Airports, I have spent hours
and hours in them. This trip was no
different, 20 hours at the Singapore Airport, guess it was not as bad as it
sounds as I went into to the city for a few hours and slept and read for the
rest of the time.
We flew out of Singapore
at 0200 and settled in for a 10 hour flight, I was in the window seat but the
man in the middle seat was a large man and I spent most of the time pinned
against the wall.
Oh well, all good
things come to an end and so did the flight.
The airport was similar to most others around the world but customs and
immigration was mostly a token effort.
We arrived in Johannesburg
at 0700 and after a 3 hour wait we climbed into a smaller aircraft for the 1
hour flight to Port Elizabeth. The
country side from the air was low hills and very little tree cover, could be in
Aussie.
Flying into Port Elizabeth was
interesting, on the outskirts of the township were the shanty huts which were
made of tin etc. and then as we went closer, there were the houses and a few
buildings.
We were met at the airport by
Michael who drove us in a minibus through the countryside for 1 hour to Lalibela
Game Reserve.
Our party consists of
Matilda who is our host and she is South African and she brings a tour group
here every year. There are four couples,
Jean and Ernest, Heather and Steve, Helen and Ray and Sue and Charles, Heather,
Lola, Phil and I complete the group.
We
are all around the same age and all come from Queensland except Sue, Charles
and yours truly.
We pulled in off the main
road and drove into the reception area of the Reserve where our luggage was
unloaded and we were allocated rooms and boarded the Parks vehicles for the
short 15 minute ride to the lodge.
Well,
what a trip. The vehicle is a 4 wheel
drive and there are 3 rows of seats at the rear of the driver and it has no
sides and no roof.
The Park is 7,500 hectares
and boast of many wild animals and just on our trip to the lodge we saw zebra,
springbocks, wildebeest, eland, impala and just as we were almost to the lodge
we saw a small herd of elephants, with a very large male who was in ‘musk’ for
the first time and he decided that he was going to show us he was the boss and
charged us a number of times as we reversed rapidly up the hill.
Matilda who was next to the driver and right
in the charging line grabbed out her bottle of duty free whisky and after a
gulp, she passed it around to the rest of the vehicle.
What an introduction to Africa.
Lunch was next on the agenda
and it was served outside on the balcony and it seems that whatever you would
like to drink is on the house!! One hour
later we were back in the Toyota ready for sunset safari.
The sun had been out and we were feeling the
warmth but by the time we had been out for ½ hour it had got quite cool and I
was thankful for the 4 layers of clothing and the blanket.
We had been driving for a
while and all of a sudden we pulled off the track and saw a pride of lions that
were just sitting and lying in the late afternoon sunshine, a lion, two
lionesses and two cubs. We drove right
up close and the lions had just eaten so they were happily resting and quite
happily posed for us. We left the lions
to enjoy their rest and by this time it was dusk and we set out to see what
else we could see.
Three ostriches were on the
side of the road and the male was trying to interest the two ladies and the
three of them were dancing together, it was great to watch.
Our next sighting was an Aardwolf
which was a cute little animal which looks like a small wolf and it lives on
termites, they bore holes into the termite mound and just eat the ants.
It was very dark by then and
the driver was using a spot light and unfortunately we did not see anything
else and by this time it was 1930 and we were quite cold and we returned back
to the Lodge for a hot meal and cold drinks.
We were exhausted and ready for bed; I was in snuggled up bed with an
electric blanket by 2130.
0530 the next morning saw us
all awake and in the dining room for a light breakfast and in less than ½ hour
we were back in the Toyota, rugged up and rearing to go. The weather was freezing cold and the wind
was blowing a gale especially when we travelled on the top of the ridges.
We had the pleasure of
seeing six giraffes who were busily eating tree tops, four white rhinos who
were sheltering in the trees away from the wind, several monkeys in the distant
trees and a large male elephant who had a nicer disposition than the one we saw
previously. We drove around for about 3
hours and then returned to the lodge where a large hot breakfast was waiting
for us.
The Chef is a world class
Master Chef and we were treated to a cooking lesson where she cooked a lovely
venison and dumpling stew over a wood fire and a milk tart.
High tea was served at 1430
and we were soon out on the evening safari again, the weather looked like it
was trying to rain but we set off with the promise of seeing buffaloes which we
eventually found hiding in a thicket and we also saw some more monkeys and
stopped for ‘sun downers’ at a beautiful spot.
Every room has a fireplace
and it is lovely coming back to the Lodge and thawing out.
One morning we travelled
around for over 1 hour to find the male cheetah that was in the area, we
eventually found him walking across the valley and he just stood around while
we took his picture. The animals are
quite happy if we remain in the vehicle it is when we stand up or get out of
the vehicle they get agitated and dangerous.
They have at least 3 cheetahs on the reserve.
The reserve is surrounded by
an electric fence with 10,000 volts but if the big elephant wanted to get out,
we would. They do not cull the animals
and let nature take its course although it seems lions and cheetahs like ostriches
as they used to have 39 and now they only have 2 females and 1 male, we
actually saw the ostriches dancing and romancing in the evening.
Our last evening was a huge
surprise as we saw a brown hyena which had not been seen before by any of the
rangers, we got some lovely pictures and I gave them a copy for their records.
On the second night after
the evening meal we went outside to sit around the fire and all of a sudden we
were surrounded by natives singing and dancing and we enjoyed a fantastic hour
where we were taught how to play the drums and we joined in the fun. There was a village just behind the lodge.
The lodge was first class,
every time we returned to the lodge, we were welcomed by two staff members
waiting as we got out of the Toyota with warm towels and a glass of sherry. The alcohol was included in the room charges,
so we had unlimited wines and beers, it was great, we have in introduced to Amarula which is a drink similar to Baileys but made from the
marula fruit. It is very nice.
The staff at the lodge are
all young and they were Afrikaans and were just like a big family.
We had to leave the Lodge on
the fourth day to travel along the Garden Route includes
one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline, the starting point of which
is constantly contested as towns such as Witsand, Stilbaai and Albertinia. The bus is a 14 seater and very small,
fortunately we will not be doing a lot of long distance travelling (at least we
hope not).
The N2 is a great road that
crosses the country and we travelled on it, the country side was similar to
Aussie but seeing baboons sitting on the side of the road reminded us that we
were in fact in Africa. The Indian Ocean
coastline is beautiful and the mountain range runs right along the coast, the
mountains are high and often covered in clouds.
The towns along the road are well spaced and there are a number of farms
with cattle, sheep, wheat and grape vines.
The countryside is very
clean with no litter visible; we stopped to see a 1,000 year old tree in the
Tsisikma Forest and watched a young backpacker jump off the Storms River Bridge
to take part in the highest bungy jump in the world.
Lunchtime came about 1430 when we arrived at Knysna where we settled into a lunch of oysters and wine which was truly wonderful, we than poured ourselves back into the bus and travelled for a further 3 hours until we can to Mossellbaai which was a total of 375 kms.
We stayed in a lovely guest
house which was right on the beach and we wandered up into the town for a nice
buffet tea which include warthog stew and a nice piece of gammon. No wine or beer for me this time as I had
enough for the day.
The bus travel had proved to
be a bit difficult as there was little room especially in the back seat where
four fat western bums had to sit; we have started a rotation system to ensure
equal squashing.
We left early the next
morning after a beautiful breakfast on the seashore, the weather had become
just a little warmer and we were all dressed in light shirts but still jeans
although the tougher men amongst the group were in shorts!
We had been promised a
shorter trip but because we stopped more frequently to take pictures of the
beautiful coastline and we stopped in to an Aloe Vera factory where we all
bought some great products, everything is so very cheap.
The exchange rate is 8 rand for 1 $Aust and
the cost of living is so very cheap.
We were booked into a cave
restaurant for lunch at 1300 hrs but eventually got there about 1530 and this
area is famous for its whales and everyone seemed to seem the water spouts but
I didn’t manage to see any although there were supposed to be quite a number
there. I don’t think I am destined to
see sea creatures, didn’t see then on the ship and still none here. Oh well!
We travelled until after
dark and eventually arrived in Stellenbosch.
Stellenbosch is the second-oldest and undoubtedly the most scenically
attractive and historically preserved town in southern Africa.
We were allocated our rooms which were spread
across 3 houses and I was allocated a room at the back of one of the
houses. The houses are the same as in
Aussie, brick buildings, nice yards but every house has secure fencing and many
have bars on their doors and windows and security systems. Most rooms have big fire places as fire wood
is freely available.
Evening meal consisted of lovely
homemade soup and crusty bread and of course the ever present bottle of
wine. We were told that the plans for
tomorrow had changed due to the weather forecast being wet and windy, so
no trip to the Cape.
On Monday morning we travelled to one of the ‘slum’ settlements just outside of Stellenbosch. It was initially established for the single males who worked in the area which later became a family settlement of one room wooden shanties. BUT in saying that, the area had over 50,000 people including 15,000 children under 10 and most work and the area is clean and the people are proud of their township. Kayamandi means “sweet home” township.
We were met by a
lovely young man about 20 years of age who was born and bred in the settlement
and he walked with us around the streets, showing us the library and a child
care centre where we were surrounded by little kids and finally we met a young
woman who is self-employed making bead jewellery.
I was very impressed with the settlement, the
people have a positive attitude and although there is a lot of Government
assistance, they know that they must work for their own improvement.
We then went to
meet a lady called Lilly who ran a ‘Home Stay” house called “Once upon an Oven’
where we had a home cooked lunch:
- Freshly made ginger beer
- Steam bread / vetkoek / stokbrood
- Morogo (spinach and potato dish)
- Oven-baked chicken dish
- Mielie pap with home-made chakalaka
- Umxhaxha (a pumpkin and sweetcorn dish)
Lilly told us why
she called her lovely house ‘Once upon a stove’, she was married to an abusive
husband who she left along with her 4 young daughters to start a new life. She had no skills and eventually got a job as
a money collector and during one of the collection there was a stove which was
being repossessed and she bought the stove, started cooking and selling cakes
etc and eventually had the money to buy a small block of land in Kayamandi and build
a house on it. Lilly has educated her
daughters and one is now a chef in a good hotel and she is an inspiration to
young people. It was a good visit.
At 1530 we joined Honli who is another young
entrepreneur who has started her own company called ‘bites and sites’, she
talking on a walking tour around the old part of Stellenboch where we met the
local traders and tried their wares.
The
first stop was at a bakery where the bread rolls were just fantastic although
we were not allowed to eat them straight away and they went into our ‘goodies’
bag. A few steps up the road took us to
the homemade icecream shop where I had sorbet to die for and we then looked at
the old church and the oldest oak tree in South Africa and on to a wine bar
where we tasted 5 local wines and ate our olive, seed and chocolate rolls.
We reluctantly left that wine bar only
because we had been bribed with homemade chocolates which were made by yet
another young African who is making a name for herself. We then saw some more old buildings and
finally ended up in a food specialty/wine shop where we sat outside and ate
cold meats, olives and of course tasted some more wine. Yes, this area is famous for their wines and
there are literally hundreds of wineries.
That night saw us rugged up again and
venturing into the country to meet another local icon.
Murtie is a working wine farm in the
Stellenboch wine region, established in 1685 and it is a great old building
with heaps of history and the owner and his wife are lovely and great hosts.
This is the menu:
Glass of muratie wine and nibbles
Venison carpaccio with rocket, red onions topped with parmesan shavings
·
Main course – slow roasted lamb shanks with fresh rosemary and mint
sauce, buttered potatoes, caramelised carrots and baby peas.
·
Cheese board
We had a number of wines to sample during the
meal. Once again I tumbled into bed with
a warm glow and a full tummy.
The next morning we
piled into the bus to go to Cape Point which is on the tip of the Cape
Peninsula about 60 kms southwest of Cape Town.
We travelled through some small towns until we reached this 7,750
hectare World Heritage Site and were welcomed with a tribe of baboons sitting
on the side of the road and a sighting of the mountain zebras.
Named the ‘Cape of Storms’ by Bartolomeu Dias in
1488; the ‘Point’ was treated with respect by sailors for centuries. By day, it
was a navigational landmark and by night, and in fog, it was a menace beset by
violent storms and dangerous rocks that over the centuries littered shipwrecks
around the coastline.
In 1859 the first lighthouse was completed; it
still stands at 249 metres above sea-level on the highest section of the peak
and is now used as the centralised monitoring point for all the lighthouses on
the coast of South Africa. The views
from the cliffs are spectacular.
We meandered around the country side and another
great lunch of oysters and calamari and got back to the guesthouse in time for
a quick shower and off so the restaurant of an old
friend of Matilda’s. The meal was once
again fantastic and Leo the owner came and sat with us during the meal and
entertained us with stories of his life during Apartheid and his homes in
London, Monte Carlo and of course he has a game reserve in South Africa. I am feeling the effect of all this beautiful
food and wines on my waistline.
I think I am now up to Thursday and we have
woken up to a beautiful clear day although still cool. It looks like we may be able to go to Cape
Town and climb up to the top of Table Mountain.
It seems that it is almost impossible to get to the mountain as access
is reached via a cable car and the winds are almost always too strong for safe
travel. We rushed to Cape Town and we
could see the mountain and although there were a few clouds there, everything
looked promising but then Neil our guide told us that it was closed. So close but so far. Oh well it doesn’t matter as there were other
things to see there.
Cape Town is not the capital but it is old
city and we got out of the bus and walked through a park which was initially
built by the East India Company for the natives and it has a number of statues
and we fed the pigeons and squirrels. We
walked through St George Cathedral where Edmond Tutu preached as the Arch
Bishop and discovered a trade fair displaying local foods and wares and of
course had to try everything. I have
discovered Bilton which is similar to Jerky but much nicer and it has a number
of varieties and I have bought a lot of the chilly ones including chilly
ostrich.
We also went to see the Castle which was a fort
build initially by the Dutch but taken over by the British. We watched the re-enactment of ‘collecting of
the key’ and then the firing of the noon cannon. They then loaded and fired miniature cannon
for the benefit of the crowd. We then
walked around the Fort and into the Governor’s house and into the museum; it
was the first museum we have been into we have been too busy drinking wine and
eating.
A trip round the coast completed the trip for
the day and with a rest time of one hour before we went out to the evening
meal.
We piled into the bus in the rain and headed
to a wonderful expensive hotel with a huge open fire to have pre-dinner drinks,
so cheap, less than $2 for a vodka and tomato juice. We then moved on to a very traditional
restaurant for a buffet of traditional foods and as we sat down a large male
warrior came and painted our faces, I looked very ‘cute’. During the meal the entertainment was native
dancing and of course members of the audience joined in. The customers were all locals which told us
that it is popular. Great night but oh
so cold, it was outside and as the crowd left it got colder and at the end we
were sitting with blankets around our shoulders.
Friday is our last day in Stellenboch and we still had two wineries to
visit and yes it was still raining.
Our first port of
call for the day was a visit to the Lion Park, this is a special NGO which was
set up to bring home lions who were kept in captivity in Europe, or used in
circuses basically lions who cannot be returned to the wild. They have been paired up and have been
sterilised so they can still mate but no offsprings. It had a nice feeling and it was a nice place
for them to end out their days.
We did not have a long drive for our next visit and were found surrounded by wine glasses at 0930hrs, my liver is in shock.
Fairview is a third generation, family owned wine and cheese farm, on the south-west-facing slopes of Paarl Mountain, a granite rock outcrop in the heart of the Paarl wine district of South Africa.
We spent quite some
time here, tasting their unusual wines and amazing cheeses. I bought a lovely
bottle of red wine which went well with the blue vein cheese I bought to be shared
on Saturday night.
Our next winery was Solms
Delta which was a very old winery and it was one of the first wineries in South
Africa who looked after their slaves/workers and they established a trust where
some of the funds from their sales help educate their children and adults. The wines were lovely but the thing that I
remember was the food. We had taster
plates for both entrée and main meal, it was really delicious and gave us an
opportunity to taste everything without getting too full. After the meal we went outside (thank heavens
for outside heaters) to watch the Solms Delta Women’s Choir sing a number of
songs and they also danced as well. I
joined in one of the dances, their voices were wonderful. We finally left the winery about 1600 hrs and
went back to the guest houses.
Saturday saw us slowly travelling to PATERNOSTER, we a number of stops on the way, the first being a Farmer’s Market which is similar to the ones back home but much bigger. Most of the stall holders had trays of tasters and I tried heaps of different foods and breads. The meat was so cheap, 10 lamb cutlets for 60 rand which is about $8AU, I got a huge tray of strawberries for 40c. We stopped a number of times as we travelled around the coast, the land is mainly used for farming and there are not many townships along the way.
Paternoster is a small holiday town, with a lot of small whitewashed cottages nestled in the coves along the shoreline. This is a long weekend in South Africa, Monday is a public holiday for Heritage Day and it is also a non-official Breii Day or as we know it a Bar-be-que Day.
We have been split up across different houses both in Stellenboch and here it is a shame really as one part of the group has to travel to eat and mix. In Stellenboch the singles were in a separate house across the road but it seems that security is a problem mainly because of petty theft so there are gates and bars on doors and windows; therefore we had to wait to be allowed to enter which was not a lot of fun waiting in the rain.
Here in Paternoster we were again split up and the singles won out this time as our house was the centre of the action and the others had to walk backwards and forwards.
Saturday evening meal was a ‘free for all’, we had been buying cheeses, biscuits, wine, olives and we made a lovely salad and grazed for several hours, there was a fire in the fireplace and the wind and rain was making us feel cosy and safe.
Everyone relaxed and enjoyed a fun evening though it wasn’t long before everyone fell into bed and Neil and I were left having a quiet drink. Neil, is a lovely young man, he travelled a lot as a teenager and is now married with a toddler and he runs his own travel business here and he is the backbone of the whole trip, he keeps Matilda on track and does all the work.
We woke up next morning to rain, wind and more rain and we just lit the fire and settled in, we ordered some mussels and crayfish from the local and ate and drank all day and night. It was funny, the crays are out of season and it is illegal to buy, we of course did and we were delivered 18 crays with were put in the freezer to kill, about 5 hours later we pulled them out and after taking out the lot four all the rest were heads all lined up in a neat row without their tails. Ripped off! Matilda made a number of calls and we were eventually brought 14 more crays. They were about as big as a large yabbie and not all that nice.
The next day was
beautiful, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping and we were out for
lunch on the beach front. It was great venue, right on a beautiful secluded
beach and the meal was cooked in 20 gallon drums. It was very basic but quite delicious, my
only complaint about South African cooking is that they put in dried fruits or
jam in everything and most of the meals are so sweet. We even had marmalade jam in the sweet
potato. Urk!
The evening meal
consisted of lamb chops and sausages and thank heavens the we made up a salad
as we have really had no salads at all as I don’t think they eat them
here.
On reading back through
my writings it seems that I have mostly written about food and drinks but this
is OK as this is a Gourmet Safari with animals thrown in so things are as they
should be.
Tuesday was our day
to travel to KAGGA KAMMA which is a very
special game reserve high in the CEDARBERG
MOUNTAINS, which is a spectacular mountain range near Ceres. The trip was long although by distance but ages squashed
into the bus.
The roads on the most part
were OK but the last 50 kms were on corrugated dirt roads and we were ages late
and arrived almost as the sunset safari was about to depart.
The only large predator on this reserve is a
leopard but it has not been seen for quite some time. We left at 1700 hrs on an open topped Toyota
and travelled into the bush which was very different from the country at
Larrabella,
The wild flowers are out at
the moment and are spectacular, oranges, lavenders, whites and yellow flowers
are everywhere and the perfume is overpowering especially in the evenings.
The next morning we went out to view the ancient Bushman Paintings and on the way we saw a dung beetle, what a busy male, he pushes a huge ball of dung around with one egg inside. I think this is so cool, it would make a great pet.
The paintings are very similar to the ones in Australia although I don’t think they are as old as the Aussie ones.
We
went out for another evening trip to enjoy a drink while watching the sunset
over the amazing mountain ranges and then later that evening we put on even
more clothing, hats and gloves and sat outside to eat a wonderful meal around a
roaring fire and Wessel who was our young guide, giving us an astrology
lesson.
It was really cold but after a
warm drink and pile of blankets we settled in for a perfect last evening as we
were driving back to Cape Town the next morning.
The
evening saw us on our way to the very popular Gold Restaurant for firstly
drumming lessons and then a traditional Cape meal. The restaurant was an old converted warehouse
and very popular, the drumming lessons were a lot of fun though I must admit my
hands were very sore by the time we had finished playing, I thought we sounded
great.
The
meal was served by lovely young ladies who carried the trays of food on their
heads and the food was very spicy and a lot of vegetable dishes which I happily
let everyone else eat. During the
evening we were entertained by traditional native singers and dancers and they
were flamboyant and very colourful, the last act included all of the waiters
who crowded around and danced and sung as they walked around the various floor
levels.
Friday
morning we visited the 6 District Museum which recorded the removal of a whole
community to another area and they were only given 48 hours notice and several
thousands of people moved and their houses were then bulldozed down. Very sad, it was in the 60’s.
We
then travelled to a very old part of Cape Town in a suburb called Bo Kaap which
was the home of the first Malay slaves who were brought in to help work with
the Dutch.
The houses are very old and
extremely colourful and very expensive, over 2.5 Million rand. They have their own language which is a
mixture of Malay and Dutch and different from the Afrikaans language but
understood by many as the Malay women were nannies to the Dutch families.
Zanie was our guide and our teacher for the
Malay cooking class. We all crowded into
her kitchen, donned aprons and started cooking chicken curry, vegetable samosas
and dhaaltjes which are savoury bites deep fried. The weather had cleared at last so we were
able to eat outside.
We went back to our lovely hotel
rooms and enjoyed our last meal together as a Group. Matilda had a friend of hers to cater and as
usual the food was really top class and of course the company was lovely.
Our last day is South Africa was
spent wandering around Cape Town and I went into the city to see the large
market and then went into the large shopping centre which is on the
waterfront. I bought a Pandora bead for
my bracelet and just enjoyed the atmosphere.
The next morning saw us all up early
and leaving for the airport, Matilda, Sue, Charles and Lola stayed on for a
couple of days but the rest of us were flying out to Singapore and beyond.
Once again it seems that I lost a day
flying through the International date line and a further number of hours in the
Singapore Airport before landing in Darwin at 4am on the 2nd
October.
Great trip, amazing food and wines
and it was a lifetime dream to get up so close and personal with the
animals. I will be going back but this
time to see more of Africa and its people.
