Settling down or living life on the wilderness side

The wind that had been blowing all day in the park on Monday continued into
the night, and got quite chilly. After dinner and sending the blog we
decided that we should see if a more sheltered spot was available to move to
for the night as we were quite open where we were. At the other end of camp
there was such a spot, and much quieter and secluded. It felt almost like we
had moved into the bush. So we moved, made camp, and hit the tent. I think
we were much better off wind wise than if we had stayed put. A cold front
was on its way through as from that night thru to leaving on the Thursday
the air temperature plummeted. Hot in the sun, not in the shade. On Tuesday
the cooler conditions suited us nicely as we took to the trails again for a
trip up to the top of Pointer, a rocky hill just across from the camp. The
walk took us from the camp up to 1150m at the top of the jagged rocks a
climb of about 250m, fantastic views all around, and then on around the
plateau for a total of about 15km or so back to camp. It was great to be
walking in the NP, and to see Zebra and Kudu by foot instead of on our bums
in Mufasa. Got a taste for it and fancy doing some of the Kruger walks
sometime even with the prospect of larger and more dangerous game around,
well me anyway not sure Sue thinks it is such an exciting prospect! Sue
caught up with the washing on Wednesday and on Thursday we were on the move
again heading south for Oudtshoorn.
However we never made it. Halfway there down the N12 we suddenly decided to
take a detour via Prince Albert a small town at the foot of the Swartberg
Pass to our west. Our diversion was via a great gravel track, memories of
East Africa. Well great at the time of writing, but with all the streams
passing across it that were thankfully dry if the heavens had opened it
would have been a different story. Boy are we glad we made the detour.
Prince Albert, a beautiful little town in great surroundings. We got the 'we
could live here' feeling, dangerous!! After a quick drive around, not a very
big place, and a stop at the tourist info we hit the Lazy Lizard for lunch.
Home made food Karoo style. We both indulged in a Karoo Lamb curry with all
the trimmings and then shared some apple pie with clotted cream and a gut
busting slice of carrot cake washed down with homemade lemonade and fresh
coffee. Oh yes, top drawer. After the feast we popped out to Bushman's
Valley (S33 15.446 E22 02.764) a couple of KM south of town to check out the
camping, fantastic spot tucked into the rocky hills, and then ventured back
to town to give it a thorough going over. We walked the place flat. Great
old houses of Karoo, Cape Dutch, and Victorian style. It comes as no
surprise that there are many a property for sale. Nowt bad going on but just
locals trying to cash in on the 2nd home buyers that have landed in most of
the desirable towns. With thoughts of a holiday home for ourselves and plans
for how to make it work somehow we headed back to camp to sleep off the
large lunch.
Friday was a slow start. I think we made it back into town just after 11h30,
time for coffee!! This time Cafe Albert hit the spot with great coffee, some
cheesecake with prickly pear syrup and a homemade scone with cheese and jam.
The town is quite a tourist trap with many a place to feast and more B&B
than you can shake an AA South Africa B&B Guide at. It was time yet again to
walk the place flat and check out the estate agents just for the heck of it.
Prices are still not too bad, a good 3 bed house for under R1M, but nothing
that grabbed us. Eventually after having a look around one house, Sue
accosted the owner in his drive and he very kindly showed us around, we
decided that the town was not for us. Nice weather now in the autumn and
winter, bloody hot as hell in the summer!! Most houses are still on septic
tanks in the old part of town and they still receive 'lei' water at most
houses via a system of water channels and sluice gates that channel the
water from the mountains. Very sweet but it has a problem. Most house owners
have a small dam or pool on their property to store their share of water, a
haven for mosquitoes!!
After two very peaceful days at Bushman's Valley it was alas time to move on
again. Managing to get going a bit earlier than we had on Friday we made it
briefly back into Prince Albert to hit the Saturday morning market. We
hadn't expected much and although we were correct in our expectations of the
size of the market there were still several purchases to be made. Some
rusks, tomatoes, chocolate brownies, fresh bread, and a jar of marmalade.
Then after a quick dash to the only petrol station in town to feed Mufasa
and check his tyres, to the Swartberg Pass it was. Oh, bugger. Turning onto
the gravel road for the pass we came face to face with a 'road closed' sign.
We stopped and a couple of people passed us, we were not sure what to do. As
Bushman's Valley was just back a couple of KM on the main road we returned
there and Ian the owner phoned the garage and cop shop in town to see what
the deal was. The police didn't really know but said it might just be some
water damage after the heavy rains they had a week or so ago and a 4x4
should be ok. So satisfied that we might make it we set off again. Boy what
a great road! The pass may not be that high, I think we climbed about 800m
to just over 1500m but the winding narrow gravel road is a stunner. The rock
formations on the northern side are awe inspiring compared to the much
smoother southern side. We stopped near the top for coffee and chocolate
brownies. Oh yes, delicious, glad we bought 4, wish we had bought dozens!
Declining to take a there and back detour to 'The Hell', check it on the
web, it was over the top and back down to normal heights. We made a quick
stop off at the Cango Caves to check out the prices. Not too expensive but
not a giveaway to get yourself stuck in some narrow hole in the rock
somewhere under the hillside. So on it was to Oudtshoorn, where we stayed a
few years back on a tour of the Cape. As it was only just midday we (well
me) decided that we should push on to Wilderness NP via the shops at George.
Two missions in mind at the new mall on the edge of town, when we eventually
found it, were food and phone. Food, the cupboard was bare, and phone as the
mobile we use for the internet had decided that it no longer wanted to
charge as we discovered in Graaf Reinet. As to whether it was phone or
charger we didn't know. Thankfully after visiting a Vodashop we were
relieved that it was the charger which was broken. Armed with a new one we
are now back in the 'real' world again. Nice to be able to get back in touch
with the football world, Man Utd losing twice in a row, snigger.
On through George we arrived at the Wilderness NP. Nice to see the sea again
after a long time, but back to misty sticky damp sea air something that we
have not had since Mozambique. A nice camp, well one of two camps. Ebb and
Flow South camp (S33 59.379 E22 36.482) where we are is south of the road
and funnily enough Ebb and Flow North camp is north of the road, both on the
east bank of the River Touw. They have a funny pricing scheme here for
camping, as it seems they do at Nature's Valley and Storms River that we
shall visit later up the coast. Bargain basement is no power and no view for
R125 (i.e. us, no surprise there), then power with no view for R175, and
finally the posh seats with power and a view for R195. The view being a
pitch on the bank of the river, and no view being anywhere. So far at
SanParks we have paid, if needed, R10 a night for electric. Here the
difference is R50 a night, electricity must be darn expensive down on the
coast!! No problem, we have our own source, the Sun! Being at the coast and
not a game park we didn't expect it to be that busy which even though it was
a Saturday it wasn't really, well not that evening anyway.
I guess at this time of year a park such as Wilderness NP makes a nice slice
of needed income from day visitors at the weekends when the camping is a bit
on the slow side. The place sure became a lot busier throughout the day, but
as the average age of the visitors was probably over the 50 mark the peace
and quite was not shattered quite like we had experienced last year at
Chintheche on Lake Malawi. By the end of the day all the picnickers had gone
as had all the remaining campers so it was just us here for the night which
was nice. One of the perks of travelling out of season, you quite often get
places to yourself. We knew however that we would have company again in the
morning as they are rebuilding one of the ablution blocks here, and builders
would be 'hard at it' come day break.
Today it was time to take to our walking boots again and try out one of the
trails at Wilderness NP up to a waterfall on the Touw River that runs past
the camp. One of the routes was shut, overgrown and lack of maintenance
possibly, so we took the alternative path. It was a very pleasant walk, many
a good bird spot on the way including a Narina Trogon, amazing colours. The
trail map advertises this particular walk as having a world class boardwalk.
As to whether the world class title applies I couldn't say but it was most
impressive none the less. As for the waterfall at the end of the trail,
probably not quite as impressing as I am sure it is after some heavy
rainfall. After probably 8km up and down thru the forest it was back to camp
for a late lunch and possibly a doze. Well the doze might be on the cards
provided I get this typed before dinner time!!