© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

We decided that we wanted to head out of Cape Town and see some more of this beautiful country. Richard rang some car rental companies for some quotes, we intended to get the most economical basic car we could, as we wanted to hire a car for a couple of weeks. Strangely enough after many phone calls it turned out that we could get a larger four door saloon for the same money as a basic two door car if we booked it through a travel agents. Who were we to argue! It was all booked and we had to collect the car the following morning. I stayed at the apartment, whilst Richard walked into town to collect our car. We had been told that it would be a BMW, so I stood at the lounge window watching and waiting for Richards return. Eventually I saw a Mercedes C Class cruising along towards our apartment , it was Richard. Excellent, we are not fans of BMW or Mercedes for that matter, but we prefer the latter. Anyway it was certainly nicer than your basic A Class economy motor! We loaded up the car and set off towards Springbok.

SPRINGBOK

The drive from Cape Town to Springbok was rather a long one, but also a very enjoyable one. We loved driving in South Africa, the roads out of town were, good, long, straight stretches of tarmac, where we could really enjoy some speed. Apparently South Africa has among the world's worst road accident statistics, caused by a variety of things from drunk driving to overloaded and unroadworthy vehicles. We found most of the roads we used were relatively empty and thankfully we survived without accident or any other incidents. Although as usual Richard did the bulk of the driving, I did manage an hour or two behind the wheel, not that it really felt like driving as the car was automatic and there was not much other traffic to think about. After driving for a few hours on the N7 we arrived in Springbok and began to look for somewhere to stay. Springbok is the main commercial and administrative centre of Namaqualand, and roughly 550km from Cape Town. The main place of interest in town is the site of a British fort blown up by General Jan Smuts' commando during the Anglo Boer War. Situated on a mound of granite boulders called Klipkoppie ~ Rocky Hill. The town has a museum, in an old synagogue (Mon-Fri 8:30am-3:30pm). There's also the Blue Mine, which was the first commercial copper mine in South Africa, sunk in 1852 reopening in 1998 to mine gemstones for the Far East market, which were originally overlooked during the search for copper ore. About 10km past the airport southwest of the town brings you to Goegap Nature Reserve (8am-4pm), which is often described as Namaqualand in miniature. Incorporated in the reserve is the Hester Malan Wild Flower Garden, which is very popular during flower season. When we first drove into Springbok itself we noticed that there were beautiful colourful displays of flowers along the grass verges. We stayed at what was considered the smartest hotel in town, the Art Deco Masonic Hotel, Van Riebeeck Street. I would say that the hotel was nice enough, and we enjoyed a good dinner in Springbok in the evening. Bright and early the next morning we set off towards Upington, but first we planned to stop off at Augrabies falls.

AUGRABIES FALLS NATIONAL PARK

After a nice drive we arrived at Augrabies Falls National Park (April-Sept 6:30am-10pm, Oct-Mar 6am-10pm), where we spent the day, before driving on to Upington which was only about 100km away. The main reason for us to visit Augrabies Falls was for the mighty waterfall. The park was established to protect the water falls and the surrounding area, the falls are considered one of the finest cataract falls in the world. The Orange River drops 191 metres at the Augrabies Fall, and the original Hottentot residents believed that evil spirits were active there. The waterfall is still known by its Khoikhoi name, Aukoerebis, 'the place of great noise', the powerful flow of water is unleashed from rocky surroundings into the 240m deep and 18km long abyss of the Orange River Gorge. At peak flow the noise generated from the huge volume of water that plunges through the narrow channel at the head of a deep granite gorge is heart stopping. Augrabies was not as pretty or breath taking as Victoria Falls, but it was still a pretty amazing feeling to just stand and listen as we were absorbed by the water crashing down. The sound was deafening as the water thundered down the Augrabies Waterfall. To view the falls, we walked across really smooth granite domes along the edge of the gorge. We were warned to be very cautious where we walked, as apparently it's not uncommon for visitors who want to gain too close a view, to peer just that little bit too far at the falls, and slide helplessly into the object of their interest below. The most famous survival story is of a Scandinavian who was apparently stripped of all his clothes by the sheer force of the water before he was plucked to safety. Apparently over twenty people have met their deaths since the park was proclaimed in 1966. There is a large fence to protect you from falling, however since the suspension bridge over the gorge was washed away it is rather difficult to get a clear view of the main attraction. I guess the temptation to get closer and closer to the edge just proves too much for some people. Apparently the best time to visit is near sunset as the softer sun shines straight into the west facing gorge and the roar of the water disappears into the sky. We enjoyed walking round the falls, we felt as though we were the only people there as it was far from busy during our trip. You can drive on the link roads round to Ararat or Echo Corner if you like too. We mainly wanted to see the falls, so we didn't bother too much with the rest of the park, which covers some 184 square kilometres on both sides of the river. The land is dry and home to plants typical to arid conditions such as Kokerboom ~ quiver tree, camelthorn and Namaqua fig. There is the possibility of seeing some small animals such as antelope, dassie, mongoose and many lizards as you wander round. There is accommodation at Augrabies Falls, various levels of self catering chalets and cottages and a large camping and caravan site along with swimming pool, shop, self service snack bar and a restaurant with good views. Also popular was the 'Augrabies Rush' which was a half day trip on small rafts down 8km of very swift river above the falls, this was run by the Kalahari Adventure Centre. We didn't want to stay at the falls so we drove on to Upington.

UPINGTON

The driving in South Africa was such a pleasure that we were never in a rush to get anywhere, and yet as the roads were so fast, or maybe that was our driving, the miles just seemed to fly by. Upington is a fairly busy place with people passing through on their way to the Kalahari-Gemsbok and Augrabies National Park, along with those going and coming from Namaqualand. As we had just come from Augrabies, it seemed we were doing things in the opposite direction. Anyway, once we got into the town of Upington we began to look for somewhere to stay for the night. We saw the Affinity Guest House and went in to ask if they had any vacancies, they did, excellent. The Affinity Guest House is situated on the banks of the Orange River, with excellent views of the water. It felt like a home rather than a traditional Bed and Breakfast, our room was en-suite and although on the small side it had everything we needed and was clean. There was secure parking which was good, and we were within easy walking distance of the local shops and restaurants. After checking in we had a little walk into town, where we found a pub and enjoyed a drink before going back for a nap. Feeling refreshed after our nap we decided to go into town for dinner. The owners of the guest house were having a BBQ in the garden with family, and the smell made us quite hungry. I knew I wouldn't want to walk back after eating so I drove us into town. We were not exactly spoilt for choice, and too tired to really care, we ate at the well known Spur Steakhouse. The service was excellent, and the food was fine, in fact I don't remember eating any bad meals the whole time we were in South Africa. The next day we were going to be driving quite a long distance, so we went back to our B & B after we ate for an early night. Early the next morning we set off on our way towards Knysna, we didn't end up going all the way there though, we stopped off just short of it and stayed overnight at a place called Oudtshoorn.

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