Oh how many complaints there are right now…
South Africa is in turmoil. Infrastructures are not coping, potholes everywhere, the municipalities are mostly insolvent, no plastic bags are available for rubbish collection, crime is at an all time high, water is needing to be boiled before drinking out of the tap…
Yes, the list is endless.
But I think it is time for me to remind everyone of what is still a beautiful country. One with problems, but one with heart.
My son and his family are coming to visit me in March and I would like to show them that all is not doom and gloom in this land I call home.
Natural scenic beauty…
It doesn’t matter where you happen to find yourself in this immense country of ours, you will be gob smacked by what you will see. Looking down you will certainly find the potholes, but for this Blog, I plan to look up and outwards and enjoy the perfection that is freely available for everyone with willing eyes, to look at, and enjoy.
The magnificent Cape Province…
It needs no introduction. It is the jewel in the South African crown. Table Mountain with it’s billowing table cloth, flanked on either side by Lions Head and Signal Hill.
The colourful architecture of the houses in Bo Kaap, each one with an individual uniqueness.
While walking through this section of town I remember all the art work that was displayed in the form of murals inside the little entrances to the lanes. I wish I could find my old photographs to show them to you.
Having done the Cape Argus Cycle tour I was able to discover a number of other beautiful spots, Misty Cliffs, being one of my favourite places to cycle through on the way to Ou Kaap Se Weg, which was really not fun to cycle up!
Further away from the city we have the beauty of Knysna with the most amazing lagoon and The Heads, a sight that brings tears to my eyes each time I see it.
As a young girl I remember swimming in that lagoon, and feeling something strange walking up my leg. On bending down I found that a small octopus had suckered itself onto my calf and was making its way upwards!
Thank goodness that I was able to detach it without incident. But this memory stays.
Plettenberg Bay, where my husband and I spent our honeymoon at the Beacon Island Hotel in 1973. It was a brand new hotel at the time and from that luxury we spent a further week in a little caravan park called Eentjies Vlei, in Paarl. Two total contrasts in lifestyle – the luxurious hotel and the humble two man tent!.
We were so cold the first night that we camped that we emptied all our clothes from the suitcases over us to keep us warm. The next day we went into Paarl to buy two blankets!
On packing up our camp at the end of the week we found that a mole had burrowed under the tent and half way through our 6 inch foam mattress. Thank God he decided to stop when he did. We needed to patch the ground sheet before using it again.
The Transkei or as it is now known as the Wild Coast…
The roads in the Transkei were never very well maintained. I remember how it was a pleasure to drive from Welkom to Umtata on excellent roads, turning off at Kentani and then having to take an extraordinarily long, slow drive to our destination each holiday.
There were goats wandering around, boulders in the road, dongas to the side, wash aways and general damage that we never complained about.
My father used to say that it was because of these bad roads that the little resorts along this section of the coast were never taken over by the visitors from Johannesburg. I am not sure if this was the case, but during the years we attended Wavecrest, Umgazi, Seagulls and Trenneries hotels, they were never over booked and remained good wholesome holiday destinations where children could play without being supervised and where the fishing was wonderful. This kept the men busy while the women were able to relax, walk, read or swim.
As the fish were caught, they were brought back to the hotel where they would be prepared and shared between all guests.
The photos accompanying this are of the view from the Wavecrest Hotel. The first one is of the mouth of the Nxaxo river where an island formed and had a family of Crested Cranes roosting.
The second is of my darling mother the year we last went there to place some of my brother’s ashes into the same spot as I had placed my fathers ashes in 1991.
And to round it off, my elder brother, David returned there after my mom died and she too, is in the sea off The Block, where all the men fished from. This is the third and final photo.
Getting closer to KwaZulu Natal…
Sadly, Morne and family will only be here for 19 days. So they are limited to what they will be able to see in that short time. They have asked to just stay close to home, soak up the sun and relax, which sounds perfect to me.
So this is where I will end off today. Might continue with other spots of beauty when next I feel like blogging. Hope you have enjoyed the armchair travel.
