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  #11  
Old March 31st, 2009, 11:50 PM posted to rec.travel.africa
tim.....
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,591
Default South Africa Report Pt 2


Day 4: My friend drops me off at Simon's Town station and I catch the train
to CT. My friend is sceptical that this is a "safe" thing to do for a
person on their own with luggage and a camera around my neck but everybody
else I have spoken to thinks that it's OK. There another affluent person
just behind me with similar luggage - he's on his way to the airport (so he
tells everybody who phones him). I don't fell the slightest bit threatened
by this ride.

I pick up the car and drive out of town. I'm off to the game parks in
Western Cape. Stop off at the first service area as I need some (drinking)
water. Whilst in the shop there a wonderful smell from the attached bakery
so I buy an early lunch, this is something UK services could learn from!
There's a huge choice of pies (this is something of an SA speciality) and I
decide that given the variable quality of restaurants eating from the bakers
each day could be a good move!

I arrive at Swellendam, which the guide says is an interesting small town,
not in my opinion it isn't. I drive north onto the scenic Route 52. This
is an interesting road through the "Little Karoo", starts off as a
spectacular mountain pass and then wonderful, almost desert, scenery. I
come to a point where they are resurfacing the road and have only a single
lane open. They do this is very long sections and the waiting time at the
"stop" is 20 minutes!. In a country with no shortage of workers this is all
manually operated, I wonder if it has to be manned 24 hours? as even in the
middle of the day there were only about a dozen cars in my line.

I stop for the first night in Oudtshoorn and get the local Info Office to
find me a B&B, which they do for no charge. I have no idea what to expect
with this type of accommodation. I have come loaded up with soap, towels,
pillow and sleeping bag, but I need none of them, it is wonderfully clean
and fully appointed, all for 300 Rand pn. They are not the slightest bit
bothered about putting a single person in a double room (though whether they
would be in "Summer", I have no idea.) The letting rooms are in a separate
"house" in the rear garden. Much of this is to be repeated at every other
B&B that I stay at.

Apparently, it has been 40 degrees (C) today. I didn't really notice in my
AC car. This is an Afrikaans town, no-one speaks English as first choice.

Day 5: Breakfast is a cooked "Full English" (which IS what they call it!)
plus your choice from a "continental" table of cereal, bread rolls, muffins,
and a small selection of cheese and meat. You don't go hungry here.

I've decided that I have to lose a day so as not to arrive at the game park
on a Saturday, so I drive the short distance north to Cango Caves. There
are two tours, the "normal" one and the "adventurous" one. Because it
leaves first I book the normal tour at 55 R, but I wonder if I have done the
right thing. Then I find a sign which says "if you are over 50 or over
(IIRC) 80 Kilo don't book the adventure tour" and there's a display of the
smallest tunnel that you have to crawl through, it's 3 metres long and 29 cm
high. It looks tiny, even if you are quite a bit under 50 and quite a bit
less than 80 Kilo you will want to think twice, I think it's only suitable
for under 30, slim, people!, so I did the right thing. The caves are, um
caves, moderately interesting but nothing special.

North of the caves, I take the un-made road over the Swartberg pass. The
road up is fun and well made for a gravel road. There are signs telling you
not to feed the Baboons, but these are a different bred of Baboons to the
ones at Cape Point. If they see a human they run and hide, even if they are
40 yards away up the mountain, they still run away. No chance of feeding
these monkeys! The road surface down is much worse and fallen away in
places. It's close to being impassable for a normal car (but I notice that
I'm not the only "idiot"), I'm glad that I didn't try this road in the other
direction!

At the bottom of the pass is the "interesting" town of Prince Albert. Hum,
I disagree again, turn around and leave immediately. Take the long way back
to Oudtshoorn via Kareendouwberg pass and then the coast road to Knysna
where I stay for the night.

For tonight's meal I choose Springbok steak. What I am served looks and
tastes exactly like a sirloin steak. I'm not sure if I have fallen for a
"tourist" trick (akin to Bombay Duck or Buffalo Wings), whether Springbok
really tastes exactly like beef or I have been cheated. (Later my friend
tells me that it isn't 1 or 2!)

Day 6: Today's breakfast is a bit of a let down. I only get cooked eggs to
go with my continental plate, though, of course, I don't starve.

Today I make the long drive to Craddock. I notice that there are lots of
people hitching holding out money and sign saying "PE" (Port Elizabeth). I
wonder what the deal is for picking them, feel guilty about not doing so,
but with no knowledge of the local situation decide that I can't risk it.
Even if they are "safe", the person at the road-side is probably a proxy for
a whole family accompanied by a couple of goats and they are really looking
for a lift sitting in the back of a pick up (which seems to be the normal
method of transport by the locals).

On the way I stop off at Tsitsikamma Park which is home to the highest
bungee jump in Africa. No I don't give it a try, but watch the people that
do for half an hour.

I bypass PE, there's little of interest and I suspect (only on the evidence
of stopping at the petrol station) that it isn't the most "tourist safe"
place to stop.

My friend (and the guide books) recommend that I should go to the private
Shamwari park as well as the "National" ones so I stop off on the way to
suss it out. I'm hoping for a day safari, but I'm told that they only do
overnights which are 2 safari, three meals and "all you can drink"! It's
5500 R pp sharing per day, which is staggering. As they aren't busy I'm
told that they will do that rate for a single instead of the normal 50%
supplement. It's a lot of money for one day, but I can afford it (once) and
there are lots of hotels in Europe that change that just for a nights stay
so I book a night for later in the week. Have I done the right thing? I
later pick up a leaflet with tours to other private parks and this is the
normal price!

Arriving in Craddock I note that a few kilometres from the town is an
African township. A jumble of properly constructed huts, wooden huts and
tin nuts. They are all small. I wonder how many people live in each one.
There is real separation between this "village" and the main town, but it is
obvious that all of the residents (the ones with jobs at all, that is) work
in the town as there's nowhere else for 100km. I note that the B&B that I
stay in, which seems only to have 3 letting rooms, has five staff as well as
the couple that run it. I sense a culture of inventing low paid jobs.

And for today's restaurant disaster, I ask for the waitress to choose me a
brand of cider, without checking that it was going to be made of apples (as
I got a swift, "of course", the previous time I did this) and am served with
an apricot flavoured breezer!Where do they get these people!

Gotta stop now, Game parks tomorrow!

tim











  #12  
Old April 2nd, 2009, 12:01 AM posted to rec.travel.africa
tim.....
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,591
Default South Africa Report Pt 3

Looking for feedback to make sure that people, are reading. You know what
to do

I see that no-one corrected my deliberate mistakes! I am, of course, in
Eastern Cape and the scenic road is 62!

Day 7: I get up early, skip breakfast and arrive at Mountain Zebra park for
7:30 (80 Rand). As soon as I get in the gate, a herd of zebra are crossing
the road in front of me, all quite exciting. There are also lots of
different types of Antelope here. The locals know their names but to me
they are just deer with curly horns, deer with straight horns and deer
without horns. This is interesting for a whilst but after a few days you
get a bit bored of stripy horses and deer. I drive round all the roads that
are good for a normal road and other animals spotted are warthogs, velvet
monkeys, a monitor lizard, family of meercats, a mongoose and a buzzard and
a herd of buffalo, but they are too far away to be interesting. There are
no dangerous animals here so you are allowed out of your car if you want.
But it doesn't help, the animals are used to cars passing, but they run away
as soon as you stop.

After about 4 hours I guess that it has got too hot for the animals and I
blag a pass-out from the man on the gate. Apparently you're not supposed to
do this. but he lets me. I use the lunch time to drive to Graaff-Reinet,
another "interesting" town. Well it's better that the others, but still not
that great. On the way, a couple of Kamikaze guinea fowl cross the road
just in front of me. I almost get free dinner, but they run out of the way
just in time. 20 km down the road there a sign "beware of guinea fowl", gee
thanks for the warning!

I get back to the park at 4:00 and hope that the cooler afternoon makes the
animals come out again, but it doesn't and I see nothing new. I leave at
6:30 (it shuts at 7:00). On entering you are signed in via a simple list.
When I sign out I can see by the size of that list that only about 20 people
entered after me. It obviously doesn't get busy here.

Day 8: I am due at Shamwari at 13:00 so I drive to Georgetown first,
expecting another unexciting town. But it's not, it's actually very nice.
I think that the fact it's a university town helps a lot. I arrive at
Shamwari and it's all too luxurious for me. The man gets my bag out of the
car without asking, he parks it without asking, the cleaner comes into my
room every hour or so to do some new task, all of which I am perfectly
capable of doing for myself. I know that this isn't adding much to the
cost, but I still prefer not to have so much fussing.

On the afternoon game ride the ranger takes us to see elephant, rhino and
hippo plus lots of deer and a couple of buzzards and goliath heron. We also
see a giraffe, but for some reason he doesn't try to get close to it.
Though, when I say hippo they are almost completely covered by water and I
see perhaps 10% of a hippo. You have to be very patient if you want to see
them standing out of the water. This was an interesting introduction,
hopefully tomorrow morning will be better.

We return for the buffet dinner where I get to try warthog and kudu (that's
the large antelope with the curly horns. It's the emblem of the nation park
service! so I guess that the have to cull them.) Go to bed early as it's a
5:00 start in the morning.

Day 9: The 5:00 start is really too early. It's still dark, really cold,
you can't see any animals and even if you could see them, you can't take any
pictures of them. The ranger spends the first hour looking for footprints.
We also drive past a very pungent smell which he doesn't comment upon. I
have to ask what it is and he tells me it's the smell of a "kill", as if
everybody knew that?

We find the footprints, but it doesn't help us find the cats, so he drives
us to the elephants/rhinos again. I saw them yesterday, though today he
parks up on the route of the elephants and they pass within 3 feet of us. I
wouldn't do that in my car! Eventually I spot a small cat, a caracal
(apparently that's another name for a Lynx?). We hear on the radio that
someone has found a cheater, but it's too far away for us to go there and
then, eventually, someone finds a pair (mother and son) of leopards, so we
rush to that spot. We have to wait whilst the earlier groups get in first
and as we get there they are just wandering into the undergrowth, 30 seconds
later and we would have missed them, that how hard it is.

It's now time to go back for breakfast, but on the way the ranger spots a
pair of secretary birds. Initially, I think that he's making a fuss over
something that isn't that exciting, but then the female starts to flap her
wings and squawks. The ranger says that's she's caught something. So we
watch whilst she repeatedly throws her pray (a snake) onto the ground until
it is dead and then she eats it, sucking it down in one like some people
might eat spaghetti - amazing. Finally, as we approach the base, we spook a
herd of deer and I discover why the springbok, is called such.

After breakfast I leave the park and drive to Addo. I was going to visit the
(Elephant) park tomorrow, but I am early enough to go in now, so I do so. I
ask if they have any cabins free to stay in, but they are full. The sign
says that entrance is 110 R for me and 25 R for South Africans. I wonder if
the other parks have the same rule?

The animals here are dangerous, so you must stay in your car. There are
100's of elephants, that is, of course, the reason for the park, and they
are easy to spot. During my drive around I get stuck between a herd walking
towards me, and a single one behind me and I am stuck for what to do. They
like walking on the road as it is easier for them, but it's worrying for me.
Fortunately, the one behind me turns off onto the grass and I am able to
reverse up to somewhere safe, phew.

There are also (as well as the stripy horses and deer) rhino and lions here,
but you are very lucky to spot them (I don't). You can get ranger tours for
190R which might increase your chances of seeing these animals, I don't
know? Because it's (another) hot day, many of the large animals are in the
mud pool, so I get to see the (albeit very dirty) buffalo close up today.
The only other new animal I see is a tortoise the size of a dustbin lid.

I leave the park and look for somewhere to stay. I am expecting a choice of
places but there isn't. There's one B&B only and the only eating place is a
supermarket that does a small range of take-away. This is the worse B&B
that I stay in. Not because there is anything particularly wrong with the
room, but because it doesn't have Air Con, and as it is very (very) warm I
have to sleep on top of the bed with the windows open. Consequently I get
bitten to death. I make a note to be sure of Air Con in future!

Overall, I think Addo is the best value park to visit. But you need to be
staying inside overnight. As well as the accommodation being better, you
get the opportunity to do safari tours at times when they are closed to day
visitors.

That's all for now folks

tim










  #13  
Old April 5th, 2009, 01:05 AM posted to rec.travel.africa
Lelio
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default South Africa Report Pt 3

il Thu, 2 Apr 2009 00:01:19 +0100, "tim....."
ha scritto:

Looking for feedback to make sure that people, are reading. You know what
to do

I see that no-one corrected my deliberate mistakes! I am, of course, in
Eastern Cape and the scenic road is 62!


Overall, I think Addo is the best value park to visit. But you need to be
staying inside overnight. As well as the accommodation being better, you
get the opportunity to do safari tours at times when they are closed to day
visitors.

That's all for now folks

tim



It's very nice to read of your holydays.... It brings to memory many
things of my travel there last september...

A very controversial country but I loved it.

Please keep writing Tim...


Ciao

Lelio
  #14  
Old April 5th, 2009, 11:29 PM posted to rec.travel.africa
tim.....
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,591
Default South Africa Report Pt 4


I was beginning to think everyone had stopped reading!

Day 10: I returned to the Park for 7:00 to see if there were any different
animals to be seen in the morning. I passed one of the Ranger tours and
they were all getting excited - about some paw prints! Oh well. We didn't
find the owner and the only thing new that I saw were the "Addo flightless
dung beetles" which I think you can guess are unique to the park. They are
huge (for beetles) about 4 cm across in both directions. They are all over
the road and you have to be careful not to squash them. I stopped in the
area of the "hide", one of the few areas where you are allowed to get out
and I see what I think is three beetles pushing a perfectly spherical dung
ball, about the size of a golf ball, across the path. But when I get closer
I see that they are fighting over it. Seems a bit unfair, one beetle spends
all that effort making it and another one comes along and steals it from
him, it's not like there's a shortage of dung, the park is full of it!

I drive back via the other half of Route 62 to George. On the way I stop
off at a lay-by for a rest and there's a hitcher by the road. Whilst I am
there, someone stops to give her a lift. As I suspected, it was a beat up
old car already completely full of locals.

Tonight I take a trip to the fish and chip shop, the British tradition that
(IME unlike other colonials[1]) the Afrikaans seem to have taken to. The
choice is Hake or "Snoek", the latter of which, before I arrived in SA, I
(nor my spell checker) have ever heard of. So I try it, it's not very
expensive, so if I don't like it I can try something else. My friend did
actually show me this fish on the harbour at one of the places we visited
and TBH it didn't look very nice as it's a grey fleshed fish. Well, it's
actually quite tasty, but it completely full of very large, separate, bones.
You've no chance of choking on them as they are massive, but picking them
out is very fiddly. This doesn't make a very practical fish to eat with
your fingers out of a paper bag!

[1] Perhaps the other "southern" colonies have them, I've never been

Day 11: Morning in Mossel Bay, the home of the Bartolomeu Dias Museum (he's
some important person in the history of the discovery of "Africa", if like
me you don't know of him, I'm sure you can look him up!) Whilst on the way
to this I stop and ask directions from a policeman, he says "follow me" and
drives round the town to the museum, now where else would this happen?

Afternoon in the Wine lands - Montague/Robertson/Worcester/Paarl. These are
quite nice but none are particularly exciting. I look for accommodation at
the last, but the Info office is unhelpful and all of the B&Bs in the list
are very expensive, so I decide to press on to Franschhoek. It's no cheaper
here, but the Info Office helps me to find a room at one of the cheaper
ones. It's still twice the price of anywhere I have previously stayed (and
some are twice that again). I can't understand this, I can't see it as a
"destination", it's an easy day trip from Cape Town, by car or one many of
the organised coach tours.

Day 12: Morning at Boschendal Manor House. There I take a trip around the
manor house and a "cellar" tour, which isn't really a cellar at all. Quite
interesting - recommended. I don't do the wine tasting, that isn't my
thing! I drive to Stellenbosch which is a large bustling town. It's quite
interesting, but it's the only place where I have a problem parking, I park
at a "one hour" space on the street. It isn't really enough, but I make it
suffice. I take a look in the African market and notice some, what I'm
going to call, "teatowel" paintings of abstract "ethnic" scenes. I ask how
much, and am told 350R This is the first thing in the market that I think
is expensive, so I say no and wait to look elsewhere.

The next destination is Spier Estate, but on the way I pass the Van Ryn
Brandy Distillery and they do tours, so I book on that. Another
recommendation! The Spier Estate isn't that interesting, it just seems to
be a park where you can picnic (only if you buy it from their shop) and a
wine shop. I don't see the winery.

Drive back to my friend's house and another mediocre restaurant meal.

Day 13: Take the car back to CT. Walk to visit: the Castle/Long
Street/Cathedral/"The Garden"/Governor's House(outside only)/South Africa
Museum. All quite fun, the Museum has the most amazing collection of
stuffed animals and bare skeletons. I did want to do the Holocaust Memorial
museum, but as it's Saturday, this is closed. Catch the train back to
Simon's Town.

Day 14: Borrow my friend's car and drive to Constantia, another wine road.
There are a dozen wineries here and as it's Sunday, they are all doing a
roaring trade in Breakfast/Brunch. Groot (does that mean Great?) Constantia
is the one to visit for tours and again I visit the Manor House and go on
the Cellar tour. Super. There is a "cafe" in the yard, but around the back
is a more upmarket restaurant, "Simons". I look at the menu and
surprisingly, it is much the same price as everywhere else. It opens
lunchtime at weekends and evenings so I ask it I can have lunch. They turn
out to be fully booked, but I can eat at a bar "table", if I wish. As I'm
on my own, this is not a problem, but it's wouldn't be practical for a
group. The food is superb, highly recommended, don't forget you need to
book (http://www.simons.co.za/).

Day 15: Today off to Jo'burg as my friend is attending a wedding. We have
to be there by Friday afternoon. We're going in the Land Rover so that we
can go on the back roads. It takes forever to pack because he's packing for
every eventuality, he even packs wood for a BBQ. I made it clear to him
before I agreed to the deal, that I don't do "camping" under any
circumstances, but of course he has to come back without me, and he has
plans for other things if another friend agrees to meet him later.

We leave at 1:00. The first stop is a family friend who lives at
Fraserburg, a middle of nowhere farming community. The route is across the
karoo. An endless scenic wilderness of nothing, with the occasional sheep
or cows. On the way we (I was driving) are stopped by the police. She is
phased by my foreign license and informs me that the reason for the stop is
"my number plate is dirty", later we check and it isn't, what nonsense!
Have they got nothing better to do? Arrive at 19:30, after the only
restaurant has closed and a take away has been delivered for us!

Day 16: I skip breakfast, as I don't feel like it, but I'm amazed to find
that the prepared breakfast that I passed on, was porridge. I thought it
was just northern Europeans that ate this?

Today, we drive cross country because my friend prefers this. It's because
the scenery is nicer and it's less busy. I think he's wrong on both counts,
the scenery on the main road is just as good, and seeing one car every 5
minutes is hardly "busy". Our destination is Gariep Dam park, as it's
assumed that there will be lodgings by the lake. It is almost dark when we
get there and we follow the "accommodation signs" to Oviston on the south
side. This is a mistake, the only B&B is closed, so we stay in a self
catering cabin, there is no restaurant and the shop closes in 10 minutes.
We rush around and buy some provisions, but there's limited choice so we end
up with pasta and tomato sauce and a packet of cakes. We are the only
person in the cabins. It is well furnished, but basic, we get a two roomed
cabin so have a room each, which is nice - we wouldn't have got this in
summer though! It is only 90R each. This is out of season and it seems
no-one comes here except in the school summer holidays. How can you make a
living running tourist accommodation with an 8 week long season? It's not
really on the normal route from somewhere to anywhere.

Day 17: Drive across the "Orange" river on the viaduct in the middle of the
park. A spectacular sight. Another cross country trip takes us to Van
Rooyenshek gate into Lesotho. We have to fill in a form, "where are we
going, how long are we staying ...." and I get an exit and entry stamp in my
passport. At this gate there's a toll of 4 Rand to enter, this is to use
the road, not to enter the country. Seems a bit pointless, but I suppose
they need the money. Immediately after the gate is a hotel. It doesn't look
very nice! BTW Lesotho has its own currency but it's locked to the Rand and
everybody accepts and quotes prices in Rand.

As soon as you get into Lesotho you can see the difference, and not just in
the man made things. The landscape is completely different as well. This
"western strip" is where 95% of the people live, and most live in villages,
so about every 3 km is another village of 50 houses. This is bad for us as
it means that the speed on the road is slow, but good if you want to travel
without a car as this relatively dense population means that buses and taxis
ply the road frequently.

All of the houses are made of mud (and sticks), but most of the shops are
tin huts, they must get excruciatingly hot!

Farming is different here. In the Karoo, the animals were left to wander on
their own. Here, every time you see a small group of sheep or cows, there
is a man tending them, only the donkeys are allowed to wander on their own.
We drive to the capital Maseru, which is a sprawling bustle of "normal"
shops, not worth stopping in. My friend wants to drive the central pass so
we head in the direction of "Roma". There's a sign to an accommodation
lodge, 40 km down the road so we follow that. It looks quite full, is well
appointed and we take a room (actually a lodge in the garden). It is nice
and modern and the only minus is the absence of towels, no matter, we have
come prepared - 300R pn (for the room). This is a good find, we haven't
really seen anywhere else so to get somewhere good is a bonus. There's a
sign to another lodge 10km up the road, but when we pass it it looks empty
and closed.

We drive down the pass for 40 Km, over "God help me pass", Blue mountain
pass and something else. This has wonderful scenery and we see more farmers
tending their animals. Here it is too far to take them back to a village
each night so the farmers stay out on the hills with them They build little
round straw houses to sleep in and we can see some under construction. An
amazing insight into another way of life.

Back at the hotel all of the people who were there in the afternoon have
gone, apparently they were there for a day conference. We have dinner in
the restaurant and are the only ones. About 75% of the menu is "off" and we
have a choice of about 5 things. Oh well, the food that we do get is good.

Day 18: The lodge is right next to an unmade road that leads to the Ha
Barona rock paintings. The road is 6km long and terrible, un-passable for a
normal car! At the end is a modern visitor's centre and the guide comes out
to greet us. It is 20R pp. He takes us to the cave 1km away and shows us
the paintings. Back in the visitor's centre there is a modern facsimile of
them. I note from the visitor's book that 2 people visited the day before
and no-one for the previous 5 days!

TBH it's not really that exciting. But they need the money. Lesotho is a
poor country, 195th out of 230. It's agricultural output is not enough to
feed its own people and apart from exporting water to SA, all they have is
tourism, and that's quite minimal.

We drive to the town of Teyateyaneng, "the craft centre of Lesotho" and
according to both of my guide books the number one attraction in the
country. What a waste of time. All it is, is a normal domestic market
selling food and pots and pans and suchlike. Not a single stall selling
"crafts". These guide people went to a different place to me. The only
interesting thing is the stall selling what I shall loosely call, "voodoo"
items and herbal medicines.

Drive to the cave dwellings at Ha Kome. The signs to this are awful, but
eventually we find it, and again it is down a terrible unmade road to a
modern visitor's centre. This drive seems like miles, but it isn't, it's
only 1.6km so you could park at the end and walk. There is a small village
of about 200 people just beyond the visitor's centre and the guide lives in
that village. This is also 20R pp but we have to "compensate" the people who
live in the caves with 50R, so 90R for the two of us. Whilst a couple of
hundred years old they have been "modernised" and the people living in them
live the same life as the rest of the village. It isn't that interesting an
experience, IMHO it would be better if the residents moved into a mud hut
and they "staged" a traditional way of life in the huts for visitors. But
once again there only seems to be a handful of visitors each week so would
that be worthwhile?

While we are there the "traffic" police turn up (six of them!) and our guide
asks us to go back on our own whilst she deals with whatever it is that they
want. Quite what traffic police want in a village with no traffic, is
anyone's guess.

We drive out of Lesotho at Caledonsport (which is free!). I don't get a new
SA visa, I just get a second entry stamp for the one that I already have. I
wonder if this is special for Lesotho (as what else can you do but go back
to SA) or whether any trip to an adjacent country works this way? Outside
of Maseru we saw only one sign to any other accommodation. This is a pretty
difficult place to stay in. Overnight, we stay in a self catering "hotel"
in Caledons for 150R each, which is made up for 8 people so we get a good
choice of rooms. As I'm about to go to bed a bat flies into my room. I
don't mind these animals outside, but I have to confess I am spooked by the
idea of it flying around my room as I sleep. I wait for it to fly back out
again and swiftly shut the door!

Day 19: Drive to Jo'burg up the highway. We are hoping for a couple of
hours to drive around the town but as we arrive it starts to rain really
hard. It seems like about 6 inches falls in 30 minutes and the traffic just
stops. We are about 10 cars back from a junction that is going nowhere.
After some time we have edged up close enough to see and 4 lanes of traffic
are trying to pass into one lane. It is obvious that the other 3 are full
of water so my friend drive up on the kerb to get into the empty lane, past
all the queuing cards and ploughs through 12 inches of water, much to the
frustration of the "normal" cars and especially the idiot that tried what we
have just done and failed!

It is clear that other roads will be like this so we go to the airport. I
hope to pick up a car for two days, but because I had no idea of an arrival
time (or date) I haven't booked one. I manage to find one at a good price,
but it is quite hard and I only get 200 km pd. Apparently, if I'd have
pre-booked it would have been unlimited!

My plan is to go to Pretoria today and see what options I have. This takes
an hour longer than it should because of another flooded road and it is
getting dark as I arrive. I have a list of B&B that I picked up at the
airport and was going to drive around to find one, but I notice a "stayeasy"
hotel. Apart from the colour scheme this has an identical business model to
an Ibis and at the weekend is 550 R. I can't be bothered to look for
anything better, even though it's next to the main road and will be noisy.

I'm just off the town centre so I ask if it's safe to walk in. The girl
says "no", actually she says "it isn't even safe for us!" So I drive in to
look for a restaurant. At the first traffic light I am bothered by a
"squeegee" mugger, though as I've only don't 60km since the rental company
cleaned my car it doesn't need cleaning. The centre is hectic and doesn't
look safe to park, even if I saw a restaurant, which I don't. I eventually
see a Nando's on a quietish road, so go there for a take away.

Day 20: After the very basic (included) breakfast I drive into the town
centre. It's still early and everything is closed. I park by pretorius
square and notice that the few people there have been sleeping there. I am
careful to avoid them as I take a few pictures and leave quickly. At the
church square, as I park in a space I am approached by the car park mugger
who wants to help me put my money in the machine and "guard" my car. I was
only going to take a couple of pictures so wasn't going to pay. I can't get
rid of him and have to drive away. The other sight in Pretoria is the Union
Building on the other side of town. This seems to be a safer area (next to
the Sheraton) and I get a few pictures. Finally, I drive to Melrose House,
where you can park "safely". I ask if I can tour, but as today is a
holiday, it is closed - nowhere does it say it closes on holidays!

All in all, Pretoria worried me, even though the guide book said that it was
much safer than Jo'burg. It isn't on my repeat visit list.

Drive to Hartsbeerspoort dam. Get caught up in a marathon (actually it's a
20K) and am not allowed to take my car down to the town. Driving over the
dam is spectacular and I look for somewhere to stay. But there isn't much
and I end up in a grotty Self Catering apartment at 400R. I would have been
better waiting for the end of the race and going back to the town

Down the road is another tat market and I look at the paintings. I like one
of a village scene and they want 550. I say that this is much too much.
Down to 350 and it's still too much. The guy insists that I "make him an
offer" and I say 100, he's insulted and wants more. I make him a final
offer of 150 and he grudgingly accepts. Next to this market is a shop, IIRC
"Just Africa". This is a fixed price shop and you can buy "stuffed"
animals - a baby elephant for 150,000 R or a lion for 80,000R. Even, if I
could carry them home, they are out of my price range. Most of the smaller
stuff is similarly priced to the market, except for the paintings. These I
find are 50R and are marked as Zimbabwean art. I look through them and
there isn't one to match that which I have already bought, but a couple of
others interest me so I buy them. However they are not as good quality
materials. After rolling them up together and packing them in my checked
luggage, the cheaper ones show some marks from being squashed and the more
expensive one doesn't!

Outside, I am approached for a "contribution" to a church. The guy shows me
his ID and his "bible certificate". I stifle a laugh, but admire his
creativity and agree to a contribution. I was thinking 20 R. He tells me
that I have to fill in his form and everybody else before me on the list,
from the UK/EU/USA, has contributed hundreds and in one case 2500! Nuts,
this could easily be a scam. Or perhaps they just contributed the same as
me and the guy added a couple of zeros afterwards, who knows?

Day 21: Drive to the "cradle of humankind" which includes the caves at
Sterkfontein where some ancient humanoid fossils were found. There's an
interesting exhibition here but I didn't rate the caves. They were not well
lit and there is no real attempt to show you any fossils in situ (or even
the holes that the came out of). I found this disappointing. Finally I
drive back to the airport, and as the guide book says that it's not safe to
go around the centres of Jo'burg on your own, it recommends visiting the
suburbs of Sandton and Randburg. Can't think why, they were just shopping
centres (and as it was a Sunday, closed).

Day 22: Nothing to do with SA. I arrive back at T5. I have to say that
the walk off the plane, down three sets of escalators to a stupid train to
"immigration" is nuts. Who designed a new building this way? AIH, whilst I
was waiting (inside) for the railair bus I was approached by someone taking
a survey and I gave this aspect of my "visit to T5" a poor rating. Of
course nothing is going to change it, it's built now!

That's all folks

tim







  #15  
Old April 7th, 2009, 09:03 PM posted to rec.travel.africa
Shawn The Sheep
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 12
Default South Africa Report Pt 4

On Apr 6, 12:29*am, "tim....." wrote:
I was beginning to think everyone had stopped reading!

Day 10: *I returned to the Park for 7:00 to see if there were any different
animals to be seen in the morning. *I passed one of the Ranger tours and
they were all getting excited - about some paw prints! *Oh well. *We didn't
find the owner and the only thing new that I saw were the "Addo flightless
dung beetles" which I think you can guess are unique to the park. *They are
huge (for beetles) about 4 cm across in both directions. *They are all over
the road and you have to be careful not to squash them. *I stopped in the
area of the "hide", one of the few areas where you are allowed to get out
and I see what I think is three beetles pushing a perfectly spherical dung
ball, about the size of a golf ball, across the path. *But when I get closer
I see that they are fighting over it. *Seems a bit unfair, one beetle spends
all that effort making it and another one comes along and steals it from
him, it's not like there's a shortage of dung, the park is full of it!

I drive back via the other half of Route 62 to George. *On the way I stop
off at a lay-by for a rest and there's a hitcher by the road. *Whilst I am
there, someone stops to give her a lift. *As I suspected, it was a beat up
old car already completely full of locals.

Tonight I take a trip to the fish and chip shop, the British tradition that
(IME unlike other colonials[1]) the Afrikaans seem to have taken to. *The
choice is Hake or "Snoek", the latter of which, before I arrived in SA, I
(nor my spell checker) have ever heard of. *So I try it, it's not very
expensive, so if I don't like it I can try something else. My friend did
actually show me this fish on the harbour at one of the places we visited
and TBH it didn't look very nice as it's a grey fleshed fish. *Well, it's
actually quite tasty, but it completely full of very large, separate, bones.
You've no chance of choking on them as they are massive, but picking them
out is very fiddly. *This doesn't make a very practical fish to eat with
your fingers out of a paper bag!

[1] Perhaps the other "southern" colonies have them, I've never been

Day 11: Morning in Mossel Bay, the home of the Bartolomeu Dias Museum (he's
some important person in the history of the discovery of "Africa", if like
me you don't know of him, I'm sure you can look him up!) *Whilst on the way
to this I stop and ask directions from a policeman, he says "follow me" and
drives round the town to the museum, now where else would this happen?

Afternoon in the Wine lands - Montague/Robertson/Worcester/Paarl. *These are
quite nice but none are particularly exciting. *I look for accommodation at
the last, but the Info office is unhelpful and all of the B&Bs in the list
are very expensive, so I decide to press on to Franschhoek. *It's no cheaper
here, but the Info Office helps me to find a room at one of the cheaper
ones. *It's still twice the price of anywhere I have previously stayed (and
some are twice that again). *I can't understand this, I can't see it as a
"destination", it's an easy day trip from Cape Town, by car or one many of
the organised coach tours.

Day 12: Morning at Boschendal Manor House. *There I take a trip around the
manor house and a "cellar" tour, which isn't really a cellar at all. *Quite
interesting - recommended. *I don't do the wine tasting, that isn't my
thing! *I drive to Stellenbosch which is a large bustling town. *It's quite
interesting, but it's the only place where I have a problem parking, I park
at a "one hour" space on the street. *It isn't really enough, but I make it
suffice. *I take a look in the African market and notice some, what I'm
going to call, "teatowel" paintings of abstract "ethnic" scenes. *I ask how
much, and am told 350R *This is the first thing in the market that I think
is expensive, so I say no and wait to look elsewhere.

The next destination is Spier Estate, but on the way I pass the Van Ryn
Brandy Distillery and they do tours, so I book on that. *Another
recommendation! *The Spier Estate isn't that interesting, it just seems to
be a park where you can picnic (only if you buy it from their shop) and a
wine shop. *I don't see the winery.

Drive back to my friend's house and another mediocre restaurant meal.

Day 13: Take the car back to CT. *Walk to visit: the Castle/Long
Street/Cathedral/"The Garden"/Governor's House(outside only)/South Africa
Museum. *All quite fun, the Museum has the most amazing collection of
stuffed animals and bare skeletons. *I did want to do the Holocaust Memorial
museum, but as it's Saturday, this is closed. *Catch the train back to
Simon's Town.

Day 14: Borrow my friend's car and drive to Constantia, another wine road..
There are a dozen wineries here and as it's Sunday, they are all doing a
roaring trade in Breakfast/Brunch. *Groot (does that mean Great?) Constantia
is the one to visit for tours and again I visit the Manor House and go on
the Cellar tour. *Super. *There is a "cafe" in the yard, but around the back
is a more upmarket restaurant, "Simons". *I look at the menu and
surprisingly, it is much the same price as everywhere else. *It opens
lunchtime at weekends and evenings so I ask it I can have lunch. *They turn
out to be fully booked, but I can eat at a bar "table", if I wish. *As I'm
on my own, this is not a problem, but it's wouldn't be practical for a
group. *The food is superb, highly recommended, don't forget you need to
book (http://www.simons.co.za/).

Day 15: *Today off to Jo'burg as my friend is attending a wedding. *We have
to be there by Friday afternoon. *We're going in the Land Rover so that we
can go on the back roads. *It takes forever to pack because he's packing for
every eventuality, he even packs wood for a BBQ. *I made it clear to him
before I agreed to the deal, that I don't do "camping" under any
circumstances, but of course he has to come back without me, and he has
plans for other things if another friend agrees to meet him later.

We leave at 1:00. *The first stop is a family friend who lives at
Fraserburg, a middle of nowhere farming community. *The route is across the
karoo. *An endless scenic wilderness of nothing, with the occasional sheep
or cows. *On the way we (I was driving) are stopped by the police. *She is
phased by my foreign license and informs me that the reason for the stop is
"my number plate is dirty", later we check and it isn't, what nonsense!
Have they got nothing better to do? *Arrive at 19:30, after the only
restaurant has closed and a take away has been delivered for us!

Day 16: I skip breakfast, as I don't feel like it, but I'm amazed to find
that the prepared breakfast that I passed on, was porridge. *I thought it
was just northern Europeans that ate this?

Today, we drive cross country because my friend prefers this. *It's because
the scenery is nicer and it's less busy. *I think he's wrong on both counts,
the scenery on the main road is just as good, and seeing one car every 5
minutes is hardly "busy". *Our destination is Gariep Dam park, as it's
assumed that there will be lodgings by the lake. *It is almost dark when we
get there and we follow the "accommodation signs" to Oviston on the south
side. *This is a mistake, the only B&B is closed, so we stay in a self
catering cabin, there is no restaurant and the shop closes in 10 minutes.
We rush around and buy some provisions, but there's limited choice so we end
up with pasta and tomato sauce and a packet of cakes. *We are the only
person in the cabins. *It is well furnished, but basic, we get a two roomed
cabin so have a room each, which is nice - we wouldn't have got this in
summer though! *It is only 90R each. *This is out of season and it seems
no-one comes here except in the school summer holidays. *How can you make a
living running tourist accommodation with an 8 week long season? *It's not
really on the normal route from somewhere to anywhere.

Day 17: Drive across the "Orange" river on the viaduct in the middle of the
park. *A spectacular sight. *Another cross country trip takes us to Van
Rooyenshek gate into Lesotho. *We have to fill in a form, "where are we
going, how long are we staying ...." and I get an exit and entry stamp in my
passport. *At this gate there's a toll of 4 Rand to enter, this is to use
the road, not to enter the country. *Seems a bit pointless, but I suppose
they need the money. *Immediately after the gate is a hotel. It doesn't look
very nice! *BTW Lesotho has its own currency but it's locked to the Rand and
everybody accepts and quotes prices in Rand.

As soon as you get into Lesotho you can see the difference, and not just in
the man made things. *The landscape is completely different as well. *This
"western strip" is where 95% of the people live, and most live in villages,
so about every 3 km is another village of 50 houses. *This is bad for us as
it means that the speed on the road is slow, but good if you want to travel
without a car as this relatively dense population means that buses and taxis
ply the road frequently.

All of the houses are made of mud (and sticks), but most of the shops are
tin huts, they must get excruciatingly hot!

Farming is different here. *In the Karoo, the animals were left to wander on
their own. *Here, every time you see a small group of sheep or cows, there
is a man tending them, only the donkeys are allowed to wander on their own.

 




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