Read about Ron & Viv's journey so far through Africa - Cape Agulhas to Cape Town, early April 2007.
South Africa
AFRICA TRIPEarly April 2007
To Cape Agulhas
Our last views of the vast cities of Jo'burg and Pretoria as we headed south were the Black townships that stretch for miles along the N1. Tin shanties, 5-metre square brick homes and some bigger houses make up these towns – Soweto (for South West Township) being the biggest and the most famous. And the town is now on the tourist trail – but you wouldn't want to go there on your own – so take a tour if the idea takes your fancy! The smog hangs over the city and the black townships alike – smoke from the power stations, mines and petro chemical plants as well as the cars and not so well tuned heavy diesel trucks. It was good to get clear of the place and into the country proper.
The N1 though is probably the least scenic drive south and the coastal route – the Garden route - is much better. Still we enjoyed the drive through the Free State – the gently rolling plains cut up into fenced farmlets and properties, some growing corn, others having cattle. It wasn't until we were well passed Bloemfontein – voted the best city to live in, in South Africa (I guess by white South Africans) that a few rocky hills and low mountains began to appear on the horizon. A few sheep began to also make an appearance as the country became drier.
As we approached Gariep Dam on the Orange River and the border of the Free State with the Eastern Cape, there were flat topped hills and mesas all around us. Took the turn off just north of the Orange River and headed to the Gariep Nature Reserve . Here there's a camping/picnic ground just up from the waters off the lake (GPS 30°35'57”S 26°32'03”E) . It was a top little spot and we were the only campers there. As darkness settled around us, there was quite a lightening show to the south with great bolts of lightening lighting up the peaks and valleys on the horizon.
Next day we pushed on through Cradock and then through some rugged mountain passes as we got closer to the coast. By then the scrub – spiny thorn scrub – was incredible thick to the stage it would be almost completely impossible to push your way through. This was the scrub that saved the Addo elephants back in the early 1900's – the last remaining herd in the Cape. By all accounts there was only 11 of them when the Addo Elephant National Park was declared. There's a few hundred today and we saw a few as we headed towards the small township of Addo and to meet up with Neil and Helen again.
Heading west we tried vainly to get onto the N2 without going into Port Elizabeth but after ending up in a rubbish dump and a Black township we gave up and drove almost into the heart of the city before turning onto the coastal route for the drive west.
Checked out Natures Valley , which is a little enclave tucked in amongst the high sea cliffs and small bays of this rugged hard-to-get-to coast. It's a magic spot.
By that evening we were at Bertus' parents farm in the Little Karoo about 10km west of the small township of Barrydale. Here it's semi desert country but the farmers catch all the water running off the rugged mountain range just to the south of the valley and with irrigation the small farm Chris and Gerry run milks about 130 diary cows as well as growing grapes, apples and pears. We hadn't seen Chris or Gerry since Trent had been over here 12 years ago so it was fantastic to catch up with them again. Showered with hospitality we really didn't want to leave next day but when we did we had a supply of apples and pears that would keep us all going for weeks!
Headed south thru Swellendam and knew by all the traffic that Easter was just around the corner and that we were getting closer to Cape Town. Turned south towards Cape Argulhas, the country being similar to Eyre Peninsula in Australia; rolling hills with a limestone base below a shallow layer of soil. It's fairly dry country but it has been stripped of the native scrub in most parts and the area grows wheat. Once we had passed through the small town of Bredasdorp the country became flatter and poorer – more like dried out marine swamps and marshy country and was mainly used for grazing.
Entered the village of Struis Bay , which stretches along the coast in an almost continuous strip of houses that only reach back 1km or so from the beach. There's a small shopping centre with most facilities. The village of Auglhas continues on right up to the boundary of the national park. There's a well stocked general store and cafe, a pub, camping ground and a few restaurants along the main road while the houses reach up the low ridge a km or so back from the rocky shores of the bay.
The Cape Auglhas lighthouse is just inside the park boundary while the dirt access road swings around and follows the coast a km to the southern-most point – Cape Auglhas. A short walking track leads from the carpark (GPS - 34°49' 57”S 20°00'06”E) to the point and the small block monument that marks the actual southern-most point. The Cape, which is the division between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, has a low rocky shoreline backed by flat plain covered in dune fynbos, the flat plain extending back a few hundred metres to a low limestone ridge.
Considering the strong southerly wind we had travelling down to the Cape, it was surprising to find the sea with just a rolling low swell and no white caps. There were a couple of good surf breaks out to sea and along the eastern coast in front of the villages of Struis Bay and Auglhas – and only a handful of surfers!
Cape Town
With an introduction to some South African four wheelers who had been out to the Outback Challenge in Broken Hill we all ended up at Terry and Terrence Reinders' place about 30km outside Cape Town. We enjoyed their hospitality and the company of other four wheelers for the days over Easter, especially Chris and Elizabeth who run their own 4WD store, R & D Offroad in Brackenfell, in the eastern suburbs of Cape Town, as well as Dennis who is the tech manager for the main ARB outlet in Cape Town, 4x4 Mega World , and his wife, Evonne – it was fantastic they made us so welcome it was almost embarrassing!
While Terrence was the four wheeler, Terry was a gun collector and had his own rifle and pistol range so both Ron and Neil enjoyed the hell out of talking about four wheelers as well as going down the range and having a bit of a yippee shoot. When it came time to leave it was a very sad time for all involved.
But what a fabulous city Cape Town is! Our third visit and this time we even made it up to the top of Table Mountain. We picked an absolute corker of a day to take the cable car to the top of this flat-topped mountain that totally dominates the city and the sprawling suburbs below it. The views of the coast and into the hinterland beyond Paarl were fantastic! Yeah, it's on the tourist trail, but you can't miss it!
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Cape Agulhas Lighthouse.
The view from the top of the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse.
Ron & Viv at the southern-most point in Africa.
Tradouws Pass on the way to Barrydale.
West of Cape Agulhas
The road out to Kubu Island crosses a large pan, only passable in dry conditions.
The entrance into the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana - wild camping!
