Meet the Prices

Those who like to backpack tend to like it a lot. Witness Shaun and Sal Price who after travelling the world have turned a struggling family enterprise into one of the best hostels in South Africa. Visitors here really get the feeling that the place was built with their interests and enjoyment in mind. More than just a business, generosity and kindness are evident in just about everything that goes on around here. For example, here they are helping to prepare the free breakfast that is offered to all of the guests every Sunday morning. Make no mistake, this is not some simple continental breakfast but a hot and cold buffet that includes fresh baked goods and a variety of fruit. One of the more useful bits of knowledge that we have acquired on our trip concerns the nutritional value of the papaya, which is good treatment for a number of ailments. Buccaneers began as a pretty simple establishment built upon little more than a reinforced sand dune at a village called Cintsa, 25 km north of the bustling city of East London. It was originally a series of family cottages built above a river mouth on the Indian Ocean. When apartheid ended and South Africa became a democracy in 1994 there was a degree of hysteria among affluent whites based upon a perception that their wealth and security would inevitably erode. This proved to be disasterous for tourism, particularly in areas such as this which are predominantly black; people stopped coming and the business was in trouble.
One of the reason that Buccaneers has done so well as a backpackers is that the quality of the room is very high, mostly ensuite cottages overlooking the mouth of the river and the sea. The view from our little deck was wonderful - a great place to relax and just watch the waves roll in. Buccanneers is also famous on the South African backpackers' scene because of the range of experiences it offers. Pay-as-you-go activities include surfing school, horseback riding, cliff-climbing, guided hikes, quad biking, climbing wall, and excursions into a local game park. There is also a weekly trip to a rural school project that the Prices help to sponsor. Daily activities that are free are canoeing on the river and an afternoon fun group event such as a swimming pool game or volleyball...all of which come with complimentary wine for each participant!

Cintsa marks the beginning of a new phase in our trip as we begin to move north through the province known as East Cape, situated in the south-east of the country. A key feature of the eastern cape is the largely undeveloped region of rolling hills, lush forest and seemingly endless beaches known as the Wild Coast. The coastline is notorious for its raging surf, strong undertow, and treacherous offshore rocks which have claimed many victims. The Wild Coast is billed as South Africa's best-kept secret eventhough it extends for some two hundred kilometres along the Indian Ocean. No coastal road exists: isolated sea-side communities are located at the termination of long and winding gravel roads. The comfortable Mediterranean climate of the southern coast has turned quite humid and a few degrees warmer. The sub-tropical climate lends itself to new varieties of flora. We took great delight in the purple flowering vines that fringed many of the sand dunes along the beach, and the bird-of-paradise that grew abundantly throughout the property.
Cintsa is about a thirty minute drive past East London, one of South Africa's largest cities. We are now in an area that fell under British control during the colonial era. The Boers (farmers of Dutch descent) had much earlier spread eastward from Cape Town then began to head north in search of new lands to inhabit. One of the reasons that they had not progressed much past the Fish River was that the land was extensively occupied by the Xhosa, one of the two main black nations of people living in South Africa.

The Xhosa live mostly in the Transkei, an area of land that was designated as one of the Black Homelands during the apartheid era. Blacks were confined to what the government perceived to be their ancestral territory and were not permitted to leave without a pass...which was usually only granted in order to come and work for the white people when needed. Despite the fact that South Africa's first two presidents (Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela) are both from the Transkei, it is one of the poorest areas in South Africa.

The discrepancies between the whites and blacks living in South Africa are monumental and well-documented. On the edge of every town and city are the townships, collections of very basic housing that by western standards are deplorable. The picture below shows a typical house for the millions of blacks living in townships throughout the country. Such a dwelling must sometimes accommodate more than one family - as many as fifteen people! Nancy and I are both looking forward to having more contact with the black people of South Africa as we move north along the east coast. It was a real pleasure to meet Omnatee and Melanie, two of the receptionists at Buccaneers. Both women were very friendly, helpful, enthusiastic, and very articulate.

One of the highlights of our stay in Cintsa was our impromptu visit to the Inkwenkwezi Nature Reserve where we experienced our very first "elephant interaction" session! The owners of this private reserve first bought a bit of land in the Cintsa area as a cattle farm. Planning ahead for retirement, they slowly added land and animals and now own 10,000 sq. hectares with which to help protect wildlife and at the same time, to educate the public.

Two young bull elephants (age 9 & 16) had been rescued from a cull in Kruger Park and transported to Inkwenkwezi to be the first elephants in this private reserve. It has become necessary to cull whole elephant herd groups as the elephant population increases and the competition for food wreaks its havoc on the natural environment in Kruger. A few years ago there were 120 big trees per sq. km in the national park. Now only 5 per sq. km remain! We watched as the grooms led the two beautiful bulls in from the jungle. Each offered his greeting with a loud trunk trumpet!

We were invited to feed the gentle giants a handful of prepared pellets (Elly treats!), first through their trunks and then by placing our hands directly into their mouths! The animals love the attention and enjoy having their tongues rubbed. Then, providing us with an opportunity to get even more "up close and personal", the younger bull got down on the ground, enabling us to stroke its back and ears! AHHHHHH!
Here's some interesting elephant trivia to leave you with. Elephants: live up to 70 year of age; have poor eyesight but excellent hearing. They can communicate messages (to other elephants 8 km away) by stomping their feet. The elephants are right or left tusk dominant and consume 250 kg of vegetation daily; can take 8 litres of water into their trunk at a time; cannot breathe through their mouth. Like humans, they do have food preferences and DO have an incredible power of memory. We heard stories of elephants remembering a trainer and specific commands after 16 years of separation! I can't speak for the elephants but I know this was one amazing experience that I will NEVER FORGET!

The Otter Trail

Many people would consider the highlight of any trip along the Garden Route to be a visit to the long stretch of coastal forest and marine preserve that forms Tsitsikamma National Park. The villages of Storm's River and Nature's Valley sit like sentinels at either end of the park. Storm's River is famous for bungy jumps and a roaring canyon while Nature's Valley (seen below) is a a very peaceful tourist enclave nestled into the forest, sandwiched between the ocean and a large lagoon. The fresh air, tranquility and quaint wooden homes reminded us of the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. Prior to our trip to the Otter Trail we stayed at a place called Hiker's Haven. It's a family home that gets rented out part of the year to help pay the bills. Nearly all of the houses in Nature's Valley are guesthouses of some sort. People told us that they come every year - that it is one of the few places in South Africa where they feel that they can let their kids play more or less unsupervised. Indeed, Jacques (one of the owners) told us that they hadn't locked the doors during twenty years of living there. The doors to the rooms are traditional Dutch - split into a lower and upper half. The upper half is usually left wide open to allow air to circulate but does little to prevent a rogue baboon from making the rounds every few days and stealing all of the sugar, coffee and anything else available on a complimentary tea and food tray. The owners get mad but don't solve the problem, continuing to leave the doors open! I guess old habits are hard to break.

The Otter Trail is unidirectional so it's necessary to get a shuttle to drive the thirty minutes to Storm's River. The entire area is quite spectacular - never a dull view!

The Otter Trail is about a 42 kilometer hike - not very far but with little flat terrain - lots of climbs up and down. The clawless cape otter inhabits the area although there are only 33 in total in the waters throughout the park that empty into the ocean. You have to be pretty lucky to see one. Prior to beginning the hike we were required to watch a 53 minute long video that inspired and frightened us. There are only fixed stopping points (huts) along the trail and you have to time your river crossings with low tide. When somebody tells you that you may have to hike some sections in the dark where there are leopards, potentially dangerous wild pigs and other beasts, it gets your attention. The video also showed a group of four that barely crossed the Bloukrans River without drowning - a harrowing experience that I suppose was meant as a warning to those who didn't take the river crossings too seriously.

The views along the trail are simply gorgeous. The surf churns, foams and crashes relentlessly

upon huge formations of striated rock that seems to have been turned onto its side and pushed upward. In many places the dark rock appears like the leaves of a burnt book.

Most of the days we hiked for hours without encountering another soul. Relaxing over a snack, a slurp, and some leisurely conversation we soaked up the views and appreciated the moment as we looked upon the southern coast of Africa and outwards towards the bottom of Earth.

There are countless caves to explore along the way...

and plenty of waterfalls that tumble over the sides of the cliffs.
The water in the rivers were a welcome relief from the heat. The brown colouration is tannin, a nature pigment from dissolved vegetation. The water is pure and fit to drink. Large pinnacles of rock provide fantastic vistas along the coast...

and are sometimes the homes of a cute little species of rodent-like animal called the rock dassie. The locals don't pay them much respect but we found them to be quite curious and cute. They are also the closest living relative, believe it or not, of the elephant. They have two teeth that look like incisors that are actually remnants of tusks!

Surprisingly, very little of the hike actually takes place a long the beach itself. There were only a few sandy spots at river mouths to provide some relief for our muscles.

South African Parks seem to have very high quality facilities that are cared for well. Only twelve people are permitted on each leg of the trail per day. There are two cabins at each rest spot, each sleeping six people. We were fortunate that five people had cancelled their reservation. A group of five South Africans took one hut each night and we had the other all to ourselves. Each of the spots provided spectacular views.

We witnessed dolphins breaching and some pretty exotic species of birds but most of the wildlife that we saw along the trail was a variety of sea birds like cormorants and oyster catchers. Our most constant companions were large (4-5 inch) colourful grasshoppers that seemed to be everywhere. They tried to avoid us for the most part but Nancy did get quite anxious when she found one of these "babies" as well as "mom" (even larger) crawling along her arm! Needless to say we observed many spectacular varieties of wild flower that we had never previously encountered. The most unique species was one that was growing near the station near the entrance to the gateway to the park. The rivers that we had to cross became increasingly difficult. Two in particular seemed rather impossible to contemplate at mid or high tide. Strong tides met the flowing rivers in a pretty impressive two-punch made even more intimidating by the high rocky cliffs on either shore.

Our fellow hikers had something called a survival bag into which they could pack their knapsack and all other gear. The idea is to tie all of the bags together with rope, wait for low tide, then swim to the slip of a landing on the far shore. Its recommended that at least person in your group is a strong swimmer. If you can't swim you simply hang on for dear life. The South Africans (currently living in Pretoria and Swaziland) told us all kinds of interesting stories about natural dangers (snakes) as well as human (crime) from South Africa and further afield. Perhaps the strangest (which they swear is true) comes from a hospital in Swaziland. The hospital officials noticed that someone was dieing every Friday in the intensive care unit. Upon investigation they discovered that Friday was the day in which the room was fully cleaned. An employee was pulling the plug out of the life support system to plug in a vacuum! Perhaps they were pulling our leg but we have read lots of strange stories in the news during the past month.

Fortunately, we were able to find a spot that we could cross where the water was at most the height of our ribs...some distance from the beach head. We then managed to scramble up and over some of the rocks. No photo of that - we were far too busy! Here's a shot of Nancy crossing the Lottering River at low tide. It does look like much...but we didn't think that we were going to be able to do it when we looked down from the cliffs some hours before! We finished the Otter Trail in good spirits and not too much discomfort. The tradition for hikers is to head immediately to the only local restaurant where you have the option of leaving one or both of your worn-out boots in the tree located within the courtyard.

The closest that we got to experiencing a clawless otter was when Nancy took the plunge and followed another custom: drinking a shot called an otter's a--hole. It tastes like a combination of cough syrup and mustard.

Thanks for taking the time to read the blog. We hope that all friends, family and colleagues are well and looking forward to the arrival of spring in the Great White North.

Plettenberg Bay

One of the best known and well-loved parts of South Africa is the Garden Route which stretches for quite some distance along the southern coast. We're part way along it but have been very impressed so far with the winding roads, water features and lush vegetation. Unfortunately, we won't be able to do it any justice by travelling on a backpackers' bus - best done in a car where you can stop and look whenever you wish.

Plettenberg Bay is one of the most popular stops along the Garden Route. It's a huge tourist destination for the South Africans themselves. There are actually few high quality beach spots along the southern coast - much of it is rocky headland and the waters are very unsafe due to strong currents, sharks, etc. I read that 40 00 of the well-to-do from Johannesburg alone come here to vacation at Christmas time!

Plettenberg Bay stretches along a couple of beaches separated by a small finger-like peninsula.

The first view I have shown is of Robberg Beach with Robberg Nature Reserve in the distant background. The view below (after the peninsula) is called Keurboom's Beach.

Keurboom's Beach is incredibly shallow and extensive during low tide but as is the case with all such beaches...watch out when the tide is on its way in!

The pictures speak better than the words...

That's all I have to say from here. We've had a couple of days of chilling out. I think that Nancy is a little tired of my saying "this is as good as it gets" each morning when we begin our walk but apart from that we're great!

Later today we're off to a place called Nature's Valley. Tomorrow we'll begin the Otter Trail which is one of the premier walking trails in the country. It'll be a tough slog but we're feeling up to it. Since we're going bush we won't be blogging for a week or more. Think of us as we think of you!

Oudtstoorn

Greetings from Oudtshoorn (pronounced "out sworn"as in having lost a profanity contest- great place for a couple of teachers trying to get away from it all, don't you think?). Travelling east from Swellendam a few days ago we rounded Mossel Bay: a popular, glittering body of water. From there we passed through the city of George then north to this sedate town which is the unofficial capital of the Little Karoo. There's also a Great Karoo - both of them very arid and hot places. The "Little" and "Great" refer to the degree of water deprivation each area suffers through. It is usually 38-40 degrees here at this time of the year! The Great Karoo is like the interior of Australian - a harsh inland desert that was once nevertheless a tropical sea basin.

Well, it didn't take long for us to figure out that in Oudtshoorn, it's all about the ostriches! The surrounding farmlands are thick with these birds which have been bred here since the late 1800s. The warm climate and loamy soils of the Oudtshoorn Valley constitute ideal growing conditions for "lucerne" - the favourite feast of our fast, feathery, flightless friends! In total, there are some 300 ostrich farms in the region. The birds live for 40-50 years.

When in Rome (or in this case, Oudtshoorn), . . .
Our first morning here we joined some other guests of "Backpacker's Paradise" for a traditional ostrich egg breakfast. It was quite good - a chewie texture than that of a hen's egg and much "yolkier" in flavour. After breakfast we set off to explore the town. Rick sure was moving faster than normal! I had a hard time just trying to catch up!!!

The male ostrich is black and white with some golden brown on its wings; the female is brown and white. The juvenile is a light brown and white, the gendre indistinguishable for the first few years. Although the image below may make it appear that an ostrich is glamorous (check out the lovely eyelashes) and suave, all that glitters is not gold. Each of an ostrich's eyeballs weights about 60 grams; the mass of the brain is 40 grams. By the way, it is actually a myth that these odd-looking birds bury their head in the sand.

After a visit to the very informative C.P. Nel museum, we feel like we could challenge even Jeopardy champion, Ken Jennings, if the category was "The Ostrich"! Here are some tidbits of what we learned for you trivia buffs out there. The barbules on the feathers of an ostrich are not interlocking which render the bird useless for flying. One ostrich egg measures 150 x 120 mm in size. In fact, it is the equivalent of 25 chicken eggs! Although its shell is only 2mm thick, it can withstand a weight of up to 220kg!!! The reason that the eggs are so strong is because they have to support the weight of either the male or female on the nest - female ostriches have been emancipated. To make the eggs resilient the female needs a lot of minerals (especially calcium) so it often ingests rocks and pebbles. When they empty the contents of a stomach they often find sticks and other hard objects too. If the bird can't find enough rocks it will consume just about anything hard - including spark plugs or sunglasses! That's a lot of fibre so an ostrich has an extra appendix. When a female lays its first egg of the season it immediately eats it. If its not high enough in calcium then it will temporarily cease to produce more eggs.

FORTUNES were made from the fashion for ostrich feathers! In the 1880s, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of feathers were being exported! At that time, feathers constituted 40% of all agricultural products in the country! A day old ostrich chick would trade for 60 bags of corn or 1080 litres of brandy! At the time the feathers were considered to be more valuable than gold. The reason was that they were prized throughout the fashion houses of Europe.

The feathers also became an important component of ceremonial and sometimes even military dress in Belgium and beyond. Actually, generals dating back to the Roman Empire often wore military hats adorned with ostrich feathers.

Oudtshoorn grew rich and the feather barons built grand houses that have been well preserved and lend the town its charm still today. Feather auctions were held in Oudtshoorn every 14 days and the wealth of the ostrich industry drew many immigrants. The "new" concept of automobile travel in open "tourers" in the 1900s soon out-moded large feather bedecked hats. The outbreak of war also forced the need for "practicality" in fashion causing feather sales to plummet. Today ostrich meat and skins produce a tidy profit.

We had seen the ostrich palace pictured above from a distance as we walked along the main street (called Baron von Feather Meister or something like that) during our first morning in the city. Upon investigation we discovered that it was converted into a high school below which a terrific track was built. What timing - the local elementary track and field championships happened to be taking place. Let me tell you, track and field is alive and well in South Africa! There was a full agenda of events, including the 100 metre and 200 metre hurdles for kids from about grade 5. The event was very well-organized and privately sponsored. There was also a large media contingent that had to have field level passes to gain entry and there were full-time announcers!

We enjoyed talking to some of the kids and watching them for the day. Perhaps most interesting of all was the fact that (as you see) almost nobody wore shoes for any event, track or field. It was blazing hot on the track, but I suppose they get used to it. We couldn't help but wonder about the liability issues as the kids spent the day, on the field and in the stands, in bare feet. Later in the afternoon there was an elite schedule of university events. Although most of the sprinters wore shoes, only one competitor in the 3000 metres women's steeplechase did.


Prior to the university meet there was an "opening ceremony" which featured fifteen minutes of singing and dancing. The crowd was very enthusiastic throughout the entire event - it was fun to be there! At the end of it all there was an open 200 meter race for anyone over eighteen who was willing to paint their hair yellow (or wear a yellow wig) since the event was sponsored by the Yellow Pages. The prize was 1000 rand, no small sum. Would have loved to participate but was still a bit sore from a climb and didn't want to risk injury prior to the Otter trail.

Riding an ostrich for about thirty seconds was exciting and great fun. I know you're probably thinking, poor animals and all. I admit, the animal rights activists would certainly have me over a barrel on this one. I was hesitant to get on until I watched somebody else (much bigger than me) try it out so that I could see how the animal responded. Now it's not a very easy thing to know what an ostrich enjoys or is thinking but apart from balking when a bag was put over its head while I mounted, the bird didn't look to be stressed. There's virtually no meat on an ostrich breast - it's all packed into the legs, which are very strong. An ostrich can run at 70 km/hr for three kilometres. When they butcher a bird they get 30-40 kg of meat off of its thighs - that's a lot of drumstick!
As you can see the hired hands actually race the birds, so it's all part of a day-in-the-life of a farm ostrich, a routine that they have no doubt come to accept as their lot in life.

One of the main attractions around Oudtshoorn is the Cango Caves, which rank as one of South Africa's top ten tourist attractions. There were two tour options - a six gallery walk or the "adventure tour" which included the first two galleries then some splunking through some fairly challenging tight spots that went 1200 metres into the cave system. This we took; it lasted for a full two hours and was loads of fun! The caves were amazing!

Before we left Canada I promised Nancy's mother that I would try my best to take care of her daughter but its sometimes just plain difficult to keep an eye on the woman!

Guess that's it for now. I will leave you of a photo that we took on our way up to the Swartberg Pass - never quite got there (ran out of daylight) but maybe another time! A lot of the landscape photos look much better when enlarged. Thanks for the time taken to read such a long blog - hope you found it interesting. Thanks to those who have sent us e-mail messages to let us know that they're well and tuned in.