. They do this is very long sections and the waiting time at the
"stop" is 20 minutes!. In a country with no shortage of workers this is all
manually operated, I wonder if it has to be manned 24 hours? as even in the
middle of the day there were only about a dozen cars in my line.
I stop for the first night in Oudtshoorn and get the local Info Office to
find me a B&B, which they do for no charge. I have no idea what to expect
with this type of accommodation. I have come loaded up with soap, towels,
pillow and sleeping bag, but I need none of them, it is wonderfully clean
and fully appointed, all for 300 Rand pn. They are not the slightest bit
bothered about putting a single person in a double room (though whether they
would be in "Summer", I have no idea.) The letting rooms are in a separate
"house" in the rear garden. Much of this is to be repeated at every other
B&B that I stay at.
Apparently, it has been 40 degrees (C) today. I didn't really notice in my
AC car. This is an Afrikaans town, no-one speaks English as first choice.
Day 5: Breakfast is a cooked "Full English" (which IS what they call it!)
plus your choice from a "continental" table of cereal, bread rolls, muffins,
and a small selection of cheese and meat. You don't go hungry here.
I've decided that I have to lose a day so as not to arrive at the game park
on a Saturday, so I drive the short distance north to Cango Caves. There
are two tours, the "normal" one and the "adventurous" one. Because it
leaves first I book the normal tour at 55 R, but I wonder if I have done the
right thing. Then I find a sign which says "if you are over 50 or over
(IIRC) 80 Kilo don't book the adventure tour" and there's a display of the
smallest tunnel that you have to crawl through, it's 3 metres long and 29 cm
high. It looks tiny, even if you are quite a bit under 50 and quite a bit
less than 80 Kilo you will want to think twice, I think it's only suitable
for under 30, slim, people!, so I did the right thing. The caves are, um
caves, moderately interesting but nothing special.
North of the caves, I take the un-made road over the Swartberg pass. The
road up is fun and well made for a gravel road. There are signs telling you
not to feed the Baboons, but these are a different bred of Baboons to the
ones at Cape Point. If they see a human they run and hide, even if they are
40 yards away up the mountain, they still run away. No chance of feeding
these monkeys! The road surface down is much worse and fallen away in
places. It's close to being impassable for a normal car (but I notice that
I'm not the only "idiot"), I'm glad that I didn't try this road in the other
direction!
At the bottom of the pass is the "interesting" town of Prince Albert. Hum,
I disagree again, turn around and leave immediately. Take the long way back
to Oudtshoorn via Kareendouwberg pass and then the coast road to Knysna
where I stay for the night.
For tonight's meal I choose Springbok steak. What I am served looks and
tastes exactly like a sirloin steak. I'm not sure if I have fallen for a
"tourist" trick (akin to Bombay Duck or Buffalo Wings), whether Springbok
really tastes exactly like beef or I have been cheated. (Later my friend
tells me that it isn't 1 or 2!)
Day 6: Today's breakfast is a bit of a let down. I only get cooked eggs to
go with my continental plate, though, of course, I don't starve.
Today I make the long drive to Craddock. I notice that there are lots of
people hitching holding out money and sign saying "PE" (Port Elizabeth). I
wonder what the deal is for picking them, feel guilty about not doing so,
but with no knowledge of the local situation decide that I can't risk it.
Even if they are "safe", the person at the road-side is probably a proxy for
a whole family accompanied by a couple of goats and they are really looking
for a lift sitting in the back of a pick up (which seems to be the normal
method of transport by the locals).
On the way I stop off at Tsitsikamma Park which is home to the highest
bungee jump in Africa. No I don't give it a try, but watch the people that
do for half an hour.
I bypass PE, there's little of interest and I suspect (only on the evidence
of stopping at the petrol station) that it isn't the most "tourist safe"
place to stop.
My friend (and the guide books) recommend that I should go to the private
Shamwari park as well as the "National" ones so I stop off on the way to
suss it out. I'm hoping for a day safari, but I'm told that they only do
overnights which are 2 safari, three meals and "all you can drink"! It's
5500 R pp sharing per day, which is staggering. As they aren't busy I'm
told that they will do that rate for a single instead of the normal 50%
supplement. It's a lot of money for one day, but I can afford it (once) and
there are lots of hotels in Europe that change that just for a nights stay
so I book a night for later in the week. Have I done the right thing? I
later pick up a leaflet with tours to other private parks and this is the
normal price!
Arriving in Craddock I note that a few kilometres from the town is an
African township. A jumble of properly constructed huts, wooden huts and
tin nuts. They are all small. I wonder how many people live in each one.
There is real separation between this "village" and the main town, but it is
obvious that all of the residents (the ones with jobs at all, that is) work
in the town as there's nowhere else for 100km. I note that the B&B that I
stay in, which seems only to have 3 letting rooms, has five staff as well as
the couple that run it. I sense a culture of inventing low paid jobs.
And for today's restaurant disaster, I ask for the waitress to choose me a
brand of cider, without checking that it was going to be made of apples (as
I got a swift, "of course", the previous time I did this) and am served with
an apricot flavoured breezer!Where do they get these people!
Gotta stop now, Game parks tomorrow!
tim
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