Trip Report:
Two Weeks in South Africa, January 1999
Richard's Version
Day 10
Sunday 1/17-
Enough of Cape Town, time to see some more of South Africa. We packed up pretty quickly in the morning, paid the hotel bill (2400 Rands for 8 nights and a half dozen meals for 2), loaded the car and got on the road around 10am. We weren't quite sure where we were planning to go, other than on the N2 East toward the Garden Route. We didn't have a good sense of distance yet, so we would have to see what happened.
Driving in South Africa isn't as bad as I had expected. People drive like maniacs, but more or less predictably so. They speed like crazy (150km/h is not unusual), and anyone not speeding (or not speeding fast enough) is expected to drive on the shoulder so everyone else can pass. Since I am not known for driving slowly anyway, this didn't bother me too much.
The N2 to the Garden Route runs up into the Drakensburg mountains, and then down again toward Mossel Bay. Climbing the mountains, and then driving along the plateau reminded us both very much of parts of California (as had much about Cape Town and environs). Lots of fairly dry hills and greener valleys, low brush, few scattered trees. Overall quite pretty though.
Round about 2pm I was getting tired of driving, and we were just arriving at Swellendam. This is a very old (3rd oldest white town in South Africa), very picturesque village at the foot of some gorgeous mountains. It was in our guidebook as worthy of a stop, so we decided to spend the night. Driving through town we were amazed at just how deserted everything was. No one on the streets and nothing open (except the ATM. AVOID Standard Bank, they said 'your card issuer is unavailable', but when we got home there was a withdrawal on our statement!). Even the tourist information center was closed. Luckily Alison had found out about a great farmhouse B&B on the web and we decided to pop in and see if they had room. At the end of a looong dirt driveway we found a gorgeous (but booked) farmhouse. Out came the guidebooks and we tried again.
We were lucky at our next stop: The Pond B&B (100 Rands per person). Set back from the road in the midst of a huge and lush garden, we were shown (by Zita, our hostess) our room. Actually a decent size apartment with living/dining room, kitchen and bedroom. Behind the apartment is the water lily covered eponymous pond. Frogs were a theme in the decor, but not as kitschy as it could have been. We became instant friends with the owner's two pit bulls, very sweet dogs that really wanted us to be their friends.
After dropping our stuff we went out in search of food. Zita directed us to a restaurant, but somewhere we turned right rather than left, and we ended up driving for quite a ways on the highway before deciding we had screwed up and turning back. Just inside the East entrance to town (we had gone out the West) was a restaurant and tea garden (L'Alliance?). Since it was the only thing we had seen open in town, we decided to stop here to eat. We sat outside in the shade overlooking a small creek. Alison had a delicious pork loin with mushrooms, and I had a slice of chicken pie. Both were quite tasty! Very dark clouds began to loom over the very tall and dramatic mountains above town, but no rain came.
Now that we were refreshed, we were ready to go to the Bontebok National Park, conveniently located right across the highway from Swellendam. A 5km dirt road leads to the entrance of the park, which is also the camp store for people staying at the rest camp. As we entered the park gate we saw a herd of Bontebok out grazing in the lawn by the driveway. Already worth the trip! We paid our 10 Rands each anyway to enter the park. The ranger gave us a map and described the drives to take to see wildlife, and pointed out the hikes by the river which runs by the rest camp.
Though the animals are used to people driving through their territory, they are hardly complacent. They were always a great distance from the road. We saw dozens of Bontebok, some Red Hartebeest and a few of the elusive Cape Mountain Zebra. The Bontebok had been close to extinction (we saw enough Bontebok hide rugs on the floors in museum houses to account for it), and the park had been formed to help protect them. Now the park is at capacity, and is constantly shipping them off to other parks. It took us about an hour of VERY slow driving along the dirt roads (not because they were bad, but because I was always looking in the bushes for animals) before we came to the rest camp.
The rest camps in the National Parks in South Africa are amazing. They have cabins and trailers that are completely equipped and ready for visitors (though often booked far in advance). The sites have showers and baths as well as braai (barbeque) facilities. If you prefer, there are also tent and camper sites available. The camps were not crowded though. Next time we go to South Africa, we should definitely plan ahead and stay at the rest camps.
In the rest camp itself there were a couple of Bontebok resting, and we were able to stand quite close to them (we could probably have moved closer, but we didn't want to disturb them). We walked down by the Breede river, and started following a path along the banks. The path was very narrow, and there was a bit of scrambling required up rocks, and ducking under bushes. We were feeling quite adventurous.
We took the trail up onto Aloe hill. The top of the hill was very similar to the Russian Steppe. Lots of low grasses and tiny ground hugging plants (and lots of wind). As we began down the slope though, we entered an actual forest of Aloe and thorn trees. Many of the Bitter Aloe plants were 8-10 feet high. As the ground leveled out again, we came to a meadow that had a whole herd of Bontebok. They weren't pleased to see us, and all stood up and faced us, some of them grunting loudly. We stared back for a few minutes, then continued on our way.
Back at the car we had a drink and rested a bit, then decided to drive the other sightseeing route. It turned out to be much longer than anticipated, and quite a bit rougher. We again saw quite a few Bontebok, but then we were also treated to a pair of Zebra close enough to get a decent look at. By the time we got back to the rest camp I was completely frazzled, and my arms were numb from the vibration of the dirt road. We drank a big bottle of water while I tried to get the feeling back into my hands. I had also been nervous because the clouds were coming closer, and the sky was nearly pitch black by the time we headed out of the park. I had been afraid we would be stuck on the dirt roads in the rain.
As it was, raindrops began to fall the very moment we got back to paved road. We went back to the Pond and had a cup of tea and some cookies while we wrote about what we had seen. The apartment had Dutch doors, so we left the top halves open for the nice breeze. The dogs came outside the doors for scritches several times. The rain became harder and harder throughout the night, and we were treated to a chorus of frogs.
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Last Updated 19 February, 1999
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