And so it was time to move on again, this time to De Hoop nature reserve, a little further down the coast. Our host in Mossel Bay, the brilliantly-named Tertius, had suggested an alternative route to the motorway, involving a hand-pulled car ferry and some nice views, which B was a little dubious about, but I thought sounded great, so we set off in the sunshine.
We reached the 'car ferry' after an interesting drive down some deserted gravel roads the car was struggling a little with, just as it started to rain. The ferry was actually a small metal raft, attached by pulley cables, and the river we had to cross was flowing fast. There seemed to be no-one around and it was a long way back to the alternative road. B gave me the look of 'S, why did we have to come this way?", and we were considering whether we would have to operate the thing ourselves, when three men appeared from behind a little hill on our left - the ferry men! They didn't really speak much English, but between us we got the car onto the ferry and began the journey, the three men heaving the thing across, looking for a decent tip, to which we obliged.
After reaching dry land, we drove on until we reached the nature reserve signs and headed down yet another bumpy gravel road to our lodgings for the night, which was owned by a rather strange family who took energy and money-saving to new highs. We were brusquely checked in by the hawkish mother Annette, and taken to our 'luxury chalet' by Caspar, the 17 year old overweight, sweaty, grinning son, who was to feature later. The chalet was large and cold, but hadn't been updated for about ten years and luxury was not a word we would necessarily associate with it, as a big beetle crawled out from under the sheets..but hey, we would make the best of it.
As we were in the middle of nowhere, we headed to the restaurant for dinner - which we discovered was to be cooked by none other than Caspar! The only other guests were a party of four students, also looking a little bemused. I suggested we had a whiskey to warm us up before the meal, and asked for it to be served with some water at the side, but it was not to be - they served us a shot of cheap whiskey, drowned in a tall glass of tap water - yum! Dinner consisted of lukewarm Heinz tomato soup, followed by microwaved beef roll, and stodgy vegetables, finished with half-frozen Sarah Lee-type flan cake, all to a loud soundtrack of muzac favourites on the stereo behind B - needless to say we spent most of the meal in hysterics and we won't forget the evening in a hurry. We headed back to the chalet as soon as we could, only for all the electricity to be turned off at 9.30pm just before we heard the sound of Caspar's car driving off for the night - it mysteriously came back on in the morning, just after the sound of a car arriving to sort out breakfast..
After a better-than-expected breakfast, we headed into the reserve itself, which more than made up for the accommodation's shortcomings, as it was beautiful. The sun shone as we ran down the biggest sand dunes we've ever seen and watched tens of southern right whales frolicking by the shore, the most awesome creatures to watch. After some more fun running around in the sand, we realised we were completely lost and had a slightly stressful half an hour trying to find our way back to the car - those pesky sand dunes all look the same after a while!
Not deterred, we drove further into the reserve to find the circular drive they had billed in the leaflet as 'showing some of the highlights' of the park. Ignoring the sign at the entrance which warned that the track was only suitable for 4x4 vehicles, we carried on and almost ended up finishing off the poor VW Polo hire car along the hugely bumpy, potholed road, and we didn't even see a single animal! - certainly the last time we'll ignore a sign like that, doh!
Once back on tarred roads, we said goodbye to wilderness and drove on to Hermanus, the self-proclaimed 'best town for land-based whale watching' in SA. We stayed at Moby's hostel, which was fine bar a dubiously itchy bed and the fact the evening karaoke downstairs was competing with the church choir next door - not sure which was worse!! We did see some fantastic whales in the morning and it was a really charming little place to stay, with a great Italian deli, at which we enjoyed a mega plate of antipasti and great coffee.
Moving on again, we hit one of our favourite areas, the winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. We stayed first in Stellenbosch at a laidback, long-established hostel. Having survived driving through one of the worst storms we encountered via several mountain passes and SA drivers trying their best to take me out, I let B drive us to our first wine estate, Morgenhof, for a big fat lunch and some great wine. We tucked into three courses, including some of the best carrot cake ever, and it was still only 25 pounds for two - bargain! We barrelled our way back to the hostel for a lazy afternoon in preparation for the following day's wine tour starting at 10.30am.
The next morning we met the other participants in the 'easy rider' wine tour, which handily started at our hostel, including three 21 year old med students from London, a 40 year old life-long traveller from London and a really lovely couple, Sarah and Mike, on a seven month trip in Africa, from yes, you've guessed it, London. The three Dutch students rolled their eyes as we reached the first wine farm of the day and the noisy English contingent leapt out of the van shouting for wine. It was going to be a long day.
We started at Simonsig, a great place, with a demo from our driver and tour guide Tiri Tiri, of how to open a wine bottle with a sabre sword, and then it was on to the wine, from sparkling cap classique, through whites to reds, all of which came in half glasses with no option but to drink it all before a refill - it was terrible.
Feeling slightly wobbly, we moved on to Fairview estate in Paarl, which also made seriously good cheese and had lots of goats milling around. As well as some awesome wines to taste, we also had access to the cheese tasting, which we managed to go round almost four times, as well as getting through some seriously good (and expensive) wines from the generous bar staff, who were very happy to bend the rules on how many wines we were able to try.
Thankfully, we then headed for some filling lunch and animated (OK, slightly drunk) conversation with our new friends at a local restaurant, which helped to steady the legs and prepare us for the next stop at Dieu Donne in Franschhoek. The farm enjoyed one of the most beautiful settings and produced some lovely wine, before we headed to our last farm of the afternoon, Boschendal. I would be lying if I said I could remember the wines we tasted there, but I'm sure it was good and we all made it back in one piece.
After a quick coffee, we decided it would be stupid to stop there, and carried on with the cheap, but good, red from the bar, setting the world to rights and swopping travelling plans. You'd expect us to have made it long into the night, but as we had started at 10.30, by quarter to ten, and after about four bottles of wine each we later calculated, we were done.
Surprisingly, we felt a little delicate the next day and cancelled our 11am tasting in Franschhoek, instead lying in and taking our time to drive to our next place, which was back to flashpacking, in a beautiful little cottage right by the mountains in Franschhoek itself, also the gourmet capital of SA. We headed straight for lunch at yet another wine farm, Haute Cabriere, which was really good, and I even managed a glass of gorgeous pinot noir.
Having slept off our over indulgence, we headed out the next morning for a tasting at Mont Rochelle, a lovely little place right by where we were staying, followed by lunch looking out at the mountains and a final dinner to top the lot that evening. We headed for the Tasting Room, for a six course gourmet dinner with wine, which was really amazing, especially the fact you could choose two puddings, although we did have a bit of a food 'whitey' at the end and made a vow to take a break from stuffing our faces, at least for a few days.
The next morning, we headed for Cape Town, our current base for the last couple of weeks, which we've really loved despite some miserable weather. We've been staying in a cool little studio apartment right in the centre, which has been great for some crap TV (including many of the same TV films we saw in Italy!), home cooking and lazing around. We've spent a fair chunk of time booking and sorting the next leg of the trip, but have managed to fit in some great meals by the glorious beaches, a brilliant horse ride on the deserted Nordhoek beach, high tea at Cape Town's poshest hotel (amazing cakes!!) and a memorable trip to see the penguins at Boulders Beach.
We plan to climb up Table Mountain tomorrow if the weather is good enough, which should shift some of the extra pounds we've put on in our successful attempts to become the Barrelmeos, and will give us some lasting memories of Cape Town and SA before we fly to Hong Kong on Wednesday.
So, until the next time, hope you've enjoyed it, let us know what you think and keep in touch!
The last time we left you, we were in the backpacker Mecca of Bedford (top ten destination in many a 'places to see before you die' compilation). After a lovely few days with family it was time to hit the road and head for South Africa - the first long haul destination on our travels. A bus ride from Milton Keynes, a tube journey across London (it was great to be back even if it was brief!), a long flight to Jo'burg (took in 'Son of Rambow' - great arthouse film, highly recommended -and dumbed it down with 'Drillbit Taylor' - Owen Wilson in fine form) and we were finally in Africa. Needless to say we got no sleep, Soph had a bit of a whitey (a combination of tiredness, wine and Malarone) and by the time we touched down in Jo'burg we were feeling a little weary. After a four hour wait we were on a second plane to Nelspruit (close to Kruger National Safari Park) joined by a group of old rich Americans struggling with their copious amounts of hand luggage in the tiny 29 seater plane ('state-of-the-art' according to the recorded commentary, much to the derision and sniggers of the passengers). 'I can't believe I'm trying to schlep all this stuff onto this plane' exclaimed one old guy - it was like being in an episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'. After over 30 hrs awake, we reached Nelspruit, jumped into our hire car and proceeded to head for Kruger Safari Park (the largest and most impressive public game reserve in South Africa - and one of the best in the world). With S navigating and me driving in a semi-conscious state, it was no surprise that we managed to go completely the wrong way and added another 45 minutes onto our journey (it took us five minutes to start the car for God's sake - apparently you have to have the clutch engaged before the ignition will turn - a little tip for you). By the time we arrived at our destination ('Skukusa' - the largest camp in Kruger) it was 4 pm - we checked in, and headed straight on an organised Sunset Drive.
The drives in Kruger are amazing - about fifteen of you head off with a knowledgeable guide, some spotlights and as much fortune as Lady Luck is willing to throw your way. Three hours later we had seen Hippos, Elephants, Giraffes, waterbucks and a genet (wild cat) - it was amazing and also very trippy due to the lack of sleep - kind of like an animal-packed rural version of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'.
The following day we went on an afternoon Bush Walk (accompanied by two armed rangers) - they take you across the veld and you track game with them (best done at sunrise or sunset). We encountered warthog and hyena and had some fascinating animal facts relayed to us by our ranger Irvelt. As we drove back to the camp hugely satisfied by what we had encountered in the first 24 hrs, Irvelt enquired what we were doing in SA and as we relayed our plans for a year of travels, he filled with ex citement, enthusiasm and wished us all the luck in the world for the rest of our trip.
The next two days were spent in 'Mala Mala' - a luxurious and very exclusive private game reserve adjacent to Kruger. This was our 3rd year wedding anniversary present to ourselves (...3rd year is 'leather' apparently - make of that what you will) and a complete blow-out. We were greeted by our private ranger Gareth who looked after us the whole time - he took our bags, parked our car (admittedly the Yaris looked a little out of place among the Mercs and Beemers) and escorted us to lunch - the food was fantastic. With bellies filled it was time to head off to spot some game. After the taster we received in Kruger, we were simply blown away by the experience at Mala Mala - a little artific ial perhaps, but you get as close to guaranteed Big Five game spotting as you're likely to get any where in the world - Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalo, Cheetas, Giraffes, Zebras and much much more. The highlights were the first glimpse of a male Lion (lazy thing, but utterly beguiling), the interaction between the female pride and their cubs, seeing wild dogs and their young eating a kill (an extremely rare sighting), watching a leopard up a tree devouring a fresh kill and experiencing the swell of a buffalo herd of 500 plus running towards water. The rest of our time at Mala Mala was just as breathtaking and, aside from our jeep breaking down in the dark in the middle of the bush, every hour was a rush on the senses - sight, sound, smell, touch - it was overwhelming. This feeling of being captivated, engaged, enthralled - like a kid discovering new things for the first time - continued for the next eight days as we moved our way up Kruger National Park (a park the size of Wales according to the literature - a fact only relevant perhaps to the few people who have actually visited Wales!). We stayed in bungalows, tents (kept awake by 'laughing' hippos), lived off eggs and bacon and went on some amazing Game Drives (sunrise and sunset).
The best part was the Bush Walks - one morning we trekked elephants for several kilometers and ate breakfast as they drunk from the river below us. On another, we walked alongside lions (five lionesses and a male lion) - one of the best experiences the ranger had ever had. When game was lacking, the rangers would talk you through many fascinating facts about the surrounding bush and we would try to ask intelligent questions - one day, the ranger was showing us the chamber of 200 community spiders - 'so do those spiders have many legs?' S perked up trying to show interest, muffling his laughter/annoyance the ranger quietly replied - 'just eight. Eight. Just like all spiders', and we slowly moved on. Later S was to make amends as she spotted a White Rhino in the distance - as we moved in closer and closer we were finally only a few feet away - 'stay quiet. Don't make a sound' instructed the ranger. Well, of course, the pressure was too much, S focussed as hard as she could on staying on two feet, but against all odds she lost her balance and slid down the mound. The ranger shot a glance our way, incredulous and petrified. The Rhino alerted and confused (their sense of vision is terrible) snorted loudly and began charging - they would be no match for a human or any other animal once they start a charge. Luckily the mighty charge powered just past us and we remained unscathed.
Humour aside, the beauty, priveledge and fascination we experi enced on those walks - interacting with game in the wild - will stay with us for a very long time.
As we woke up on the final morning of our time in Kruger, we headed off for a drive around Blyde River Canyon - one of the most awe-inspiring and accessible canyons in Africa. We drove through spartan villages, across shimmering rivers, along high mountain roads, eyes overloaded by the sheer beauty of the vistas around. We stopped off at two key panoramic points - 'The Three Rondavels' and 'God's Window' - both as close to picture perfect as you are likely to get anywhere in Africa. As the ad campaign for Mpumalanga exclaims - 'a region so wonderful that even God has a window'.
The next morning it was time to take a flight down to Port Elizabeth (via Jo'burg) on the south coast - the start of a long coastal drive (the 'Garden Route') to Cape Town. As we waited for the connecting flight in Jo'burg - every other passenger had left with their luggage apart from me. Apparently, losing luggage is a national pastime on South Africa Airways and we were told it would be placed on the next flight. Fortunately we had enough time to wait for this and three hours later I grabbed my bag off the conveyor belt, proudly carrying it between my arms, like a parent swooping up a lost child, S's beaming smile as she greeted us both. This was a little lesson for us to remember to pack a day bag - which we had failed to do. We literally had nothing with us - everything of use was in the missing bag. Glad to get that lesson out of the way early on!
After a night staying in a caravan site on the beach in Port Elizabeth, we realised that we had left the 40 degree glorious sunshine behind us in Nelspruit, for here on the coast the famously 'windy city' had just had it worst storms in decades. Fortunately, as we moved away from the coast onto a second National Game Reserve - Addo Elephant Park- it was back to glorious sunshine and more game spotting. We stayed in a gorgeous cottage, carved into the forrested mou tainside and spent three wonderful days watching elephants at sunset - it was magical.
Unfortunately, as we made our way back to the coast, the weather turned again - a fact verified as we moved on to our planned three nights stay in the rugged, desolate 'Storms River Mouth' (...I guess the clue's in the name). We got there and checked in, only to be told that the park was officially closed due to the recent storms but that they would accommodate the handful of people they couldn't get hold off to inform them of this. A little dubious, we drove down the long, winding road to the seafront and to our chalet. Things didn't look promising. The rain was lashing down, trees had fallen and smashed across nearby chalets and some had been washed away completely. Our chalet was a mere 20 metres from the crashing waves (which had reached over 7 metres high the night before). Well, in true stiff-upper-lip style, we decided to brave it out. As night drew in, we realised there wasn't a single other person staying in the park. We were alone and the deep rumbling of crashing waves grew louder and louder. Early next morning, we decided to give it up and head on to the next destination.
We headed along the coast, regained a bit of sunshine and stayed in the beautiful resorts of Plettenberg Bay, Knysna and Mossel Bay. We took in glorious beach walks, boat-based whale watching (immense and unforgettable), Monkeyland (gibbons, vervets, lemurs, tamarins and langurs - a fantastic primate sanctuary - watching monkeys is great fun - one of them had luminous genitals - fantastic!), an evening at the Phantom Forest Eco Reserve - beautiful food and great setting, a visit to an Elephant Sanctuary (walked and fed the Eles!) and magical forest walks (although we got completely lost on the first one!).
We had seen and experienced so much in these first few weeks and still had so much to look forward to in South Africa.
