They Talk Shit Here

Would you know how to tell the difference between the droppings of a white rhinoceros an elephant and a black rhinoceros? This is the sort of stuff we have learned here. Prepare to be enlightened....

At first glance the droppings look quite similar but there are a couple of things that help make the identification easy. Firstly elephants: they eat everything and when they are not sleeping they are generally eating. They need to eat a lot as they only digest 40 percent of the food they eat and they have a big body to keep going. Their dung contains everything: seeds, leaves, grass, twigs and a lot of it is undigested. Their dung also tends to leave a trail along the path as they drop while walking along, no doubt impatient to find the next place to eat.

Rhinoceros on the other hand tend leave their droppings in a pile and, even more telling, they then use their hind legs to kick the stuff about. The scuff marks in the dust and the kicked around dung say 'here I am' and a passing rhinoceros can tell a lot from the scent about the health and sex of the animal that left it. As for the difference between a white and black rhinoceros (they are both grey in colour in reality) the white rhinoceros is a grazer and you will see it on the plains eating grass whereas the black rhinoceros is a browser spending its time feeding in the shrub areas on leaves and branches. The contents of the dung reflect this diet and in addition the black rhinoceros dung is redder as it contains a lot of tannins from leaves the animal consumes. Who would have thought dung could be so fascinating?

A Mystery Solved

There are thousands, literally thousands, of termite mounds around the reserve. Small and rounded, they lie only a few feet from each other and cover the plains. I dare not think how many termites there must be here. As we have travelled around I occasionally see what looks like an animal pellet about the size of a golf ball balanced on the top of some of the mounds. Was it, I wondered some practical joke by the rangers? Or even something left by poacher patrols to send messages to each other? Yesterday I asked Luke about it and, once we had seen one for him to know what I was talking about, he explained it was from a baboon. It seems that when they squat down to 'do the business' they like to be perched on something higher than the surrounding ground and a handy termite mound fits the bill perfectly.

28 August - Lions (and Tree Clearing)

Within minutes of leaving the lodge this morning we came upon two male and one female lion laying stretched in the sun. This was a good start for this morning's activity, predator monitoring, albeit that we were in the north and the monitoring was planned for the south of the reserve. We watched for half an hour while the dominant male repeatedly had his interest in the lioness rebuffed and then

headed to a nearby lake where we saw two hippopotamus (or at least the bits sticking above the water). It was then off to the south and, with few animals being around again during the journey (today's cold wind today apparently was keeping them inactive), Luke educated us on various plants we encountered: the wild asparagus good for urinary infections; the poison arrow plant with a white sap that local indians once used to make poison for hunting; the spekboom, tasting of apple, high in vitamin C and able to store energy to allow photosynthesise even at night; and many others too.

We arrived in the south and drove around in areas new to me, high terrain with great views across open plains. Luke had decided we would search for elephants but once again we had no luck. We did see baboons as they rushed across the track and more hippopotamus by a river. We then met the second vehicle, which had been following a loop in the opposite direction to us, and Jamie advised us they had seen two cheetah, finding them using the electronic tracking equipment. They had been seen from a distance and required binoculars but they had been found. We headed off and saw them too in the far distance, but even with binoculars they were just two tiny white dots under a tree; to me they could have been sheep.

Lunch was spent on a high point overlooking the plain and scrub beyond and as we packed up we saw on the edge of the scrubland, a mile distant, three tiny grey dots: at last, elephants. We headed off but it still took some searching to find them: how can such large animals be so elusive? As we sat watching, one headed towards us, slowly and methodically, and passed within inches of me as I sat in the wagon, my whole field of vision filled with its grey, wrinkled massiveness. For a moment we looked each other directly in the eye and then it moved on and back into the shrub.

From here we headed off to do some work. The other group were doing some fence painting, using some home developed mix of oil and chilli that supposedly would deter elephants. Our group was once again clearing Black Wattle (our daily routine had been reversed today as apparently predators are more easily found in the morning). We worked for an hour or so before Luke decided that mid afternoon would be a wise time to depart our isolated location; as a smaller group we would be less intimidating than usual should lions be in the area.

We returned home, via the lion site from this morning (no longer there) and the lake with the hippopotamuses (still there), and then a quiet evening chilling in the common room with a game of cards with some of the newcomers to round off the evening.

27 August - Tree Clearing (and Rhinoceros)

The standard Tuesday routine is that the newcomers get their arrival brief and the rest wash the two vehicles we use; they get very dusty in a week. That done it was off to the reserve for another session of tree felling: another copse of black wattle required our attention. The route to our work area was devoid of animals which can not have been fun for the new arrivals. Luke, our ranger, did his best to point out things of interest (mostly geared around animal droppings) but this, and my telling those seated by me how unusual it was, did little to cheer them I think.

After an hour we arrived at a large copse and set about felling tress with saw and machete. It was as usual hard and hot work but we made a big impact before heading off to our lunch stop.

The afternoon was taken up animal monitoring and we took a long hour drive to the south and to where we had seen the rhinoceros yesterday. I assume this was a decision by the two rangers in the hope of giving the newcomers something good to see. The rhinoceros were still there along with zebra and various antelope and after a long period of watching and manoeuvring around we identified them all before heading off to find elephants. We had to return briefly as the second vehicle had a puncture right among the rhinoceros (the vehicles receive a fair bit of punishment and are fairly tatty but I have the impression that any repair work for those with the conservation team is a low priority compared with that for the people paying big money to stay at the lodges). Unfortunately no elephants were found despite scouring the scrubland area where we had seen them yesterday so we headed back towards the lodge. On the way we still saw little but then heard a report of a lion sighting over the radio. We headed towards the area but as we approached we saw on a hillside opposite a lodge vehicle parked and, with a powerful pair of binoculars, a small dot that was the lion. Those paying big money to be here understandably have priority over us so, if they are at a spot or they arrive when we are there, we have to make ourselves scarce. It was not turning out to be a successful day.

We were now not far from our lodge so we headed back and for dinner. Then Luke's phone rang and with a smile on his face and telling us there might be 'something' nearby we headed off. It turned out Jamie in the lead vehicle and some way ahead had seen a lion and had phoned Luke, rather than radio, so as to get him there and allow us time with it before reporting it in. It was laying in the grass some distance away - a young male - but as we watched it got up and headed straight towards us. Slowly and deliberately it approached and then walked between our two vehicles seemingly focused on some zebra in the near distance opposite. Most of them made themselves scarce but we watched for while as it stalked a couple still in the scrub before making what seemed a half hearted dash for them and failing to get near. By now we had been joined by a lodge vehicle so we headed home.

I had arranged a taxi into the town for a beer run so, armed with order and money for most at the lodge, four of us set off to do the shopping. Upon our return I settled around the fire pit again with some of the younger set and enjoyed some of my purchases before heading off to bed.

The White Tailed Gnu

One of the animals we see quite regularly is the white tailed gnu. They hang around in small herds on open ground - often close to zebra or antelope - and are a species of wildebeest, although one that does not make mass migrations as their more well known cousins do. The story of the origin of this animal is this: after God had spent six days making the heaven and earth and all that was in it, and just as he was about to have his day of rest, he found he had lots of bits left over from when he made the animals. Not wishing to waste them he put them together to create the white tailed gnu, the last animal he created and definitely one of the weirdest looking on four legs. At least this is the story our ranger told us.....

26 August - Road Maintenance (and New Arrivals)

Today is changeover day. Of the 18 people here, ten are departing mid-morning. Another eight will be here when we get back from today's activities. We gathered by the vehicles and said our farewells and then, for today, a single vehicle headed into the reserve while those who remained 'high-fived' us as we exited into the reserve.

Today we do road maintenance. By road of course I mean track as nothing on the reserve has any tarmac. Some of the more regularly used tracks get quite rutted and potholed so today we were towing a trailer which we would fill with shale at a small quarry before heading to a particularly poor track that Jamie the ranger had in mind for us to repair. That was the plan. But that plan changed. Before even reaching the quarry the suspension on the trailer collapsed on one side making it immovable. We were forced to abandon it in the reserve and do our best at digging out earth from along the track we were to repair, which would prove much more demanding.

We arrived in the heavily scrubbed area and drove around the various narrow tracks in the immediate vicinity; this was black rhinoceros country and although much smaller than the white rhinoceros that we had seen on the plains to date, they more than made up for that in their aggressive behaviour. We saw none (we never have) but hopefully any around had been warned of our presence and headed away.

Parked up we saw the challenge we faced: a sloping mud track with a deep central ditch scoured out by water and vehicles. We split into two groups and each one set about pick-axing the earth loose and shovelling the earth into the massive rut. It was hard and hot under the morning sun but after over two hours we were I think justifiably proud of what our efforts and organisation had achieved. Not as much as if the original plan had worked out but more than I had anticipated when I first saw the task in hand.

It was then time for lunch. We headed to a high vantage point, enjoyed the views and the lunch that had been prepared for us, and then drove off for the usual afternoon of animal monitoring. We were after elephants and headed off to elephant country but soon came across a group of white rhinoceros on the plain. We stopped and watched them, trying to pick out the notches cut into their ears; not easy when they are not obligingly standing still and facing you directly. It took about twenty minute of scrutiny with binoculars, while those with cameras and long lenses took photos which could be checked more easily, but after this time we had them identified. Moving on we came across another three rhinoceros a few minutes later and once again we identified them all. The identification of rhinoceros helps keep track of numbers and identification with a view to knowing that none have been lost to poachers.

It was then off to the elephants and before long we found a group of eighteen, young and old, and followed them around as they browsed their way through the scrubland. It is so much harder to identify these beasts; while you can get closer you are largely relying on tears and holes in their ears which are not so distinguishable between animals. Only a very few have obvious features like one missing tusk or a tear that is so different from others it is unmistakable. The reserve likes to check the numbers of elephants they have because they can be very destructive in their feeding and too many in a reserve can have a detrimental effect overall. The only answer is to remove them elsewhere (and that means the whole family group), to use some contraceptive methods to reduce birth rate or, in the worst case, to cull them. At Shamwari the numbers fortunately have not got to that point.

Monitoring over, we headed off on the hour long drive to the lodge and I was buoyed up by what had been a very focused afternoon compared with our previous 'animal monitoring' experiences. But it was a cold journey. We arrived to greet the newcomers (I am still the eldest, but not now by over twenty five years!) and then after dinner and a short bit of socialising it was an early night for me.

25 August - Sunday Road Trip

I was up for a 5.30 departure, wandering around the lodge and garden in the darkness and cool of the morning and wondering where the other six people were. However, they all arrived with moments to spare and we headed off on the long drive to start the morning.

Running along near the southern coast off South Africa in the area between here and Cape Town are the Tsitsikamma Mountains that give their name to that area. Between the mountains and the sea lies a road trip known as the 'Garden Route' which supposedly covers the best that this area has to offer in terms of scenery and beaches and things to see. Today we were going to cover some of that ground under the guidance of Luke, occasional Shamwari ranger (he has been one of the two rangers who have taken us out so far) and, more often, tour guide.

Our first stop was Tsitsikamma National Park (actually, our first stop had been a little earlier when we walked a bridge over one of the deep and steep sided gorges cut by one of the rivers coming down from the mountains but as it was a busy road bridge near a service area I don’t think it really counts). This wooded and hilly area adjoins the sea providing families and more serious walkers with facilities and a range of great routes. We watched the blue Indian Ocean spectacularly crashing into the rocks along the shore line, saw a whale broach far out to sea (in reality a brief and fleeting dark dot way off) and then set off on a short coastline path that took an undulating route around the cliffs, under the shade of woods, and to a suspension bridge. The bridge crossed another of the gorges formed by a river from the mountains but this time not a car in sight: suspended 30 feet over the azure water of the water as the gorge opened out into the ocean, the pedestrian bridge gave great views of the rugged coast and out to sea as it bounced around with the steps of various walkers as they crossed. From here it was back to a great lunch overlooking the sea and then off to a small monkey sanctuary and adjacent aviary. We were guided round the monkey sanctuary seeing a range of monkeys from South Africa and Asia. Despite the warnings about hanging onto things and not wearing glasses and the like, the animals seemed to be more interested in the oranges that had recently been left around rather than us; it is this I think that keeps them in this area of woodland rather than disappearing off into the surrounding area. We then walked around the aviary where a massive structure of netting rather than food kept them in place (the biggest covered aviary in the world I believe). While the birds were beautiful and the setting was great it was less informative as we were self guided.

We then headed for home but not before we stopped at a road bridge over the Storm Gorge where the world's highest bungee jump takes place (218 metres).  Two of the group were keen to do the jump, the rest of us settled for walking an open walkway to the jump point in the supporting structure under the bridge. You could see the ground hundreds of feet below the wire mesh floor of the walkway which was a little unnerving but I felt comfortable, as I did while standing at the launch point. However, as I watched jumpers, feet strapped together, shuffling to the edge edging and dropping into oblivion I visualised in my mind what must be going through their heads and knew this was not for me and was glad I had not elected to do it.

It was a long drive home and we did not arrive until 8pm. Tomorrow some of the participants leave so we gathered around one of the fire pits chatting and drinking until, as people had slipped away one by one, I was left sitting alone with my thoughts staring into the glowing embers of the dying fire.

24 August - The Weekend

It is the weekend and we are left to our own devices. During the week people have told me that I should arrange to go on trips as there is nothing to do here at Shamwari; we clearly cannot go out unaccompanied into the reserve from the compound and we are over an hour's drive from anywhere of any note. However, our accommodation has a very comfortable common room with a small bookcase and I have books and the radio via the internet so I felt a day of chilling was something I could cope with and it has been perfect. Most people are away for the day so there is hardly anybody around and it has given me time to relax and reflect on the week (and recover from last night).

My first week has certainly met my expectations as far as seeing wildlife is concerned and the international mix here was a pleasant surprise. The fact that we balance seeing the wildlife with work in and around the reserve brings a sense of satisfaction and the feeling that you have earned the privilege of seeing these animals in their natural surroundings. The long drives to our various work sites (it can take almost two hours although that does include a few stops for animal spotting) means that we often don’t get more than two or three hours of work done before driving off to find a nice lunch spot. Our afternoons driving around animal monitoring are very rewarding as far as wildlife spotting is concerned but I am not sure how much real value we are bringing to the reserve. But here I am seeing the sort of things many only dream of, and doing so every day; how can that be a bad thing?

It is now 6pm and the day has drifted slowly past. The lodge has been a haven of peace and tranquillity with all but five people away on trips. It is already getting dark and I am relaxed and well fed after a hearty dinner (the food here is generally excellent) and although I would love to have a similar day tomorrow I am on a trip myself which necessitates a 5.30am departure so I can feel an early night beckoning...

23 August - Supporting the Community

Last night around the fire we found out that Juan, the Spanish veterinary student with whom I share a room, had turned 19 that day so my first job this morning was to catch the kitchen staff before breakfast and ask if they would make a cake for dinner that night.

Friday for some reason is a special day for breakfast: it is served an hour later at 9am and is cooked (for the rest of the week we get a cold cereals and fruit). Why this is the case I do not know but the lie-in was welcome. Friday is also the day that we go and do work within the community. This meant for one group helping build a climbing frame with slide in a pre-school and for the other helping teach the use of computers at an infant's school together with some litter clearing and tending a vegetable patch they had planted. Keeping 'in' with the local community is a key part of the Shamwari philosophy which strangely is not reflected in all wildlife reserves it seems. It helps maintain the good name of the reserve in the local community and forms part of a 'hearts and minds' approach that helps to prevent poaching by the locals.

Our two vehicles set off, and after a stop to top up at the liquor store, we headed off to our respective destinations. I had elected to help with the building group and we spent a constructive two hours building a platform on which to set the slide. This looked like it had been obtained from a derelict playground but it is clear that this is a poor community and a 'make do and mend' attitude very much the way of life. Despite this the children all seem happy, smiling and waving at us whenever they came outside and giving me little high fives' when I went to chat with them.

We headed into the reserve for lunch - the kitchen always prepares something for us to take and so far it has been excellent - and then we all headed to the Animal Rehabilitation Centre for the visit that had been postponed yesterday. It was a simple but smart set up, the aim of which was to take animals from the wild that need support and then reintroduce them back into that environment once they are ready. In an effort to keep the animals from becoming too familiar with humans they operate a no-hands policy and minimise any contact to the absolute essential. We had to look at them through screens as we were shown around the enclosures and told about the organisation's work. As well as buffalo, a couple of antelope and a warthog we saw three rhinoceros and...a sheep! It seems that when dealing with young rhinoceros the use of a sheep as an animal companion is very effective.

From the Rehabilitation Centre it was back to the accommodation compound via the area we understood the cheetah to be in yesterday. We still failed to see one but we did find fresh lion tracks in the dust at the side of the road so we followed these in the hope of seeing - and identifying - the animal. It took us straight past the compound fence... After another ten minutes our ranger decided enough was enough and we headed back for dinner and Juan's birthday cake (or 'Jaun' as they had iced it!). It was at this point I remembered he had told me he was allergic to eggs...

That night, being Friday, five of us had arranged for a taxi to take us to Alicedale and to 'Louis Pub' which we had been told was the place to go. I think we all expected - and hoped for - some seedy and cheap local bar but instead it was behind gates, more upmarket and definitely not a place the average Alicedale resident would - or probably could - visit. Nevertheless we had a good time, with me valiantly keeping up with all the beers and 'shots' the four hard drinking youngsters with me downed; three of them had a combined age of less than me!

22 August - Tree clearing (and Animals)

Today one of the groups was due to visit an animal rehabilitation centre this morning while the new people were to get a lecture on rhinoceros poaching prior to heading out on the reserve. Due to some local strikes, that it seems had become violent, the centre had to postpone the visit and so we all headed out to the reserve to carry out some 'alien' vegetation removal. Today it was a large copse of black wattle, a tree introduced in South Africa to help drain marshland in an effort to reduce mosquitoes. We spent a tiring two or three hours chopping down trees of various sizes, working at various levels of organisation and effectiveness, before heading off for lunch by a small lake, the second one we visited as the first had two hippopotamus in and was hence best avoided.

After lunch we went in search of cheetah using a hand held tracking device that detects a transmitter in the animal. Although we found its general location we failed to locate it despite an hour or more of driving around so we headed back to the accommodation for our rhinoceros briefing prior to dinner. Interesting poaching facts: poaching is not illegal in South Africa and poachers can only be charged with minor infractions like trespassing or having illegal weapons; the practice of removing horns does not work as poachers will still kill the animal to avoid spending time in future tracking an animal that has no value to them; and in Kruger National Park there are twelve poaching teams estimated to be operating each day. Although poaching in absolute numbers is dropping in South Africa they still estimate that at current rates the rhinoceros could be extinct by 2025.

Our 5pm dinner and the fact it gets dark by around 6pm makes you think it is so much later than it really is and this week I have found myself thinking about going to bed before realising that it was still only 7.30pm. Tonight I fought the desire and after eating had a couple of beers sitting under the stars around a fire we had built in the fire pit that it seems had not been used for ages.

21 August - Path Building (and Animals)

Today as we drove through the reserve to start our morning you would hardly think we were in South Africa. Nine people huddled in a vehicle with warm hats and coats, and some even with blankets, to keep warm as we drove through a misty landscape. The mornings and evenings are cool here, especially if there is wind. Fortunately, by the time we arrived at our place of work the sun was out and the sky was blue.

Today we helped out at the 'Born Free' foundation, an organisation located on the reserve that takes lions that have been held in captivity, often in pretty poor conditions, and provides them with 'a little piece of Africa' in which to see out their days. In reality they are held in large compounds as they could never be released into the wild but this is still a far cry from their previous existence. Our task was to gather large stones and set them out to define a path to a new enclosure after which we scoured a nearby road edge and loaded a trailer with more stones that we then used to anchor down the base of the wire fencing in the enclosure. It was hard work under the sun, humping and dumping the rocks, but we got ourselves pretty organised and made good progress before heading off for lunch.

Today’s lunch spot was a great setting in a narrow valley, sheltered but under an open sky. Afterwards we headed off for more animal monitoring. No elephants today but we did come across two lots of rhinoceros with their young. We also came across two male lions lazing in the sun - brothers apparently - and just around the corner the eight cubs from yesterday playing with the remnants of a warthog carcass.

Our day ended with a long drive back across the web of tracks in the reserve with more antelopes (I’m going to the communal room after this so I can identify the different types), more zebra, warthogs, giraffe and a mongoose. It was then a rushed dinner before I popped into the local village (ten kilometres away so requiring a taxi) to buy some beer for the week. Alicedale is a tiny community of about 800 people and there is nothing but a dusty road between here and there but it is the only place to get beer and money. Once home I opened one of my beers and chatted under a star emblazoned sky, the Milky Way bright and clear spanning over our heads, after which it was time to retire in readiness for tomorrow.

20 August - A Hard Day at the Office

Up at 6.30am, breakfast at 7am and then ready by 8am to set out for the day: my routine for the next four weeks. Today the five of us who were new arrivals attended a general brief on the history of this area and the reserve plus of course the usual administrative detail we needed for our time here. Afterwards we climbed aboard the open safari vehicles and drove down to the gate that led into the reserve and our commute to work. It was a mostly overcast day but the blue sky on the horizon held the promise of a better day to come.

We bumped along dirt tracks for nearly two hours through landscape that was very much like the hills and shallow valleys of Dartmoor or the Yorkshire Dales. For a large part of that time however we were stopped as whenever we saw any animals of interest our driver pulled over to allow photographs. For the three of us in the vehicle that were new our cameras were out and clicking away for anything we came across but it was clear that the other six passengers in the two rows in front had already spent time here as they were taking it all in their stride. We passed zebra and various antelopes and a male lion sleeping just off the track. Stopping for those wasted half an hour of our commute. Then we passed a giraffe and more zebra and antelope until eventually after two hours we came to where we would be working for the morning.

Our task today was to help in the removal of some small pine trees in the area. These are not indigenous to South Africa and the reserve is removing these and other alien vegetation as part of its conservation approach. We cut the bark away around the base of some large trees and cut down others that were smaller and we only seemed to be working for an hour or two before we packed up and headed for lunch. Our lunch spot was a high vantage point overlooking the landscape and by now the sun had come out which made a great place even better.

The afternoon was to be spent 'animal monitoring'. In reality this meant we were driven around looking for animals and taking photographs. We saw more giraffe, baboons, rhinoceros, ostriches, more zebra and antelope, two female lionesses with their eight cubs and a herd of elephants. For the rhinoceros and elephant encounters we tried to identify the particular animals using a book that shows the various cuts and notches on the ears and other features that help identify them. Although we were often no more than 150 yards away this was still difficult even with binoculars. We were told that keeping track of these animals is key to helping protect against poachers but to me the monitoring part of the afternoon seemed incidental to the finding and watching of animals in general. I am not complaining.

We returned home for 5pm, with more stops for more animals, just in time for dinner after which it was a quiet time of administration and chilling for me prior to an early night, made easier by the 9.30pm power cut. I hope that isn’t a regular event.

19 August - To Shamwari

I spent the morning packing and chilling before being driven to the airport for a late morning flight to Port Elizabeth some 450 miles east of Cape Town. From there it was over an hour in a minibus to the reserve. For a large part the journey was flat and boring and hardly remote but as we headed further east the landscape became more varied, more like a drier version of the Yorkshire Dales but with slightly more exotic vegetation.

Our accommodation is more luxurious than I expected, comfortable twin rooms with an en-suite bathroom and a door that opens out onto a small veranda. There is a comfortable communal area and dining room and outside a fire pit and a very small pool (although I’m not sure the colour will entice me to enter). It is also a much more international bunch than I had expected. Of the five in the minibus there were three British, a Frenchman and a Spaniard. At the communal dinner we had once those already here were back from their day's work we met Italians and Portuguese and Germans as well as more French and British.

I spent the evening chatting and playing 'Uno' with Spanish, Italians and French and although we were all in the same game we all seemed to be playing by different rules. EU anybody? Tomorrow we have an introductory brief and we are then going to start working. I am told by those that have been here for a week or more that the afternoons tend to be work free and you are given the opportunity to see wildlife and they certainly had some impressive photos to show for their time here. It promises to be a great experience.

18 August - Animals

After dinner with friends (and yet more wine) we spent last night in Franschhoek with Berlize's sister who conveniently lived there. It was also a good starting point for today’s first activity: an encounter with a cheetah. Located on one of the wine estates is a 'Cheetah Outreach Centre', an organisation that focuses on trying to help support the survival of cheetahs in the wild. As part of this it has three cheetahs at Franschhoek which you can not only see but also pet. After breakfast and a short drive I found myself in a large compound stroking a dozing cheetah which in every respect, other than colour and size, reminded me of the cat I once owned: the lazing in the sun, the purring, the stretching of limbs, the moulting of hair. It was hard to imagine it as a fast and efficient killer when at home in the wild.

                                                                                

From Franschhoek we headed south and along the rugged south coast to view some penguins, on the way encountering baboons standing around in the road. Apparently they are a bit of a nuisance here having learned how to break into badly secured cars and houses. Agile, fast and strong, direct contact is best avoided so we watched them for a while from the safety of the (locked) car.

Another hour saw us at Betty's Cove and the penguin colony. South Africa is the only home of one particular penguin species, the African or 'Jackass' penguin (so called because its call sounds like a donkey). Like so many other animals their population has dramatically reduced due to man's intervention but there are a number of populations around the Cape Coast. This particular population is in the area of what was once a whaling station that had been built in the early 1900s from a kit that had been marketed by Norway at the time; two boats contained everything needed to set up a fully functional whaling station. Interesting - and sad - to consider that the industry was developed to such ruthless efficiency at the time. The penguins were accompanied by a creature that the South Africans call a dassie but more formally is known as a rock hyrax. Brown and about the size of a large guinea pig they were supposedly once the most populous grazing animal in South Africa. Apparently their nearest biological relative is, of all things, the elephant.  Mostly they were lazing on the rocks enjoying the sun, their favourite occupation for most of the day apparently, but we did see a couple running around that clearly hadn’t read the hyrax handbook and they had an amazing turn of speed.

Cheetahs, baboons, penguins and dassies under my belt it was time to return to Strand and a quiet night in readiness for tomorrow’s departure east to Shamwari and a month, hopefully, of more and bigger animals.

17 August - The Wine Tram

It is early morning and I am reflecting on yesterday's activity: a wine tour by tram (and the headache I am currently experiencing).

I had seen the 'Wine Tram' on a list of the top things to do while visiting Cape Town. The accompanying photograph and text suggest a day trundling through a quiet wine valley from one isolated vineyard to the next, jumping off to enjoy the wine on offer. The reality was somewhat different. Firstly it is some miles from Cape Town. Secondly, having boarded the tram at the very chic town of Franschhoek - a stretch of small, white colonial style buildings housing expensive looking shops and restaurants - you then stepped off it some three or four minutes later at the first vineyard from where, looking down the curve of the track, you could see under a kilometre distant.... the beautiful white buildings of Franschhoek. The second vineyard was hardly any further and the tram line itself ran parallel to, although admittedly a short distance from, the main road along the valley floor. Any subsequent vineyards you wished to visit required you catching the tram back to Franschhoek and then getting a trolley bus on from there.

                                                  

To make things more entertaining you could choose from one of eight different routes, each signified by a colour (we were yellow in case you were wondering). In reality this meant you might not be allowed off the tram at the first stop and then, once back at Franschhoek, if you were red or blue you might be permitted on one trolley bus but you might not be allowed on another with, say, the purples. And the purples might find themselves permitted on a different trolley bus but this time only with the reds.... Colour segregation is still alive and well in South Africa it seems, except this time it’s so much more complicated!

We trundled our way between the two vineyards on the tram line where at each stop we were collected by the 'Taste Tractor' that pulled our open sided carriages to the vineyard itself for the wine tastings (why not a 'Vintner Van' I wonder - more comfortable - or a series of 'Merlot Motorbikes' - more exciting!). We sat in beautiful surroundings and enjoyed fabulous views and wines before heading back to Franschhoek for the next part of the tour.

This is where things fell apart, albeit temporarily. The complexity of the system led us to being directed onto the wrong trolley bus and instead of ending up at our next vineyard on the valley slopes we found ourselves at the end point with a group of people who were finishing for the day. However, another trolley bus was redirected to pick us up and we finished the trip high up in the hills overlooking the Franschhoek valley drinking wine as the sun was dropping in the sky.

16 August - More of the ‘ Mother City'

I had a slow start today, wandering the the streets as the hustle bustle of the day started. People were setting up their stalls, the sandwich-board wearers were gathering on shaded street corners and chatting together and groups of uniformed 'city workers' were hanging around, nattering and checking phones. There are lots of these city workers on the streets here - and they are distinct from the police. Some are in green uniforms, some in blue and others in black but all sport the ubiquitous fluorescent yellow jacket. I think the 'greens' are city 'safety' people aimed at keeping beggars from hassling pedestrians (or more specifically tourists I expect) and the 'blues' might have something to do with parking enforcement but I’m not sure. However for the most part, whatever the colour and whatever the role, they seem to loiter rather than patrol.

After finding a small place for a leisurely breakfast I headed towards a nearby park at the end of which was a museum. For the first time since being here I had the unwanted attention of beggars (maybe because there were precious few 'greens' around the park) although in truth I had no more hassle than I might have had back home in Bath. The South Africa museum turned out to be the Natural History Museum of South Africa but I went In nonetheless. Apart from the usual selection of rocks and wildlife they had interesting and well presented displays on African rock art and the archeological discoveries from a group of sea caves somewhere on the Cape. As I left the dinosaur display I also came upon a display about ....Nelson Mandela. How the history of Nelson Mandela relates to African natural history I’m not sure but after the dinosaur display? That juxtaposition is asking for trouble....

I headed back to the hotel via the city Cathedral and collected my bags for the next part of my trip. I was heading 20 miles along the coast to the small town of Strand where a Camino friend lives and where I was to be hosted for the weekend. Because of the dearth of public transport here this necessitated booking a taxi and then, on its arrival, a discussion with the driver about how the price we had agreed on the phone wouldn’t be increased despite the various arguments he tried to make. Harmony restored, and after 45 minutes battling Friday afternoon traffic, I arrived at Berlize’s where we relaxed, caught up and made plans for the next two days before heading out to round off the day with 'sundowner' cocktails at a beachside bar - watching the sun sink into the African sea - and a dinner with friends.

15 August - Exploring Cape Town

I can confirm that having a bed to lie on makes a difference to how well you sleep; I woke after a solid night's sleep ready to face a day exploring the city.

Today’s plan was simple: catch the hop-on hop-off tour bus and learn something of Cape Town or the ‘Mother City' as they seem to call it here. We headed through the city and up Table Mountain, the long winding road leading up to the cable-car area strewn with parked cars all along its route from all the locals clearly making the most of the weather. Most of those on the bus disembarked to join the madness of people at the cable-car. I stayed on and we headed back down and then out along the western coastline of the cape, rugged and rocky with clear blue, wild sea but with occasional bays of beautiful white sandy beaches around which the various towns had grown up: Camps Bay, Clifton, Bantry Bay, Sea Point. It was then back into Cape Town via the waterfront area that I had visited yesterday.

I then changed buses for the second route which took me out through District 6 and to the forested area to the south of the city passing farmland and wine country and past one of the remaining townships, small, cramped and densely packed single story structures - they hardly deserve the name buildings - of wood and canvas and corrugated iron. It seems these townships grew up in the apartheid era because they provided accessibility to the places and homes where the black population worked, the areas that they were 'officially' homed in being too far away and without any work opportunities

The tour then continued to the coast that I had previously seen a couple of hours earlier so I hopped off at a little place called Haut Bay, a small fishing community nestled in a bay in the hills and remarkably Mediterranean in its appearance, where I had lunch overlooking the sea. Despite it being winter the weather has been glorious since I have been here, unusually so according to the taxi driver that brought me from the airport. I sat on a balcony in the sunshine looking across the nearby beach while eating my plate of grilled Kingklip - a local fish from the area - before catching another bus for the return to Cape Town and to relax at the hotel.

 

Now, as far as tours go it was not as informative as some: there was a little too much emphasis on trying to sell you the next 'must do' trip and the prerecorded narrative was often interrupted with stretches of African themed music which included Toto (obviously...) and what I assume to be a local song with the lyrics 'Nelson Mandela, he’s a hell of a fella'. The writer must have worked hard on that one... Adverts and naff music aside here are a couple of interesting snippets I learned on the local language: Afrikaans was not long ago described as the world's ugliest language by a British media executive who owned a 'lifestyle' magazine and as a result subsequently lost advertising from theAfrikaner Chairman of the company responsible for Mont Blanc, Cartier and Alfred Dunhill; and Afrikaans is an old language with a mix of old Dutch, Malay and African yet the oldest written Afrikaans is in Arabic - I’m not sure how that works but it’s what we were told..