SOUTH AFRICA: January 2020

THE WESTERN CAPE & THE GARDEN ROUTE

Why South Africa??

The end of 2019, and we decided to go on a trip to a part of the world we hadn't yet visited. Our first choice was Oman but unfortunately we had left it too late to book and we had second thoughts too when we looked more closely at maps of the proposed itineraries and saw just how close to the Yemeni border, a very active war zone, we would be going through. 

We had never journeyed to Africa (apart from an unsatisfactory day spent in Agadir in Morocco as part of a cruise primarily to the Canaries) so plumped for South Africa but not a safari. Cape Town sounded much safer than Johannesburg, and a friend had taken the train through the winelands of the Garden Route and recommended we visit, so the decision was made.

Steve was keen to give Saga the benefit of the doubt again despite mixed verdicts on our previous trips with them. A lot depends on the guide and Lindsey was an interesting lady with an excellent grasp of South African history and commendably forthright views on the evils of the apartheid era. But perhaps because she was semi-retired and had done little homework on this route, her knowledge was primarily based on memories of long-ago family holidays. Therefore she wasn't so good on the basics to 'guide' us: like giving everyone the same time to get back on the bus(!); daily itinerary organisation; ensuring the bus stopped near toilets for the men among us and, if not, knowing where they were; and tips about the best places to eat, shop etc. It usually felt very much as if everything was being made up as we went along. This was good if, like the Table Mountain visit, the schedule couldn't be followed as planned, but not so good when we set off on  long drives and no-one could elicit from her just where we were headed and what we were likely to see.

The success of any guided holiday also, of course, depends on the group dynamic. Lindsey wisely made no Butlins-style attempt  to try to turn us magically into life-long friends from Day 1. But our small group of 16 included 6 (3 separate couples) who had been in Cape Town on the Saga extension for 5 days before the rest of the party arrived. No problem there, we knew from previous trips. But these 6 acted as if they had allowed the rest of us to join them, blithely assuming they came first in every way: where they sat on the bus determined where the rest of us could sit; they tried to ensure they were always first to do anything as they were 'together' and even rudely caused partners to move and have to sit on separate tables to eat as they were 'together'. In normal life such boorishness and lack of grace could have easily been put a stop to but a bus-trip holiday is not normal life. 

CAPE TOWN 

HISTORY:

Evidence of a nomadic hunter-gatherer community 30,000 years ago changed about 2000 years ago with the acquisition of sheep and cattle transforming the nomads into herding communities, Khoi.

In the 1480s the Portugese mariner Bartolomeu Dias first rounded the newly-named Cape of Good Hope with resulting violent skirmishes between the Portuguese and the indigenous Khoi. European settlement had to wait until 1652 with the newly-established refreshment station at Table Bay designed to feed sailors on Dutch East India Company ships trading between Europe and the East. Colonization developed as more and more Dutch men were granted 'Free Burgher' status, annexed land, stole the Khoi's cattle and sheep and, with the use of slaves, set up a prosperous community with a separate identity while the Khoi were decimated by disease and dispossession. 

By the 1790s Dutch global influence was eclipsed by Britain who occupied Cape Town in 1795 and increasingly, despite British-born residents being in the minority,  gave it a British political, economic and cultural character. The rapid growth of communications in mid 19th century reinforced the city's status even before the discovery of the world's largest deposit of diamonds at Kimberley in 1867. That, plus the discovery of gold around Johannesburg in the 1880s,  made Cape Town the gateway to the world's richest mineral deposits. But this all hid enormous growing poverty and vice in the cheap labour force of immigrants, Africans and people of mixed-race which disquieted the Anglo-centric middle class who stemmed immigration, other than from Western Europe, and introduced racial segregation.

1910 saw the establishment of a federated Union of South Africa, after the defeat and surrender of the Boers in the Anglo-Boer War, with its capital in Cape Town. Accelerated industrialization resulted in a huge influx of rural Africans which, in turn, spurred the authorities to pass the Urban Areas Act, the precursor of Apartheid. By 1945 new townships were being built and Cape Town had more black and poor white Afrikaner residents than white. The National Party with their increasingly repressive and immoral policy of so-called separate development clung onto power until the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and democratic elections 4 years later. 

Despite Mandela's Affirmative Action policies, and the emergence of a Black middle class, Cape Town remains a much-divided city, as our coach driver William explained to us in detail. Tourists and investors have been attracted, but so have so many poor rural Africans from the Eastern Cape and the rest of Africa in search of a better life. Housing is a major problem as is the resultant pressure on essential services, not least water, for a population projected to increase to about 6 million by 2030. There is also rampant poverty, unemployment, crime and very high levels of HIV 

GETTING THERE

After an uneventful journey we met up with our guide, Lindsey, at the airport and headed for our 2 night stay in the Southern Sun, the Cullinan Hotel, conveniently within walking distance of the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. We couldn't but notice that it was extremely windy and Lindsey told us we had arrived on the second day of a severe cyclone with winds gusting at over 80 miles an hour. Cyclones are not frequent in Cape Town, and certainly not ones as strong as this, so unfortunately our immediate tour plans would have to be put on hold until we saw how the weather would pan out. The first trip was to have been up Table Mountain but all access had been stopped because of safety concerns and unless the wind dropped remarkably it looked increasingly like we wouldn't be able to take the cable car even the following day.

We were offered the option of an afternoon guided bus ride around the hotel area but we felt we had been travelling enough that day so we opted to take the hotel shuttle the short distance to the nearby waterfront and see what was to be seen in  the relatively short time we had available before we had to be back at the hotel for a reception.

The bus took us to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, Cape Town's original Victorian harbour. Despite continuous calls for a harbour for the Cape of Storms, so called by Europea eexplorers because of its vicious weather, the British  government held out against building it because of the cost until in 1860 work on the breakwater finally began.  

 Redeveloped in the 1990s, it incorporates 19th century buildings, flashy shopping malls like Victoria Wharf, waterside piers and  a functioning harbour. Since the end of apartheid it has also incorporated the Nelson Mandela Gateway the embarkation point for trips to Robben Island. All of this is set against the backdrop of Table Mountain: the nearest we were going to get to it that day. 

The view across the waterfront

TABLE MOUNTAIN

Table Mountain has announced Cape Town to seafarers for centuries as it dominates the peninsula and its flat top can be recognised from miles away. At 1806 metres high, it is one of the world's great physical symbols. The Tablecloth, the cloud which blankets the plateau, in folklore was created with his pipe by Van Hunks.

Because of the continuing high winds access to the cable car was impossible but, determined that we should not miss out on such an iconic visit, Lindsey arranged for William, the coach driver, to take a detour so that we did get to see the mountain from a lower vantage point. 

THE CAPE AND PENGUINS

Most people wrongly believe that Cape Point, not Cape Aghulas,  is where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. It is in fact Africa's most southwestern point, a promontory in the south eastern corner of the Cape Peninsula situated within the Table Mountain National Park. 

It was a cold, wet, dark and very windy day, not the stuff of idealised tourist pictures but probably a much more accurate example of the treacherous and unwelcoming sight that must have greeted many of the early seamen and settlers.

We visited the 7750 hectare Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, home to an array of fynbos, over 250 species of birds, buck, baboons and Cape mountain zebras. 

Some of the animals we only glimpsed through a vehicle window .......

..... but others were a little too close for comfort.

Baboons are a menace and there are authorised Baboon Chasers throughout the Reserve!

Then on to Boulder's Beach for lunch and an opportunity to see the penguins close up. Simon's Town's most popular beach takes its name from the huge rounded rocks that create a cluster of little coves with sandy beaches and clear, cold sea pools. 

But most people come to walk the boardwalks and see the colony of two or more thousand African penguins, this colony being one of only two mainland colonies. Also known as Jackass penguins for their distinctive bray, this endangered species is confined to southern African waters. Adults are 60-70 cm tall with distinctive pink patches of skin above the eyes  (which help them with thermoregulation) and a black facial mask. 

THE WINELANDS

Our next hotel was to be the NH The Lord Charles in the largely uninspiring town of Somerset West, established in 1672 as a cattle post by Dutch soldiers and overlooked by the Helderberg Mountains, our base for the wine lands area.

Franschhoek

Before our wine tasting session that afternoon we had departed from the advertised itinerary and taken the scenic drive to the small town of Franschhoek (Afrikaans for 'French Town'). We enjoyed our pleasant morning but it turned out to be a prime example of Lindsey's poor pre-organisation that played into the hands of a number of grumblers. The coach stopped near the Huguenot Memorial Museum, quite a walk from the town centre. Disappointingly very few of the group were interested in visiting the museum or its grounds but started complaining they could have been set down earlier and so were too far from coffee, toilets and shops. Lindsey unfortunately had only a passing knowledge of how to get to them and ended up also giving different times for our return to the coach!

 Between 1688 and 1700 about 200 French Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecution in France took refuge here and  began establishing farms and businesses, many settlers naming their new farms after the areas of France from which they came. This heritage is shown today in the Huguenot Monument, completed in 1943, which stands at the end of the town. It comprises three skinny interlocking arches representing the Holy Trinity, with the  Sun of Righteousness above the three arches and above that the cross of Jesus.

The Monument shows an allegorical image of a woman standing on top of the world in a gesture of freedom: images of the Fleur de Lis on her dress underline the Hugenots' French origin, the Bible and broken chain in her hands, together with her cloak symbolising the rejection of religious repression.

The Museum was built in 1967 in an 18th century building that had originally been in Cape Town and had  been the home of a Dutch East India employee. It was demolished and rebuilt brick by brick in Franschoek. 

Neetlingshoff Wine Estate

After the Dutch first settled in South Africa in 1652 to set up a port to provide fresh food and water to the passing ships of the Dutch East India Company, wine farms started to spring up in and around Cape Town. In 1685 the then Governor of the Cape established the first wine estate in South Africa.

Neetlingshoff Wine Estate is one of the oldest wine estates in the country, first farmed in 1692 by a German settler who mistook the many jackals living in the hills at that time for wolves and originally named it 'De Wolwedans' ('Dance of Wolves'). Wine production started in 1802 and in 1825 the name was changed to Neethling's Hof. Our approach down a kilometre-long avenue of pines to a beautifully restored Cape Dutch manor dating from 1814 promised a pleasant time but unfortunately it was a disappointingly rapidly choreographed visit aimed at getting us into the shop as quickly as possible. This view is borne out by many of its reviews.

Stellenbosch

En route back to the hotel we briefly visited Stellenbosch

Founded in 1679 by Simon van der Stel, who named it after himself, Stellenbosch means '(van der) Stel's Bush' and it is the second oldest European settlement in the province and its Dutch East India Company legacy shows in its architecture.  It became known as the City of Oaks due to the large number of oak trees that were planted by its founder.

When some Huguenot refugees settled in 1690 grapes were planted in the fertile valleys surrounding and it soon became the centre of the South African wine industry. The city also houses  Afrikaanerdom's most prestigious university, dating from 1863. With our limited time we were unable to do much more than find Dorp Street and grab lunch in  one of its busy cafes.

With its student vibe, colonial  architecture, fine cuisine, and  pretty streets and squares it is easy to forget that Stellenbosch was and is a conservative place and was once the intellectual engine room of apartheid. 

 THE COAST

 GAME PARK

TILAJARI RESORT HOTEL

TILAJARI RESORT HOTEL :

We were to stay the next 7 nights here in this 76 room riverfront resort, 22kms east of La Fortuna, founded in 1987 as a country club and set in 35 acres of tropical gardens. The decor was more modern than the previous hotel and we certainly had no complaints about the comfortable suite of rooms with private veranda that we were allocated. The hotel never felt crowded even in the evening but at weekends it did become noticably full, especially round the pool, of Costa Ricans who had bought a weekend package.

As well as the usual facilities it also boasted a butterfly garden dome in the grounds where we spent a very pleasant couple of hours.....

and interesting neighbours ...

so many birds ......

beautiful gardens .......

.... semi-outdoor dining ...

(especially good for seeing hungry birds at breakfast)

.. and a meandering river.

After our 7 days here, though, we did wish that we had been close enough to walk to a settlement where we could have independently gone for a coffee or a drink and seen some real Costa Rican life. Can't have it both ways of course, being in the rainforest and also near modern life, but we did miss having an  opportunity to speak to a local other than those working in the hotel. 

 Excursions:

Canopy Walk:

We were really looking forward to our guided treetop walk in Arenal rainforest: a 4km. circuit comprising both trails of the forest floor and a series of 5 suspension bridges (distances up to 236m and heights up to 70m) with complete views of the forest canopy.

Until recently little was known about life in the tops of tropical forests, as it was nearly impossible to get so high. Early explorers used ropes and pulleys or ladders carved into tree trunks to make their way up. Today, biologists explore the forest canopy using towers, suspension bridges and construction cranes. 

About 90% of all organisms in a rainforest are found in the canopy. The sun that barely reaches the forest floor strikes tree tops with full force, fuelling the photosynthesis that eventually results in leaves, fruit and seeds. With such a bounty of food, animals abound in the canopy as well. 

Before too long we saw our first tayra, an omnivorous, solitary animal from the weasel family that hunts rodents and other small mammals, as well as birds, lizards and invertebrates, and climbs trees to get fruit and honey. Commonly found across the whole of Central America,habitat destruction is causing their numbers to shrink, but this was not a problem here.

We made our way through the gardens below where our very knowledgable guide pointed out a plethora of plants of interest

........ ascending slowly

to the bridges.

The first suspension bridge was 45m long ....

with a maximum capacity of 15. Here, as at every bridge, there was a guard to count us on and to ensure no-one stepped onto the bridge until it was emptied of the previous group.

Some of the group had been nervous of  the height and of how much the bridge would sway and not everyone had come on the trip. We were told to walk slowly in single-file, holding the sides of the bridge as we went. It did definitely sway, but in a gentle way, and it definitely was a long way down:  but the sheer beauty and wonder of the trees soon overcame any concerns.

The views were stunning

As Sue had been one of the first to get on she had the chance to look back at some of the others following .......

...... including Steve.

The second bridge was a mere 21m long

Definitely an excursion not to miss!

Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge

Another very successful excursion was to what is considered by many to be the third most important wetland in the world, home to a number of the world's rare plant, animal and bird species. 

Cano Negro is a fresh water lagoon covering over 800 hectares between the Pacific lowland's monsoonal climate and the Caribbean coastal area's humid climate, the wintering ground of thousands of migrant birds. 

We headed to Los Chiles where we swapped our coach for a surprise: we'd had no hint of the somewhat less conventional transport to the River Frio (Cold River) for our 2 hour boat journey!! 

After a safety talk and donning of life jackets, the next stop was a half day trip on an inflatable boat, in groups of 4, each with an experienced guide who would, as well as doing all the rowing, point out to us birds, animals and fauna of interest and answer our questions. We'd never been on anything  quite like this before and it was anything but the another boat trip we had been expecting. 

It was a bit choppy at times but not a part of the river with rapids or weirs to contend with so we were in good hands with no fear of falling into the path of any crocodiles....

... and the guides were constantly pointing out to one another what to show us. 

A brave man indeed to get in the water!

At first it was difficult to see beyond the dense green foliage.

But as we travelled on there was a wealth to see.

Birds, of course.

And then other creatures ....

... some so well camoflaged it was difficult at first to focus on them.

And a wonderful sloth, of course having a rest.

Half way through the trip it was time for a coffee stop, but not in your conventional coffee shop. We clambered off the boats onto a small island in the river where we entered a private home complete with family photographs of Grandfather

and home made cushions.

which the family had very enterprisingly turned into a cafe for passing tourists. Coffee and cakes were served .....

and our guides had a chance to take a well=earned rest.

And we were to encouraged to stretch our legs and have a look around. It was only then that we saw the Christmas decorations that had been left up, or perhaps were permanent? We never found out,

Then back on the boats for the homeward lap. 

There'd been no shortage of crocodiles so far but on the return journey they came out in force.

Sometimes you weren't quite certain what you were looking at ......

.... and then it popped up!

They weren't always solitary

and even when they appeared to be sleeping you knew they were always watchful.

This trip had been a definite highlight of the holiday!!

Night Safari

This excursion looked interesting when we had originally booked the holiday so we thought we would give it a go. It was incredibly cheap too so we had realistic expectations .... unlike many in the party who turned up not just with the requisite torches but also with multiple cameras and other techy gismos and dressed as if about to go on a Big Game Safari. We duly got into a couple of Land Rovers and headed for the main road outside the hotel, only to drive a few minutes before turning back into what appeared to be another entrance. A few minutes more across a dirt track and we parked by a series of buildings housing hotel grounds staff. 

Our driver and his family were going to walk us round the land near their home and show us whatever was to be found that evening. Very enterprising! Who knew what we would find?

The grumbling started very quickly about the paucity of wildlife big and small, as did the shoving by the usual culprits of anyone who dared get in the way of a perfect camera shot. Our 'guides' soldiered on drawing our attention to what they could find which was, in the circumstances, pretty interesting and which we would never have seen without their pointing it out to us.

After about 30 minutes we were back in the cars on our way back for dinner. Apart from the hilarity of the ridiculous actions of some, we enjoyed the whole thing: walking in a pitch-black rain forest, listening to the unusual sounds, taking pleasure in the simple things on offer. What's not to like?

La Paz Waterfall Garden:

Our last excursion had the definite feel of a time-filler: somewhere to take us to spend some time and have lunch on our ride back to San Jose and the flight home the following day. There always has to be somewhere like this but, despite advertising itself as the most popular tour near San Jose and by far the best place to see wildlife in Costa Rica (!!?), La Paz was a disappointing end. We had seen such a plethora of wildlife and forest in a natural environment, to see what were in reality replicas in an artificial and overtly tourist setting grated. As Lonely Planet says, it is 'a polished storybook garden complex'.

The gardens opened in 2000 but the construction of the Hiking Trails, Butterfly Observatory and Reception began in 1998. The Park covers 70 acres of land, including 40 acres of rainforest and 30 acres of pastureland, and has 3.5 kms. of hiking trails and viewing platforms for 5 waterfalls.

Undoubtedly the gardens were beautifully colourful.

And the birds were numerous, colourful and easily observed and photographed

 This bird, beautiful as it was, may well have been the only toucan we had seen BUT it wasn't free.

A bird feeder, albeit it in a tropical garden.

The Big Cats were majestic and almost too beautiful, as if a painting in a gallery.

But were they resting or just plain bored? They weren't pacing back and forth as you see in the worst of zoos, but  certainly seemed to have nothing to entertain them.

We'd been fortunate enough to see these creatures on our Night Safari.

This seemed to sum up the stopover here.