south africa: journal

kalagadi national park - 13th may

one more early start in the kalagadi national park. but this time we weren't hoping for lions, leopards or cheetahs. we weren't even going looking for game. we had a border to cross. the last one of all.

in reality it wasn't one border but two, or was it three. our predicament had become frustratingly confused and i wasn't entirely convinced about our chances of sorting it out. though we had no choice but to try.

 
gemsbok, kalagadi np

to recap, the day before we'd been in botswana. we'd been persuaded to abandon our chosen route in favour of a more scenic route which followed a dry river bed between the sand dunes, a route which traced the botswana / south africa border. however, at the point we should have crossed we weren't able to get a stamp in our carnet, and were forced to continue to the next border, twee riverine, in the kalagadi park. we still didn't have a proper stamp, but it looked like all we were going to get. having been advised against using the badly surfaced road on the sa side of the border we would return back along the river bed on the botswana side and cross at the same place we'd tried the previous day. on top of this agro, we'd stayed on the sa side of the border, but hadn't stamped out of botswana. the border guards had been relaxed the day before, assuring us that it would be the easiest way, and our eagerness to end the day's driving had lowered our guard and we belived them. now our paperwork was in a mess and we had three borders to cross, as well as having to re-trace our route - which i hate.

step one - getting out of sa. easy. a good start.

step two - getting back into botswana. not the same guard as the day before. not good. several conversations, some waking people up (it was dawn), some misunderstandings and a bit of suspicion but we made it through.

step three - back into sa. this really was the last border of the trip. apart from the usual confusion over the carnet it was fairly painless and we were though. three borders before breakfast and nothing but a thousand or so kilometres of smooth tarmac between us and cape town.

 
first sighting of table moutain

as we sped south, the desert slowly released its grip on the land. sand firmed into rock and dune grass blossomed into heathery shrubs. still too barren for farmland, and too dry to be moor, it was closer to steppe; as flat and bleak as the grey sky above it. the road was flat and straight and we just drove, dreaming only of cape town and the distractions of the city.

some time during the afternoon the land rover began to waver on the road, like it had been hit by a violent cross-wind. quite likely in our exposed position. it wavered again, and i noticed the grasses on the verge weren't moving. the was no wind, we had puncture. a huge gash in the side-wall. a result of the sharp bolders in chizarira np finally taking their toll on the military spec michelins. but it was no drama, another tyre change. easy.

 
one last tyre change, middle of nowhere

by the time we reached calvinia, it was getting dark, cold and beginning to rain. we didn't fancy camping at all so treated ourselves to a b&b. it was a self contained room with a cooker and tv. luxury.

south again to cape town. not far to go. we finally left the barren land behind, zig-zagging down a huge escarpment to a valley, arable fields shining in the sun. not long after table mountain appeared on the horizon, its distinctive shape as much a beacon for us as it has been for the countless sailors who've sought its harbour.

cape town

cape town. we'd made it. 35,000 miles, 23 countries and nearly a year on the road. we didn't know whether we were happy or sad. probably neither, it was still too sudden. we'd reached an objective we'd set more than two years before. what next? we went for a beer.

 
winter in cape town

it was winter in cape down. the days were bright but crisp. like autumn in england - if we're lucky. it was too cold for the beaches, so we stuck to the shopping malls, sating our desire for western consumerism and metropolitan comforts; replacing the clothes we'd worn out and preparing ourselves for our iminent re-introduction to society.

 
resident penguins, boulders beach cape town

there were, of course, a few more things we had to do; the winelands, the southernmost point and diving with great whites at least. so, after a week fairly uneventful, yet glutonous city living we fired up the landy again and made the short drive to stellenbosch, in the heart of south africa's winelands.

stellenbosch

in this laid back, university town, we unfortunately spent most of the day getting wound up, trying to get the website back on-line. we failed on that day, and on many subsequent days due to continued errors by our service provider, who also saw fit to delete it entirely. this wasn't helping us to relax at all, but i suppose it was, in some awful way, preparing us for a return to normality.

the next day we were booked on a wine tour, which provided a great opportunity to forget about the website and enjoy being driven through some of the most classically beautiful countryside i have ever seen. the warm colours of autumn still clinging to the rows of vines, stretching back to the craggy peaks beyond. the low sun slanting between the ordered trees that lined the road. and then of course there was the wine. and a lot of it there was too.

 
wine tasting, stellenbosch

it was a long and difficult day's tasting; deciding between the merlot and the pinotage, the chenin and servignon blancs. the differences were subtle and often required more than one tasting - just to be sure.

excited by our obvious success as wine tasters, we decided to broaden our sample to include the wider field of alcoholic drinks and headed out for the evening. after one nightclub, one live band, serveral bars and, to add some south aftrican flavour, a lift in the back of a pick-up (or backie) with some large sacks of chicken feed, we somehow manged to find our way back to the guesthouse. well, it was called the "stumble inn".

hermanus

a breathtaking drive through the mountains led us south, to the coast again at hermanus, a small seaside town that draws vistors to its white beaches & cliff-top paths which offer the chance to spot migrating hump-back whales, if you happen to be there at the right time of year. both the coastline and the town, were vaguely reminiscent of a cornish equivalent - except that this was mid-winter and we still had weather you'd be pleased to get in an english summer. and by that i mean it's just about warm enough to lay on the beach - if you tuck yourself out of the wind. which is exactly what we did.

but there was another reason for our visit. nearby gansbaai is, arguably, the white shark capital of the world. this the departure point for the cage diving boats. a whole industry based around taking tourists out to the shark infested waters, off a small island and dangling them in the water like bait for the waiting sharks.

of course, it's not quite like that. concerns for both the humans and the sharks make this a highly regulated industry, with only certain boats allowed in certain specific areas. though an incident had recently made the south african papers the safety record was good and as long as you didn't do anything stupid with your arms or legs (like stick them through the bars), the cage offered adequate protection.

after a five minute safety briefing the boat was launched and we headed off for the island. it was another clear day and the blue oceanic waters looked inviting, though this was certainly neither the time or the place for a swim. d... island is mostly just a big rock and is home to a large seal colony. it's this abundance of seals that attract the sharks, seal being their favourite food and the reason south african surfers are particularly prone to the sharks' attention - the silohuette of a surfer on a board is much like that of a seal, from below.

speaking of which, some people say that the cage diving industry causes sharks to associate humans with food, which can only be a bad thing. others, particularly those making money from cage diving, say that attacks happened before cage diving existed, the fishermen have always thrown bait into the water, and that the real trick is to try to avoid looking like a seal at all costs. i don't know who's right, both arguments can be compelling, but rightly or wrongly i wanted to get into the water with those big fish - and a cage, of course.

we dropped anchor in the main channel that runs between the seal colonies - the sharks favourite spot. now even though this was probably the best place in the world for great whites, the sharks are wild, not a tourist attraction, and are therefore not guaranteed to show, no matter how much we'd paid. so, with a large fish on a string floating enticingly in the water, we settled down to wait.

we'd barely begun to enjoy the sunshine when the shout rang out - "shark". everyone peered overboard. it was big. even after the whalesharks, it was still a surprise to see such a formidable fish. grey, pointy, sleek and mean; in the clear water it was impressive, even from the boat.

too quick and too in awe to be scared, we pulled on our masks, zipped up the wetsuits and plunged into the friged water and dangerous safety of the cage. the bleeding bait-fish floated nearby and the water was fishy and rich with blood and brine. below the surface, like all the movie cliches loomed the shark, the great white, the killer. but not, surprisingly, the gummy, bared teeth brute; but a lean, graceful athelete, mesmerising and alluring.

we watched the shark come and go, circling and charging, lured by the bait. other sharks arrived, larger and larger, each intimidating its predecessor. some reached the bait, showing their legendary teeth, crunching into the fish and colouring the water 'till we could taste the blood. one lost the bait and savaged our cage with a jaws style display of tenacity - jagged teeth testing the steel and thrashing the cage despite its moorings. an hour and a half in the cage passed quickly in a curious blend of adrenaline and tranquil wonder.

cape agulhas

from hermanus we drove west along the coast then south one last time to cape agulhas; africa's southern most point. though practically cape town was our goal - if we had a geographic one at all - cape agulhas is an obvious end point for any north / south african traverse. so of course we had to go there, and it was a goal achieved with the same happy sadness as our arrival in capetown. it was ruggedly beautiful and we were both glad and proud to have made it there, but it was also another nail in the coffin of our trip. the end was more than in sight; it had surrounded us.

 
southern most point, south africa

we lingered for photos before turning unavoidably north towards a small fishing village having taken a couple of shortcuts along the way, we arrived at the tiny harbour with the land rover caked in mud. it was a bleak spot. the weather was turning nasty and night seemed to be closing in early. we got an off-season discount on a cosy holiday cottage, lit a roaring wood fire and settled in for the night.

the skies were clear by morning and we explored the towering dunes, pebbley beaches, and rock pools along the coast. but it was too cold for beaches - even for brits - so headed back to cape town one last time.

 
coastal dunes

cape town - the end of the road

we had one week left and nothing much to do. mostly we shopped, ate in restaurants, watched dvds in the backpackers, did anything we'd been missing along the way. we climbed table mountain on the clearest morning for days; an exhausting climb, much harder than we'd anticipated, resulting in 2 metre views into the fog. there was no doubt about it, it was time to go home.