Bushman Sands and Hogsback

I want to thank my wonderful readers for their nice comments on the blog. I am glad that people around the world can live vicariously through me with this blog.

Another fine week of work went by in Grahamstown for Emma. Now, let's talk about the weekend:

On Saturday, mother and I rented a VW chico and drove to the Bushman Sands game reserve in Alicedale, which is approximately a 40-minute drive north of Grahamstown.

I can't even begin to describe to you readers how awkward (have you ever noticed that the word "awkward" is also awkward to spell???) it is to be driving on the left side of the road. The gear shift is in the same spot, so when one is in first gear, one must push the gear shift away from the body, rather than towards the body. This makes it confusing to even drive a standard car, let alone figure out which side of the road the car is supposed to be on. Pfft!

That said, we survived the drive to Bushman Sands game reserve. Bongani, our jeep chauffeur, introduced himself to us, and off we cruised through the bush. Bongani is a game ranger, and thus has excellent tracking skills. In a game reserve of 4000 hectares, he managed (in 2 hours) to track down: elephants, giraffe, impala, blesbok, wilderbeest and zebra [see below].




The picture that you see below of the giraffe are not mating giraffe. They are two males who thump eachother with their necks. It is seriously a very wimpy fight and I had to laugh tremendously when Bongani explained to me what this silly pair was doing. It was also not difficult to track the giraffe because they are not indigenous to South Africa and thus need to bend down to eat (their necks are not needed here).


We did not spot any lion, since the game rangers had darted the lion earlier that morning because of some canoe trip that was taking place on the river in Bushman Sands that day (and I couldn't exactly say "Damn tourists!"). So, the lion slept.

Around noon, we made a pit stop [see left] and ate some biltong (dried meat) and I indulged in a much-needed cold beer since I was still rattled from the drive in our rental car. Bushman Sands was a sort of retirement home for wild animals. Very nice day, all-in-all, but I feel that safaris are slightly overrated.

That evening, I attended a braai of several Rhodes students which was filled with game meat. There was not a vegetable to be seen. No word of a lie. It was decided at this very braai that Lotta, Wessel and Charl would come to Hogsback with mother and I the following day, and one of them would drive the VW chico rental care, thereby eliminating the necessity for either my mother or myself to drive.

The mystical village of Hogsback is about a 2-hour drive north of Grahamstown and is stunning in terms of the vegetation which is very dense and rainforest-ish (a stark difference when noting the dry bush that surrounds Grahamstown). We did a 9 km hike after having a great breakfast at a sweet little restaurant. I ate spinach and ricotta canneloni for breakfast :) The trail markers were illustrations of little hogs [above]. Before embarking on the details of the hike, I realize that most of my friends had no idea that I was such a hiker. Even Geza had no clue. I must admit, I didn't either. But it's great exercise, great eye-candy and a great way to see a bit of South Africa and meet people. When I return to Ontario, one can be sure that I plan to join the Bruce Trail hiking club :)

Below is a picture where we commenced the hike:

In the Tyume Forest of Hogsback, we hiked past the "Big Tree", which is 800 some-odd years old [below], and to the Madonna and Child Falls [below], which was marvelous. Since my hiking boot parted ways with its sole two weeks before, I was forced to wear my brand new suede tan leather puma loafers. They are no longer new, and no longer tan coloured. A more fitting description is that they are dark brown and stained, from all the mud on the trail in Hogsback. To make matters more painful, they had no grip whatsoever, and I kept making sounds like a baboon (one of the Rhodes students fitted me with this description) to try and prevent myself from falling or stepping in more mud.

[From left] River shot of Wessel, Emma and Charl:

Mother and Lotta taking a quick dip in the river:

An old tree being held up by very stong and old vines:

Wild lilies that grow everywhere here:

[From left] A shot of Lotta, Emma, Wessel and Charl after exiting the Tyume Forest nearing towards the end of the hike:

A well-deserved spectacular view of the landscape after the exit from the Tyume Forest:

And finally, I found Frodo's new home in Hobbiton in Hogsback:

After 6 hours and 130 photographs later, the five of us arrived back where we started and sat down in the same restaurant where I hadn my very indulgent breakfast earlier that morning :) Two beers and a pizza later, we were on the road back to Grahamstown. I slept like a baby chick in an incubator.

Later that week, in Grahamstown, I joined my mother after work to view the miraculous coelacanth fish which was caught circa 1940 for 100 pounds by some extremely proud bloke. Grant has repeatedly asked me if I had seen this fish yet, and I can now proudly say, "Grant! I finally saw the fish!!! :)" It is a fish with prehistoric roots and the fins bore slight similarity to little arms(yike!). I must also add that this fish was so ugly, I have no idea how they managed to mate [stay tuned - a picture of this Quasimodo will be posted next week when I remember to bring my camera to work].