Yet again I have been rather remiss in updating everyone—I have now given in to Mum’s weekly nag, passing on messages from people wanting to know what I am up to and I will now enlighten you on my highly, unexciting life. I have found the last week rather tough as I have struggled to adjust to being back from the trip that I took with some friends over the Easter break along the Garden Route. Unfortunately this disengagement and disenchantment with Stellenbosch has come at a rather stressful time, as I was battling to complete my thesis proposal which I submitted yesterday (fingers crossed for some positive feedback!) I have spent a large proportion of the last week lazing around the flat, the afternoons haven’t seen me stray far from my bed. I had to promise our cleaner that I did actually do things with my day and didn’t just occupy my bed all the time, which was the impression she was getting on her daily, afternoon visit. Part of my reasoning for staying in bed was that it would avoid anything bad happening: soon after getting back I broke my glasses, my bike had two flat tyres and I spilt various things on my clothes. Nothing seemed to be going right. Including my academics, with a rather unhelpful supervisor and still complete bafflement at what was expected of me: the two seemed to be reinforcing elements.
So those were my travails. Admittedly not particularly huge in the grand scheme of things. Just frustrating. But part of the reason for all of t his was that I was rather tired from travelling. We spent a week driving along the Garden Route and then back again along Route 62. It was so nice to escape Stellenbosch even for a short time and see what else South Africa had to offer. I wasn’t disappointed by the amazing landscapes on offer: dramatic coastline mixing vertiginous cliffs and broad swathes of white, sandy beaches with spectacular, crashing waves. The weather forecast wasn’t looking too promising when we left but there was actually only one day of bad weather, so I have apparently come back with an even deeper tan (I can’t really see the difference now!) One of the highlights for me was going to Cape Agulhas which is the southernmost point of Africa (not the Cape of Good Hope as we are frequently, erroneously led to believe). It was an achievement in itself just getting there. I had accepted the gauntlet of driving the first stage of the trip and as we were going along happily (and rather speedily) suddenly, with no warning bar a sign suggesting a risk of skidding , the tarmac unceremoniously gave way to gravel track. Now I k now that a bad workman always blames his tools, but I really believe it would have been a more pleasurable experience if we had been in a Land Rover, rather than the Toyota Corolla which had been bestowed on us. But having already survived a rather vicious visit from some baboons earlier that morning, we persevered. And we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the two oceans meeting and for me a real joy at having made it to the furthest point on the African continent. It gave me a real feeling of pilgrimage having been to a place that I have wanted to visit for a number of years and suggested that the trip was well and truly underway.
Another jewel of the Garden route is Wilderness, not as barren as the name suggests, it boasts some very impressive homes at even more impressive prices, but still retains a natural beauty and bestows a sense of getting away from it all. Here we stayed up in the hills, well and truly off the beaten track. The track that we battled along to get there, rose to the brow of the hill where you were greeted with an uninterrupted view of the Indian Ocean with nothing else in sight, a really incredible vista. We had a lot of fun canoeing through the Wildnerness National Park along the river through some breathtaking and at times eery scenery with nothing to listen to other than the splashing of our paddles and the chirruping of birds and cicadas (interrupted by the occasional rabble of Stellies students, who were inescapable, as we all seemed to have had pretty much the same idea!) We pulled up our boats and proceeded to walk through the park to a waterfall where we collapsed on the rocks to bask in the heat of the midday sun, a really enjoyable experience.
Jeffrey’s Bay was a place for us to really let our hair down. It is the surf capital of South Africa and is held in high esteem by the world surf circuit, but it doesn’t really have much else to offer. Driving through it you are left with a sense of being somewhere that is really past its best and to be honest, it was rather torrid and unpleasant. From the moment we pulled up where we were staying I didn’t feel particularly safe, something which I can’t say about anywhere else that I have been thus far. I think the town's natural endowment with impressive waves has sustained it and gives it little reason to improve things. It’s not somewhere I will be rushing back to, unless I suddenly discover my inner Kelly Slater (I can’t see it happening anytime soon!)
The Big Tree
But then, at the end of the week was the absolute nadir with a night spent at Addo National Park, home to the largest population of African elephants. When it was created in the 1930s there were just eleven elephants in the park, there are now well over five hundred. I wasn’t sure what to expect before we got there, but decided to limit my expectations and was happy with the memories of safaris in the Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Mikumi, Chobe, Etosha, Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta. I didn’t think anything could top those, I had been lucky enough to see elephants in the wild before. Nothing, however, could prepare me for the sight of a whole herd of elephants lolloping up the road towards us. Bulls, females and best of all babies. It was absolutely magical an d I don’t think it is something I will ever forget. Compared with the confrontations that I had experienced in the East African parks, these elephants were so calm and accepting of the little humans in front of them. Perhaps it was because everyone was much more respectful of them compared with East African safari drivers who rev their engines incessantly trying to trigger a reaction from the elephants—a truly terrifying experience. We were also fortunate in that we had booked to go on a game drive at sunset (only partly enticed by the complementary drinks and snacks). This was so special to see the changing light and the security that it affords to a number of the animals in the park and also the dropping temperature means that lots of animals leave their shady retreat of the daytime. Whilst elephants for their sheer size are impressive, I also loved seeing the small r animals: Kudu, Zebra and of course my absolute favourite—Warthogs! Stopping for drinks and getting off of the vehicle to stand in the middle of the bush with a family of elephants in close proximity was such an amazing moment and one of the highlights of my time here so far.
As well as Warthogs, another animal that I have always found fascinating (since a rather unfortunate encounter with the Queen Mother whilst covered in chocolate—me, not Her Royal Highness—at Smithfield) are Ostriches. Therefore, our final stop at Oudsthoorn, the capital of the Ostrich world provided much entertainment. When you see them up close and personal they are almost prehistoric, more closely resembling dinosaurs than anything else. One of their strangest features is their reverse bend knees and their eyes are nearly as big as their head. This means that t heir brain is about the same size, making them not the most intelligent of species. But in their own strange, wrinkly, feathery way they also have beauty and enormous character as their no less enormous beak comes perilously close to you! An Afrikaner farmer took us to meet his flock which was very entertaining and so interesting to learn the ins and outs of ostrich farming—the economics, challenges and t o learn more about where the meat we were eating comes from. It was no less entertaining for him as he had five girls in the back of his pick-up yelping as each beak poked towards us in a siege situation with a sea of ostriches surrounding us.
Such exhilaration could only be followed with a bump down to Earth as the challenges of day-to-day life returned and commitments built up. One week on and I am slowly adjusting to being back. I have taken to going for a walk in the hills above Stellenbosch and looking down on it in its entirety to remind myself how much I love it and why I am here. After all, life can’t just be one long holiday. But I better just start preparing for the next one...
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