South Africa

With technological advances shrinking the global village to the size of a mini-roundabout travelling halfway round the world in search of adventure is not just the province of Ellen McCarthy or Richard Branson. A fortnight in South Africa suddenly didn't seem such a big deal as we climbed aboard an SAA jumbo in Heathrow. The so-called 'red eye special' boards at 9pm and, 11 hours travelling later, deposits you sleepy-eyed in Cape Town at 10am (or 9am if you are lucky like us and get a following wind).
The first thing that struck us was that virtually all the customer service people we met were black. The second thing that struck us was how incredibly polite and helpful they were. The preconception of a downtrodden people struggling to emerge from apartheid was swiftly shattered. In the UK, and especially in Leicester, we take multicultural society very much for granted. It seems that Cape Town, at least, is achieving it already.
We stayed about 40km south of Cape Town in Simons Town, slap bang in the middle of the west coast of False Bay. We chose this point because it is reputed to have a high chance of viewing whales (one of our prime objectives for visiting). As it turned out we never caught a glimpse apart from the first day. However, it proved to be an excellent base for exploring the Cape. Simons Town was founded in 1687 as a winter harbour for the Dutch East India Company and has been a naval base for the British until 1957 when it was handed over to South Africa. Its seafaring connections remain to this day with a token naval base still in residence though hardly intruding on the tranquil, old fashioned look of the town.
Less than 5 minutes walk from our villa was the renowned Boulder Bay, home to the country's largest colony of Jackass Penguins. The Nature Reserve has been created to protect and display the remaining 3000 pairs. Taking advantage of the colony's liking of the beach, walkways have been erected to keep man and penguin apart (except when the birds wander into town!). The photo opportunities are countless and keep both man and bird happy and safe.
An hour's drive south from Simons Town brings you onto the mountain plains of the Cape of Good Hope National Park and Cape Point, the mythical meeting place of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans (the actual converging of the oceans is Cape Agulhas to the east). Here, also, is the nightmare of every old sea dog, the Cape of Good Hope where many a schooner floundered in the rough seas. The National Park was an opportunity for us to observe ostrich, eland and tortoises in their natural habitat. Sunning themselves on the bare rocks on the tip of the point were dassies, a local benign sort of large guinea pig; a great favourite with tourists as they just sit there almost until you tread on them.
September, when we ventured south, is early spring on the Cape. Closer to a Pole than the UK, the weather is mild (20°) but very changeable due to the mountains bordering the area. A day trip to Hermanus, about 90 mins round False Bay, took us from overcast at sea level, to rain in the mountains, to bright sunlight at our destination. The purpose of our visit was to see if the resort's reputation for near-guaranteed whale sightings was true. We parked our car right on top of the cliffs and, as we turned the engine off, beheld the first of the day's natural wonders. About 200m from the shore an adult Right Whale frolicked in the sea. A crowd of onlookers watched from the cliff-tops, just as awed as we were. No amount of David Attenborough documentaries can prepare you for the majesty, beauty and serenity of seeing these creatures in their natural habitat. As we watched, others appeared in the seas around the point. There was no sound to announce the new arrivals; just a realisation that one of the cliff-top cameras was pointed in a different direction. Reluctantly, expecting an end to our voyeuristic pleasure, we turned just in time to see the tail of the new arrival, proud of the sea, almost waving for our attention. Impossible, I know, but it seemed they knew we were there and were putting on a show.
Towards the end of the couple of hours that we spent exposing roll after roll of film, a new presence arrived. At first we thought it was just another addition to the pod until a playful belly roll revealed the black and white markings on the underside of the Right Whale's only living enemy, the Killer Whale or Orca. For the first few months of its life the Right Whale pups are vulnerable to attack from the Orca. Several will isolate the pup from the protection of its mother and force it below the surface to drown. On this occasion it appeared that the Orca was alone and unable to cause harm.
After lunch, with the whales having moved out to sea, we started back. Taking the scenic coast road rather than the direct motorway, we found ourselves snaking round the side of the mountains which climb from the sea. Thoughtfully there are little lay-bys, enough for 2-3 cars, every kilometer or so. Rounding one corner we simultaneously saw half a dozen cars pulled up and several whales playing 200 metes below us in the calm seas. For half an hour we watched and photographed the four adults and two calves as they romped. It was so calm and acoustic that the sound of them cleaning their blow holes echoed up to us like exhausts. Then a couple more arrived. Orcas. This time, empowered by being together, they set about stalking one of the pups. Just as they managed to separate it we drove off. We didn't want the inevitable conclusion to this game of chase to sour our day.
A quite evening stroll into Simonstown took us for our second visit to bertha's, the renowned restaurant in the new Quay complex next to the Post office. Unusually they have a small smoking section (mostly over here they exile you to the terrace - fine when the weather is nice but a bit testing of your nicotine addiction while the evenings are still chilly) and, not unusually, very attentive staff. On this occasion, after a liberally imbibed accompaniment to my grilled chicken breasts, we asked for a taxi for the stagger home. Unable to get one, a member of staff gave us a lift to our door. Not the kind of service you'd get with a £20 meal for two in London!
As a change from the small-town quiet of Simonstown, and to allow us to take full advantage of the city's nightlife, we booked into a beautiful Dutch cottage in the Waterkrant area, Cape Town's gay quarter. The cottage was stunning; the ground floor was a lounge and two bedrooms with the kitchen in the cool basement. At the top of the stone, wooden-stepped spiral staircase from the ground floor was the flat roofed garden.
The first day, Friday (my birthday), was hot and clear. The view over Cape Town harbour and False Bay was breathtaking. Outside the front door was shaded by a sprawling tree which provided cover for the car. Standing on the cobbled street we looked down a hill that would not have been out of place in San Francisco. Little did we realise that the penalty of being so close to the gay bars was that we would have to stagger drunkenly up that very hill at 2am!
We were only there for 3 days but we made the most of our trip Lunch at Manhattan Bar was surprisingly good; evening drinks at Bronx, even better. In between we fitted in a shopping trip to the new and deservedly proud addition to Cape Town's crown, the V & A Wharf. Shops, restaurants, bars and tourist attractions vie for the chance to deprive you of a few devalued Rand. No visit to Cape Town is complete without a trip up Table Mountain. Dominating the skyline from every corner of the city, the symbol of South Africa is the number one attraction.
We drove halfway up the mountain, parked the car and joined the small queue for the cable car. A brand new system has recently been installed to handle visitors to the mountain but, in September (spring in South Africa) only a few hardy souls are out and about and we went straight to the top. As we went up the last few hundred feet to the summit we passed a few energetic hikers and even some climbers taking the hard way to the top.
The view at the top was worth any trepidation about the ride. It was breathtaking. Our luck held for the duration and there was virtually no cloud to obscure our views south to Cape Point and east across Cape Town to Stellanbosch, the wine region. The wind on top of the mountain is constant so, after an hour and a pleasant lunch, we started back. By the time we got off the cable car we looked up to see the fabled table cloth of cloud starting to build up on the peak. While the weather held further down the slopes we decided to drive home round the other side of the mountain. A journey which entailed many hairpin bends and narrow roads cut into the mountain side. But, as so often happens, the road was eventually closed due to fallen rocks and we had to retrace our steps and come down through the less prosaic route through the city.
The next day we had booked dinner and a show at On Broadway, an American-style venue. Much as I would like to say otherwise, the meal was very average and the show, a drag duo called Mince, was adequate. Technically it was very good but it lacked any pizzazz in the costume department and, aside from 10 minutes of patter in the first half, was sadly bereft of much humour. Far too American for my taste; all clever routines and little light relief. Also, I found it disconcerting that several of the (serious) mime routines were by obviously black artistes and both the drag artistes were white!
Back in Simonstown we had a couple of days to recuperate before our last big adventure of the holiday, a stay in a Game Reserve.
Shamwari is a private Game Reserve that is committed to conservation in a big way. It is nothing like the zoos and game parks of the UK, primarily because it is spread over hundreds of acres of natural habitat. The animals live in the wild and visitors are very strictly channeled in specific areas. The Reserve is funded by visitors and Government subsidies. That said, the visitor is looked after spectacularly. Everything is included in the fee; food, wine, board and excursions. There are two trips per day and, it has to be said, that 3-5 days is more than enough for even the most enthusiastic animal watcher. In our three days we were thrilled to see, at close quarters in their natural habitat, lions, elephants, rhinos, hippos, monkeys, giraffes and a serval (cat). Along with rolls and rolls of photos we took away a host of memories of a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Arriving back in Cape Town after a 1 hour flight from Port Elizabeth, we had a much needed early night after the drive south to Simonstown.

© Paul Towers Sept 2002