It was a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing. Our friend Leah was leaving South Africa to take up a position with Trickle Up, a US ngo working with the poorest of the poor. Leah would be based in New York and she decided to to make a road trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town to say a temporary farewell to SA. She invited us to join her, we jumped at the chance to to leave the exigencies of Addis and so on September 6th we flew to South Africa to join Leah on this farewell trip.
On the first evening in Johannesburg we attended a quite remarkable dance performance called Cion. Really outstanding, a mixture of dance and music that was stunning musically (variations on Bolero) and visually with the Soweto Gospel Choir. If you can find it on the internet do look it up. (If you type in Joburg Theatre Cion you get links to facebook and Youtube videos).
Leah’s flat is onthe 10th floor on a ridge and has a magnificent view west across Jhb. Unfortunately it was quite misty while we were there, but it gives a good idea of how wooded Jhb is.
On the Saturday we left Jhb on our trip, planned carefully to avoid the Free State, that boring flatland at the centre of SA, and maximise our experience of the Karroo. Google led us on some imaginative byways through minor towns as we explored unknown, to us, parts of the country. By early afternoon we had reached Kimberly where we stopped for lunch at a roadside stop.
Dry and flat, the last stop before entering the karroo. Lunch at the roadside.
We spent the night at a beautiful old farmhouse now conference centre and small hotel called Melton Wold. It is on a large farm about 30 km west of Victoria West for those of you who know their SA geography. A very dry landscape, Victoria West has had no rain for 7 years, and the country was looking parched and all the dams are dry. Game farming with a few sheep seems to be just about the only viable agriculture here without irrigation. And everywhere you go you see windmills pumping underground water, and we were told that solar pumps are increasingly popular so you don’t see much of the pumping. One wonders how long this is viable and what the extraction / recharge rates are for the water in this arid landscape.
Melton Wold is kept relatively green by borehole water
The next day we drove west through the Karroo toward Nieuwoudtville and Vanrhynsdorp. As we moved west the country became progressively wetter and clumps of daisies started appearing at the side of the road and in the veldt. Even standing water in places! The peak of the wild flower season had passed but it was lovely to see the few remaining examples of what we had missed.
Roadside daisies, orange predominant at this time of year.
From there we turned south to Citrusdal and then into the mountains where we spent the night at a beautiful 2-bedroom house on the Boschkloof Farm. The “cottage” was at the end of a valley with the mountains rising behind us, a stream running down the edge of the property, and the valley opening onto the orange plantations further down. Needless to say it was a good birding place and we would love to stay there again sometime, for a few days walking in the mountains behind.
Beautiful “Cape Dutch” bungalow set in an orange orchard. Ursula and Leah relax on the steps in the evening.
And so to Cape Town the next morning, going via the Cederberg Winery where we stopped to refresh our supplies. Excellent wine if you are interested – we even managed to bring 6 bottles back to Addis. And in Citrusdal I bought a pair of handmade leather boots from Strassberger’s.
Along the road to the winery we saw 3 Black Eagles which I won’t bore you with. To most people one eagle looks much like another. BUT, we did see 3 Klipspringer (literally Rockjumper) sitting on some rocks by the side of the road, watching the traffic presumably. AND, on the way back we found a largish puffadder sunning itself in the road. About a metre long it was quite cooperative and stayed for a few photos before slithering off into the bush.
A handsome puffadder basking on the road
Male Klipspringer watching the passing traffic.
The female a bit more nervous
Protea in the Cederberg.
We reached Cape Town on the Monday evening. It is always so nostalgic to see Table Mountain again. In Cape Town we stayed with Nicki Westcott in Rondebosch. It was so lovely to see her again, one of my oldest friends.
Table Mountain as we come in through Milnerton.
Relaxing after long drive down. The perfect relaxing couch.
It was great to be back in Cape Town if only for a few days and we managed to catch up with a couple of our friends, Mary Simons, another longtime and dear friend, and with Leah’s husband, Elleck. We also had dinner with Barbara, Martin, Rose and Rose’s beau.
Cooking with Mary (right) and Nicki.
We took the opportunity in Cape Town to make up our cultural deprivation over the last couple of months by going to the William Kentridge exhibitions in the city. The first was in the new gallery at the waterfront. It is a converted grain silo and itself is worth a visit, architecturally fascinating with galleries running around the inside of the building and oval cut-outs in the fabric of the silo providing the light. We also went to a symphony concert at the City Hall, a wonderful evening.
A Kentridge print, “Holding the Fugitive”.
Ursula also went with Leah to a sculpture exhibition by the same artist on display in Constantia. I didn’t go to that, but met up with Mary Simons, and in the afternoon we all met at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
Kentridge sculptures.
Leah had booked a lunch at the Oep ve Koep restaurant at the west coast fishing village of at Paternoster, about 100 km from Cape Town. The restaurant was named the Best Restaurant in the World for 2019 in World Restaurant Awards. We ate at the bistro, there is a 3 month waiting list for the restaurant proper. It uses local meat, seafood, wild plants and seaweeds. Amazing food. I shall try to replicate something similar in NZ next year. Thank you Leah for a memorable afternoon.
Lunch at Oep ve Koep, the name means Open for Business in the local Afrikaans dialect.
On the beach at Paternoster, left to right, Elleck, Leah, Nicki and Chris, the wind behind us.
Launching a local fishing boat at Paternoster.
On Saturday we went to Paarl to meet friends of Leah’s, Erika and Francois Joubert. Barbara and Martin joined us for a lovely day wine tasting. Francois makes his own wine as a hobby and his Pinotage is very good, as are his other wines. I felt quite inspired to try for myself if I can find the time and place. After tasting his wine we went off to a couple of wine farms in the Paarl area and spent several hours tasting and buying wine. They have friends in Addis and we were able to take back a small parcel of for them.
Wine tasting with the Joubert’s
We flew back to Addis on Sunday to discover that we could have got my birth certificate and apostille while we were in Cape Town, had we known in time. Still the rainy season and endless days of gloom and rain. But the good news is we have found a small house, 2 bedrooms and large lounge ‘ dining room, with small garden and lawn surrounded by a boundary of trees and full of birds.
The front of the house.
and small garden.
We will move in at the end of October after Ursula returns from her work trip to Switzerland.
Many thanks to Leah for inviting us to join her on this trip. Perhaps we will meet in New York someday, or back in South Africa when you return. The trip also reminded us how close South Africa is now that we are back on the African continent. We intend to visit our friends in South Africa more frequently in the future.
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Cheers for now
Chris and Ursula