The To-Do List

Cape Town to Hermanus, South Africa -- September 1-3

In the interest of keeping our readers awake, Dean and I have thought it best to merge the few days we spent in Cape Town.  As is typical of our trip, we've done very little pre-planning; and, while in Europe that was OK, as we had a slower pace, plenty of time and great wifi connectivity, here in Africa, we knew that we wanted to do a safari.  Determining where and when and how required the bulk of our days and a few trips to various tourist offices and travel agents.  The kids were more than happy to stay in the 2-floor hotel room while Dean and I set out on foot, cab or Uber.

As luck would have it, our first expedition, on foot, helped us to see more of this mighty coast.  The waves are ginormous.  They come to a blistering end at the rocky coast.  Sprays of water and the sound of the crashing were mesmerizing.   So much so, that our attention to the address of where we were going got a little foggy and, instead of Victoria Ave, we went to Victoria Road.  Ah well, it was a magnificent detour and a lovely first taste of the area.

Once we were back on track and had spoke to some safari experts, we determined that a self-drive tour through Namibia would be a good option.  Dean was a trooper and navigated the clunky wifi setup and sent out many requests to a number of recommended car rental sites that would offer 4x4 vehicles with camper/tent options.  This would allow us to not only cross over into Namibia, but to leave the rental at the capital, Windhoek, so that we could fly off to our next destination.

We also knew that we wanted to see more of the South African Coast, but wouldn't need a beefy car for that.  We lined ourselves up with a standard rental for the next few days in order to drive along the Garden Route -- an apparent must-do whilst we are here.

So our to-do list was lengthy, and every time I thought we could cross something off, another item would be added to it.  Like I said, it was a lot of organizing, planning, talking with people and eventually booking and paying for things so that we were able to get the following itinerary together. First adventure, tour the Garden Route with a local rental car for the next few days.  Return to Cape Town and pick up 4x4 vehicle on September 8th.  Drive to Namibia where we've got camping reservations in a number of the parks.  Drop off the 4x4 in Windhoek, Namibia on the 20th and fly to Jo'burg on the 21st to pick up another rental car there.  Stay one night in the city, then drive to Kruger National Park, stay at three different sites there for 5 days, drive back to Johannesburg and fly out on September 30th to Mumbai, via Dubai.  Nothing to it....

Of course, we still managed to get the kids out of the hotel room and onto the beach and they loved it.  We also got to explore some of the low-tide action, though surprisingly we saw no crabs or shell fish of any kind but the sea stars, barnacles and anemone's were in abundance.  With the heft and force of the waves that come onto the coast, you'd have to be a hardy critter to literally hang on.

They aren't as close to that wave as it appears....

We also experienced phenomenally strong winds.  One whole day was windy and raucous and on our return walk home from dinner, we were nearly knocked over by a particular gust.  I think that's the part that I'm loving most about South Africa.  Everything about it seems big - steroidal big!  The surf, the mountains, the vistas, the expanse and even the wind that blows all day.  It's been truly awesome, in the take-your-breath-away sense.

So on Saturday, once we finally had a manageable and non-imminent to-do list, we were ready to leave Cape Town.  We had hoped to explore either Table Mountain (closed due to high winds) or see Cape Point (near the Cape of Good Hope), but it was closed by the time we got there.  We also attempted to purchase our family membership pass (Wild Card) for the South African National Parks but were again thwarted by Saturday office hours.  Sigh.

One thing we've noticed is the great disparity in homes from literal shanty towns to modern, sprawling beach homes.  It is obviously the affects of Apartheid.  We've not seen busses, but little mini-van taxi's so the lack of cheap and accessible public transit means people are walking on the streets and roads, or crammed into the back of trucks and pickups -- there's not much in the way of walking paths or bike lanes -- though the shoulders are wide and big.  Dean and I commented that we've not seen many bikes.

We are attempting to learn and teach the kids about the abuses of the government and the importance of Nelson Mandela, who has a shrine in nearly every building we've been to.  The power-grab was blatant, calculated and utterly reprehensible -- not allowing people the right to vote, taking land away from original owners/settlers, and setting up reservations instead.   Seems to me that white men have a problem with sharing....

So it was, we left Cape Town behind, still feeling like there were a few things not checked off the list. As we were discussing the day and what we were hoping to see along the Garden Route, we came across an amazing, non-rocky beach with gentle waves coming in.  We stopped and finally got to do some proper beach combing, wave jumping and sand art creations.   Back in the car, and before the sun went down, we got to view the beautiful coast, which changed from the gentle beaches to the dramatic rocky shore and back again.