South Africa - Capetown

Here is a map of our trip. We went in a clockwise direction starting and finishing at Capetown. click on the map to enlarge it. This also works for the photos.



We set off for South Africa on the 17th January, but it didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped. If our National Express coach had been 8 minutes earlier Flight BA 038 would have missed it by inches, see photo. We saw the aftermath of the crash, but thought it was a practice. We were delayed by 2.5 hours which wasn't bad considering all BA flights in Europe were cancelled.

Our arrival in Capetown was early in the morning so we had plenty of time to pick up our hire car. We had an upgrade on the car!



We decided to something a little different this trip and stay in backpackers hostels, some of the time. In Capetown we stayed at the Big Blue Backpackers only 20 minutes walk from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. The accommodation was as expected, basic, but clean. We only stayed in double bed en-suite, dormitories were definitely out.



This is what we came for - blue sky and sunshine - great in January.



Our visit coincided with the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition - here is Sue outside the museum where it was held. If you ever get the chance visit this exhibition it is superb. It travels the world.


We spent a morning in Bo Kaap wandering around and taking photos. The inhabitants of Bo-Kaap are proud of their rich cultural heritage. They were mostly descendants of slaves which were imported by the Dutch back in the 1700's.


We hadn't seen this on previous visits to Capetown. It is an unfinished motorway not far from the centre. There are all sorts of theories as to why it is not finished - poor building methods - spoil the view - someone won't sell a bit of land on which one of the piers needs to stand etc.
I believe that this bit of motoway is now a money spinner and is used for film and photographic shoots and other activities.

Langebaan - North of Capetown

Langebaan is a small place as are many of the towns on the west coast. There is not too much in the way of accommodation so we chose to stay at Club Mykonos a copy of a Greek seaside village. This is the welcome we got.



Our apartment was next to the harbour master's office so a good view of all the yachts and boats.



A welcome break - and you thought we were cutting down on the cream!



I've avoided mentioning geocaching so far because we were doing them every day. This is the view from one of the caches over Langebaan lagoon. The lagoon itself is used for all sorts of watersport activities because it is warmer than the Atlantic, where the cold Benguela current comes up from the Antarctic, and it is very sheltered.



This is the beach at Paternoster. Paternoster is one of the last traditional fishing villages on the West Coast... most certainly the most romantic and peaceful place on this scenic and wonderful coastline.

Lamberts Bay - further north again

Bird Island at Lambert's Bay is the northernmost of the seabird islands on the west coast of South Africa. The island is small (2.2 ha). It is only about 60 m offshore, and is connected to the mainland by a causeway, built in 1959, which helps create the the storm shelter for the small harbour. The causeway makes it easy for visitors to get on and off the island, but also makes the seabirds on the island vulnerable to predators such as dogs, cats, rats and mongooses.
The Bird Island gannets were in decline between 1956 and 1967, but the population has recovered, and currently between 4000 and 6000 pairs breed annually











In Lambert's Bay harbour there are many boats that dredge for diamonds. Rich diamond deposits occur along a 400-kilometre stretch of coastline from the mouth of the Orange River to Lambert's Bay in the south. These deposits are presently being investigated and exploited.




Having had a hard day looking for diamonds (no luck) we had sun-downers on the beach. Our accommodation was by the beach so this became a regular occurrence before having a braai (BBQ).

Clanwilliam - going East to the interior

Clanwilliam is situated at the foot of the mighty Cederberg mountain range 150 miles from Cape Town. It is also well-known for its "Veldskoene" (leather shoes), made by Strassbergers. A visit to the factory is worthwhile, and shoes can be bought from them in any size and colour, but I bought a leather belt and leather hat.



The Old Dutch Reformed Church that was built in 1864 and is commonly known today as the 'Flower church' where the annual wild flower show is held.




The Old Goal is now used as a Museum. It was also used occasionally by the garrison during the Anglo Boer War. This building is almost 200 years old and is presently transformed to portray the history of the district. On display are articles that were in daily use in the home and on the farms during the 19th Century also displays of the ancient people of the district - the Khoi-San.



On entry to the museum it looks fairly small, but the gentleman in charge took us on a guided tour which took an hour. Here Sue is photographed with him next to an old English threshing machine.



Rika was our hostess at the accommodation. She kindly invited us to a braai on her stoep. This was the hottest place we visited with temperatures in the 40's C.



Another geocache. This was up the valley at Leipoldt's grave 10 miles outside Clanwilliam on the way to Wupperthal. Louis Leipoldt, was a well-known paediatrician, botanist and poet. It was a gravel road much of the way so Sue was not too happy. I had decided that the smoothest way to travel comfortably on these roads was fast, Sue didn't agree.

Clanwilliam - Elandsberg Eco Tourism

Chris & Annette du Plessis run the eco- tourism part of a big Rooibos tea plantation. It is situated between Clanwilliam and Lambert's Bay. Rika the lady who ran our accommodation suggested we do a tour. We arrived early so were invited to join the group that had been staying overnight and were breakfasting in this 'cave'. It was one of the coolest places in the area.



Rooibos tea is a natural herb unique to the South African Cedarberg Mountains. During the summer months the Rooibos (red bush) plants are harvested, fermented and dried in nature's laboratory. Here are the bushes.



Are these the largest tea bags in the World?



To enter the processing area we had to dress up.



If you look hard enough you will see San rock art. There are 2 skinny people drawn on the rock - difficult to see.

Citrusdal

There is not much to Citrusdal, a single street with most types of shops. There is a museum and that is about it. We stayed at the Citrus Creek Chalets which offered just about everything we wanted. The views from the stoep were superb. Here you can see Sue enjoying the evening sunshine. The best swimming pool of our trip was on this site, nice and warm.



We went to do a geocache and this is the view we were treated to.



On the return to Citrus Creek we went Piekenierskloof Mountain Lodge, a very up market place, for morning coffee. We expected to pay top notch prices for them, but it was one of the cheapest we had come across around £1 for 2 drinks.

Ceres

En route to Ceres we passed through the very picturesque town of Tulbagh. It was first discovered in 1658, it was settled in 1700 when land grants were made to 14 farming families. The town was developed in 1743 when the church was built. After the earthquake in 1969 every home in Church Street was restored. These 32 buildings were all declared National Monuments and constitute the largest concentration of National Monuments in one street in South Africa.

Sue outside the church which is now a museum.



One of the buildings on Church Street.



After Tulbagh we moved onto Ceres where we were to stay for 3 nights.

Ceres was established in 1849 after the completion of Michell's Pass in 1848. It was almost impossible to reach Ceres from the Cape - wagons actually had to be taken apart and carried over the mountains by pack animals.
Michell's Pass was built between 1846 and 1848. The first plots were sold a year later. The road through Ceres became the main route to the north when diamonds were discovered in Kimberley in the late 1800's. Today the route is known as the "Forgotten Highway" and is developing as a tourist attraction.

One of the more interesting attractions in Ceres is a visit to Valley Funerals. Mitch the owner has the largest collection of Dinky toys in South Africa. On one side of the room are the caskets and the other the Dinky toys. He talked to us for 30 minutes and then said that he was on TV that evening.



Mitch on TV.



Some of the Dinky toys. He has about 5000+ in his collection and about 1200 are on display.

Ceres - around and about

Although Ceres is nothing to shout about the surrounding areas have a real WOW factor with regard to the scenery.
Here I am finding a geocache in an old Ransomes tractor at the entrance to Mont Rouge winery. Mont Rouge is at the end of the valley, surrounded by mountains, north of Tulbagh.



WOW - some of the mountains!



On our return we visited Drosdty Hof (DH). De Oude Drostdy was designed by the renowned Cape architect Louis Michel Thibault and built shortly after the establishment of the district and town of Tulbagh in 1804. When the seat of the landdrost moved to Worcester in 1822, De Oude Drostdy passed into private ownership. For the wine buffs reading this DH is well known for its wines. Here I am with a couple of bottles that I will be tasting later.



North of Ceres, over the Gybo Pass, there is the little known Witzenberg Valley. There is one road in and one road out. The valley itself is at about 3000 feet so the climate is very pleasant, but it can get snow in winter. We were doing a geocache here, unsuccessfully, but our presence had been reported to the Farm Manager who came out to see what what we were doing. By the time he arrived we had given up on the geocache and I was photographing the birds and dragonflies. We had a chat and he invited us to the farm for a cup of tea which we accepted. We met his wife and stayed for an hour, but didn't let on about the geocache (it's gone missing). The fruit grown on this farm is destined for Europe; so if you see Du Toit on your fruit it came from here.



One of the dragonflies.



Witzenberg Valley.

Stellenbosch

We've been to Stellenbosch before, but not stayed in the backpackers. Out of the 3 nights we stayed we were asked to close up and turn out the lights when we had finished chatting. Of all the places we stayed, the backpackers had the most interesting people to chat to. Maybe it's because the communal lounges make everyone more accessible.

Here I am relaxing after a hard morning of ummm ................




Here's Sue at Oom Samie Winkel eating bobotie, a local dish.





Another geocache - a very clever one .... it was in the weighing scales behind me.



The geocache was at the Blaauwklippen Winery here is Sue on the outside.

Hermanus

Hermanus has the status of being the best land-based whale watching destination in the world. Southern right whales visit Walker Bay from June through to December. Hermanus is home to the world’s only Whale Crier who blows his kelp horn when whales are spotted along the central sea route.
This was the third backpackers that we had stayed and probably the best for what we wanted. Hermanus and the surrounding area is very picturesque.



Hermanus is also well known for cage diving to see the great white shark. When I booked the backpackers they offered to book our shark diving trip, I declined!



Whilst chatting over breakfast we met Annette from Surrey who was at a loose end. Her boyfriend was shark diving for the morning (it transpired that a shark poked its nose through his cage - he was ecstatic) so said 'would you like to come geocaching?'. She came along and found her first geocache - unfortunately it was full of sea-water because a rodent had nibbled the container.



Hermanus harbour.



The backpackers had one dog three cats and two kittens all of which had plenty of people to play with. One of the kittens clawed its way up my back at breakfast, a painful experience.