Feb 27, 2014-Mar 22, 2014
Under construction - more photos will be added soon
C.J. and I have been thinking about Africa for a long time
but all the safari tours seemed to be geared to people with much more
disposable income than we have. Paragliding tours in South Africa, on the other hand, turned
out to be quite reasonable – cheaper than many we’ve done elsewhere. Since we
recently had a small infusion to our savings from C.J.’s mom’s estate, we could
also look at traveling to Victoria Falls or Kruger National Park. We booked two
weeks of guided flying with Birdmen Paragliding of Cape Town, and we arranged
flights on Emirates Airline with our travel agent, Susan of Critics Choice. Susan also provided lodging
possibilities at Victoria Falls in an impressive Safari Lodge.
We couldn’t quite deal with the expense of lodging and
flights from Cape Town when we weren’t sure that we could get back into South
Africa to make our flight home out of Cape Town. SA requires yellow fever
vaccination for anyone who has been in Zambia (Livingstone, the nearest airport
to Vic Falls is in Zambia), but the Center for Disease Control (CDC) strongly
advises against the yellow fever vaccine for those older than sixty. C.J. and I
got all of our other shots, and picked up anti-malaria pills, but for yellow
fever we got an official waiver which we were not sure would work. Going to
Kruger would obviate all the yellow fever problems but we didn’t decide to do
that until we were a week and a half into our trip and by then the flights
through Johannesburg were booked up preceding a national holiday on 21 Mar.
Another possibility we heard about from friends of our guides was a
transfrontier park in the Kalahari, but that trip also required flights through
Jo’burg. Before we left we tried corresponding with a travel agent in Cape Town,
and once in SA, we visited two local travel agents. But we had waited too long
by then. Fortunately, our guides had a fallback plan and helped us book two
nights at a private game reserve only a couple of hours from Cape Town. So we
ended up with two weeks of good paragliding at seven sites and a taste of a “big
five” safari, as well as a few days exploring Cape Town.
for Barry's view of our two weeks of flying plus photos.
27 Feb, Thu – C.J. and I spent the morning cleaning up and
packing. We ate the last of the fridge leftovers for lunch. Finally we were off
to Seatac around 1330 where we parked at Sandstone Inn and shuttled to the
terminal for our 1710 departure. Our first surprise on arriving at the Emirates
check-in counter was that our carry-ons had to be weighed and could not be more
than 7kg, so we had to move C.J.’s instruments to my backpack (which was not
weighed). [It turned out that 7kg is not a hard and fast rule – you could get
by with 8 or 8.5.] After that we got our boarding passes, went through security
and took the train to the south satellite. Boarding began an hour before
departure and we had seats way in the back of the 777-200ER where there are
only two seats against the bulkhead. We had views of the ground only until we
climbed through a thin layer of clouds on our way to the NE past Edmonton, over
Greenland, Scandinavia and across Russia. The seatback navigation display helped us
identify when we crossed the Caucasus Mountains not far from the Black Sea and
Sochi where the 2014 Winter Olympics were held. We flew over Georgia and Iran
before landing in Dubai, UAE, [about 14+ hours and a twelve-hour time zone
difference] at around 1930 local time (dark already). We had picked up our
Dubai Connect hotel vouchers [available at no additional cost to those
passengers with layovers lasting more than 8 hrs] at SEA when we checked in and
once we disembarked we asked at a couple of Emirates service desks for
directions. Eventually we got to Exit 1 and the Emirates rep there showed us
where to wait for the complimentary shuttle to the Arabian Park Hotel. After
checking in, we went to our 7
th floor room then back downstairs to
the restaurant where we had a nice buffet of Mediterranean dishes. We chose
from the small plates of tabouleh, Greek salad, hummus, pita, eggplant puree,
fruit, tomatoes, cucumber… There were also hot main course dishes but we had
had breakfast on the plane not too long before we had landed (and earlier, a
dinner and a snack) so we did not sample any of the soups, curries, breaded
fish or spring rolls. We did, however, sample the desserts – the
chocolate-coffee-mousse cake was quite good.
 |
| Dubai Connect was a great deal |
28 Feb, Fri - Back in our room we got 2½ hours of sleep or
so before our wakeup call at 0045 for a shuttle at 0115. Once at the airport we
had to weigh our carry-ons again (7.3 and 8.05 kg), but ignored our overstuffed
backpacks, and sent us on to passport control and security. It was a six minute
walk to the gate and then a wait until we were processed through into the
departure lounge. From there we were directed down onto the tarmac and onto
buses for a long drive (20 min or more) around the airport to our plane, a
777-300ER. Once aboard we found that we had seats across the aisle from each
other; we had an hour-and-a-half wait while more baggage was loaded and a part
was replaced. We weren’t airborne until 0620. Being stuck on the aisle, we
couldn’t see any of Africa as we flew over it. Actually it wouldn’t have
mattered since all the windows were kept shuttered so people could sleep on the
9 ½ hour flight.
 |
| Cape Town from cable car station |
1 Mar, Sat - We had some views of the Cape area and Table
Mountain as we made our approach. The screen view from a forward-facing camera
was quite interesting, especially the landing. There was a long, slow line to
clear immigration; by then our baggage was on the carrousel and we wheeled it
out through the nothing-to-declare line. Once out of customs we looked around
hopefully to see if anyone from Birdmen Paragliding was there to meet us, but
they were apparently having an excellent day of flying. A taxi tout attached
himself to us, fortunately as it turned out because my phone would not work
(“emergency calls only”). He used his mobile to dial the number I had for Candice
Pedersen and she said to take the taxi and she’d let her father know to let us
in. I used a Barclays ATM to get 3000 rand (R3000), a little less than $300 USD.
The taxi guy led us to a taxi in a parking garage and left us with the driver.
Once we got out of the airport the driver stopped to put the address in his
GPS. Right after leaving the airport we drove past a large area of shacks, what
we were learn were called Townships set aside for the mostly-black poor. There
were also some newer low-income housing blocks. The GPS worked fine and just as
we pulled up to 36 Champagne Way, Candice’s father came out. As we were
finishing unloading the taxi, Candice showed up, too, and told us that the rest
of the group was at lunch but would be back later after some more flying. [The
cab ride cost R400 which was probably R100 more than we might have paid if we
had taken an official cab, maybe.] Candice’s father, ----, showed us to our
nice big room with bath and lots of storage. Then we had a
 |
| sliding glass door at Birdmen's Nest |
short tour of the
Birdmen walled compound [all the houses in Table View, and everywhere else in
SA, looked like they were built with security in mind] – the pool, palapa, fire
pit, BBQ (oops, later we learned to call it a “braai”, never a BBQ), and the
breakfast/common room. We unpacked and had some leftover crackers and cheese
from the plane and put a bottle of SA hard cider (from the beer and soft drink
fridge) on our tab. Then we rested for a while. When the flying Dutchmen (and women)
returned from their flying, we joined them for “take way” food to be delivered
– two 12-in pizzas and another cider. Later Candice gave me two SIM cards for
Vodacom to try in my old Motorola mobile but neither worked, so she gave me a
spare phone to use. C.J. and I filled out some paperwork for the SAHPA and by
2300 we were more than ready for bed. The temperature had dropped from hot to
comfortable-in-a long-sleeve-shirt. Our room retained the heat somewhat but we
had a ceiling fan so we were okay.
2 Mar, Sun – We got up at 0730 or so – no rush, since Barry
had said that he was pretty sure that it would not be flyable due to wind and
rain predicted for today. We had granola and fruit for breakfast, and some
toast and jelly for me. Around 0930 we joined the remaining two Netherlanders
for a taxi ride into Cape Town. We got out at the Aquarium and bought tickets
for the hop-on hop-off bus tour of the city. We received a map that was very
helpful when we wanted to get off and walk around, which we did starting at the
Cape Town Tourist Information center (closed when we were there) on Strand,
where the waterfront had
 |
| Stall at Green Market Square |
been three hundred years ago before all the filling-in
had been done. We spent quite a while at the Green Market Square crafts market
looking at all the carved wooden animals and human figures, clothing, jewelry,
and what not. The painted ostrich eggs were interesting, but there were no
prices on anything and we didn’t want to get into haggling when we were not
really ready to buy. We walked through Mandela-Rhodes Place (statue of Mandela)
and stopped across the street at St. George’s Cathedral (Episcopal). Then we
walked through part of The Company’s Garden passing a statue of Queen Victoria
outside the Parliament Bldg. Besides exotic and native plants and trees, there
were an aviary, a statue of Jan Smuts and one of Cecil Rhodes, a restaurant and
the SA Natural History Museum and Planetarium (plus lots of squirrels, pigeons
and rats). Looping back along Adderley, we passed the slave lodge, now a
museum, the
 |
| Small part of Flower Sellers Market |
old Standard Bank building and the old Flower Sellers Market, a
Cape Town tradition. We got back to the TI just in time to hop on another of
the red, double-decker tour buses (they run every 15 min). We circled the
Garden and drove through District Six (bulldozed during the apartheid era). We
passed The Castle, really a pentagonal fort, and headed toward Table Mountain
passing below Bo-Kaap and Tamboerskloof (colorful residential area of the
former slaves after emancipation). At the base of Table Mountain cable car we
got off the bus again and walked along the road for a ways. The cloud known as
the “tablecloth” was hiding most of the upper part of the mountain and the top
of Lions Head. Along the way we spotted two, dark, weasel-shaped mongooses
checking out a garbage container – I guess there aren’t enough snakes to keep
them fed. Back on the bus we headed down
 |
| Lions Head from Camps Bay |
the back side (south) through Kloof
Nek to Camps Bay then along the coast clockwise through Sea Point, Green Point
and past the Victoria and Albert Waterfront to the Aquarium. We considered
eating at the café there but it was crowded and noisy so we went to the Food
Market building in the V and A Waterfront area and I got some lamb curry and
C.J. got a beef wrap. We stopped for ice cream on the way out. Then we tried a
shortcut to the Clock Tower and Battery. We could have hopped back on a tour
bus but our route, past a dry dock and through some road construction,
eventually got us there and to the Mandela Gateway to Robbens Island, a boat
tour. We returned to V and A shopping area by another, shorter route. By now it
had been raining lightly for an hour
 |
Top of the waterfront Clock Tower
|
and we figured it was time to head back to
Table View and the Birdmen's Nest. Barry had given us two bus pass cards to use
but we had no idea how to use the bus system. The folks at the bus tour desk
directed us to the nearby visitor’s center and the transit rep checked our
cards and told us which bus to catch to get to the Civic Center bus terminal
which was where we would get a bus to TV. Then we waited for a while in a
crowded bus shelter until an equally crowded bus got us the 2-3 km to the civic
center. A signboard pointed us to the right gate for Table View and the bus
arrived soon. The system was much like that of Bogota with raised platforms and
sliding doors, buses having their own lane and signals, and electronic card
readers. The difference was that the info was in English. The bus trip was not
as fast as a taxi would have been but it was a lot cheaper. Instead of waiting
for another bus to take us the several blocks to Janssen St. (Barry had told us
that the
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| Martti from Finland |
|
MyCiti bus did not go there; we found later that the route had changed and
we could have saved ourselves a walk by staying on the bus), we walked the 1.4
km – it wasn’t raining hard at all and we had learned our lesson in Colombia
and brought our fleece and rain jackets with us. Martti, a 53-yr-old (?) pilot from
Helsinki, had arrived to join our group and Barry drove the three of us to the
nearby Indian Chapter restaurant for dinner. He told us to prepare to leave at
0730 for five days of flying, first at Hermanus and then at Wilderness. We got
back around 2130 and packed our carry-ons with our gear, except what was still
drying from today’s excursion.
3 Mar, Mon – Since Barry needed to have the van serviced, we
left at 0730 in Tom’s (?) Toyota pickup with our gear in the big Birdmen
trailer. Traffic was slow getting out of Table View but it was still about 1 ½
hrs to Hermanus including a stop for gas and to pick up drinks and lunch stuff.
We drove up a park road to an overlook on a low (230 m) ridge above Hermanus
(30m), then to the concreted
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| C.J. launching at Hermanus |
launch ramp, a tri-lingual info sign and a couple
of solid benches. I took off after a few locals into the lift which was
generally ridge with an occasional thermal. The highest I reached was 350m and
after 36 min I toplanded then flew again. The second time I went all the way to
east end of the ridge where C.J. and others were high. Then I flew to the west
end of the ridge where there were several antennas. By then the wind had picked
up so my speed was in single digits (kph) when heading south toward the ocean.
C.J. asked if I was going to the hotel on the shore and I said I was going to
land on top because that’s where the lunch was. But the air was getting
turbulent so I forgot about toplanding and tried to reach the grassy area
between the hotel and the ocean. The going was very slow and I was well beyond
the school field which was the designated LZ when I decided that it was
possible that I would not make to the hotel. I turned back to
 |
| Site info at Hermanus launch |
the school LZ.
C.J., who had been following me, did likewise and we both landed, Martti soon
followed. After packing up we had to find an unlocked gate; it wasn’t the north
one, but the south one had the chain just wrapped around it so we got out and
waited only a short time for Tom and Barry to pick us up. We went to a
beachside café for coffee and hot chocolate. Candice showed up there with the
van and Tom must have returned to Cape Town in his pickup. Wilderness was close
to a five-hour drive and we went a bit beyond there to Sedgefield where Birdmen
has a second home. Along the way we saw our first roadside baboons, some
springbok, a lot of sheep, an elephant and herds of ostriches plus some blue
cranes, the national bird of SA. We made a detour at George to the airport to
pick up Danny (Dag) who had been traveling with a rented car and had dropped it
off. His wife, Niki (Anika) was waiting for us at Sedgefield. After unpacking
we all went into town for dinner at daVinci’s. Mike and Karen met us there;
they were not staying with the group but he would be flying with us.
4 Mar, Tue – After granola, granadilla (passion fruit)
yogurt, toast and jelly, we hung out until 1000. When
 |
| C.J. at Sedgeview launch and set-up area |
we left it was still
overcast. In Sedgefield we stopped at a Spar (grocery) to pick up lunch stuff.
Then we drove up the E-W ridge behind Sedgefield to the large, grassy launch
called Sedgeview. There were shade trees, picnic tables, outhouses and water.
Mike took off first and went right up; Danny followed him and got to almost
500m over and crossed the lagoon to the ridge right on the ocean about 2 km to
the south, from which he could fly west onto Paradise ridge. No one else got
away, but then no one else was a comp pilot flying a Mantra 6.
I launched next into the SE-crossing wind. I went right up but I found the
conditions turbulent where thermals were collecting in gullies and on
ridgelines. I went slowly east and got low; returning to the west was fast. I
got back up over launch and later tried going east again. This time I was able
to go almost to the end of the ridge without losing much altitude. It was slow going (single digits) until I turned back and then I had speeds in the 40s. I
flew out over the town without losing much. Finally Barry announced that
 |
| Birdmen van and trailer at Map of Africa |
we
would all land near the service station west of town at the entrance to the
neighborhood Birdmen had their house in. I didn’t wait around for the scheduled
landing time and headed for the closest field to the service station. I was
aiming to land on the south side of the road but as I was setting up Barry
warned me of possible rotor. It was a little late for me to change my landing
zone so I went on in and didn’t find much rotor. After packing up, Candice drove
by and I put my wing in the trailer. Then I got a burger combo at Wimpy’s in
the C-store. It wasn’t great. Before I had finished, the van pulled up and the
rest of the crew, who had walked from where they had landed in the sod farm
north of the road, began loading. I brought the fries and cream soda to share
with C.J. Then we went to pick up Danny near the Paradise TO (but we never saw
the
 |
| Map of Africa |
actual launch) and headed through Wilderness to the Map of Africa launch.
People were soaring as we approached the town but by the time we had reached
the TO, which was on the reverse slope of the viewpoint for Map of Africa, the
wind had died off and everyone was sinking out. We waited for a while but Barry
was not optimistic. He suddenly must have heard something about another site
because he bundled us back in the van and drove out to Swartvlei beach at a gap
in the ridge east of Paradise. It was strong and cross at the beach. Two
gliders were soaring but they had launched 2-3 hours earlier from high up on the
ridge (probably Gericke’s, say “HER uh cahs). They were barely moving forward
into the wind. It didn’t look worthwhile driving all the way to the top of the
ridge (and, apparently, there was a road-use fee, as well). It was also too
cross to consider benching up from the low ridge on the beach. We drove back to
Sedgeview to see if the wind had straightened out; nope, so we returned to home
base after a stop in a nearby park that could be used as an LZ when crossing to
Paradise. Our room had a security grate over it and the key would not turn the
latch so C.J. and I were locked out. Barry had to do some lubrication and
repair to get it open. For dinner we had a fillet
braai, a traditional meal
consisting of a big hunk of meat, marinated and grilled slowly over hardwood
coals. Candice prepared side dishes including a big salad (with pepperdews), a
cauliflower casserole, and green beans with feta cheese, garlic bread. Peaches
and custard was served for dessert. We all sat around the fire while the fillet
was cooking and then sat around a big table under a roof to eat.
 |
| Gericke's TO and Swartvlei Beach below |
5 Mar, Wed – We left at 0930 for Spar where I bought a
sandwich and drink. Then we returned to Sedgeview. The wind was lighter and
there were a few more pilots. Before we got laid out Barry told us to pack up
because Gericke’s on the SE end of Paradise Ridge looked good. We had to stop
at the golf course clubhouse so Barry could pay the road use fee; then we drove
up the gray-brick road almost to some pretentious houses. At that point we
turned left onto a dirt track which descended to cross a valley with a fenced
waterhole then climbed toward launch. Just past the waterhole C.J. spotted a
big antelope on the road ahead. Candice identified it as a water buck. It had a
large pair of horns and a stocky body. Arriving at launch we found the wind
crossing strongly from the right and almost over the back. The view was
excellent, however, and we waited for a while to see if conditions would
improve. Finally, the lure of getting a sure flight – we could see people
soaring at Sedgeview – convinced us to drive back down and return to Sedge. By
now there were a dozen or more pilots on launch and more in the air; the sunny
weather must have brought them out. Fortunately, most stayed near the launch and
just to the west while C.J. and I went way to the east and had a km of ridge to
ourselves. We flew for an hour and a half and then went to the LZ at the sod
farm. We packed up in the shade and then walked to the pickup point where Candice
was waiting with Martti. We drove up to launch to get the trailer and meet
Barry who had done a tandem, and Danny and Niki who had toplanded. Danny
convinced Barry that conditions had changed and that it would be good on
Gericke’s. So
 |
| George launching at Gericke's near Sedgefield |
we drove there (alternatively we could have gone to Holiday Inn
for tea/coffee and a chance to check out the conditions at another beach site).
At Gericke’s the wind was blowing in lightly. Barry suggested a couple of
flight plans and then recommended that we wait until a distant wind line on the
ocean reached us. After 15-20 min. I was antsy enough to be first to launch
using a forward inflation on the flat slope. Although I hugged the slope I
found absolutely no lift and zoomed down at close to 30 kph. C.J. followed me
and we both had to do low 180’s to head into the wind on the beach. Then we had
to carry our gear to the car park at Swartvlei. By the time Candice had picked
us up it was 1800 and we were ready for a shower and some rest. Later we had
another braai, this time with marinated chicken and salad, beetroot, steamed
veggies (squash, etc.). The plan for the next day is to fly, Sedge probably,
and then head for Cape Town around 1400, possibly catching a flight on the way
at Sir Lowry’s Pass.
6 Mar, Thu – Up around 0700 for a bacon and egg breakfast.
It looked like it might have rained overnight, but maybe it was just heavy dew.
Conditions looked light and stable so we didn’t rush up to Sedge. I bought a
sandwich, ginger beer (good) and a mango popsicle at Spar. When we finally got
to launch we hung out until maybe 1300 with students launching and all flying
down. Finally Barry had us take off and do a sledder to the sod farm near the
service station where Candice met us. Then we headed back to Cape Town. We
stopped for diesel and a bathroom/snack break in Rivieresonderend. We made
another stop at Sir Lowry’s Pass overlook and launch. Conditions looked
 |
| Africana market at Sir Lowry's |
perfect
but Barry noticed something that made him think that the wind was really over
the back. While we were hanging out there we looked at the assortment of carved
wooden items being sold by some local guys. C.J. bought a bead necklace and
Martti got a large carved, wooden bowl. There wasn’t much traffic as we made
our way back to Table View. For dinner we ordered Asian food to be delivered
from Trologos – phad Thai and crispy beef. Our group at this time consisted of
Martti, Danny and Niki, and us. Back in our room we filled up a bag with light
colored laundry (R50) even though we’ve been rinsing out our clothes as we wear
them. There’s a place to hang them outside in the courtyard.
7 Mar, Fri – Up at 0630 for an 0730 start for Sir Lowry’s
Pass. When we got there the launch was still just
 |
| Tight quarters for Danny's launch on Sir Lowry's |
within the cloud deck so we
went on a few km to a café/orchard shop/bakery/wine shop for hot chocolate and
a scone (more like a muffin). Back at Sir Lowry’s it seemed a bit strong
especially with the limited space to launch between the stone wall of the
overlook and the cliff edge. Danny required three tries to get off in his
Mantra 6; Barry took off with a tandem but told us to pack up. C.J. found a
carved, wooden bowl she liked and haggled a little to get the price down to
R300, and then bought a smaller bowl for R100. After picking up Danny and Barry
at the small LZ (lots of brush to land in if you didn’t hit the clearing), we
drove back to Cape Town and up over Kloof Nek to the LZ for Lions Head at
Maidens Cove near Camps Bay. Then we drove up to the trailhead for Lions Head.
I started up slowly with my pack while
 |
| G on Lions Head Trail, Table Mtn summit in the distance |
everyone else but Martti waited for a “Sherpa”,
the guys who carry tandem gear to launch all day (R50). Barry sent a guy down
to carry my pack; meanwhile C.J. had lucked into an English guy who just wanted
to carry a pack up the hill for exercise. We waited while some tandems launched
and flew down, then Martti had an abort which put his wing in the brush. I
tried next on the steep, slippery ramp. After one abort, with Barry’s
assistance I had a good forward inflation and got off. Flying to the right I
found lift at the granite outcrop and on the far right edge of the face. It was
unnerving to know that I might get blown over the back into the city if I got
too near the edge of Lions Head. [It probably was not a concern on this
relatively light-wind day.] Soon more pilots including tandems joined me and,
as usual, I felt crowded (even though it really was not). I flew farther out in
front into smoother air and was able to get my camera out to take some pictures
while slowly descending over the surf and rocks to the large, grassy LZ.
Meanwhile
 |
| Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles from the air |
C.J. was having her best flight of the trip so far, getting above the top of
Lions Head and boating around for over an hour in the magnificent scenery –
Table Mountain, the Twelve Apostles, Camps Bay, and the ocean. After everyone
landed we went over to the Bungalow Bar, but it was too thumpa-thumpa noisy so
C.J. and I left to walk on the granite boulders of the shore. Soon enough we
headed back to Table View and got in about 1810 through minimal traffic. Barry
made reservation for himself, Martti and us at the Cattle Baron, a family
steakhouse. A shower certainly felt good. We were joined at the restaurant by a young
couple from Réunion Island, Clémence and Benjamin. C.J. and I shared a 300g
Chateaubriand, a beer and cider – excellent. After dinner we stopped at an ATM
and withdrew R2000 (the max at that ATM). Back home around 2200.
 |
| Barry pointing out landmarks, Porterville |
8 Mar, Sat – We left at 0800 for Porterville. Withdrew
another
 |
| Roadside baboons on the way to Porterville |
R3000 at a C-store where I also bought some lunch. We met several
pilots at the base of Dasklip Pass near the bailout LZ, “Turkey”. We drove up
the switchback road to Dasklip TO, a hang glider ramp (we never saw the PG
launch there). Conditions were seriously cross but Barry gave us a briefing
before we returned to the base. He thought that Porterville was not going to be
launchable and that the dunes on Saldanha Bay near Langebaan might be flyable.
We got back on the paved road, passed Piketburg and took R399 to Velddrif then
turned south passing the steel mill entrance. We turned toward the bay on a
sandy road and wound through the brushy dunes. Climbing up on the dunes we
found the wind too “side on” and drove on through Langebaan to an upscale
neighborhood. Beyond the houses was a trail into a part of the West Coast
National Park.
 |
| Lunch on the beach at Langebaan |
A bare/brushy/rocky bump on a shallow ridge was a take-off point
for a few flyers at a time when conditions were right, which they weren’t – too
windy. We returned to Langebaan, a popular beach resort, and had lunch on the
porch of Driftwoods, a beachfront restaurant (we had a couple of milk shakes
and an order of calamari and salad). Then we headed back to Table View on the
West Coast highway –about 1.5 hours. A good day of sight- (and site-) seeing
capped off by an indoor braai (the temp had dropped markedly).
 |
| Flags at The Waterfront |
9 Mar, Sun – It was a windy day, blown-out for flying of a
certainty. There was a huge bicycle race starting at the stadium in Cape Town
and going around Table Mountain scheduled so this would not be a good time to
do a tour of the Cape of Good Hope. We ate a delicious bacon and egg breakfast
and then walked to the bus station at Bayside with Martti and rode in to Cape
Town. The bus routes were changed due to the race and Martti got off near the
civic center to go to the District Six museum while we stayed on to go to the
Waterfront, passing some of the 38,000 (!) bicycle racers near the stadium. Our
mission was to go to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront Visitor Center and try to book a
trip to Victoria Falls or Kruger National Park. We talked with a rep from The
Travel Arena and she said that she would work on it when her tour operators
opened on Monday. Then we stopped in the Food Market for bubble tea and a
passion fruit smoothie before walking about three km to the District Six
Museum. Along the way we visited The Castle, a fort from the colonial era. The GPS on my smartphone was helpful, especially after getting Google
Maps refreshed using the wifi in the visitor center. Unfortunately the museum
was closed on Sundays. We navigated our way to the Company’s Garden again and
to the SA Mus of Nat Hist thinking that we might catch the Planetarium show. We
had just missed the last show, but we paid the R30 ea entrance fee for the
museum and (after using their rest room) spent an hour or two viewing rock art,
and SA
 |
| Downtown Cape Town |
history including apartheid. We stopped for an ice cream break in the
museum café then moved on to the birds and animals. There were lots of
taxidermy specimens of antelope, lions, elephants, honey badger, aardvark,
mongoose, and many more. On the way out we passed through the large whale
gallery. We walked back through the Garden and down Adderley. At Strand we
entered a shopping center and took an escalator to the second floor and a
skybridge to the roof of the train station which held scores of tiny shops,
most closed on Sunday. We dropped down into the train station and exited a
short walk from the Civic Center bus terminal. The wind gusts were so strong at
times that they stopped us in our tracks and we had to lean way forward to keep
from being blown backwards. There was a long line at Platform Three for Table
View and we had to wait for over an hour for a bus (delayed near Waterfront by
the race). Back at Birdmen’s Nest we were invited to join Barry and Candice and
their friends Zoe and Michael for a chicken braai. Danny and Niki returned from
their rental car trip to wineries near Stellenbosch and Martti dropped in, too.
After dinner we went back to our room to pack for a possible five-day trip to
Porterville and maybe Paarl.
10 Mar, Mon – We left at 0900 for Porterville; Benjamin and
Clémence followed in their rental car. We went
 |
| C.J. and G on Pampoenfontein Launch |
up to the HG launch at Dasklip
again for another briefing and then continued over the pass and around the back
side and across the ridge to the Pampoenfontein, the launch usually used by
paragliders. There were several lay-out areas or launches all covered by heavy
fishing net material. Tom was already there and then another group showed up
along with Kingsley, an ex-Tiger pilot, who had a borrowed Gradient for his
first flight in a while. Launch was pretty easy and I was third or fourth off
followed by C.J. I popped right up out in front of launch. Going south was very
slow (2.6 kph) so I turned and flew north (40 kph) crossing the Dasklip gap.
C.J. was low for a bit but got back up at “Rescue Ridge” between the pass road
switchbacks and continued north. I burbled downwind (N) not finding much lift
over the lower ridge and edge of the valley. Once past the no-land farm I
headed farther out into the valley, but not west of the road. Looking down I
could see a score of dark animals scurrying
 |
| Young steers at the baboon field |
around, most heading for the trees
at the base of the ridge. When I got a bit lower I could see that it was a
whole troop of baboons. I landed close to the road and a gate, then left the
obvious cow pasture and packed up under some gum trees. A couple dozen young
steers meandered over to stare at me before wandering away. Just as I got
packed up Candice and Martti came by in the van (22 min, highest alt: 864m, 5.25km
from launch). C.J. and Niki were just a short distance farther down the road
and Barry had chosen to land not too much farther away. Danny had gone to
somewhere around Citrusdal Pass. We drove to that pass and stopped just beyond
at Kardoesie (car
doo zee), a
campground, café and
winkel (store).
Up a rough dirt road behind the café was a recently bulldozed flat-slope launch
which faced somewhat more into the SW wind. Barry said that by next year the
landowner
 |
| Citrusdal Welcome |
will re-grade the launch and the pilots will install fishnet to cover
the rocks. At the moment it was almost launchable but the cycles were strong
and close together. After an hour of parawaiting we drove down the dirt road
and got back on highway R7 to Citrusdal. We drove through the town which was
basically one street with several liquor stores, a Spar and several other shops,
two calling themselves “hamper shops”. We checked in to the Citrusdal Country
Lodge, a pleasant inn filled with old tools, implements and historical
pictures, around 1545. C.J. and I took a walk through the small town in the
heat but we didn’t notice anything of interest (except that we were among the
few white faces in town). C.J. worked on some computer stuff while I rested
until 1730 when we all went back to Kardoesie. Barry said conditions looked
okay so Danny attempted to launch his Mantra 6. It took
 |
| Evening soaring at Kardoesie |
several tries before he
wrestled it off. Then Benjamin took off without any drama (later we heard that
Réunion has many high-wind sites and Benjamin and Clémence do a lot of kiting).
After a long wait Barry convinced Martti to go, then Clémence. C.J., Niki and I
did not launch; anyway, by then the sun had set (1900) and it was starting to
get dark. We drove down with Candice and picked up the fliers on the SW side of
the pass. Back at the Lodge we put in our orders for dinner at the restaurant
(oxtail stew, a SA specialty, rump/sirloin stuffed with ham, feta and mushrooms
(although C.J. had wanted the lambs neck), cider, and volcano cake) before we
went to our room for a shower, necessary after the hot day (Barry said that the
weather is relatively mild – glad we were in SA in Mar rather than Jan or Feb).
 |
| Barry, C.J. Benjamin and Clemence at their XC LZ, 11Mar |
11 Mar, Tue – Breakfast at 0730 was a very fine buffet with
bacon and sausage, eggs cooked to order,
juices, fruit (and spiced ground beef,
creamed corn, etc…) local honey and marmalade. At 0900 we left for Kardoesie and
hung out at the café until Andy, a
 |
| Cafe at Kardoesie |
European-Zambian-Swiss pilot showed up. Then
we went to Dasklip Pass for a briefing and continued up to Pampoenfontein. I took
off third about 1156 and went south into a less-strong headwind almost to the
corner getting just over the ridge. Then I came back and continued across the
Pass gap to the next rock face. I stayed fairly high and continued pushing
north. Without circling I climbed through 1000m msl and kept going with only
Danny and Andy ahead. Cu’s were forming over the main valley and soon formed a
cloud street sort of perpendicular to the ridge. Barry passed me below and then
suggested we push out into the valley to what must be a convergence of south
and north winds. I went out a little ways and climbed to 1500m and figured that
would be good enough to let me continue along the range past Bumpy Pk and on to
the north, our original goal. About the time I reached Bumpy, now flying into
 |
| Pampoenfontein Launch (Porterville) |
a
headwind, Niki had landed and Andy had tried going on but returned and landed
near the gravel road that goes out to the main highway from Porterville, R365.
Danny had disappeared to the north. I turned W to get back with the rest of the
crew who were flying under the cloudstreet. I climbed to 1750m and caught up to
C.J. and the others. Then I thought I heard Barry radio that they’d try to fly
back to Porterville along the road R44. But he meant R345 (R44 runs between
P-ville and Piketburg) and I was thinking he was referring to the gravel road
at the base of the ridge. Since I was closer to that I started leading the way
to the SE. By the time I noticed that no one was following me I had run into a
strong S headwind and had lost a bunch of altitude. I then tried turning back
to the W (by then the rest of the group had reached the highway and turned
north rather than south toward Porterville). I got about halfway to the highway
when the wind speed increased or changed to SW and wanted to push me into an
area with no roads for retrieve. I opted for landing along the E-W gravel road in a
soft plowed field. I landed without braking but then a gust hit my wing and
caused me to fall over. No damage, just got a bit dusty. (2hr 16 min, 18.2 km
from start, 1750m max alt) I walked out to what turned out to be a locked gate
and had to climb over. Just as I was composing a text of my coordinates to Candice
she called me and I gave them orally. I had just enough time to pack up before Candice
arrived to retrieve me. We went to Goedermanskraal to get Martti then out to
the R7 to get
 |
| Clemence and Benjamin |
Barry, C.J., Benjamin and Clémence (around 28km from start). [A
couple of other pilots not in our group had landed nearby.] We stopped at Kardoesie
for a drink and snack while waiting for Danny to check in. He had landed near
Citrusdal and walked back to the hotel where he was waiting for us when we
arrived. After a shower and some rest I went to a nearby ATM and withdrew
another R3000 [We had received an email from Birdmen itemizing our bill so far
– R17500 which included some unexpected charges, such as fuel surcharge
(R1000/wk) and BandB for our first night (R600)]. We ate at 1900 in the hotel
restaurant again, another excellent meal of a 250g fillet (huge) with chips and
C.J. had a big Greek salad. We shared, of course. Clémence and Martti bought
everyone a drink in celebration of their longest XC flights. Later we packed
for returning to Cape Town after flying on Wed.
 |
| G launching at Kardoesie, 12 Mar |
12 Mar, Wed – Another good buffet breakfast and then we were on the
road at 0900.
 |
| Rooibos in the wild |
We stopped at another less-used launch north of Kardoesie
(Piekernierskloof) to check conditions. It looked okay for Kardoesie so we drove
up there, first dropping off those who wanted to stop for coffee. C.J. and I
went to launch with Barry and Candice and started setting up while Candice went
back for the others. I launched first and went right up. I flew S to a corner,
but when I returned to launch, I had lost all my gain. Then I got even lower
going south into a headwind. I never found more lift and I landed in a sloping
field just below the highway thinking that would make for an easy retrieve. Meanwhile
C.J. had launched and was staying a couple hundred meters over the TO. As more
people launched it became clear that there was plenty of southerly wind but
little lift. Everyone but Martti and Danny landed with me and we packed up and
walked down the rocky field to the gravel road
 |
| Drying rooibos for tea |
where Martti had landed. When Candice
picked us all up, we continued north on the gravel road almost to Rhenosterhoek
to pick up Danny. Along the way we drove by a Rooibos tea-drying operation –
men pushing big rakes to turn the drying red leaves. Before retrieving Danny we
had returned briefly to Kardoesie to drop off Benjamin and Clémence at their
car. I think that they were going to Franschhoek and we might see them again in
Paarl if we went there on Thursday. The drive back to Table View took about two
hours and it was windy all the way. Back at Birdmen we rinsed out some clothes
and hung them out in the wind and sun. At 1800 Barry dropped us off at
 |
| Table Mountain from Blowfish |
Blowfish, a sushi and seafood restaurant right on the beach at Bloubergstrand.
We had a delicious dinner of tuna; mine was tuna teriyaki, C.J.’s was plain,
seared tuna, both delicious. We shared a bottle of SA wine and had dessert, all
for R400. Barry picked us up, too. We loved these extra services! We had not
heard anything from the Travel Arena agent we spoke to on Sunday. We were going
to have to figure out our last week in Africa pretty soon.
13 Mar, Thu – We left at 0900 for Paarl. At a shopping
center in Paarl we bought a sandwich, a box of
 |
| Granite boulders at Paarl Rock |
Rooibos tea bags and a bag of
bakery chocolate sandwich cookies. I made two withdrawals for a total of R5000
(which I turned over to Barry after dinner to go with the R7000 I had already
given to Candice). We picked up Benjamin and Clémence who had stayed overnight
in Paarl. Then we drove into the Paarl Rock nature reserve and up to a trail
that led out onto the lower, eastern granite dome. After checking out
conditions and the launch we carried our gear out and set up. I launched even
though Danny and Martti had not been able to stay
 |
| Barry briefing at Paarl Rock |
up. I was happy to get above
launch in light thermals but the lift did not continue and I headed out over
the town where there were a few small patches of light lift but not enough to
get up in. I flew across the river over where Danny had chosen to land and then
returned to the school rugby stadium where Martti had landed. The end
 |
| G launching at Paarl Rock |
of the
field was soarable and I made several 180s before I ran out of lift and settled
down on the grass (15 min). The others landed quickly after me. Instead of
giving up when Candice arrived, Barry loaded us up and set off for Franschhoek,
the area of South Africa where the French Huguenots settled. The mountain
scenery reminded me of Switzerland or the French Alps. We stopped at the edge
of a gated community, a no-land zone located between launch and the brushy
roadside field that we were to aim for. Then we drove up toward the pass to
 |
| Franschhoek launch, the town is below |
the Mont Rochelle trailhead passing the large hillside sign for the city. After
walking up to launch to check conditions we carried our gear up and once again
got ready to fly. Danny launched first and soared but did not get high; he
complained on the radio about the conditions and landed in the LZ and walked
into town to a cafe. Martti did not get to soar at all and could not reach the
LZ. Barry called it a day when the cycles got even lighter and we began to get
some over-the-back conditions. Back down in Franschhoek we went to a café and
ordered coffee, milkshakes, chocolate cake, all paid for by Martti who had met
the security chief of the gated community and had been given a ride
 |
| Niki, C.J. and Clemence at Franschhoek |
out to the
LZ. We said farewell to Ben and Clémence who were headed for Wilderness. The
rest of us returned to Table View and Barry took us (Martti, C.J. and me) to
Pimi-Piatti, a pizza place on the Bloubergstrand with a great view of the
sunset, Cape Town and Table Mountain. Back at the Nest I tried calling Barry’s
friend Phillip Daniel, a guide at Kruger, to ask his advice on arranging a
trip. He wasn’t in so C.J. and I tried to figure out our own trip on the
computer. It was very complicated what with flights to Jo’burg and on to one of
the near-Kruger airports, or car rental and a 5-hr drive, arranging lodging at
one or more rest camps, game drives, etc. It was not possible to do it on the
computer so we had to find a travel agent (soon).
14 Mar, Fri – We were on the road sometime after 0800 after
 |
| "Porterville" Looking N over Dasklip Pass |
adding Andy to our group. We drove right to
 |
| G Launching, C.J. readying her wing |
Pampoenfontein launch at
Porterville getting there around 1000. Then we waited until conditions built. I
took off after Danny, C.J., Martti and several aborts around 1155. I went south
a ways
 |
| C.J. at Porterville |
climbing and then sinking. I returned to launch and tried the next
corner to the north where most of the rest were high. That didn’t work for me
so I went for the house thermal at the farthest south hairpin on the
Dasklippass Road. That finally worked and got me high enough to cross the gap
to the exposed rocks on the next hillside. I got up there reasonably well and,
to avoid the minor gaggles, I just kept flying straight north along the front
of the range with Danny in the distance and Barry just ahead. I was able to
rely on Barry marking a thermal so I could fly on until I reached the thermal
and climbed, at one time to 1200m, well above the range. Near Teenage I got low
and had to fly out to the foothills where I hit a good thermal and climbed high
enough to almost get to Bumpy Pk. Then I hit sink and couldn’t get out of it.
C.J., coming up from the south found some lift and got high enough that she
could have gone across the no-retrieve zone if she hadn’t heard about a
possible headwind once past Bumpy. I landed near the base of Bumpy in a lifty
field that had me heading into the wind but climbing toward some power lines. I
had to pull a sharp 180 and run out a downwind landing (1hr07min). Getting out
through a nearby gate I crossed the gravel road to a patch of shade under some
gum trees populated by a herd of staring steers. I sent a text to Candice right
away and I was not quite packed up
 |
| C.J. with local children |
when she arrived with Niki. I was surprised
to find that C.J. had landed just 0.5 km down the road. When we got there we
found that she had four local 10-12 year-old children helping her fold her
wing. We got packed up and C.J. gave the kids some of our good chocolate
cookies. Then we went to Kardoesie to get some drinks and snacks. Martti sent
his coordinates, strangely enough he had landed not far from where C.J. and I
had, so we went back to the base of Bumpy to get him. Barry and Danny had gone
to the middle of the valley and then flown south toward Piketburg; we picked them
up along R7 and headed home. Later we ordered take-away food from The Indian
Chapter (lamb curry roganjosh and tamboori prawns (too spicy for C.J.)). While
waiting for delivery Candice tried to help us plan a trip to Kruger but without
success. She had talked with Phillip and found out that heavy rains had flooded
and closed some of the rest camps so lodging was scarce; later we found that
booking a flight to/from Jo’burg was difficult to impossible because there was
a national holiday on Friday the 21
st. But Candice did find a travel
agency that was open until 2100 every day including Sunday. The plan, then, was
to get with the travel agent on Sat. or Sun.
15 Mar, Sat, our last flying day – C.J. and I were up at
0545 for an 0700 early departure for Hermanus. [On the way I used an ATM at a
service station to withdraw another R3000.] We were at the takeoff by
 |
| Martti over Hermanus |
0845 and
then had to wait for conditions to build. The sun came out and around 1135 I
launched following Barry and another pilot flying an Arcus. It was a bit
scratchy at first and I had to work close to the cliffs before getting above
300m from the 235m TO. Later conditions improved (but not before C.J. sank out
once) and I got to 465m. On the cliff to the east I spotted a brown, furry,
goatlike animal, possibly a klipspringer. I top landed on the north side of the
road across from the launch (1hr12min). After eating a Clif bar, I to pack up
for travel. C.J. had relaunched for a much better second flight (1hr05min), but
conditions became rowdy and even Barry decided to topland rather than fly to
the hotel on the shore
 |
| Marimba band in Hermanus |
where Danny and Niki had landed. Earlier Martti got low
on his first flight and had to land on the slope below the ridge near the
cemetery. I rode down with Barry in his other Birdmen vehicle and we all met at
the shore for coffee/gelato. We checked out a zip line set up crossing part of
the bay, some kind of media adventure-race event. We also saw some dassies
(rock hyrax). Heading back to Cape Town via a coast road, we stopped near Betty’s
Cove at the Stony Point Nature Reserve where a colony of
 |
| Penguins at Stony Point Nature Reserve |
African Penguins (once
called Jackass Penguins for their braying vocalizations) held hundreds of the
black and white birds. Continuing along the coast we came to False Bay and Candice
and Barry spotted whales spouting, a pod of dolphins and a group of seals – a
good day for flying, scenery and wildlife. Back at Birdmen I packed my wing,
boots and instruments. Next I settled accounts with Candice;
 |
| African Penguin |
there were a
number of unexpected charges like
fuel levy and site fees. But in general we
got a good deal considering all the travel and flying we did. Next week we are
on our own although we made no plans to leave the Nest. For dinner we had a
traditional SA meal called
potjie kos, lamb stew cooked in a large three-legged
kettle over a wood fire; it was just Martti, C.J. and me along with Barry and Candice.
Later, I edited the 1405 magazine and C.J. uploaded it around 2200.
16 Mar, Sun –After breakfast (during which we talked about
our plans for the next week and Michael and Zoe suggested a (trans)national
park in the Kalahari- Kgalagadi? – north of Upington), Candice let us use her
old Opel (?) to drive to Bayside Center just a few blocks away to meet with a
travel agent. After hearing our tentative plans she tried to book flights
to/from Jo’burg to get to either Kruger or Upington. Nothing was available to
get us back to Cape Town due to a national holiday on Friday. We were totally
out of luck. We figured that we might rent a car and do something in the Western
Cape or even drive to Upington and the park. We bought a road atlas of South
Africa, paid the R5 for parking and returned to Birdmen. Barry suggested a
private game farm not too far from Cape Town, Aquila. We studied it on the web
and it looked good. We considered renting a car to drive there and Barry was
going to check with Danny who had rented a car locally for a good price.
Meanwhile Candice had returned home with two six-week-old kittens and told us
we could take her car for the day to go to Cape Point (Cape of Good Hope). We
threw a few things together and headed south through Cape Town suburbs until we
reached Muizenberg. There we ran into bumper-to-bumper traffic to Fish Hoek and
again in Simon’s Town where there was a Navy festival. It was hot in the car
without A/C (and I may have been sweating a bit anyway from driving on the left
and shifting with my left hand, as well) until we got moving more quickly. We
were glad we had done the penguin tour the previous day because I’m sure the
penguin colony at Simon’s Town would have been crowded. We made one stop along
the coast at a view point and then headed inland to the entrance to Table
Mountain National Park (entry fee R105 ea). Not far into the park, which takes
up most of the peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope, we stopped for a short walk
through the rocks and small-leafed vegetation known as fyn bos (pronounced like “fane bors”). Then we visited the
Visitor’s Center before driving all the way south past the Vasco da Gama monument to
the area around the lighthouse at Cape Point. The parking lot was quite full
and we were surprised to see there was a funicular taking tourists up to the
lighthouse. We skipped that whole scene and drove down to the shore of the Cape
where a sign proclaimed that we were on the “Farthest Southwestern Point in
Africa”. We walked the rocky trail (many steps) to a high point with a good
view of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Back down on the beach the queue for
having a photo taken with the sign had gotten less long but we chose to get a
photo of ourselves behind the trail sign. The beach itself was almost covered
with carefully arranged rock cairns. Because of our late start and all the slow
traffic it was getting pretty late, but on our way out we decided to take a
“Circular Drive” through the brush and stumbled upon a small flock of ostriches
who were quite close to the road. We also spotted a herd of a dozen or so
eland. By then (around 1800) the sun was getting pretty low and the park gates
closed at 1931. We decided on a route to return to Cape Town and Table View that
would take us up the west side of the peninsula on M65 through Scarborough and
Kometjie, then on M6 through Nordhoek and on to Houts Bay and Camps Bay. The
most scenic part of the drive was right at sunset while we were on the Chapman
Peak Scenic Drive, a toll road (R36) which hugged the cliffs between Nordhoek
and Houts Bay. The atlas and my phone GPS and Google Map kept us from getting
lost except where we missed the turn that should have put us on the freeway to
Table View from downtown Cape Town. In Table View we lucked into finding the
Cattle Baron we had eaten at with Barry and made up for our missed lunch with
lamb chops and a 200g fillet. [And we were winners in the Sunday raffle taking
home a voucher for R100 off our next Sunday meal. We gave it to Barry, of
course.] We got back to the Nest around 2130. I would have called Barry to let
him know that we were late but the borrowed mobile was not working. [Later,
Barry just rebooted it and it worked fine.]
17 Mar, Mon – After breakfast we worked with Barry to book
two night at Aquila, a private four-star game reserve about two hours away.
Since they wanted an additional R2000 (above the R9180 we were paying) to pick
us up at Blowfish, we decided to rent a car; it would give us more flexibility
and we could use it to get to the airport on Friday. Barry got hold of the
local Avis operation and arranged to have a small car delivered at 0900 on
Tuesday (and returned to the airport by 1500 Friday) for R1200 or so with all
insurance and 800 free km included. After finishing with the arrangements we
got ready to go into Cape Town again, and caught a ride in with Barry who was
going there anyway. We got out somewhere in District 6 and found our way to the
District 6 Museum; it was funny that the tech school students we asked for
directions did not know where it was. We were early enough that it was not yet
crowded with tour and school groups. From there we walked to the Company’s
Garden up to the Natural History Museum (Iziko South African Museum) at the
southwest end of the Gardens. It was only 1230 and the planetarium show wasn’t
until 1400 so we went to the restaurant in the Gardens and ordered lunch.
Somehow my order did not get turned in to the kitchen and we ended up sharing
C.J.’s “line fish and chips” which was very good. The waiting area for the
planetarium was full of noisy kids but they were quiet during the show – The
Cosmic Egg. Since I fell asleep once the lights went off I didn’t learn a lot
during the almost one-hour presentation, much longer than at the Pacific
Science Center in Seattle, larger dome and good reclining seats, too. We spent
another hour looking at museum exhibits – minerals, geology,
dinosaurs/mammal-like-reptiles (most common in the Karoo), mammals, and Madiba
(Nelson Mandela, just one room with a model of his inauguration, some pics and
some cartoons which we didn’t get). Sometime after 1630 and an ice cream break
we headed back through the Gardens and along Adderley, across to the roof of the
train station (small African shops) and to the Civic center bus terminal where
we found a long, but fast, line and were soon at Table View. We found out, a
little too late, that we could have stayed on the bus and saved ourselves the
1.5km walk to Birdmen. Back home we got an invitation to join B&C, Michael
and Zoe and Benjamin and Clémence for another excellent braai. Benjamin and
Clémence had been to Wilderness and Hermanus and had gotten some decent flying
(but not as good as we did, I think). We went back to our room and got packed
up for Aquila. We added warm clothes after Michael pointed out that we would be
inland, in a desert-like climate, and at a higher altitude.
18 Mar, Tue – After breakfast we hung out waiting for the
Avis guy who was running a bit late, somewhat of a concern since we were
supposed to check in by noon. When he got there at 0920, he asked me for my
driver’s license. I couldn’t find it in my wallet and it wasn’t in my money
belt; had I left it home because I wasn’t expecting to rent a car? Checking my
wallet once again I found it stuck to another card. Whew! Since we were keeping
the car until 1500 on Friday, we had to pay for a whole additional day (even
so, the bill so far for four days was only about $140, pretty reasonable). The
vehicle was a little Fiat Cabriolet, just big enough for us and our gear. We
got started right away and C.J. navigated us out of Table View, along N7, then
out along N1. We passed Paarl and then went through the long Huguenot Tunnel
and then along more valleys and over some passes including Hex River Pass where
we ran into a delay due to construction. Now we were up on the Karoo plateau
and only a short distance from the turnoff on R46 to Aquila. We arrived at the
thatched-roof gate just after noon, were signed-in and sent to register at the
reception desk. After signing a waiver and swiping a credit card for the R9180
fee (which included two nights lodging, six meals, and four game drives), we
headed over to the restaurant. Lunch was a buffet that reminded us of our
experience on the Panama Canal cruise for variety and quantity. There were
salads, oxtails, chicken, fish, squash, and other vegs. There were bowls of cherry
tomatoes, sliced cukes, olives and cheese. There was a whole area for desserts
– custard, apple crisp with warm cream sauce, and some creamy pudding dish.
Drinks were not included but our waitress brought us tap water with ice and
lemon. We ate on the covered porch with most of the other guests; there were no
bugs but the wind was picking up. Out beyond the mowed grass and a strong fence
we could spot a couple of large crittters which turned out to be blue
wildebeests. Around 1345 we got our room assignment, #21 Egyptian Goose, and
followed a ranger to a new parking area. It was a large single room with twin
beds in a stone-walled, flat-roofed cottage; there was a large bath with a
rock-walled tub and an outdoor shower (which we never used – too cool and
windy). The cottage had A/C, a ceiling fan, fridge, electric water heater pot,
and a fireplace, both inside and out. It was totally adequate for our stay, but
the luxury rooms and chalets had
thatched roofs and windows looking out on the waterhole. After moving our stuff
in we took a walk past the restaurant to the hillside chalets where we could
look out over the bush, and right away we spotted two elephants and a giraffe.
Pretty cool! Back at our room we wrote in our journals before going over to the
meeting point for the afternoon game drive at 1600. There were a dozen or so of
us in an open, canvas-roofed safari truck. We started off by entering the
fenced area through a sturdy gate. The first animals we saw were zebras
(pronounced, British-style, with a soft e), then two white rhinos (originally
known as square-lipped or wide-lipped rhinos, somehow the “wide” got changed
via Dutch and Afrikaans to “white”), one, the mother, with a broken front horn.
There were springbok everywhere and big eland. We caught up with two young,
male elephants for our second “big five” sighting. Farther on we saw a giraffe
in the distance and lots of black wildebeests (one of the “ugly five” according
to our ranger/driver/guide).We stopped at a waterhole where several hippos were
staying mostly submerged with just the tops of theirs heads showing now and again.
Farther along, in a place with no animals visible, we took a break with a glass
of sparkling wine and a tray of snacks – nuts, raisin, biltong (jerky/dried
meat), sausage, etc. Then we drove through another gate into the lion range.
There were two big males and several females. We got quite close as they were
just lazing around, apparently they sleep up to 20 hours each day. They are
kept separate from all the other prey and are fed only meat from already-dead
animals. On the way back to human side of the fence we saw more wildebeests and
other antelopes, and then we spotted a Cape buffalo heading our way. We moved
on before it got close enough to show its legendary aggression. It was almost
1900 when we got back and we felt that we had received our money’s worth
(although the ranger’s English had been hard to understand and we were way in
the back of the truck – good seats for photography but not for hearing
explanations). We changed into clean and dressier clothes for dinner, not that
we had any “dress clothes” with us. The restaurant was a large, open structure
with the thatched roof visible from the inside, with lots of wood trim, hanging
lights and large clay jars accenting the African theme. Dinner was a buffet
again with many salad choices, slices of beef tongue, lamb chops, fish,
squid/calamari, and veggies, Desserts, however, were generally forgettable. We
didn’t stay out partying since we would need to get up pretty early to meet our
ranger at 0645 for the morning game drive. On the way back to our cottage, the
almost-full moon rose over a nearby mountain.
19 Mar, Wed – Up at 0545 in the dark, the almost-full moon
was still high with a planet below it. [When we were back in Sedgefield, Barry
had pointed out some constellations notably the Southern Cross and the two
pointer stars that help you find it. C.J. was able to recognize Orion even
though it was upside down in the Southern Hemisphere.] The sky lightened as we
had tea/coffee and a crunchy biscuit/cookie. We loaded onto the same Nr 4
safari truck with the same ranger but a seat near the front instead of the
back. First we went across the highway to the Aquila Rehabilitation Center
(ARC) where there were three lions, two cheetahs and a leopard. There was a
crocodile pool but no crocs were present. The cheetahs were in a large
enclosure and it was hoped that they would breed, but so far that hadn’t
happened. The leopard had been a pet, declawed and overfed, and would never be
released back into the wild. The three lions were saved from what the ranger called
a “canned hunt” operation that allowed a hunter to shoot a lion for the trophy
head while it was held in a small enclosure. Back to the south in the game
reserve, we got some good pictures of a giraffe. Farther along we saw the zebra
herd again and the rhinos; the lions had moved downhill to their waterhole and
were lying in the bushes. Like many of the animals, they were probably trying
to avoid the gusty west wind and chilly temperature, even after the sun rose.
On the way out we drove by the hippo waterhole and more of the heads were
visible above the water surface. Back at the compound around 0815 we had a very
good buffet breakfast with fruit, flaky pastries, bacon, sausage, scrambled and
fried eggs, potatoes, mushrooms, etc. There was a selection of cereals
including oatmeal and granola, yogurt, cold meats, toast – the only thing
missing for me was hot chocolate. Afterward I walked out through the gate to
get a photo of the Aquila entrance sign and C.J. worked on her photos. Then I
went to the lounge to read email (but I could not send from my Nook HD). Later
I recopied the email to our Birdmen group to my phone and sent it that way. We
had lunch around 1300; it had a different selection of foods than the previous
day’s buffet. There was a beef pie (a steak and kidney pie one Brit said),
chicken, fish, plus salads, veggies, cheese, and desserts including a delicious
trifle, a baked pear over custard with a vanilla cream sauce, plus fruits, etc.
We hung out in our cottage reading and doing computer stuff until it was time
to meet for our afternoon game drive at 1545. We had a new ranger and an
assistant. His English was much better and he had some new things to show us.
We got a pretty good look at the mama hippo with her 3-day-old calf. Then a
rhino with a really long front horn took exception to where we had stopped –
probably too close to her and her calf –
and charged us seriously enough that the ranger had to throw the truck
into reverse and back up quickly. Then on a narrow road we met the two
elephants but we again backed up to give them room. The zebras were pretty far
away from the road, the giraffe was nowhere to be seen, and the lions were
practically comatose. We had stopped for champagne and a snack before entering
the lion area. Coming down from the lion area we had an expansive view from
“God’s Window”. We ran into a herd of eland, black wildebeests and some gemboks
or oryx with long horns arching over their backs, and some ostriches. When we
got back to the waterhole, one hippo was out of the water but when we got close
she plunged back in. We saw a reebok, the only one we saw while we were there.
As we drove toward the gate we saw that two Cape buffalo were blocking the way.
We watched from a distance but eventually we had to drive away and use a different
gate. We were back by 1900 and took showers while the cottage was still
relatively warm. We went to dinner at 2000 and, surprise, it was another
buffet! This time there was the classic South African dish, bobotie, a minced
meat pie with an egg-based topping, served with several condiments. There were
also chicken, skewers of beef, pork and mushrooms and veggies. Dessert included
a room temperature chocolate pudding/mousse, a hot cake with vanilla cream
sauce, and another dish with pears. We ordered a glass of wine each,
ridiculously cheap at R49.50 including a tip. The moon wasn’t quite over the
mountain when we returned to our cottage at 2115. We discussed where we should
go on the 20th as we headed back to Table View – backroads over
mountain passes to Paarl and the Afrikaans language monument.
20 Mar, Thu – Up before 0600 for the 0630 game drive. It was
pretty chilly so the rangers handed out hotwater bottles in fleece covers as
well as hooded blankets. C.J. and I both wore several layers of fleece as well
as wind jackets and wind pants. Our group first went to the ARC and found out
that cheetahs purr. The leopard was active and even posed for us on a tree
branch. The lions were active, too, and the male let loose with some truly
magnificent roars. We moved on to the game reserve and saw the usual hippo
snouts, springbok, black wildebeests, and zebras. The ranger pointed out the
differences between hippo (4 toes) and rhino tracks (3), and we looked at rebok
dung – like rabbit pellets – and springbok – like corn on the cob. Ostriches
have two toes; one is large and clawed. Gemsbok (oryx) have large deer tracks
with the two hooves almost parallel. Zebra tracks look like those of horses.
Back out of the reserve, we had another big buffet breakfast and then packed up
to depart by 1000. There was only the one charge on our tab (R49 for the wine)
and no place for adding a tip, not even a tip jar. We turned west on R46 toward
Ceres and soon crossed a pass. The scenery was much like the American high
desert but with fyn bos rather than
sagebrush. In about an hour we were entering Ceres. Right across from a prison
entrance and near a Township I hit a deep pothole and blew out the left front
tire and dented the rim. Fortunately, we had all the necessary tools to change
the tire and a prison guard came over to help us. The emergency spare tire was
good for only 80 kph so we looked for a repair place as we drove through town.
Finally we stopped at the library/TI and got directions to a garage. First,
though, I used my loaner mobile to call Avis. They said we would have to drive
to the nearest Avis office and get a replacement car. Unfortunately, that was
in Stellenbosch about 165 km away. Oh well, if we couldn’t visit more mountains
Gydo Pass) and small, historic villages (Tulbaugh), we could see the famous
wine country around Stellenbosch. [Oops, the TI pointed out that we could not
have done our proposed trip anyway since there was not really a road between
Gydo and Tulbaugh.] Anyway, we drove over Mitchell Pass but then missed a turn
and drove a big loop north to Gouda. When we were within 10 km of Wellington
our other left tire went flat. No more spares tires so I put out the emergency
warning triangle and called Avis again. In less than an hour they had brought
us a new car, a Hyundai i10. We signed the paperwork (thankful that we had
bought the extra “tyre and windscreen” insurance for about $1.75 per day) and
on through Wellington. When we reached Paarl traffic was heavy and I gave up on
finding a convenient café for lunch and settled for going to the large Paarl
Mall and eating at Panzarotti’s, a pizza and pasta place. I had basil pesto
fettucine with chicken and c.J. had a salad plate. While waiting for lunch I
noticed a missed call on the phone and called Barry back. He invited us to an
ostrich braai at 1900. Directions from the internet (there was wi-fi at the
mall) and use of Google Maps on my smartphone got us to the Afrikaans Language
Monument on the hill above Paarl. We had seen glimpses of the imposing structure
from the Paarl Rock launch when we were there and thought it would be
interesting to see up close. It was both aesthetically interesting and symbolically
compelling when seen from the grounds. It was 1645 when we left and got on N1
and N7, and we were back to Birdmen by 1730. Traffic wasn’t bad at all. I was
even getting used to the directional signal being on the right side of the
steering column unlike the Fiat where it was on the normal (to me) left side.
Danny and Niki were back and, as usual busy with their electronic devices. The
ostrich braai was very good. The meat was dark and something like venison in
flavor and texture. Candice had made a no-bake cheesecake of cottage cheese and
sweetened condensed milk which I thought was quite good, if not like real
cheesecake.
21 Mar, Fri –C.J. and I slept in a bit, then had breakfast
with Danny and Niki. We later walked to Bayside Center where we wandered
through the mall to see how different it was from a shopping center in the US.
We found the Black Gold balsamic vinegar reduction in Checkers, a supermarket,
and bought one regular and one Mediterranean-style. Back at Birdmen’s Nest we
packed our clothing and gear and hung out until it was time to load up the car.
I paid our bill with Barry and Candice; it was only another R2730 for the four
nights we occupied the room and the ostrich braai. Barry had been out kiting
with a group of new students. Apparently we were the last tour group for the
year. Our stuff barely fit in the tiny car but we fitted it in and then, using
Barry’s map, drove to the airport arriving around 1520 for our 1810 flight. It
was a long walk from the Avis car rental return but we had a free cart so it
wasn’t too bad except for an uphill stretch after we had gone under a roadway.
Because I had checked in online we were able to use a very short line to check
in and get all of our boarding passes. This time we checked C.J.’s rolling
carry-on; she had put her helmet in the big duffel. Security and Passport
Control went quickly and then we had a long wait for our flight to board the
Airbus A340-300 that had just arrived. We had clear views of the SA coast near
Betty’s Cove to Hermanus and then inland over mountains and farmland before it
got dark (still in South Africa). It was dark when we landed many hours later
in Dubai. And there was a 30 min. (!) bus ride around the airport to the
terminal. We checked at an info desk and were directed to the transfer flight
gates upstairs for a 3hr55min wait. The international departures terminal was
one huge duty free shop that stretched along the central hall. Two side halls
held the gates. There were food courts at either end of the central hall. We
had been fed reasonably well on the plane so did not feel the need to buy more
food at the usual inflated airport prices (mostly in UAE dirham (about 3.67 per
USD) but dollars were also accepted. We boarded about 0900 for our 0940
departure on a Boeing 777-300ER. We were served breakfast at noon (which was
interrupted by turbulence). I slept as much as possible and later watched
second part of The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug on the seatback
entertainment system. We had some good views especially over the Yukon-BC border.
And the camera views looking straight down when we passed over the north pole
were impressive, as well. We arrived at the south satellite of Seatac at 1245
and the lines for passport control and then customs were long and slow (even
after separating the US/CDN passengers from the non-North Americans). Then we
had a long wait for our baggage to arrive. Once we got our bags we were still
in the south satellite so we had to drop them on another conveyor belt and go
to the main baggage claim to wait for it to show up on a carrousel there. By
the time we caught the shuttle to the Sandstone Inn 2 ¼ hours had elapsed from
our touchdown. On the way home we stopped at Costco and Fred Meyer to stock up
on groceries.
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