Category: South Africa Trip

Woke to cloudy skies again. But we’re moving onto Addo Elephant Park area which is quite a drive, so lack of sun is not a problem – it’s still warm – sorry folks back in snowy England.

Off on the Garden Route through Tsitsikamma Park again. Detour round roadworks – seems they’re doing huge road-widening.

Stopped on way to finish the picnic we started yesterday – watching children walking from school – in full uniform – woolly socks and jumper!

Arrived at Hitgeheim (meaning home of the Hitge family) Country Lodge after 150K of which the last 3K were up a dirt track. Were welcomed by zebra, wildebeest and eland but they scooted before I could get my camera out. This isolated Lodge consists of 8 thatched lodges and is situated on top of a ridge overlooking citrus groves with stupendous 270^o degree views. The lodges are spacious and superbly appointed with ostrich leather suites, wetroom indoor shower as well as an outdoor shower, and a terrace. In the main lodge there is are terraces, dining room, lounge, swim pool – well it’s just more luxurious than I could have imagined. Ronel showed us round, Donald helped us with our bags, Archie, the owner gave us a bone-breaking handshake! He’s just retired from 40 years of farming, having slowly built up the lodge, almost accidentally over the last few years, adding to it as more and more friends and friends-of-friends kept arriving.

He’s accompanied by his Jack Russell, Chilly – a podgy dog with a protruding bottom jaw and lop-sided gait to whom Archie took a dislike, but whom has slowly but surely become his loyal companion – apparently Chilly sulks and doesn’t move/eat if Archie leaves him behind!

Aperitifs and nibbles (olives, pappadums, pesto/sundried tomato dip, nuts) at 6 on the terrace to get to know the only other guests – Fritz and Nancy – émigrés from US who now live in Knysna, and Nancy’s sister and bro-in-law, Bob and Diane from Iowa (n summer) and Arizona (in winter where it is now minus 22^oC!! – so Southwell cut off by snow is not so bad?).

Nomsamo, quietly spoken but with the widest, whitest grin I’ve ever seen, served us our 6-course dinner – calamari (amuse-bouche!), beetroot soup, smoked trout salad, champagne sorbet, tender rack of lamb with rosemary mash and ratatouille, and a cinnamon sponge steamed pudding, decorated with a cinnamon stencil of Saartjie Baartman (if you’re squeamish – skip this bit! – a Khosian (first inhabitants of southern tip of Africa) woman whose defining attributes were her huge backside and elongated labia (a condition christened Hottentot apron) and who was examined by English doctors and paraded round London as part of a freak show!) – all accompanied by a Cabernet John picked from their walk-in wine cellar.

Apparently Marietjie, Archie’s wife and Martina his 23-year old daughter are the talented chefs with Marietjie doing the planning and creating – I’ve picked Martina’s brain this morning over a couple of the recipes.

A word about music – there’s been very little piped music wherever we’ve been, or it’s been very discreet. It was a bit of a shock therefore at ‘Whale of a View’ to have constant radio on, even piped down to the swimming pool. It was very much Zelda’s 60’s type taste of a world service ‘Smooth’ radio programme, so not offensive, but still rather unnecessary but a bit intrusive in the presenter’s chatty interludes. Conversely here at Hitgeheim, the music was soft lounge jazz – a female singer who Ronel informed me was Diana Krall. She showed me two CD sleeves – the one currently playing was in her younger days when she did a lot of cover songs (I think it was called ‘Love’s secrets’), but the other was majority of songs written by herself and Elvis Costello, so Ronel promised to play it tomorrow night.

 

We thought we’d have to move rooms today but Zelda rearranged her bookings so we could stay in the larger room. There are two frangipane trees in the garden and she’d put a vase of them in our room – an absolutely divine perfume.

Woke to cloudy skies – it did drizzle on our way back last night – and a breezy wind. Everyone trying to urge caution on the walk today and suggesting to stick to the shorter one (about 2 hours) in view of the wind. Apparently one guy died recently…. So if you don’t get anymore blog…. !!

 

Well I’m still alive and kicking having done the shorter walk – but still quite challenging particularly in face of an extremely strong wind.

Wind is quite a feature here and in Cape Town they call it ‘the Cape Doctor’ because it blows away the pollution. It certainly is a very clear, clean air here and I’m sure it would cure most cases of ‘Trent Valley rot’ sinusitis!

A lot of clambering over rocks with a sheer drop below. Saw seals from afar and some awesome views of the huge crashing waves against the rock. I joined up with another couple (Mark and Judy) from Guildford and I must admit I felt reassured to have them around as there were very few people and I could got spooked by the sheer drop and if I’d tripped….. They’re regular walkers and he had GPS so I felt in good hands.

John met me back at base, having spent a relaxing morning with beer and book.

Back to B & B where we decided that an ‘easy’ afternoon was needed so I popped to Woolworths for picnic ingredients. Now if our Woolworths was like the S. African Woolies, I’m sure it would still be in business. It’s much more like a Marks and Sparks. (by contrast the ‘Aldi’ equivalent over here is called ‘Pick ‘n Pay’) Woolworths has a good food section from which I chose smoked snoek (bony fish tasted a bit like mackerel), ham, chicken pate, pasta salad, raspberries and ripe peaches. A glass of wine accompanied it on our terrace followed by (in John’s case anyway) a snooze – I succumbed to a nap later!

Then on to The Med – a popular local restaurant run by husband (chef) and wife (cheery front of house) where a lot of locals appeared to be regulars. Devoured delicious mussels/tempura prawns and calamari, bouillabaisse and a warm seafood platter. Tested their crème brulee flavoured with star anise – not quite up to Lake District standards!

 

Fellow guests from Manchester (Carol and Dave) and Birmingham (Val and Terry) told us of the ‘must-do’s’ around the area having been here a while and visited most sights in between their golfing days. V & T’s son was at Plymouth Uni but not at the same time that Dan captained the first golf team. Terry (handicap 3!) plays for Staffordshire Seniors and has played at a few golf courses in Nottingham. He recommended the Robberg hike which the guide books says takes 4 hours – he did it in 3½ (but doesn’t sound like he stopped to admire the view/take photos) whereas the other couple took 6. I intend to do it tomorrow but I’m not into record-breaking.

Finally met Zelda – a very vivacious woman – who kindly gave us hints and tips about sights and activities.

Went to watch a couple of brave folks bungy from the highest jump in the world – a 216 metre Bloukrans River bridge spanning a deep gorge – they advertised it as ‘free adrenalin’ but you paid about £50 for the priviledge! I almost felt their backs stretch a couple of inches as the elastic sprung them up and down about 3 times before a guy on a fixed line stopped them and they were winched back up.

Then onto Tsitsikamma National Park – quite a performance to get in – had to sign in and say if we were just day visitors. Made our way to the rocky coastline with crashing waves and stupendous views. Walked to the rather wobbly suspension bridge over Storms River – on a boardwalk with some quite challenging gradients through old knotted, gnarled forest sheltering birds and wildlife, including dassies, weaver bird and others unknown.

We deserved a drink after that, but the only watering hole was the restaurant by the carpark and the guide book was absolutely right that “…meals which, alas, are less memorable than the startling views.”! We seemed to fall ‘through the net’ and although we had about 4 different waitrons attend to us, we were served after at least 3 couples who came in after us. It’s our first bad experience here and they were courteous enough to not charge John for his rather unmentionably slimy smoked salmon salad.

Mood a bit low but was quickly lifted when we detoured to Nature’s Valley with its huge expanse of sand and crashing rollers. At Salt River Mouth we lay in the crashing surf (it was hard to keep upright and there were quite a few rocks around!) of the warm Indian Ocean. 

Went to Emily Moon’s restaurant at her River Lodge just outside Plett. Zelda had told us it would be a good idea to go early enough to catch it in daylight (sunset about 7.30) and we kicked ourselves we didn’t make it. It’s full of African sculptures and art and very tastefully laid out. The owner was a warden at Serengetti and specialises in dealing in native art. Beautiful prawn/avocado starter and the most tender fillet I’ve ever tasted. Final commendation was the crème brulee we shared – absolutely perfect (note to family – probably even better than that Lake District one that currently holds the title of the best.)

Off to Cango Wildlife Ranch where they have a conservation programme to breed the nearly extinct white lions and tigers. We saw a crocodile being fed, pygmy hippos, cheetahs and leopards.

Then we dropped down to the Garden Route to make our way to Plettenberg Bay. Scenery now changed back to the more lush vegetation we’d seen near Cape Town and the vast sandy beaches of Wilderness. Strolled along, avoiding beached jellyfish, paddling in the crashing waves, admiring the surfers and watching quite a few dogs, including the cutest boxer puppy, frolicking in the water.

Continued onto ‘Plett’ as it’s known locally and arrived at ‘Whale of a View’ B & B. A very 50’s name for our fascinatingly eclectically furnished accommodation. Zelda the owner loves going to boot sales and dumps to pick up old furniture and bric a brac which she uses imaginatively both for practical purposes (an old cabinet housed our fridge and the breakfast cutlery and crockery was all ‘old’) and for decoration – her theme at the moment being shoes, handbags and gloves. In fact she wasn’t here when we arrived because she was away in Cape Town on an acquisitive trip. She came back with the van jam packed full and pleased that she’d got a treasure haul to keep herself occupied in the quiet season in about a month’s time.

The bay window in our room gives an awesome view of the whole of Plettenberg Bay, but no whales at this time of year. A relax and freshen up by the pool and then to Fu-shi for dinner – delicious Asian soups, salmon and tuna sushi and some vegetable tempura on a terrace with a view of the bay.

 

Breakfast on the verandah included the usual (now we’re getting blasé!) fresh fruit salad, cold meats and cheese, muffins, cereals plus ostrich sausages as part of the ‘fry-up’.

Chatted to Bob and Libby who are also S.Africa ‘virgins’ and are doing similar tour. He’s ‘in underwear’ (always gets a smile apparently) and travels extensively to Sri Lanka where he has a factory producing for one of his labels – the Fantasy brand (remember Ronnie’s Sex shop?)– which I had recently chosen in John Lewis.

Then onto the Swartenberg Pass for the ‘must-do’ drive towards Prince Albert. Tom-Tom wouldn’t believe we really wanted to go on this untarmac-ed road for nearly 40 kilometres through stunning rocky formations with fantastic views of the valley, so we had to ask for the bike route and then he obliged. There was actually a bike race going over the pass and they were going a lot faster than us. Tortuous bends and not many passing places – so a challenging drive. We arrived at De Top at the same time as a group of S African blokes we’d kept meeting at photo-stop places, one of whom showed me his watch – it was noon – so….?? No he was showing me his altimeter on his watch which informed us we were 1552meters above sea level.

Then down to Prince Albert and bliss…end of the vibrating road. A very welcome beer and open sandwiches before heading back the long way round on ‘normal’ roads.

The Safari Ostrich Farm was a relaxing and fascinating tour of these flightless birds and their habits. Did you know you can stand on ostrich eggs providing you weigh less than 120kg, so John tested that theory happily, but declined the offer to race one as you mustn’t weigh more than 75kg.

The ostrich feathers and skins are very expensive so we resisted the temptations in the shop. A feather duster was about £15 and a small purse about £40. Our host Paula had been wearing a very elegant ostrich skin lime green skirt this morning – goodness knows what that set her back.

 One comment on the overall trip so far is that it’s so peaceful – we’ve not met any great crowds apart from at Cape Point and even then it wasn’t heaving. Prince Albert, although quite a sizeable town for this area was sleepy and very few people about.

Ate at De Zeekoe again – butternut squash soup, tender lamb fillet, springbok pie, assorted veg, apple pie and cinnamon ice cream.