Arrival in Cape Town

January 16^th, 2002

At the airport Geraldine picks me up. We take a borrowed car to get to Cape Town, where we have booked a room in the Oak Lodge. It is a cozy backpacker fitted up with old furniture they welcome us with a refreshing cider. The rest of the day we spent in the room - first because the is so much to talk about and second because it clouds over and in the afternoon a thunder storm breaks up that rages into the evening. So we have a feast on fresh vegetable, creamy and hot dips sauces, sweet fruits and delicous juices.

January 17^th, 2002

Just at midnight we have some cake for it's Geraldine's birthfday. Sometime later we fall asleep. As we get up in the morning we pack our stuff into the car and head towards Stellenbosch. The sky is still grey and it's humid. On our way we pick up our rental car at the airport and then do some groceries in Stellenbosch. 

Soon we leave the little town again and drive southeast. Our aim for today is the De Hoop Nature Reserve and we want to follow the wonderful coastal highway to Hermanus. The clouds are still low and from time to time it rains down. Behind Hermanus we take a gravel raod towards the east. The landscape changes rapidly from rocky shoreline to farmland - mostly ostrich farms - which are covered with brown grass.

We take a detour to the Cape Agulhas, th southernmost point of (South) Africa and the border between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. We stroll along the shoreline for  a while and enjoy the stromy weather. Finally we get going again for we haven't covered a lot of ground today and there is still a good distance between us and the nature reserve.

We pass numberous ostrich farms and suddenly a group of ostriches appears right in front of us. Somehow they must have escaped the fenced area and start to run from us now. But instead of running to the left or the right side they run right in the middle of the road. We don't mean to scare them away, but we can't help. After about one kilometer they are dripping wet and exhausted and let us pass. Late we arrive at the gate of De Hoop and it's long closed already.

We didn't pass any village let alone a backpacker or motel in the past hour. Fortunately we see that sign just beside the park entrance, that invites to the Bushu Bushcamp. We follow a dirt track along the fence and indeed after 2 kilometer come to a group of little huts in the middle of nowhere. We rent one of those cosy little  huts and have a nice supper.

January 18^th, 2002

As we get up the next morning the weather hasn't changed much. Unfortunately time presses since we have to start our 5 day hike on the Otter Trail this evening. After we passed the gate the road slopes down into a plain that stretches down to the ocean where huge white dunes border the park. We just entered the plain as we notice the first Bonteboks.

The characteristic white blaze and white bottom have given the name for the antelope. But behind the apparently striking colour is an idea: a lion or a cheetah wouldn't know the difference between head and bottom and couldn't tell which direction the antelope would flee to. We take small dirt tracks to sneak upon the animals without scaring them away. Furthermore we can observe an ibis and a baboon, but none of the zebras that Geraldine has seen at her first visit.

After only two hours we have to leave already. More gravel roads take us further east. At one of the ostrich farms we stopp and - obviously in expectation of feeding - the big birds appraoch us couriously. We take some pictures and head on. Beside the endless fences, typical characteristics of the farms here are a windmill for water pumping and isolated gum trees. We head towards Heidelberg for it's the shortest way to the highway.

Before we get onto the N2 we have to cross the Breede river in Malgas. Here a man-driven ferry serves the traffic. The ferrymen only speak few words English but its rather interesting to listen to them when they talk Xhosa. Their words are sometimes interupted by clicking and smacking sounds and they talk so quickly that I would make knots into my tongue by only trying so. As we leave the ferry we say goodbye to them an drive towards Storms River where we want to check in the Otter Trail this evening.

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