SOUTH AFRICA TRIP 2006
Joe’s Tips
Hotels The Cities The Mountains
This is a record of a trip to South Africa from the 12th
January to 1st
March 2006. I am 62, my wife is a little
younger. We like eating, walking round town and a certain amount of culture. We
also like a reasonable degree of comfort.
We chose to travel during this time to try and get
weather that was warm and sunny, but not too hot – The Cape has a ‘Mediterranean’
climate, but Durban is a bit hot and
humid at this time of year, so we stuck to the area between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Mostly we succeeded – we only
had 2 or 3 days over 30C, and not much under 25C; we did have some cloud and rain,
but on the whole it was pretty good, though we did suffer from quite a lot of
strong winds. Apparently the ‘Cape Doctor’ wind was
carrying on later into the year than usual.
We decided to go for a package from Saga – mainly
because we were not confident about driving ourselves around SA, and the
security issues. Having done some homework before we travelled, I found very
conflicting reports from ‘no problems’ to ‘be very careful’. Having been, I am
still of mixed views – we did not see any trouble (well, one minor skirmish),
but it was not exactly comfortable being reminded not to go here or there on
your own or after dark, and seeing Chubb armed response signs on almost every
building (including the Fish Hoek Police Station!).
If you are careful, its OK, but then who wants to be
careful all the time.
We flew on a BA night flight from Heathrow to Port Elizabeth via Jo’burg – a large and chaotic airport (being extended) with
a long walk between international and domestic buildings, and hassle from
endless unofficial porters who try and grab your cases and direct you. I would
avoid going there again. We paid a lot extra for ‘World Traveller Plus’ seats
(£250 per person each way - £1000 total), and though the seats were wider and
had more leg room, I don’t think it was worth it. The seats didn’t seem all
that comfortable – rather firm foam, though I found them better on the day
flight returning.
We spent three weeks in Port Elizabeth, then two weeks
on a trip along the Garden
Route, finishing up with two weeks at Fish
Hoek near Cape Town.
We flew back direct from Cape Town, thankfully on a
day flight though most people seemed to have night flights, and some poor souls
were coming back through Jo’burg.
Impressions of SA – Some of the
scenery is magnificent, especially near Cape Town, though it is grand
rather than pretty. Climate, as mentioned, was very good, although a bit too
hot any distance inland. SA has problems – some of the infrastructure has been neglected,
and service standards are not always up to western ones. We had numerous power
cuts in the last two weeks, people complained that the
management was not good. Food was pretty good (though we were mostly on all
inclusive terms, so had limited choice). There is a strong English / Colonial
influence, with lots of roast meats, curries, nursery puddings. Some things are
cheap (meals, trains), but not others (tourist T shirts, tech stuff). There is
a strange two tier economy, a large part is almost western in standard and
cost, and another large part is like Egypt. Unemployment is
massive – probably 50% in the official townships – and God knows what in the
unofficial ones. It is estimated that SA has maybe 8 million illegal
immigrants. The best thing about SA was the music – Africans seem to be all musical,
like the Welsh, and we enjoyed super street music and visiting groups in P.E. (Port Elizabeth). We also saw a
lot of good carvings and artwork in the markets, most of which were too big and
heavy to take home. All in all, though we enjoyed our time there, I don’t think
we will be going back. For me it didn’t have the charm of the Old World, nor the glitz and efficiency of the
new. But some people love it and return every year – though perhaps mainly
because it is a low cost way of long stay good weather in our winter.
Our favourite one place was probably Cape Town – simply because
of Table Mountain, which was
spectacular. The views from the top were as good as anything I have ever seen. The
V&A waterfront was also a good place to spend some time, perhaps not typically
SA, but there were views of Table mountain. Although Port Elizabeth is not
particularly attractive we enjoyed our time there – partly because of the great
music, partly because we met lots of very nice people at the hotel. The Garden Route (so called
because of the variety of wild flowers) was good, but perhaps not as good as I
was expecting.
Joe’s Tips
If I did go back to SA, I would hire a car and drive
around the Cape Town area, and go inland
to places like Montagu, Swellendam.
Take a torch in case of power cuts.
Try the Windhoek lager from Namibia – lighter than
the local Castle brew – which is OK.
If you go to Cape St. Francis, take a peek at the
Surfing museum in J Bay.
Hotels
We didn’t stay at many because of the
package deal. In P.E. we stayed at the 3 star Humewood
. This was pleasant enough, though on quite a busy main road. It had just
had aircon fitted, which was a significant benefit, as
it was hot enough to need it. Food there is quite good, though not great; the staff are nice, and efficient (and the Saga rep Melanie was
brilliant). There wasn’t a great deal to see and do there, walking along the sea
to the modern Boardwalk development was the highlight, and we used the swimming
pool across the road a few times. Of course if you are a wild animal freak this
is a good area with numerous safari trips available. Before leaving P.E. we had
a couple of nights at the Kelway hotel nearby,
which was a little smarter, but nothing special.
Along the Garden Route we stayed in the NH Plettenberg, the Far Hills in
George, and the Montagu Country House hotel in Montagu. These were all nice
4 star places, I preferred the Far Hills with its lovely views; the food was
pretty good too. The Montagu was an interesting art
deco building, but a bit tired and too hot when we were there.
In Cape Town we stayed at the Holiday Inn Waterfront for a couple of
nights, and I have to say this was our favourite – some unashamed luxury, and a
good location (though its best to take the hotel
shuttle to the V&A waterfront).
In Fish Hoek
we stayed at the Avenue, which Saga have used for many years. Apparently it used to be a big
favourite, but is now somewhat run down and in need of a shake up. True they
had to cope with numerous random power cuts during our stay, but it was not
somewhere I would return to.
Trains and Buses.
We used buses a
couple of time in P.E. to go to the Greenacres shopping centre. The first time
was OK, next time the bus didn’t turn up at all, so we got a later one. We didn’t
use the ‘African Taxis’ that frequent the PE area, but one couple did, and said
it was fine – though not cheap. Avoid the ones with doors held on by string.
We used the train from Fish Hoek
to Simonstown and Kalk Bay, despite warnings
from Saga. We had no trouble at all, and I think this is perfectly safe, at
least in day time. Some people had even been brave enough to go to Cape Town, though this was
a definite no-no according to Saga. Train service was somewhat erratic,
but not too bad.
Food
We only ate out once – at Morton’s on the Waterfront
in the V&A, good steak and good Cabernet Sauvignon, with views of Table Mountain – recommended.
Otherwise hotel food varied from very good (best at the Plettenberg
and Far Hills), to poor. As mentioned, lots of roast beef, fish and chips,
sausage and mash, western style curries,
Bobotie (curry flavour mince beef with egg topping),
lots of rich puddings. You can also try some of the exotic options – Crocodile carpaccio is nice, and there is Ostrich and Zebra. I
suspect you can eat very well in S.A. if you pick your places.
The Cities
Port Elizabeth is
a large industrial city – lots of car
manufacturing, and with large townships (one was 250,000). There isn’t
a lot to
see in the town itself, though there are some nice parks that we didn’t
explore. We were actually in Humewood which is along
the coast a bit from P.E. We walked a lot along the seafront, which is
quite
attractive in places. We also took trips to Kragga
Karma (a nice local animal park), a ‘Day in the Country’ along the
Gamtoos valley towards Bavians Kloof, and to Cape St. Francis. The Cape
was attractive and worth a visit, the valley trip was interesting, but
not especially attractive. Our best day was when Peter Joseph, a local
guide,
took us for a special township tour as he was making a video for the
tourist
board (apparently you can see us at Jo’burg airport).
This was very interesting, and we saw schools, hospital (unused!), red
house museum
(controversial - not open), Kwe Kwe’s
bar, markets, and heard some lovely music.
From P.E. we took
a trip to the Addo Elephant park
as part of our Garden Route tour. It was very
hot, but worth it. We are not especially wild animal lovers, but the sight of a
herd of about a hundred elephants in the wild was certainly impressive.
Plettenberg Bay is a popular place along this coast, with the town
high above the sea and beach, and with the spectacular Robberg
peninsular. It’s a nice enough place, but nothing to draw me back. We took in
the nearby Monkeyland, which was, well, full of
monkeys, and the new birdland, which was very
attractive. A trip along the Keurbooms river was also worthwhile.
George is
surprisingly quite a large town – I expected a sleepy country/seaside place. We
didn’t see much here apart from the railway museum (not bad), and a trip through
the little Karoo to
the Cango caves – quite impressive, but a hot day
(34C) apart from inside the caves. We were supposed to take another trip, but
the weather on the coast around George was wet and dismal.
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Tractor Trip
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View From the Top
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Artistic Flower Picture
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Montagu is an attractive quiet little
place with good mountain scenery surrounding. The architecture
here is some of the better in S.A. We went on a tractor trailer
trip from Protea farm (named
after the famous Protea plants that cover the
mountainsides) up the Langeberg mountains. Scenery
was spectacular, but it was a long slog there and back (about 3 hours). I’ve
been on more comfortable trips to equally good scenery. We also visited Swellendam for the good museum showing historic buildings
and crafts; it is also an attractive town.
Cape Town must have one of the best city locations
in the world – certainly competes with Vancouver, San Francisco. The trip up
Table mountain is a must, even if you have to wait a
few days for good weather. We were lucky to go up on a brilliant clear day, and
the views on all sides were superb. There are also good views of the mountains from
all over Cape Town – in the Company’s Gardens and V&A waterfront. We
only had a short time here, it is one place I would
return to in S.A. to try out some of the jazz
joints etc. But I would like a local to show me round. Again we were warned not
to walk out at night, to keep away from the station area etc.
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Montague Hotel
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Swellendam Museum
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V & A Waterfront
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Cape of Good Hope
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And at Cape Point
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Penguins at Simonstown
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Fish Hoek is a small town by the sea south of Cape Town. The beach is quite attractive, with low mountains surrounding
the deep blue sea, and its not a bad little place. But
it just didn’t have much charm, the buildings are pretty plain, and the shops
not interesting. Not somewhere I would rush back to. We took a trip to the
actual Cape (of Good Hope) and Cape Point (slightly different)
which was fun – weather was a bit variable, but it is somewhere you have to go,
and the views from the lighthouse are worth the trip. Kalk Bay is the next town north, and would be very attractive if it wasn’t for
the very busy road right through it. Simonstown is
one stop south, and has a good museum (it was a big Naval base in the war), but
the best bet here is the Penguin colony just outside the town. I was expecting
a group of 20 or so grumpy penguins, but was surprised to see well over a
hundred in several large clusters. Not doing a lot, but impressive all the
same, and with good views back across the bay. The trip to the Penguins from
the town centre in ‘Riki’s’ taxi was interesting,
probably the smallest and most beat up taxi I have ever been in. I was sandwiched
on a small seat between two large black ladies, and Bev’s
seat wasn’t fixed properly, so slid around on corners. I think I would try an
alternative.
The Mountains are in several places along the coastal area. Around
George and ‘Plett’ are the Tsitsikammas,
which are quite an impressive jagged range, but the most spectacular we saw
were the various ranges back to Cape Town – the Langebergs
and other bergs I can’t remember.
