Day 11: Plett to Oudtshoorn, and a little fun along the way!

Another sad departure from another beautiful place.

Yet again, our destination surpasses all expectations. As I sit on our porch at De Opstal Country Lodge typing this, I am listening to the frogs. Of course, the fact that I am even on the deck is a little amusing. At 9:35pm, Jess and Shaun decide that it was time for bed. Our cottage only has one main room, so I moved to the outside….

As was the case in Kariega, we had the Southern Cross Beach House to ourselves since yesterday. We are feeling hopelessly spoiled and immensely important these days to have entire destinations to ourselves. Hopefully, our hosts will continue to call ahead and ensure that this trend continues…as it did at De Opstal…..once again, we are the only guests in a resort built for dozens. How wonderful to travel through South Africa in winter, one week before FIFA! :)

Back to breakfast. Had she been home, Shaun would have convocated today. We toasted to Shaun and her friends at breakfast. It’s too bad that Shaun’s convocation and this trip conflicted, but I would also have made Shaun’s choice… (Who wouldn’t have?) Just in case Shaun was regretting anything, some dolphins came by to toast her as well. That’s right – we watched dolphins swimming in the Indian Ocean from our patio while eating breakfast! I really don’t know how I am going to return to staring at a computer screen while eating a banana at work most mornings….

We left Plett (Shaun saw a monkey at the side of the road!), drove through Knysna (missed the Heads), and drove through wilderness.

Finally, we made it to Mossel Bay after Jess and I each jumped off a cliff.

Oh……does anybody want more info on that last bit? Mum? Jess and I (Shaun wasn’t interested) tried out paragliding today. I honestly thought that – coming to South Africa to run an 89km race – Comrades would make me more nervous than anything else. Standing at the top of a cliff with a paraglider strapped to my back…well…..let’s say Comrades didn’t quite affect me so acutely (I foolishly thought I was ready for Comrades…). We did it tandem – the guy who knew what he was doing was strapped to us…or us to him….and it was a beautiful way to see the Outteniqua Mountains, the Ocean, and the sleepy but picturesque town of Sedgefield below. How often have you seen birds landing at the top of a tree, two hundred feet below you? It was less of a rush than I expected, and more of a beautiful, peaceful experience. (Apparently our pilot didn’t like that Jessica also found it peaceful, as he put her through some corkscrews trying to elicit a scream….)

As we only had time for one, the second paragliding……pilot, co-worker(?), whatever…recommended we check out Seal Island in Mossel Bay rather than return to Knysna Heads. Worked for us – as little backtracking as possible! (Except for when we returned from Kariega….and when we will return from Oudtshoorn…and probably other times, too.)

What Lucille didn’t tell us was that Mossel Bay is an ugly city. “Welcome to Barrie!”, as Jessica put it! (Unless you like Barrie, in which case “Welcome to Hamilton!” Unless you are Kate…in which case welcome to…..Oshawa?) No worries, we went there to see the seals, not the city. We found the tourist centre, and were informed that the “winter weather” had stopped tours to Seal Island for the day. Um…what? I don’t know where to start. I’m wearing a t-shirt in this “winter”, and the pamphlet indicates that tours operate 10am-5pm, every day, all year long. Right.

At least we can get some good food in Mossel Bay – it is known for seafood. Problem #2. We went to a restaurant recommended by the tourist centre. You might remember that last night’s dinner was an excellent assortment of fish, calamari, prawn, mussels, etc? When I saw a similar looking item on the menu at the Sea Gypsy, I went for it. Foolish Matt. I should have appraised the place first. I was served textureless, deep-fried…..stuff that had once been fish, calamari, mussels, prawns…and some half-decent French fries. My mistake, but I’m still sore about it. The only consolation I could take was that a well-dressed couple walked in while we were getting ready to go. I was fighting the urge to tell them to leave and never come back…..and they walked right back out anyway! They were saved!!

The first hour or so of the drive from Mossel Bay to Oudtshoorn (“Oats-hoooorn”) is uphill. That took us through the foothills of the Outteniqua mountains, past a couple baboons at the side of the road (I love that!), and right to the top of some pretty tall mountains. The views were incredible! The driving was….well……I was happy enough to not be driving, and thankful that we made it through the mountain passes before dark (there are no streetlights, shoulders, or guardrails most of the way…). We were briefly lost, then found our way to our private country lodge.

I bid you good night. I suppose it is late enough for me to follow the lead of Shaun and Jessica now. :)

Day 10: A Whale of a Time in Plett

Woke up this morning, once again, to a perfect day!

I have to learn how to make croissants like the woman at the Southern Cross Guest House!  They were fantastic! The fruit cocktail here is pretty incredible, too.  You know how in Canada, fruit cocktail is the cheapest version of fruit punch?  Here, it is an excellent mix of crushed fruit.  Jean, our host this morning, reminded me of my aunt...partly because she was wonderfully kind and a little absent-minded (with all due respect, Kathy!)

Here is the view from our breakfast patio:

Anyway, after breakfast we wandered around Plett - a beautiful, fun little town with lots of interesting shops (I think I may have purchased more here than in all of Africa up to now...ok, with the exception of this computer...).  After that, we made our way down to the beach to go whale watching!

The boat we were on for whale watching is launched in a rather intriguing way.  We climbed on while it was on a trailer on the beach.  Then, a truck pushes the trailer as fast as possible down the beach toward the water, stops suddenly and (hopes?) that that boat slides off the trailer with enough force to shoot into the water.  I'm not kidding. 

It was a smoother launch than I expected!

The smooth launch didn't exactly compensate for the rough ride.  I've been on plenty of boats, but I guess this one was smaller - and the 'winter' seas rougher - than I am used to.  There were some big bumps on the ride out!

Before every whale watching tour, the guide highlights that these are wild animals, and there are no guarantees around sightings.  Our guide had hardly finished this speech when we saw a disturbance in the water up ahead...a thousand or so long-beak dolphins!!!

We also saw four Bryde's whales (look incredible in person, but don't make for great photos...), before heading out to look for Humpback whales.....a search which was unfortunately unsuccessful (whale season doesn't start in earnest until late June...).  Too bad.  At least I have a photo of myself standing beside a humpback whale in Newfoundland! :)

We returned to quieter waters in the bay (my stomach thanked the return) to drive by a colony of four thousand cape seals.

Cape seals are closely related to sea lions and other 'eared' seals, unlike the 'true' seals elsewhere in the world (like in Canada).  Interestingly, only eared seals are able to climb up rocks and walk around on their flippers.  True seals lack the size and strength in their front flippers to do such things.  The seal colony on the Robberg Peninsula in Plett has hit a high of around 6000 seals, but has stabilised at the 3-4 thousand that live there now.  This is a far cry from the 20 000 that lived there until the early twentieth century.  As is so often the case, we humans had a hand in their demise.  The roads to Plett were built using prison labour, and the seal colony was used as a source of meat.  The colony was obliterated, and it wasn't until 1998 that seals returned to the point.  As our guide pointed out, what has happened to the waters in 90-odd years that a bay that used to support 20 000 seals can now only support 4 000?  You guessed it.....humans. :(

On a happier note, we saw a handful of bottle-nosed dolphins on the ride back in to beach the boat.  As you might have guessed, beaching the boat is much the same as launching, but in reverse.  Our skipper drove toward the beach as fast as he could.....once we were grounded, a truck hauled us the rest of the way up the trailer.  Apparently, Plett and New Zealand (?) are the only places in the world that launch and dock commercial vessels that way.

It had been a great day so far, so I decide I would try going for a run along the beach - first run since Comrades.  Those of you who know Shaun may know that Shaun is a pretty fast runner.  Normally, I'm faster than she.  Today was not one of those days.  At least the distance started to get to her first, though we were running in soft sand, which can take some getting used to!  We made it through 30 minutes...not very fast....and I was happy to stop.  Interesting sights along the way:

- A dead seal on the beach.  It smelled horrid!
- Surfers.  One of them actually caught a wave while we were watching.  I wouldn't have the patience to wait for a wave like they do (let alone the guts to ride a twenty foot wave carrying sharks.....in my mind....)

No run along the beach is complete without some playing in the waves afterward, and when the Indian Ocean beckons, who can resist?  The tide was coming in....a fact I didn't really recognize until Shaun moved our shoes out of the way of the waves (we had put them down on dry land), and the incoming waves were cresting above my head (I was standing in thigh-deep water).  Made for some fun, as I pictured dolphins riding the waves toward me.  Then it came true.  Dolphins were swimming a stone's throw from the shore!!

We chased the dolphins down the beach (so much for finishing my run at 30 minutes!) and then bumped into a local man running the opposite direction.  He looked at us in our bathing suits, wet from the water, and he lent credit to our Canadian heritage.  He said: "Where are you from?  Antarctica?  Do you swim in the ice?" I suddenly didn't feel o bad about putting on a coat for the game ride yesterday morning.  Even when I proceeded to run for my clothes and a warm shower as soon as a cold rain started....

Dinner was a testament to how good Plett's dining can be.  I had a portobello appetizer, a dinner of excellent grilled calamari, octopus, prawns, mussels, and tuna steak, with wine of South Africa's national grape (the pinotage) and dessert.  Combined with Shaun's appetizer and dinner, the whole thing cost less than $60 Canadian. :)

Day 9: Kariega to Plett

I’m listening to the Indian Ocean crashing onto the beach a few hundred metres from where I sit as I type this. Soon, I will retire to bed, and continue to hear the Indian Ocean pounding away. Today has been another unbelievable day, and I think – not for the first time – that if it weren’t for the unfortunate political and cultural strife here, this country might be a true paradise.

Woke up this morning from the deepest sleep I have had since I left my own bed. It’s really tough having to deal with the luxurious, super-king-sized beds here. After another excellent breakfast – surprisingly, they did not offer us anything to drink – we headed out for another day of hunting…with cameras rather than guns.

As a Canadian in South Africa, I feel I can’t be too concerned about the ‘cold’ weather these South Africans comment on. However, when Ranger is putting on multiple layers under his coat, a scarf, and a toque, I don’t have a problem reaching for a sweatshirt and a jacket. They were necessary….it was COLD! Only until the sun came up in full force. By the time we were looking at animals, it was toasty warm.

We started the hunt looking at lion food (blue wildebeest is the local favourite). Apparently, a lion can gorge on 150-odd kilos of meat in one sitting…then it will sleep and recover for the next week or so. Almost as impressive as a lion’s mating habits – every 15 minutes for 3 days straight!! Of course, he only lasts around 5 seconds, so….quality over quantity?

Then we saw hippos!! Adult hippos can weigh up to 4 tonnes – the size of a large elephant (but much shorter). That’s bull! Oops, I mean, that’s a bull hippo… They are the most dangerous animal in Africa (in terms of humans killed) for a few basic reasons:


- They can’t back up, so if a person is in front of them, the hippo will walk right over it.

- Hippos give very few warning signs when they are feeling threatened, and blend in the water so well, that boaters can drift right among them without realizing they are pissing the hippos off.

- Sufficient jaw strength to bite an adult crocodile in half!

Adult hippos don’t have any predators other than humans. Are you surprised?

Continuing our trek:

Rumours are this is a target for the males….

….and here we have McDonald’s for lions. See the golden arches (well…dark brown…)?

Somehow, giraffes can hide fairly well…until you finally spot them.

This bird kills snakes by ‘dancing’ in front of them with outstretched wings. The snake strikes at the wing feathers, and the unharmed bird kills the snake with its feet.

This is just kind of funny. We left our room in a mess – clothes on the floor, bed all apart….. This is what we found when we returned:

Sadly, we had to leave Kariega and head on our way to Plett. The animals weren’t content to see us go, however, and some baboons were hanging out on the highway waiting for us! (No photo, sadly….driving too fast and nowhere safe to turn around…)


Uneventfully, we made our way to Plett, and settled in to our beautiful beach house on the ocean. Actually, not entirely uneventfully. At one point, we had to stop for construction. One of the workers walked up and began speaking to us in Africaans. That’s right! We were mistaken for locals!! :)

Day 8: Kariega (Kareega) Game Reserve

If there is a heaven, I think I might have found it. If not, I have found the next best thing! Anyone who doesn’t have South Africa on their ‘must-see’ list is simply mistaken. Don’t worry, I understand. I didn’t realize it either until I came here. Now, however, I want you to accept this truth. :)

The drive from the airport to the game park took an hour less than predicted by Google maps. A great start! En route, we came across Impala (Well, I saw the impala. Shaun and Jess were busy in the front seat figuring out directions or something…). Farther along, we saw zebra (pronounced zeb-bra in South Africa, rather than the American Zee-bra), and ostrich. Still good! Then, we came entered the park and were greeted with tea while we waited for the jeep to take us to the lodge. Our driver, Tula – a very happy and friendly man, came by, picked up our luggage, and we began the trek down the valley to our lodge. That’s when things really started to pick up!

A few of the sites on our way in:

Including, our lodge! We stayed in the building with a peaked roof to the left.


We were greeted by Lisl, who informed us that we had the place to ourselves. Totally! We had beautiful rooms, the main lodge, and a staff of twenty or so at our disposal. (Actually, Tula had already told us this, but he swore us to secrecy. I guess he wasn’t supposed to tell us…) We had originally booked the three of us in one room because, let’s face it, it’s expensive here! With no-one else around, we were given two rooms (Thankfully! I mean, I’m kidding Jess….). From our shared veranda, we had some more beautiful sites:

May I remind you this is all BEFORE our game drive?

Our lunch. We were the only guests in the dining room, so we had the prime table overlooking the river. The food was incredible, and the wine….well, we asked whether wine was by the bottle or the glass, and our server laughed and said “Don’t worry, it’s all included. Just let me know whatever you want.” Wine with lunch, and they don’t pour small glasses…

We were sitting by the pool…..’our’ pool, finishing our drinks when Shaun came up and introduced himself to us. Here’s where it’s going to get confusing, because not only was our Ranger named Shaun, he spells it the same was as Shauna, so from now on, I will refer to him as Ranger. Anyway, Ranger came up to introduce himself before our first game drive.

Within the hour we were bouncing along, crossing the electric fence that surrounds the lodge, and on our way to look for animals. The scenery was stunning! The rutted dirt track followed the edge of a river (with erosion, it might follow the bed of the river pretty soon..or need to be re-directed), and the lodge is in the bowl of a valley, so everywhere I looked was dense forest or grassland. Such a beautiful drive, that I caught myself thinking “It would be disappointing, but this drive without animals would still be worth it.” That was about 5 minutes into the drive that I thought that. Before 10 minutes were up, I had started taking photos:

White Rhinos!!! Next time we come back, they should have Black Rhinos, too, as they are getting some next year.

Now, rhinoceros (rhinoceruses?) are among my favourite animals, so I was pretty pleased already, but nothing compares to the Jurassic Park-esque thrill of seeing an elephant up ahead:

Ok….maybe something does:

I really have no words to properly describe how it feels to be within 12 feet of a real, wild, adult male lion. Particularly when it perks up and seems to take a real interest in what is happening in the car. Ranger informed us that a pouncing lion covers 22 metres per second, so the good news is that we wouldn’t even have had time to be scared…..

Ok, seriously, the poor guy is just coughing up a fur ball. He ambled away once he was done.

Once we were on our way, we drove right into the herd of elephants again. The matriarch elephant is over 4 tonnes (that’s right – metric tonnes!)…..happily, we didn’t go right into her path. We didn’t see the bull elephant, but apparently he weighs in at more than 5! According to Ranger, the largest bull elephant on record was found in Kruger Park in the 1930s. 12 tonnes!! (The weight of an 18-wheeler…?)

As we pulled back up to the lodge in the evening, we were greeted by warm, damp towels for our hands and faces, and mimosas. Warmed up by the fire, finished our drinks, cleaned up for dinner, and……we were offered wine the moment we returned to the lodge. Heavenly! We all tried Kudu steak for dinner with a red wine sauce. Poor kudu! Lucky me! Ranger regaled us with more stories of the lodge, the animals, and the dumb tourist who slapped an elephant as it walked past. The elephant replied in kind, and the fool had a large, multi-coloured bruise across his chest for the next several days.

We’ve finished dinner, and – after sitting by the large fireplace – Shaun and I have retreated to another room to briefly check email (and I’ve started typing). Someone just followed us in here to make sure we don’t want anything else to drink. Wow! Someone could become a lush in a hurry here!

----

As we were finishing up to head to our lodge for bed, one of the staff stopped at the door to ask whether we wanted to see something beautiful. How does one resist that invitation? The moon was rising over the hills beyond the river, so Natasha turned off most of the lodge lights, and we stood enjoying the moon and the stars, and a prawn hopping along the surface of the river to avoid fish. Natasha told us how much she loved working here; the animals, the peaceful surroundings, and the ever-present love for the wild. Everyone here has such an appreciation for the natural world. Based on what we’ve seen today, it’s really not about the money. It’s about having a lifestyle that gets you excited to wake up, and contented in the evenings.

I tried to get up through the night last night. I mean, I tried, and then fell back on to the bed. My legs didn’t respond very well….


It’s evening now, and thanks to ibuprofen, the cold Indian Ocean, compression gear, a long walk, and the passage of time, I can tie my own shoes without too much pain. What a reward!

Speaking of a reward, I was supposed to get a massage today to help me recover. I went in to the spa this morning – the first opening was at 11:45, so I would leave Shaun and Jess at the beach and come back for my massage. I left the ladies around 11:20, and when I returned around noon, Jess asked if I was feeling better. Um...I was supposed to get an hour-long massage.... Hmmm. I guess snoozing on the beach with headphones on isn’t the best way to keep track of time. :) Or, in Shaun’s case, not snoozing:

You see, when I returned to the spa, I found that contractors were busily tearing up flooring to put down carpet. Drilling through tile, cutting metal, hammering (no-one seemed to mind me walking through this in my sandals, strangely. I guess worksite safety really only applies to the workers…). The original woman at the front desk was not around. Fitting, as the front desk also wasn’t there; it had been moved to let the contractors do their thing. I found the manager who, between pauses for the shriek of a drill on tile, explained that she couldn’t let me have a massage today because the contractors were making so much noise. Apparently the contractors were two hours late; though I’m not sure that was the key issue as the earliest appointment she could offer me was for tomorrow. Sadly I’m leaving Durban tomorrow. Well…not really SADLY, tomorrow we go to a game reserve!!

To keep a long story from getting too much longer, I lazed on the beach, soaked in the ocean, and took that aforementioned walk before we returned to the Elephant Guest House for another night. There’s something pretty cool about coming to a hotel (for all intents and purposes), and having the staff say “I hear you finished in under 8 hours. Congratulations!” To be fair, Marleen’s excitement was a little comical. She introduced me to another guest here as someone who had done something amazing – the Comrades Marathon. He replied “Oh, what is that?” (What do New Yorkers know, anyway?!?)

This is rather intersting.  The lifeguards use these kinds of things to fish.  They lost track of this one and it caught me and Shaun....happily not with the hook...
 

 One other amusing little anecdote from today.  We went to a Morrocan place for dinner, where the advertising pamphlet read: "Bring your next corporate event to Yossi's - no-one can like Morrocan - for catering."  What?  Is that supposed to be comforting?  Jess realised that what they meant, of course, was "No-one can, like Morro-CAN, for catering", but their proofing was a little absent...