Coffee Bay, Comet McNaught and the weekend in Kasouga

I resumed work on January 8th, 2007, the date on which the Legal Resources Centre office in Grahamstown was open for business again. Fresh from the holidays and in good refreshed spirits, it was wonderful to see all my colleagues again and swap festive stories about adventures, food and embarrassments. The sound of office phones ringing, the main door opening and closing and Sarah's voice calling out for someone in the office was like music to my ears.

Geza left the following day to return to Kingston to complete his Bachelor of Education, and I had to get used to having the apartment entirely to myself. There was no-one to blab to about this, that and the other, so I took to sewing, listening to Maria Callas (thanks, Grant & Sharon!) and doing laundry (I had become quite lazy with that after mother left).

COFFEE BAY

I actually headed back out to Coffee Bay with Ms. Ruth Williams, my esteemed colleague, and spent a long weekend at the Coffee Shack. I managed to avoid being "Buffalo-ed" again [read previous post about Coffee Bay to understand what this is] and spent a lot of time on the beach, swimming, playing chess with Charl, playing a card game with many people called "shithead" (great fun!) and just relaxing.

Every afternoon around 17:30, the Coffee Shack took people who were keen to watch the sunset to a good spot with the Coffee Shack lorry [immediately below]. Even though it was a bit overcast, the view was fantastic and everyone sat around chatting about whatever they saw fit to chat about, until it was time to head back to Coffee Shack for supper.

Here are the two fish purchased by some Coffeeshackers from fishermen on the beach. They cooked it up right there, and I was invited to sample these fish, and also some prawns that they had bought earlier on....

COMET McNAUGHT

After arriving back from Coffee Bay to Grahamstown, I was informed by a brief acquaintance via a text message that there was a comet in the sky and that I must look for it around 8 o'clock in the evening. When I received this text message, I was at one of the main bars in town having some greasy food and beer with a good friend and didn't manage to spot the comet. It was visible the entire week, and towards the end of the week, nearly everyone in Grahamstown had seen this damn comet but me! So, on the last day it was to be visible to the naked eye, I ventured up a mountain with a friend and finally saw comet McNaught! I didn't take a picture of it since I had forgotten my dear camera at home, however; I promise you, my readers, that this is what it looked like to me:
This is another picture of the comet (my thanks go out to Cathy, my partner-in-crime at the LRC, for providing me with this picture). It's taken in Cape Town with a mountain which Cathy and I both suspect is the legendary Table Mountain. Please note that when I saw the comet, it looked exactly like the picture above.

KASOUGA

The following weekend, Sarah (my boss at the LRC) suggested that Ruth and I go to her summer cottage in Kasouga. Kasouga is a small holiday location with a community of cottages, located about 60 km from Grahamstown. We gladly accepted, and invited Charl and Stephany. As the old saying goes: "the more the merrier"!

After work on Friday, the four of us departed for Kasouga. We arrived late, but Ruth and Stephany whipped up some tortillas and various toppings for it such as refried beans, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and what have you. Delish! The following day we went for a walk on the beach. Beaches in South Africa are beautiful. There is a loneliness to them and the contrast of the sand and the dunes is gorgeous [see below].

At this same beach, I came across a large grasshopper [see left for a much smaller version of this mad grasshopper] - about the length of my extended hand - and decided that I would take a picture. Everyone halted and I crouched down to get a good close-up of this insect. All of a sudden, it was airborne and fluttering angrily my way. I screamed like a blonde teenager watching a horror movie, and began scrambling up the sand dune. Given the fact that I was laughing at the same time as feeling terror, it made it more difficult for me to clamber up the dune. When I thought I was safe, my three friends were howling with laughter, and told me that the grasshopper had actually followed me while I was scurrying away for dear life, unbeknownst to me! I think I would have suffered a heart attack had I known! Needless to say, I never got my picture...

That afternoon, after my near-death experience with the gigantic angry grasshopper, we played chess and relaxed. We headed back out to the beach with some snacks and beers to watch the sunset [see below].
That evening, Charl and I were responsible for the braai. We went on a mission for firewood, and found plenty. What a feast. Ruth, a vegetarian, held her poise quite well :)

Addo Elephant Park

Geza and I slid into Grahamstown from the Tsitsikamma on January 3rd, 2007 and decided to go to Addo Elephant Park the following day. This is a national park which (needless to say) obviously harbours elephants, among other animals as well. Addo is home to buffalo, rhinoceros, lion, tortoises, black-backed jackals, zebras, warthogs (zillions of them too!), snakes, birds, you name it.

Day visitors to the park pay R 80 (if you are foreigner) and R 20 (if you are South African). After pulling off my utter best "Suth Efrikan" accent, Geza and I coughed up R 20 each :) Staying overnight in a safari tent costs about R 500 and is good value for money, but it was booked solid. One is permitted to take your own car into the park, and drive around with a map and listing of all the animals you potentially might see, if you are lucky.

Three rules which are posted on a sign prior to entering the park: Firstly, the South African dung beetle has right of way [see left]. It is endangered, and it's survival has park officials slightly worried. Secondly, no driving over elephant dung. Why? Because the dear little dung beetle lays its eggs in the elephant dung and these eggs die if one drives over the elephant dung. And last, but not least, one is not permitted to exit the vehicle while in the park because of dangerous animals which could possibly devour you. I had been to Addo with my mother in December, but I never saw any dangerous animal. We kept laughing about getting out of the car to use ourselves as "bait" to lure the lion out of the bushes so we could finally see the shy brute.

Other than 3 million elephants, Geza and I also spotted: warthogs, kudu, bushbuck, a black-backed jackal and two baby tortoises (mom nor dad were anywhere to be seen) and also one really really agitated ostrich on the road being followed slowly by a car. See pictures below:

When mother and I were at the park last year, we were forturnate to witness a herd of elephants crossing the road right in front of our car! It was a tad frightening at first, but when you realize that they've got other things on their mind than you, the show becomes enjoyable. Below are some pictures of elephants from both trips:

The Terrific Tsitsikamma

The Tsitsikamma is a gorgeous region which borders on both the provinces of the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. Geza and I were booked to stay just north of a village called Nature’s Valley at a backpackers (in Canada known as a hostel, but they are much nicer here) called “Wild Tongue Backpackers”. The location, people, general set-up and room were all amazing. Our room had an ensuite (which did not increase the price of the room) and they don’t lock doors here because there is no theft (wow!).

The atmosphere was very laid back and run by hippies. Geza exclaimed, upon arrival, that he felt like he was entering the twilight zone. There were plants everywhere, all the employees did not wear shoes, and there was a horse grazing by our living room window one sunny morning. The only thing missing was Janis Joplin and the Beatles. The general common area situated outside had a huge fire pit which we braaied some undercooked potatoes on and the enclosing wall was made entirely of driftwood nailed together [see right]. It was beautiful. The view when sitting on the deck drinking a cold beer overlooked the mountains and the moonrise. I have included our moonrise shots below...

After checking in, we headed out to Monkey Land which is a monkey sanctuary. Before arriving at Monkey Land, I made Geza bring the car to a screeching halt when I spotted the Mohair Mill Shop, and went wild. Mohair went flying left and right and I exited the store after 35 minutes with a dark brown and beige pin-striped mohair scarf and a large dark purple mohair blanket. Geza is not innocent either :) I am ready for winter 2007!

When we finally got to Monkey Land, we had to enter through monkey-proof fence. It is a sanctuary where the monkeys roam free. On our one-hour tour, we saw – squirrel monkeys (who were quite devious), two species of lemur [see below], a white gibbon, and many capuchins. My colleague commented on the devious behaviour of monkeys: she resides just outside of Grahamstown, and wild monkeys constantly steal the eggs from her chicken coop. There is not much she can do about it since the chickens must be able to enter and exit. At the end of tour, I was extremely grateful not to have monkey excrement land on me: my ex-roommate Hannah regaled a story that had happened to her long ago at Monkey Land.

The following day, on the 1st of January, Geza and I hiked a portion of the 4-day Otter Trail hike [see left], which is located in the Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve. It was a coastal hike which boasted nothing but spectacular views and the roar of the ocean all the way through [see below]. We hiked to the waterfall where I posed for a picture, shared a can of orange Fanta and then headed back to complete the hike. This hike was about 3 hours in length. Buns of steel, buns of steel... :)














I have decided to include some of my flora and fauna photos, as usual:
The following day, I dragged Geza on what I thought would be another 3 hour hike, but turned out to be approximately 6 hours. This hike was called the Salt River Trail, but we started on the Kalanderkloof trail. We initially followed a dried up water bed [see below, but don't ask me what pose I was trying to assume in the picture], and Geza and I spent much time arguing about when South Africa had its rainy season. I have now discovered that none of us were right: certain regions in South Africa have their rainy season in the summer, and others in the winter. Case closed.We eventually had to hike straight up a mountain [see below] to connect with the Salt River Trail. I had to laugh so hard when I looked at Geza inquisitively when he had reached a turn in the path to see if the mountain had ended, and his response would be: "son-of-a-bitch", with a smile. The Salt River trail led us to a cove, where we swam and cooled off. It was simply too hot to say “no”. The water was salty, obviously, and very refreshing. I noticed right away the peculiar angle at which the vegetation on the surrounding mountains grew. It grew in vertical lines, bottom to top [see below].

Since I show the usual flora and fauna of each hike, I certainly don't intend to stop now, so here it is: We departed on the 3rd of January to head back to Grahamstown. I would have stayed another day, but Wild Tongue was booked solid. Good bye Tsitsikamma :) I'll be back...