Our South African travel blog will be incomplete without a posting dedicated to the food! We loved the food, so much that I bought a cookbook! I could write a novel on all the different types of food and their respective histories - hence the name 'Rainbow' Cuisine. But to save time and to save me from drooling while composing this posting, here is a link to an article that covers it all!
Authentic Cape Malay (indonesian influenced food with a touch of Dutch) food is not easy to find, but we were treated to some good home-cooking food on the safari and while we were in the Wild Coast. Boerwors (handmade sausages), Bobotie (my favourite - mince baked with a custard topping and the most yummy spices), curries, Impala Potjie (tradiational stew), etc.
Biltong (beef jerky) is Charlie's favourite. They love it so much here you can find a Biltong shop on every other corner. Bunny Chow is another. It's basically Indian curry in a half loaf of bread. It's cheap and delicious.
Then there are the yummy veggies like Butternuts, Sweet Potatoes (different from the ones we get in the States), Pepperdews (a very small red pepper that's sweet and a little hot - extremely delicious) that always accompanies the salads, meat dishes and are essentials at the Braai (bbq).
We also had some authentic Xhosa food in the Wild Coast, where the Xhosa people live, which consists of a plate with cabbage salad, beet salad or some greens supposedly made up of 13 different herbs, pap (like grits), and samp - a corn and bean type slop but very yummy. The best Xhosa meal we had (and definitely one of the best meals we had on this trip), believe or not, was from a dingy little take away place at the gas station on a side road from Coffee Bay to the highway - for R12 (less than US$2) - and that came with a generous portion of the most tasty mutton I have ever had.
Of the various traditional dishes, Cabbage salad, Beet Salad, Pap, Boerwors, Biltong, and especially the Braai - the most popular way to eat in his country, seem to be common throughout South Africa, for Blacks, Coloureds and Afrikaaners alike. They are truly the meat and potatoes kinda people.
We're leaving Cape Town today. Cape Town is beautiful, and reminded me of San Francisco. It is sunny, ocean bound, some classic architecture and modern style. I love cities with mountains or some type of hike in them, and Cape Town has that in spades. Table Mountain took us about an hour and 1/2 and was straight up hill. There are hundreds of other routes up the mountain as well, so if I lived here I'd have plenty of weekends taken care of. At the top you can see the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, and the "south-westernly most point" in Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. The southernly most point is actually farther to the east and has little fame. I can't even remember its name.
So thats the end of African leg of the trip, we've been here for almost a month and time has flown by. We're going to Joburg and taking a flight to London overnight. A night there and then to Terry and Fleur's wedding in Monaco, and a week in the south of France, and that may be about it.
I got hooked on the african drum, the djembe, after just one little session with Peter. I can now pick up tempos and beats much better, something I wasn't really able to do well before when I watched and listened at a drum circle. Anyhow, Peter's brother makes drums and I became a proud owner of one of his works yesterday, yay! The sound is great and I banged on it for hours while Charlie drove us from Wilderness to Cape Town yesterday afternoon. Now the question is how are we going to transport it home?! It' pretty heavy and too big for a carry-on I think. Hopefully I can pack it up well and check it.
I had never done a bungee jump, so I thought I'd start with the worlds highest, at 216 meters on Thursday the 27th. I wasn't too nervous, but when I swan-dived off that thing head first my whole body screamed bloody murder and I've been dreaming about it since. It was quite fun.
I think the drivers in South Africa are some of the best mannered ones around. Most highways here don't have double lanes, so most often, if you're overtaking another car they will pull onto the shoulder, and let you pass. You repay them by hitting the hazard signals, for a click or two, which means thank you. We wouldn't have known this, however, without our friend Peter from Wilderness, whom we gave a ride from coffee bay. We had been wondering why people would put on their hazards after passing.
So we're still in J-Bay. We moved to a different backpackers called Island Vibe(we were actually in St Francis before, the cape next to J-bay). It's right on the beach. We have a brand new en suite double room with a beautiful balcony overlooking the waves for R200 (which is about $30). Needless to say, we're quite happy here and will be here for a few more days. I even took a surf lesson this morning, now I actually know what I am supposed to do. Will hopefully surf a little more the next couple days. Time for some calamari (they are kind of known for that here as well...)!
We drove all the way (probably about a 6 hour drive) from Warner beach to Coffee Bay. The Wild Coast, also know as the Transkei, is the home of the very lovely Xhosa people. They live in round mud houses with cylindrical thatched roofs. The area is as wild as the name suggests, and very very beautiful, with the rolling hills, jagged cliffs and deserted beaches. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful coastal areas I have been to! It was an independent state just 10 years ago and it is still very untouched.
We stayed at a place called Bomvu Paradise in Coffee Bay. Charlie called it Hippie Club Med. We loved it. We surfed (well, Charlie did, i laid on the beach and braved the cold water for some swimming), hiked along the jagged cliffs and beachs, toured the village, learned to play the drums, had delicious meals, and hung out with some great people. We spent 4 relaxing and fun days there, not sure why we left!
Now we're in the legendary Jeffery's Bay (where 'Endless Summer' was filmed). The waves are quite nice but it's damn cold. Charlie caught a good one this morning but it's tough out there competing for waves with the pros. I am trying to convince myself to don a wetsuit and get out there, we'll see what happens.
Not sure how many days we'll spend here, but our next stop is Wilderness, on the Garden Route, and then onto Cape Town, our final destination. Charlie's right, we definitely don't have enough time here. Ooh, it's time to head off to a braii (bbq) at our friend Peter's (an amazing drummer!) place.
Well, we spent the last night in Warner Beach, and will do so again tonight. We got to the hostel on the beach after rejecting the first one in Durban, but picking up some delicous Indian curry from a friendly roadside vendor. Our hostel has a poll, ensuite bathroom, an ocean view, free surfboards, pool, and breakfast, pretty impressive. Prices in this part of ZA are kind of depressed, you can pick up a sea side villa for 150k US, very tempting. Had a disapointing surf yesterday, really rough and couldn't get out. This morning at 6:30 it was much better. But after talking to the surfers at the hostel, who gave us all the good spots down the coast, I'm eager to get some better waves. The next spot tomorrow may be Margate, or Port St John. We are headed to Coffee Bay for sure, where it is supposed to be excellent, and Jefferys Bay, the surf capatial.
The group at the hostel were all extremely impressed last night with South Africa travel environment, and good surfing, tons of stuff to do and low cost. We quite agree. Doesn't seem like there is enough time.
We came out of the bush yesterday from the most awesome safari in the greater Kruger Park, more specifically, the Timbuvati and Klaserie Private Game Reserves on the western park of the park. We went with Transfrontiers Walking Safari for 5 days. There were 8 of us on the trip along with our most knowledgable and entertaining guide, Quentin. We stayed in unfenced bush camps, in individual tents that are equipped with beds and lighting inside. There were open air showers and flush toilets with views to die for.
Our day starts with being woken up at 5:30am, a snack breakfast, then a morning drive/walk combo - we would walk quietly in a line behind Quentin who would have a rifle in hand. We return to camp for a sumptious breakfast already waiting for us. Then it's vegetation/siesta time until 2:30pm when we have a small lunch and another drive/walk combo in search for more animals followed by Sundowners - which basically consists of having many beers while watching the sunset at some beautiful spot. We then go on a short night drive and then back to camp for another sumptious meal. The night ends with many beers and stories around the fire pit. Sometimes I wonder if the animals get annoyed with us for being so loud.
On walks and drive, we would follow tracks and sounds of animals, learned about the trees, insects and stars in the south african sky. But of course the highlight were the animals. We walked up to a herd of 400 buffalos at a watering hole (not too close, or else we won't be emailing right now), pissed off some elephants when we tried to shoo them away from our camp (and then a close encounter with them again the next day), stalked a lion on a night drive, and got visits from giraffes and hippos near our camp. We also saw a ton of beautiful birds, scary spiders, wildebeests, impalas, zebras, etc. Needless to say, we had a suberb time!! My tele-lens finally came in handy and we took many rolls of film. It is also quite something when you get woken up in the middle night by the roars of a lion (we can hear them up to 5 miles away).
As Charlie mentioned, we are in St.Lucia right now, and off to search for the perfect beach and surf along the Indian Ocean tomorrow!!
Ok, a few friends who are appropriately connected to the digital membrane have compiled wedding pictures and posted them. Made me happy to look at them, here in St.Lucia, South Africa, a mere 13 days post facto. Lets hope for the same reaction 30 years down the line ;)
On a side note, we snuck up on some wildebeests, warthogs, Zebras, and Hippos just an hour ago, and saw a clasic orange glowing sunset behind an umbrella thorn tree in the St.Lucia esutary. Heading for the surf tomorrow.
Toms:
http://www.straightnochaser.org/gallery/pakenheimer
Trevors:
http://www.ctwaterfrontspecialists.com/images/trevor/charliekaren/
We've been in Pretoria, South Africa for the last 3 days. There's been plenty of "we're married and in Africa!" comments, and a mild case of culture shock. Things have been pretty relaxing - mainly due to the fact that the walking Safari from TransFroniers does not start until Monday morning, so we have essentially been killing time and recovering from jetlag so far. We are staying at a hostel with loads of british gap year students who party until six in the moring and make us feel like the old married couple we are. We've got the matrimonial suite though, in one of the nicest hostels I've been in, which includes a pool, and a massive compound surronded with razor wire and gates, on a shady tree lined street.
We've also mixed into the poolside relaxing a trip to Soweto, a township that sparked some of the first conflicts that eventually brought down apartheid. We toured the tin shanty towns, and ate lunch outside of Nelson Mandela's house.
Now we're off to the Safari, visit Gideon in Swaziland, and in a rented car travel down the coast. Probably to Coffee Bay in the wild coast, thats the only plan. End up in Cape town by the 28th or so. Surfing will hopefully be the main activity.
Well, lets see. We're married! Thats the big news. May 2nd, 2004. We had a beautiful ceremony, me and Karen had such a good time we didn't want it to end. But it ended, and we took a moon soaked ride in a limo to Half Moon bay, the beginning of our honeymoon, and we're about 2 hours away from jumping on a plane to London, Frankfurt, then Johannesburg South Africa. It should be an exhausting trip, but we're going to use our 7 hour lay over in Frankfurt to see some sights. More later....