March 7

March 7

Our last day . . . . it was bitter-sweet packing our bags at the Wilton Manor and taking one last look around.  We left our bags with Cornie (Cornelius) and caught a Tuk-Tuk into downtown Cape Town to the Green Market Square.  Here we found all kinds of traders booths and artisans selling their various wares.  Of course we couldn’t pass up on the odd last bargain!  We will certainly need to do some serious repacking!  From there we walked back into the Waterfront to wait for Michael and Joan to pick us up.  We sat and listened to the live music, which happened to be the same singer that we heard in Mama Africa last night.  Michael and Joan arrived and we headed back to Wilton Manor to repack and freshen up a bit before heading to the airport.  The Manor was kind enough to hold a room for us with fresh towels.  We repacked and carefully weighed each bag, washed up and changed our clothes for the flight.  We then loaded our luggage into the rental car and headed to the airport.    

At the airport, things got a bit confused.  In South Africa there is a sales tax called a VAT.  As foreigners, we can claim the VAT back on any items purchased while in the country.  However, there are two steps to this (which we weren’t aware of).  Prior to booking in you must go to the VAT counter and show all of your receipts as well as the actual items purchased.  They then verify everything and write you a cheque for the total amount of VAT paid.  You are to take this cheque and cash it once you are through security and on the gate side of the airport.  We asked several times where the VAT office was and were told over and over again that it was through security.  By the time we arrived at the passport verification area where they stamp your passport on your departure we asked once again.  This time we were told that we had to go there before going through security.  As the official had already stamped my passport I couldn’t go back, but he didn’t stamp Julie’s.  So, she went back, receipts in hand, to the VAT office on the other side.  This is where the problems began.  After waiting in the long line-up full of people unpacking every suitcase they owned to show various spices and flip-flops they had purchased Julie was informed by the woman that because many of the receipts were in my name she wouldn’t accept them.  Julie explained to her that I was not allowed to come back through security but to no avail and Julie was getting frustrated.  She left there being told that we could have them verified in Canada and send the paperwork back to South Africa for a refund.  She returned to us waiting airside, not very happy. . . . Soon we were on our plane and said “Goodbye, Africa, may you fare well”.

On to our next journey . . . wherever that may be!

March 6

March 6

“Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”.    - Nelson Mandela

We decided to visit Robben Island today.  Our day began with a 30 minute ferry ride from the Cape Town Waterfront to the island.  Robben Island was the site of the maximum security political prison during Apartheid.  Anyone who posed a threat to the white supremacist government was arrested and sent to Robben Island.  Many of these people were arrested during anti-apartheid protests or were convicted of conspiring against the government.  Others, such as Robert Sobukwe, were banished simply because he was a threat.  In 1963, the Minister of Police described Sobukwe as “a man of magnetic personality, great organizing ability and a divine sense of mission.”  This was the reason given for the enactment of a law that detained Sobukwe and banished him to Robben Island.  He was not housed in the actual prison as they claimed he was not a “prisoner”.  Sobukwe was isolated in a small house that was within a fenced and barbed wire compound, surrounded by guards, patrol dogs and search lights that panned across the yard.  He was not allowed to communicate with any of the other prisoners, his mail was censored (or not delivered at all) and family visits were limited.  This is how he spent 6 years of his life . . . but not imprisoned?? . . . Our tour began with a visit to Sobukwe’s house.

From there we went on a guided bus tour of the village on Robben Island as well as the various remnants of old buildings left over from WWII.  Robben Island was also the location where people suffering from leprosy were banished to lepper colonies, the men on one side of the Island and the women on the other.

After the bus tour we were led on a guided tour of the prison by a fellow who had been a political prisoner there.  In 1991 all of the political prisoners were released and in 1996 the prison was officially closed.  Robben Island is most famous for being the place where Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his sentence for Conspiracy and speaking out against apartheid.  We were shown Mandela’s cell and were told about the harsh conditions within the prison.  Torture of the prisoners was common place, punishment was given out freely and the guide told us that if the guards singled a person out for punishment they were taken away and usually were not seen again.  The prisoners were forced to work in the limestone quarries and many of them suffered vision damage due to the sun glaring off the limestone.  To this day, Nelson Mandela can not tolerate flash photography as it hurts his eyes.  There was further segregation between the prisoners depending on whether they were black or coloured, blacks (or “Bantus” as they were called) being considered the bottom of the totem pole.  This influenced every aspect of prison life, including meals as there were different provisions depending on race.  

To say the very least, our visit to Robben Island was a very sobering one!  We returned to the mainland with heavy hearts having been shown first hand the struggle that had been endured for so many years by so many South Africans.

That evening we decided to have an authentic African dinner.  Claude, at the Pezulu Lodge, had recommended that we eat at Mama Africa.  We had seen the restaurant while we were on the Hop-on Hop-off bus and directed the taxi driver to drop us there.  We made a reservation and then wandered through the shops up and down Long Street until the restaurant opened.  It was a great dinner!  We ordered the wild platter which was a sample of different kinds of wild meats; crocodile, springbok, ostrich, kudu and a venison sausage.  We both decided that the crocodile was too tough however we liked the ostrich, springbok, kudu and sausage in that order.  After dinner we enjoyed some live music before hailing a taxi and heading back to the Wilton Manor for the night.

    

March 5

March 5

We had a leisurely morning and slept in a bit.  We went down and had breakfast and then sat on the balcony for the rest of the morning.  At noon we decided to head down to the Waterfront and catch the Hop-On Hop-Off bus and go back to some of the places we had visited briefly yesterday.  The bus started with a general tour of the centre of Cape Town and Long Street.  Long Street is apparently the place to be for some Cape Town night life (it’s too bad we’re usually ready to quit for the day just when the Cape Town night life gets going).  Downtown Cape town is beautiful with nicely landscaped streets and old heritage buildings amongst the newer high rises.  While traveling along Long Street we saw the Green Market Square and a restaurant called Mama Africa, both of which were recommended to us as places we should go.  We made a mental note of where each was and a plan to return.

Our first hop off was at the Imizamo Yethu Township for a guided walk through the village.  During Apartheid, the White minority government had the black and coloured (Asian, Indian, etc.) people forcibly removed from the cities and relocated to “black only” areas, or Townships in order to establish “white only” cities.  Cape Town was one of these cities.  As recently as 1970 under Apartheid Law the blacks were denied their citizenships as South African.  Education, medical care, etc. was segregated and blacks received much lower standard services than whites.  They were forced to live in the townships with no facilities, no running water, etc.  The official end of Apartheid was in 1994 with the first multi-racial election.  Not surprisingly, the election was won by the African National Congress (ANC) under the leadership of Nelson Mandela (in 1962 Mandela was arrested and convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government and sentenced to life imprisonment.  He was released after 27 years after an international campaign lobbying for his release).  The scars of Apartheid and white supremacist rule are still evident throughout South Africa, particularly in the Townships.  Segregation is still a fact of life.  Although steps are being made to improve the living conditions in the townships, by North American standards they are not that far above living in squalor.  Communal toilets have been introduced and a move has been made towards replacing many of the corrugated metal “sheds” with concrete houses (in the attached photo the new houses are on the left side of the road while the old “sheds” are on the right).  While we were on our walking tour we stopped off at the local church.  The Township boys were playing and rough-housing on the steps while inside the girls were taking part in traditional dance lessons.  We stayed for quite a while as the dance instructor and a lone drummer put the girls through their exercises.  Quite a treat to watch!

After our visit to the Township we hopped back on the bus and hopped off at Hout Bay.  We walked along the wharf to look at all the boats and a few trader booths that were still up (everything was closed down for the day).  As there was little left to do or see there, we hopped back on the bus and made one last hop off at Camps Bay.  Richard, our tour guide the day before had recommended a restaurant called “The Cod Father” for the best fish and chips in Cape Town.  We had to try it out!  It was tucked away on a little side street and the entrance was just a tiny doorway leading to a narrow set of stairs which led up to the restaurant itself.  It is full of fresh seafood of all kinds.  There is no menu as you make your own meal and then pay for it by weight.  Julie ordered a nice piece of Kingklip and I had fresh Calamari and one gigantic prawn.  The prawn weighed in at 200 grms. and cost R150.00 (about $16.00)!  It was definitely a very good meal!

We debated whether or not to catch the last hop-on hop-off bus for the evening.  Richard had also suggested that Camps Bay Beach was the best place to catch the sunset.  If we were to catch the last bus, we would miss the sunset.  So we decided to stay behind and experience the South African sun as it set over the ocean.  It was everything Richard made it out to be and we were glad to have missed the bus . . . 

March 4

March 4

We were picked up by Richard, our tour guide with the Hylton Ross Touring company, at our guest house for an all day tour around Cape Town and down the coastline.  It was perfect weather, although very hot and sunny but that led to some beautiful clear views.  Our first stop was at Clifton Beach, although we only stopped briefly to admire the view and take some photos.  Clifton is made up of a series of beaches, appropriately named Clifton First, Clifton Second, Clifton Third, etc.  From there we continued to travel down the coastline to Camps Bay and on to Hout Bay and the harbour.  From there we could either wander around the local market or take a boat ride to Seal Island, we opted for Seal Island.  We were loaded onto the Calypso and headed out of the marina for about a 20 minute boat ride.  We knew we were getting close when the not so pleasant aroma of thousands of seals on one tiny little rock filled our nasal passages.  The smell was soon shadowed by the awe of thousands of seals on one tiny little rock.  They are the Cape Fur Seals and why they chose to inhabit that particular rock is not known for sure, but they stay there to live and to breed and play in the waves that crash on the rock.  The whole island is covered in seals!  

    

We then continued along the coast and on to penguins.  Again another one of these phenomenons as to why hundreds and hundreds of African Penguins (also called Jackass Penguins) decided to choose Boulders Beach as their own.  The penguins are nesting now and as such they brave the 35+ degree heat in the sand, devoted to the protection of their egg.  Unlike the penguins of the frozen north who are adapted to extreme cold, the African Penguins are adapted to the heat.  Still, the game wardens spray the penguins with water on very hot days to keep them from overheating.  These penguins also burrow down into the sand to keep cool and will seek shade under brush, etc.  But when they are nesting, they are only concerned about their egg.  They are the cutest little things!

We then traveled through the Cape Point Nature Reserve and stopped at the Cape of Good Hope for a photo.  It is the south-westerly most point of the African continent.  Not much to do there but take a picture to say you were there . . .Next, Cape Point where we had lunch and hiked up to the lighthouse on the point.  It was 35 degrees and the wind was hot which made it a bit of a challenging hike, but nothing a couple of bottles of water and a lot of stops to “admire the view” couldn’t overcome.  The views on all sides from the point were well worth the hike.  

Our final stop was at Kirstenbosch Gardens, a botanical garden full of all kinds of indigenous flora.  It is acclaimed as one of the great botanical gardens of the world.  We walked through the gardens, checked out an art display and had a nice drink of iced tea before climbing back into the tour van and heading back into Cape Town.  We were dropped of at the Waterfront, had a bite to eat and then walked back to the guest house for the night.

March 3

March 3

We spoke with Vincent in the morning.  He advised us that Table Mountain was open and that the forecast was for very nice, clear weather so it would be a perfect day to go up.  We asked him about taking a helicopter tour around Cape Town and he made some phone calls and had us booked on a flight at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.

We left the house a caught a taxi to Table Mountain.  There were already quite a few people standing in line for the cable cars (you can also hike up the mountain, but we opted not to).  Once at the top, it was a beautiful, clear day with no wind at all.  We hiked around on the mountain, taking in the various views from all sides.  Table Mountain is in the middle of Cape Town and they built the city around it, Lion’s Head Mountain and Signal Hill.  It is quite remarkable!  Everyday at noon a cannon is fired on Signal Hill and the South African flag is raised.  The city is all flat except for this small range of mountains right in the middle.  The views from up there are stunning!

      

 We had a quick bite to eat at the Table Top Cafe, a quick walk through the gift shop and then back on the cable car for the ride back down the mountain.  

We went back to our guest house and waited for Cape Town Helicopters to pick us up for our fly over the city.  We were in a very small helicopter with the pilot and three other seats, one occupied by myself, the other by Julie and the last one empty.  Because of some turbulence at lower altitudes we had to fly quite high over the city.  It was a little disappointing but was a nice way to see all of Cape Town in a way that we would not have otherwise seen (and we got a free pass for the Hop-on-hop-off bus).  Dinner at the waterfront followed by a walk back to the guest house and off to bed to wait for another day.
                                                       

March 2

March 2

This morning we bid a sad farewell to our luxury bush home.  As we descended the long ramp with our suitcases it was a sorrowful feeling that we had to leave this place of tranquility, and peaceful serendipity.  Then we got to the ugly Avanza to find the battery had died!  Mildred went and fetched Andrew who eventually showed up with the beat up old work truck and jumped our rental car and we were off to the airport and on to Cape Town, our next adventure . . . . 

We arrived at the Wilton Manor in Greenpoint (a district of Cape Town) and got settled in.  When we spoke with the night manager, Vincent, he advised that we should take the trip to Table Mountain right away as Cape Town is subject to high winds which bring clouds over the mountain and also can shut down the cable car that takes people to the top.  He checked the weather forcast and it was supposed to be clear.  He advised that we check with him in the morning.  We then walked down to the V&A (Victoria and Alfred) Waterfront for a bite to eat.  It was about a twenty minute walk to the waterfront, but it felt good to stretch our legs.  Clouds had formed over the top of Table mountain and were alive, falling over the edge of the mountain like a waterfall.  The locals say that on occasion clouds will form on the top of the mountain and hang over the edge like a table cloth.  Rarely you will see them flowing over, as we saw tonight.  Unfortunately we had left all of our camera/video gear at the guest house.  

The walk back this evening seemed all up hill . . . funny how that happens.

March 1

March 1

We were up again at 5:00 a.m. for our morning game drive in Thornybush.  Once again we were greeted by an outstanding African sunrise.  Because the weather has been so dry and hot there is a lot of dust in the air creating bright orange sunrises as well as the orange moon at night.  We met with our guide (I can’t remember his name but he was a very nice young guy) and our tracker, Leonard.  Julie and I were the only ones in the jeep so it was our own private game drive.  We set out in search of the Rhinos, but, once again, we were foiled.  It’s amazing that such large animals can disappear so easily.  We abandoned the search and turned our attention to the lions.  Our guide said that we would be seeing the same lions as we had seen on the previous drive as they were still in the same general area in the southern part of the reserve.  The three (two females and the male) had split up and the guide told us that the male would head back to his mother.  Although he is four years old, he is still quite attached to his mother.  She has a second litter of cubs now that are 35 days old and as such the rangers are not allowed to go near her unless she brings the cubs out where they can be seen.  But, he was certain that our male lion would go back to her and we had a pretty good chance of seeing him if we went in that direction.  So, he began following the lion’s tracks, which were heading in the predicted direction.  The guide advised us that the lion we heard roaring every night and early morning was this male.  Although he is young he already has a roar that can be heard up to 32 kms. away!  When we got near where the lioness with her cubs were the road split into three and the guide lost the tracks.  He drove up one road, then turned around as there was no sign of him.Shortly after we turned around, Leonard spotted him laying just off the road in the bushes.  It is amazing how these guys can find them! 

As we were viewing the lion we could hear thunder starting to rumble in the distance and saw the clouds starting to roll in.  We suspected that we were about to get wet.  The guide knew of a place where we could take shelter from the rain under a roof and he started to head there . . . quickly!  All Leonard could do on the front of the jeep was hold on!  It started to rain just as we reached the round house and then it poured.  We stayed under the shelter for about an hour, chatting and watching the rain.  The round house was built at the side of a river and there were at least five hippos in the river that we were watching, so it wasn’t a total rain delay.  We chatted with the guide (I really wish I could remember his name) about the qualifications to be a Game Ranger.  He told us that he had to take two years of schooling and testing.  They learn about every plant, bird, animal and insect in Africa.  They learn identification, their social behaviours and patterns, conservation, etc.  He told us that Rangers usually start out as trackers, they move up to game guides.  Eventually they can climb up to managing a reserve, which was what our guide was aspiring to.  He is very passionate about being a Ranger.

When the rain finally let up a little bit we decided to head out again.  As we were going back to Pezulu, we had to head right back into the rain and we were quite wet by the time we finally made it back to the lodge.  We had planned to drive the Panorama Route, through the Blyde River Canyon, but due to the weather we decided to stay home.  The guide advised us that the dirt roads there become extremely slippery with the rain as they are a clay base.  We decided that we did not need to get stuck in an ugly rented Toyota Avanza in the South African bush so we opted to sit on our balcony, Amarula in hand, and watch the rain falling.

An aside . . .

    

Julie felt I should share this . . . . 

Note the series of pictures.  I decided after a couple of days at Pezulu that perhaps people could see us changing as they walked past on one of the dirt roads behind us so I decided to roll down the blind.  I untied the string and let the blind drop.  What happened next was chaos and pandemonium . . . . (Lana, you will relate to this, it was a true Jurassic Park moment).  As the blind quickly unraveled a body fell out of it and splatted on the floor directly at my feet.  I have cat-like reflexes that kicked in at that precise moment, however people with cat-like reflexes should always check their surrounding first.  My reflexes kicked in, I let out a scream and turned to run, not realizing just how close the tree branch was. I came to a sudden stop and also nearly landed on the floor right beside the stupid lizard!  I negotiated the tree after the initial collision and ran to see Julie.  At this point I realized the absurdity of it all and was laughing hysterically (overload of adrenaline).  I did my best to paint the whole picture for Julie and must have been fairly successful because she peed a little . . . . . the joys of the African bush!

February 28

February 28

We got up this morning at 5:00 a.m. to take part in a bush walk that was led by Claude, the resort owner.  One of the giraffes was contentedly munching on the leaves of a tree very near our balcony.  We started walking to the main resort to meet up with the group but the road was blocked by a herd of Zebras.  We had to wait until they cleared the road to carry on.  We went on an informative 2 hour walk with Claude and saw many different plants and animals.  

After breakfast we had nothing else planned for the day and thought it would have been nice to have a vehicle so we could venture out of the reserve and explore Limpopo a bit on our own.  Claude managed to find a rental company that was willing to deliver a car to Pezulu and by 12:30 p.m. we had a car . . . a very ugly Toyota Avanza cross-over vehicle, but beggers can’t be choosers.  We were just happy to have some independence and freedom to do something.  We got a rather primitive map from Claude, some verbal instructions on how to get to a dam along the Panorama route that was worth seeing and how to find Jessica.  The panorama Route is a very pretty drive through the mountains with a number of viewpoints of the Blyde River Canyon.  The entire drive would take about six hours so we decided to leave that until tomorrow and just go to see Jessica and perhaps head to Swadini National Wildlife Reserve and see the dam Claude told us about.

On our way to the dam there was a hiking trail that led to some waterfalls.  As we were not in a rush we decided to hike in.  It was an easy 20 minute bush walk and the falls were beautiful.  We then hiked back to the car and continued driving to the Blyde River Canyon Visitor Center.  There we found a fabulous lookout that is situated overlooking the Blyde River, just above the dam.  The scenery was breathtaking!  After taking several photographs and visiting the Visitor’s Center we headed back down the winding mountain road to the entrance to the reserve.  

As an aside, every game reserve and National wildlife reserve are heavily guarded against poachers.  The entrances are gated and vehicle coming and going are recorded (at some entrances you actually have to sign in).  Whenever a vehicle left Pezulu the driver was issued an exit permit by Claude indicating what Lodge the people were from.  At some reserve gates vehicles were searched as they left the reserve to ensure there were no animal parts in the vehicle.  It was just a reminder of one of the sad realities of Africa, poaching is still thriving.  Especially the rhinos are at risk for their horns.  The Chinese market for the rhino horn is still very lucrative as the rhino horn is believed to increase your sexual performance.  There is no proof to support this belief but it is perpetuated as many of the people selling rhino horn are now mixing it with Viagra . . . 

We left the park and it was then time to see Jessica.  We met with her owner, Tony, who used to be a game warden responsible for culling many different types of animals, including hippos.  After he got Jessica 13 years ago he decided to quit his job shooting animals.  He says that Jessica has taught him a lot about hippos and a lot about life itself.  Tony aquired Jessica during a flood of the Blyde River in 2000.  Jessica was newly born and washed up on Tony’s property.  He found her and hand raised her and now she is completely bonded to humans.  Although she is not captive and returns to the wild hippos on a regular basis, she still comes home every night to be tucked into bed (literally).  She is not yet fully grown, despite being 13 years old and weighing 1.3 tons.  She is very sweet and seems very gentle.  Julie was in heaven!  We fed her corn and Rooibos tea, scratched her back with our feet and even gave her a little kiss on the nose!  It was quite an experience being able to interact with a live hippo without the fear of having a limb ripped off or being trampled to death (hippos kill more humans than any other animal in Africa).  We left there with a warm fuzzy feeling having met Jessica.  A quick stop at the Pick ‘n Pay for some snacks and we headed home to Pezulu.