Travelogue

Dear all,

Some of you are new to these emails so a brief introduction. I'm not great at keeping in touch so in an attempt to do more better I send out "travelogues" which is a picture book of where we've been and what we've done to share a little bit of our lives with you. Then you email us, then we email you et voila we are staying in touch

Do feel free to say you'd rather not receive them especially as emails full of pics can be difficult to download.

Those who are new we are picking up where we left off on our South African holiday staying with Woody's parents in Hermanus.

The day we were supposed to go for a guided walk was the day that started with torrential rain. It was so wet that the Springbok on the golf course moved down from their usual places to hide amongst the trees outside the back of the house...

We postponed the walk til the afternoon when it had dried up. It remained cloudy but it was as ever in Africa hot enough. We picked up our guide at Gansbaai tourist office and he directed us down to the harbour where we were dropped off to begin our walk. 

The sea was rough from all the strong winds.

The mountains are as we look back from Gansbaai to Hermanus.

Our guide had studied botany so he was able to tell us a little about the plants we passed on the walk. One of them you can boil up and drink as a tea and it stops any BO or foot odour.

We crossed some bridges (no trolls)

We looked under the Milkwood trees

We passed an old harbour which was used in the early days of colonisation

The oath was sometimes straight and easy

And sometimes not

There were signs

And steps that were more like ladders

Steep steep!

And the path was labelled with arrows or green rocks which were more or less clear depending on how long they'd been there

There were more bridges...

And education from our guide about the condom wrappers which were littering the path. The government give away free condoms in the public toilets in order to encourage their use to prevent the spread of HIV. However being very ingenious they are actually multipurpose. There are 2 types - the first type apparently wasn't very nice (taste) so they were replaced with a different type which (also apparently) is much nicer. The oils that are on the condoms are good for your skin and especially sunburn so unwrap it and start rubbing it in! The second use was for the abalone smugglers. There is a strict limit on quantity and size of the abalone that should be caught as they are being over fished and at risk of disappearing. The smugglers do not limit their catch or return the smaller ones but load up with all they can find and try and sell them to posh Cape Town hotels without the police catching them (or bribing them). They smugglers use diving gear and use the kelp to pull themselves along under water but what to do when your phone rings? well answer it of course because it is safely dry in its watertight condom casing. Our guide had once tried his hand at smuggling but the weather and sea had been so rough he had been put off. He had moved from the Eastern Cape and had had no job or anywhere to go. He has become more successful since then though with an internet cafe and guiding business.

We walked along the coast to de Kelders where we saw some dassies or rock hyrax. Apparently they are the closest living relatives to.....

yup, elephants....

Someone had created a small garden overlooking the sea with a bench in a boat and some inspirational Bible verses

It was a lovely idea and very unexpected with the wildness of the rest of the coastline....

We had been booked in to see a cave on the morning walk but as we had not gone we thought we were going to miss out. However by chance as we passed the steps leading down to the cave the owner turned up in his car as he was meeting 2 spanish men who wanted to see the cave so we joined the tour.

Originally there had been a hotel on the top of the cliff and the land with the cave on it had been given to the hotel with the stipulation that the caves must remain open for the use of the public/hotel guests. Subsequent owners had themed the caves and they had always been open for guests to "take the waters" ie bathe in them to cure skin diseases. For those that couldn't make it down to the cave used baths in the hotel where the water was pumped up. They are supposed to be very rare having a freshwater cave so near to the sea. The man showing us round had married the daughter of the last hotel owner and they continue to keep the caves open for people to look round (and a small charge).

This is the entrance to the cave. As we got further in we were able to see bats either flying or hanging from the ceiling as we passed

We were invited to swim and this is proof that I did go in (no-one else did)

It was dark and the only lights we had were from torches but it was really fascinating with its history of being a spa cave

Some interesting formations forming and the caves are being studied due to their nature as they are so old if they drill into the formations it tells them information from the time they were formed.

Due to the unexpected stop we were later on the walk and should have got to the end, and doubled back to be collected. However so we didn't miss out we met Mum and Dad's taxi and they drove us to Klipgat Cave where the Khoi tribe used to live

There were more steps and some water treatment stuff there

You can just about make out a nest of honey bees in the main opening to the cave...

And it is a large cave with wooden walkway and information about the people that used to live there and the evidence about them that archaeologists have dug up

This is the view out of the left opening in the previous picture. It looks towards a nature reserve and if you were to walk along the beach for 15 km then you would get to Hermanus

Still rough from the winds

On the way into the caves we saw what we thought was a dead baby seal. As we got closer we saw it was alive. It appeared to be alone and either unwell or tired as examination showed it was not wounded. We were wondering how we could help it back to the sea but as we walked back to the car park it had gone. It was a fascinating walk and when we go back we hope to meet up with the guide again for a tour of the township and possibly some food there.

More to follow

Love Bertie & Woody xxx