Trip Report:
Two Weeks in South Africa, January 1999
Richard's Version
Day 12
Tuesday, 1/19-
Promptly at 8:30, as requested, our breakfast was brought to our room. Cereal, toast, juice, eggs, and bacon. Add the Peet's that we brought and it's pretty good! As soon as we ate I gathered up our laundry and presented it to our hostess (feeling somewhat guilty, but triumphant as well).
Chris picked us up in a van at 9:30. He was very understanding about the money, and said to just leave the rest with our hostess when we got it. An elderly lady, Constance, from England was coming with us (and regaled us of stories of her time in Kenya, and 'Rhodesia' and other colonial 'good times'), and we stopped at Fairy Knowe backpacker's lodge (the oldest building in the town) to pick up Simon, a networking analyst from England. We drove to the rest camp at the Touws River national park, and climbed into canoes that were waiting for us. The river was very calm and flat, and we paddled upstream without too much effort (the wind was the main problem). We did manage to get ourselves fairly damp though. The river runs through a fairly steep gorge that is completely lined with vegetation. It was very jungle like as soon as we were out of sight of the camp. We paddled and talked for about 45 minutes before reaching cataracts and turning back. The wind came up quite suddenly blowing straight into our faces and making the downstream trip much more difficult than the upstream. Simon actually got blown into shore, and had to give up as soon as he reached the outskirts of camp. After we landed and loaded the trailer we went up the road a bit to fetch him.
We went back to Chris' house for oranges, juice and biscuits, and chatted while he switched to the bike trailer. As we drove up into the hills he told us about some of the history of the area, and some of the ecological problems they are facing now (many due to introduced plant species, and over logging). We went to the Big Tree park where we saw a REALLY Big Tree. It was an 800 year old Yellowwood tree, a very rare tree because they were heavily logged for timber (Most of the nice houses we'd seen had Yellowwood floors). The tree was in a bit of native forest, and though we didn't have time to walk around, Alison and I decided to come back later to take the forest path.
Our next stop was the Map of Africa. There is a point on a hill from which you can look down on the bend of a river, and the peninsula delineated looks (if you squint real hard) like a map of the continent. It was a lovely view, except for the bald spot in the middle where a tree farm was just harvested.
The other side of the hill had a spectacular view of the beach at Wilderness. From the meadow there paragliders often launch to fly all the way down to the beach. Since there is a constant wind from the ocean, there is none of the threat that a thermal will quit on you and drop you in the ocean.
We all opted for the downhill only version of the bike ride (Constance opted for the extended van tour). We were put onto bikes (and given helmets I'm glad to say) and pointed down a dirt road. The views were spectacular, the road just bumpy enough to make you feel that you were a real mountain biker, and the sun was perfect. I would have been happy to do nothing but roll down this hill over and over again all day. It took about 1/2 an hour to make it back to the house (we even had to pedal a bit at the end!).
It was about 1pm, and we were ready to eat, but we were also broke. We decided to drive to George to see what we were missing. It was only about 15 minutes away, and shorty after arriving in town, we were glad that we took Zita's advice and avoided staying there. It was really just a fairly modern industrial town, with plenty of traffic and crowds. We found the TIC to get a map and found a bank to pick up some cash. We stopped at a shopping center and had lunch at the Pancake tea room (decent chicken burgers), and peeked into another antique shop (stripped furniture again!). Then we decided we had enough of George, and headed out.
On the way back to Wilderness was a furniture manufacturer, next door to an antique store, so we stopped. Some gorgeous furniture, but why is new furniture always so much more expensive than old? I prefer the antiques!
Speaking of antiques, my big plan for Wednesday was to take the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe, the old steam train that runs between George and Knysna (and right through Wilderness, we heard the whistle). We didn't want to waste the whole day sitting on the train, and the round trip would do that (with the three hour layover). At the TIC though, they had an alternate plan: Take the 9:30 train from George to Sedgefield, and switch trains there to go back, arriving back at George at 12:30. That we could handle! Bought both our tickets for 80 Rands.
I still wanted to take a walk in the forest, so we went back to big tree and spent an hour or two walking through the forest. The sign said there were bushbok, and even leopards, but we didn't see anything but bushbok tracks. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon though.
We stopped at the beach for a short walk. The sand was so incredibly soft!! There were these cute little green snails with long pointy shells that would 'swim' into the sand when the waves washed them up onto the beach. It was quite amazing. More wonderful yet was the water, which was about 78 degrees or so! We walked until the wind was coming up and we were getting sandblasted, when we decided it was time to call it quits and head for dinner.
We went to Tom's again for dinner. This time I got to have the fish and Alison was stuck with pasta (not bad pasta though). Another walk on the boardwalk as the sun went down and then a quiet evening in. The best part of the day, though, was finding a basket of freshly washed and ironed clothes waiting for us. They even folded our underwear! I didn't think you could do that! No more day old shirts for us!
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Notes/Resources
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Last Updated 19 February, 1999
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