We’re really enjoying South Africa. It is a beautiful country. The scenery is stunning. The food is genuinely excellent (and very cheap). The climate is perfect. There is a huge amount to see and do, despite our trip being a chilled meander along the coast. The wine is very good and the people we’ve interacted with have been lovely.
But it is a land of extreme contrasts, and you feel it. Not to feel uncomfortable here as a white person is to be wilfully ignorant. The feeling as a black person must be overwhelming. The poverty divide is off the scale. 40% unemployment can only mean enormous inequity, evidenced by the sprawling townships on the edge of every town. And of course, it’s down racial lines. However, at risk of absurd naivety, this divide no longer appears inherently racist. It feels socio-demographic… and entrenched. Despite Apartheid ending 30 years ago, the class divide draws its lines everywhere you go. The wealth disparity creates educational division, it creates segregation of opportunity and expectation. It breeds entitlement and subjugation.
Unless it’s a very fancy boutique, you can’t walk into a restaurant, cafe, bar, hotel without being greeted by a black security guard and black serving staff. However, look around you and virtually everyone eating, drinking or staying there will be white.
We’re only here for the briefest snapshot, so can’t with any authority comment on whether this is a universal truth, an improving picture, or our own skewed reality. But I think we can safely conclude that there is a long way to go to rebalance this country.
Oudtshoorn
We’d arrived at our Oudtshoorn hotel (the Altes Landhous – a country lodge with lovely grounds but a slightly tired and dated feel). Shona went for a swim while I went out for a short trail run along the dirt roads local to the lodge. I missed the turning back to the lodge and ended up going much further than planned. I attempted a shortcut back to the lodge but ended up deep in the scrub, happening upon various ramshackle farmsteads and ended up being chased by four… yes, four separate dogs. Top tip: South African dogs tend to stay near their properties. Good news for Ben.
The next morning, we awoke at 5:15am and drove to a neighbouring lodge. We met a group of other visitors and hopped in a couple of minivans, before transferring to safari jeeps and driving out into the Veld. We arrived at a small raised patch of scrub land and saw what we’d dragged ourselves out of bed for – actual wild Meerkats! Look at them…
We spent half an hour watching them scamper about, playing in the early sunlight before suddenly stopping and standing erect, reacting to noises in moments of limp-pawed alertness. Leaving the Meerkats as they went off for their daily hunt, we drove back, spotting a giraffe nonchalantly making their way across the reserve.
We got back to the hotel, had breakfast and drove 30 minutes through winding mountain roads to the Cango Caves. We’d booked onto the Adventure Tour, which was to involve exploring deep into a cave system, spellunking style (crawling through tight passages). Unfortunately, I’d tweaked my back waking up and not stretching like a meerkat, so we downgraded to a lesser walking-tour. Not expecting much, it was actually quite spectacular. The first two chambers were enormous. The first of which had phenomenal acoustics and had previously been used as a concert venue. Our Guide, Eric (his English-version name) was excellent, speaking often in the Sesotho language, with accompanying clicks.
Wilderness
Leaving Oudtshoorn, we drove a fairly long and arduous drive over a mountain range to Wilderness, a coastal town near the start of the Garden Route. Here we checked into the impressive Views Boutique Hotel & Spa, a luxury spot hanging at the edge of cliffs overlooking a stunning beach, which stretched for kilometres down the coast, into the spray-soaked distance.
We relaxed in our lovely room before walking 4km down the beach to the town of Wilderness for dinner at a highly rated pizza restaurant (Pomodoro – really good pizza!). After dinner, we went to order an Uber, but after trying for about 20 minutes, realised that Uber didn’t really operate here. The sun was just setting so we figured we’d make it back in time and struck off back down the beach. It was almost pitch black by the time we got back. Not a great idea.
They warn you firmly about walking about at night. In fact, the next day, after another day hiking in a local national park (Half Collared Kingfisher Trail) we went for another late afternoon walk along the same beach, straying beyond a headland, out of view of anyone. Half way along, we were approached at pace by someone on that secluded beach. We didn’t wait around to find out why – walk/running back the way we came, but once we’d got back around the headland and in sight of other beach goers, our pursuer turned back and stopped following us. Lesson learned.
Travels with Sklaroffs 