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.
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.
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.
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.
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The Boardwalk, Humewood
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View from Humewood hotel
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Zulu dancers at hotel
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Our
friends in Kragga Kamma
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And a Kudu
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In Addo
Elephant park
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A big Herd in Addo
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Storms River Mouth
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The Tsitsikammas
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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.
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.
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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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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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Montagu Hotel
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Swellendam
museum
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V&A
Waterfront
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Compulsory
Cape of Good Hope pic
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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.