Table Mountain Hike - India Venster

India Venster hike on Table Mountain has to be the best hike indeed. Definitely not for the faint of heart as this hike has claimed more lives than any of the other hikes. This is due to some of the vertical rock climbing that is involved. One slip....and it is carrots........

The shot below is of the magnificent city of Cape Town. with Robben island in the top left corner. Ruth and I lived in almost smack-bang in the centre of the picture along the 'green belt'...
It took around 2 hours to get to the top and this photo was at around 3/4 of the way up, under the cable car.

Ruth resting, with Table Bay and Bloubergstrand in the background.

Ruth with the Upper Cable station in the background.

It says it is not an easy way down, but you should try going up.....

The gulley of Platteklip Gorge. Neither and easy way down or up.

East Coast Tour - Part 4 - Cape Agulhas National Park and Home..

We are on our last leg of our trip. Man, we covered 4,228km over 14 days. Quite a feat if you ask me. Our last stop was the Cape Agulhas National Park. The southern most tip of the continent of Africa. The drive from Tsitsikamma was good and we arrived mid-morning.
We stayed in a thatched chalet which was just about brand-new. In the photo below, ours was the second from the left. We were the only ones here, so it was so peaceful.
Below is a photo of the miles and miles of open coastline....

Ruth doing what she is good at....chillin...

Once again, the braai was fired up, the drinks were poured. Sharing the sunset with ones life partner is truly a life worth living!

One of the many shipwrecks along South Africa's coastline.

And here we are at the very tip of Africa... Couldn't quite make out the convergence of the Indian and the Atlantic, but it is there....somewhere....

Just for the record.....

The Cape Agulhas lighthouse, which was built in 1848 after the wreck (amongst many others) of the ship 'Arniston' with the loss of 372 lives in 1815.

Ruth in the town of L'Agulhas.

Sadly the next day, our trip was just about over. Boy, what an adventure it has been too. What a truly magnificent country this is. It will be very, very sad to leave in November. The good thing is, is that we can always come back for a visit!

Below is part Gugulethu, one of the shack towns that are scattered all around Cape Town.

You know you have arrived home when this comes into view...

East Coast Tour - Part 3 - Addo Elephant National Park and Tsitsikamma National Park

After Cintsa and East London, we headed the steering wheel to the Addo Elephant Park, just north of Port Elizabeth. Neither of us have been there before, so we were in for a treat.
We had booked into the Spekboom tented camp for 2 nights and we arrived at the South gate to the park which meant we had a 35km trip through the park to check in. As expected, we saw lots of Elephants as well as a host of other wild creatures... Seeing as it was spring, we were greeted (as has been the case for most of our trip), by incredible wild flowers. The whole park was carpeted in yellow and purple flowers..a real treat.

Our first sighting was of a couple warthogs.

Everywhere we went, we were greeted by Tortoises. All along the roads on our trip, they were everywhere. We had to slow down a few times to avoid them as they were slowly crossing the roads.

The majestic Elephants were plentyful in the park. Here are a couple of photos of them at play.

Man, there is nothing like the African bush, especially when you 'rough' it. Braai (BBQ) every night, listening to the chirps of crickets and the howling of Jackals. Ruth and I are so fortunate to have a love for the great outdoors. Hiking, camping, birdwatching is truly magnificent in South Africa.

Below is a photo of an almost tame Southern Boubou who I quickly made friends with!

The flightless Dung beetle was common on the roads all around the Addo.

http://www.south-african-game-reserves.com/addobeetle.htm

National Parks are not only about the animals. There is an incredible amount of wild flowers to view as well. We were fortunate that this is the best time of the year to view the wild flowers.

Below is a rare sighting of a Caracal or Rooikat as he is known in Afrikaans. Unfortunately I was only able to take a shot of his tail end..

Yellow daisies was the order of the day....

Some days were a little cool, but there is nothing better than finding a nice sunny spot for a read...

After spending two days in the park, it was time to head south. First a quick visit to Jefferies Bay and then to Wilderness.

We have just under a week left of our trip. Last night, we spent at some friends of ours in Jeffries Bay or J-Bay to the locals. One of South Africa's premier surfing coastlines which hosts world class surfing competitions. We have known Ben and Joke (pronounced Yo-Ka) for many years and they have retired in J-Bay for a couple of years now.

We past through Port Elizabeth, but didn't hang around as the weather had turned a bit foul and was raining. Was a bit of a pity about the weather as PE is supposed to be a great place to stop over, but we were heading to the Tsitsikamma National Park anyway.

We checked in at the Tsitsikamma National Park and the staff were really fantastic. SANParks or the South African National Parks staff, really have improved over the years and it is always a pleasure to visit one of the parks.

The 'Wilderness' is always an incredible place to visit. The coastline is truly amazing. Rugged, wild and awe-inspiring. We unpacked our bags and headed off on a hike along the coast. We arrived a the bridge spanning the Storms River. Unfortunately one of the bridges had been damaged in a storm, so we weren't able to cross it to hike up the other side.

Below is a great shot of Ruth on one of the suspension bridges leading to the Storms River mouth.

And below is yours truly...

Here, Ruth is kicking back after hiking to the Storms River.

WTF! Looks like the grasshopper on top is lazy and is hitching a ride with his mate...

And below is where we stayed for 2 nights in the Tsitsikamma National Park. You can just see Ruth with her yellow cap on...

East Coast Tour - Part 2 - Bulungula to Chintsa via Umkomaas

After 2 Glorious days at Bulungula, we jumped into the car and headed for Umkomaas where my Mum lives. This was quite a trek as it was 466km (the first 2 hours on a dirt road) and then on the N2 clogged with taxis and slow moving traffic. Once back on the N2, the next big town was Umtata which used to be the capital of what was called the Ciskei. Past Umtata was a slog, as it was mostly single carriageway. Once we got through Kokstad, the road turned into dual carriageway and we could pick up speed. Our nerves were frayed by this time as we were tired and hungry. Pressing on, we came to Port Shepstone and the coastal road heading towards Durban.

After spending 3 days visiting my Mum Umkomaas, we jumped back on the N2 Southcoast road down to Chintsa just outside East London. We arrived in the late afternoon after a few detours and found a small pub and seeing as we were famished, we stopped in for a pint and something to eat. In the pub, we met the owner of a small holiday resort and within 15 mins, we had found somewhere to put our heads down for the night.

The next morning, we took a long walk along the beautiful beach. Man, this is also a beautiful part of South Africa. Miles and miles of pristine coastline that is hardly inhabited.

Something rang true to Ruth about this place as she kept saying how much at peace she felt. Oh, well, this probably means we will be coming back this way one day.....

There is something about walking along miles of deserted coastline. Nothing but you, the wind, the seagulls and the crashing surf.....

At midday, we packed our stuff and headed south-west again via East London. East London was founded in 1847 by the Britis settlers. It played a big role in the British - Xhosa frontier wars as a supply port.

Above is a photo of the East London Town Hall.

Ruth and the statue of Steve Biko, the Apartheid activist murdered in 1977 by South African police whilst in detention.

East Coast Tour - Part 1 - Cape Town to Bulungula

We had been planning a trip up the East coast of South Africa from Cape Town to Durban and back for a while now as there is soooo much to see and do. This required some careful planning and preparation. So, on the 10th September 2011 at 06:45am precisely, we set off on the said journey. Our first destination was Plettenberg Bay, approximately 520km from Cape Town.

We were quite fortunate with the traffic to Plettenberg Bay and the drive was pretty uneventful apart from a horrendous accident just outside Cape Town which laid us up for 20 mins or so. We arrived in Plett at around midday. We stayed at the Piesangs Valley Lodge, which was an incredible B&B that Ruth had booked for us.

The owner of the B&B recommended we eat at a restaurant called 'The Lookout', which was fabulous. The food was great and the view of the estuary was fantastic.

We retired quite early that night as we had planned a hike of the Robberg Nature Reserve. The next morning we had an incredible breakfast and really carbed up as the hike was going to be around 4 hours. We were really blessed with good weather and there was a nice cool breeze blowing off of the Indian Ocean. We soon came across a seal colony which was far below us, but we could smell them a mile away. A 'Rob' in Dutch means 'Seal' and the Robberg means Seal Rock or Mountain, but it was more of a Peninsula.

Above is a Gekko displaying his wonderful camouflage.

Ruth decided to climb this cliff and play 'Peek a Boo'.... Cheeky little monkey she is.....

The hike was amazing as the peninsula was quite diverse with all sorts of bays and beaches, birds, seals and flora.

After 2 days in Plettenberg Bay, we headed to Bulungula in the Transkei. The Transkei used to be an independent homeland before the fall of Apartheid. We headed East on the N2 Motorway and drove past Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and overnighted in the Hogsback, an beautiful little hamlet deep in the mountains and forests of the Transkei.

The next morning we headed towards Bulungula via King William's Town and Komga. We got back onto the N2 which is not the best road to drive on. Potholes abound and the dreaded Taxi's are deathtraps. Not far from Komga, we crossed the Kei River (hence the name Transkei) and started hunting for our turnoff.....

Eventually we got to the turnoff to Bulungula. http://www.bulungula.com/ We then had a 2 hour journey along dirt road which was not really designed for Toyota Corollas, but hey, this was an adventure. Bulungula is situated in the heart of the Transkei, amidst the rolling hills and rivers leading to the Indian Ocean. Man, this place was isolated. The local people living here are stuck in the Dark Ages. No electricity, running water. Living on subsistence farming. They are probably far happier from it anyway.....

We stayed in a Rondavel here for 2 nights. It was all quite basic, but man, oh man, was this place beautiful. The food was prepared for us and it was plentiful and nutritious. There were around 10 guests staying here from all over. We all ate together and it was very sociable.

Ruth and I did quite a bit of hiking whilst we were there. There were quite a few hikes to go on, along the beaches and up into the surrounding hills. Everywhere was like a picture postcard view.

At night, we sat around the 'Lapa' which had a big roaring fire, which was great as the nights were a little cool. Above is young Ruthie relaxing with the dogs and horses with the beach in the background.

I don't think many people know of this place, but it is so special and magical that I hope it remains one of South Africa's best kept secrets....