Acacia Africa

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Flattop

Three years ago when I was injured I was overlanding with Acacia Africa. Overlanding is a type of travel where the travelers camp in tents and participate in helping out. One day you’re helping cook for the group the next you’re washing up for the group etc. Every person jumps in and helps the group as a whole. We are provided with a self sufficient truck, driver, and guide to transport us over great African distances. I’ve blogged about Acaica in the past and if you’re into camping, I can’t recommend them enough as a way to see the remote areas of Africa.

In 2009 I was on a 58 day tour with Acacia through, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia. Day 52 I rolled a quad bike which altered my life. At the time we were only 6 days from ending the trip. I’ve booked a trip in reverse order with them and am only doing the first 11 days of the tour to finish what I started so long ago, revisit the accident scene, and mount a quad bike once again.

I’m now on tour with 18 fellow travelers. Duncan, a Kiwi, is our guide and Pellile, a Zimbabwian is our driver. Part of traveling like this is the camaraderie and social interaction which develops through roughing it with my fellow truck mates. Who my travel buddies will be is the one unknown when picking a tour company, but this being my second time I think those who choose to travel like this have a similar outlook on life. Only one day in and I can already tell the next 11 days is going to be a hoot. Everyone is great and I know I’ll have a new set of friends from around the world when I’m done. Scotland, Switzerland, UK, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Korea, America, and Holland are represented

We spent our first day learning each others names and the formalities of where we’re from etc. Our first night we are camping at Highlands Winery, a small boutique winery in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Fun was had by all as we started the evening tasting the local creation of this fine place which quickly turned into a group drinking challenge of flip the cup. Hence to say by the end of the night everyone ended up drunk in the pool.

I’m now at Orange River, the longest river in Africa. It separates the border of Namibia and South Africa. It’s fitting, I left Namibia in a wheelchair and last night I swam across the river to make my return on foot. While my hip problems continue to nag and frustrate me, I feel blessed I’m able to walk at all.

We’re only a couple hundred miles north of Cape Town and the climate has already begun to change. I can tell the desert is only a short distance away. It’s blistering hot during the day, arid, and the air is extremely dry. Last night when the sun went down there was an easy 30 degree temperature drop. I’m sure this disparity will only grow as we get into the great Namib Desert.

This is Africa and one never knows what unusual or bizarre thing will happen. This morning 4 of my fellow truck mates returned from canoeing the Orange river with the most out-there experience to date. They found a dead body bloated and floating down stream. They all seemed pretty startled and grossed out. The cops were called and then we were on our way with one more bizarre African story.

20121213-173908.jpg

Posted in South Africa, Travel | Tagged | Comments Off on Acacia Africa

Table Mountain

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Flattop

Armed with the knowledge my hip doesn’t bother me when hiking up hill but hurts going downhill, I set out to hike to the top of Table Mountain, a mountain plateau overlooking the city of Cape Town, with a couple fellow backpackers. Fortunate for me there is a cable car to bring me down.

The morning is sunny and blue although as I look at Table Mountain there is cloud sitting perfectly on top like someone melted a marshmallow as it oozes over the sides. One of my hiking buddies has the desire to do one of the more difficult of the hiking routes and we arrive at the entry point of Kirstenbosh, the first botanical gardens in the world. The guards tell us due the fog cover it’s too dangerous to hike, but that he thinks it’ll clear up. The delay creates the surprise of touring a botanist dream. There are over 4500 types of flora and fawna 2500 of which are only indigenous to the Cape area perfectly landscaped amidst an array of walking paths.

As the skies clear we begin what turns into one of the more strenuous three hour stair stepping climbs over boulders, up ladders, and through the forest. About halfway up the cloud cover roles in and the view is disappointingly obscured. My chest is heaving as I feel my heart beating sweat soaking my shirt as we summit the highest peak. Too bad I can’t see anything. Coming up this route has placed us on the far side of the mesa. I stroll through low shrub like bushes and rocks across the top of the mountain, amazingly as I approach the cable car the clouds clear and I’m blessed with sweeping overviews of Cape Town. I’m exhausted and happy I’ve made the trek and don’t have to make the hike down.

On my return to the hostel, I decide to travel like a local in a minibus taxi. It’s a cheap option however it’s a slow option. Minibus taxi’s are a shared taxi ride where they pick up people as they go and take each to their destination dropping off and picking up folks along the way. It’s an adventure in itself as I don’t know where the ride will go or when it’ll make it to my destination. I can’t figure out the complicated hand signal code locals use to let a driver know they want a ride and where they want to go. We pull over to pick up a couple black ladies and as they are about to board another minibus taxi pulls up behind us. The women retreat and take the other ride. Why?? It turns out racism as my Indian driver fumes over being stiffed by a black driver. I’m perplexed and surprised to see the same behavior they don’t wish on themselves.

20121208-153814.jpg

Posted in South Africa, Travel | Comments Off on Table Mountain

Cape of Good Hope

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Flattop

I’ve arrived in Cape Town and met up with a couple friends I’d met over the past couple weeks and we are headed to Cape Point. It’s the first blue sky sunny day since I’ve been here. The drive down the Cape coast reminds me of highway 1 in CA. A windy coastal road along a cliff ledge and sheer mountainside next to us. We arrive at Hout Bay and take a short ferry boat ride to see a seal colony in the wild. Frolic freely swimming, sunning, splashing themselves as the breeze gives me a chill coming off the cold water.

Our next stop is Boulders Beach near Simon Town. African Penguin’s on the beach. I always imagined a Penguin being in the snow, not a sandy beach like I see in FL. They don’t seem to do much other than look cute in their natural tuxedo suit.

The highlight of the day is making our way to the Cape of Good hope. Here most think the Indian and Atlantic Ocean’s meet. It’s one of the most treacherous parts of the to sea to cross due to high winds, shallow water, and large waves. There are over 650 known wrecks off this coast. As I arrive hiking a well maintained path, I’m almost blown away, literally. The winds are a steady 40 knots and I can lean into the breeze.

I’ve discovered even on this relatively easy hike that going down is a problem with my hip. Hiking up isn’t an issue, though.

20121208-144340.jpg

20121208-144229.jpg

20121208-144436.jpg

Posted in South Africa, Travel | Comments Off on Cape of Good Hope

Great White Shark Diving

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Flattop

During the hundreds of miles of driving down the South African coast, the topography has changed three times. It started out with rugged mountains, limited to no trees, and lush thin green grass covering everything. It changed to mountains and trees including lots of pines, and now that I’m close to Cape Town the mountain cover has turned into shrubbery and bushes covering the mountain sides. It’s all beautiful yet distinctly different.

I’ve made my way to Hermanus a quaint cliff side town known for being the best location in the world to whale watch from the shoreline. Unfortunately, I’m not lucky enough to see any here, but at least I already saw some earlier in the week. Fortunately, Hermanus is only a few miles from Gansbaai, where the highest concentration of great white sharks in the world exist, and why I’m here.

It’s 7 am, a brisk 55F out, with a cloud filled sky. The wind is blowing 25 knots onshore as our shark boat makes a rocky rolly ride through 5ft swell evenly spaced out. Once anchored those less acclimatized to being on the water quickly get sea sick, helping chum the water for what I’ve come to see. The crew releases a slick of chopped up fish guts heavy in oils to attract this wondrous underwater carnivore. A rugged steel cage is secured to the side of the boat as a crew member drops a line with the head of a yellowfin tuna attached just below a small float about 10 feet in front of the cage. A few minutes later a great white appears out of the abyss as the crew plays with it by pulling the bait away and redeploying it. It circles around disappears for a few minutes and reappears. Sometimes we only see a fin protruding through the water and then on one pass it so elegantly yet fiercely looking comes from below gulps the bait has his head protrudes through the surface a couple feet. I had expected to see a frenzy or swift movement, rather this creature is so powerful it’s movements even while coming out of the water seem relaxed and slow moving. While the photo’s and video appear fierce due to his huge powerful jaws and teeth the scene and feeling is more subdued.

Now that it has had a taste of our treats, into the cage I go while the crew plays bait keep away a few feet away. The water is as cold as the air. Brrrrrr, the chilly water seeps its way down my snug wetsuit, it hasn’t even reached my torso or had a chance to warm and an 8-10 foot hunter gracefully swoops through the water only inches away. The crew has done this before and is putting on a show drawing them near to give me what I’ve paid for. A half dozen passes his head and teeth pass mere inches from the cage window. My hands are freezing holding onto a steel handrail secured inside the cage literally inches from being able to stick my limbs out.

I’ve been in the cage a good half hour and I’m not sure how much longer I can take the cold. This big great white comes directly at the boat, and as the bait tender/teaser briskly yanks the fish head aboard this monstrous eater’s nose rams the cage mouth wide open with rows of razor sharp teeth exposed. It startles me so, it’s the only time I can recall an instant sense of fear as I instinctively let go of the the security hand rail as it appeared my hands where about to viciously disappear.

I’m done for the day and seen what I came here for. I leave a happy camper numb as can be while a few others grouse they either didn’t get to experience the same show or were to sick to enjoy.

20121205-182629.jpg

20121205-182850.jpg

20121205-183008.jpg

Posted in South Africa, Travel | Tagged | Comments Off on Great White Shark Diving

Kloofing

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Flattop

I’m in the post card picture perfect beach town of Wilderness, South Africa. I awoke this morning to the cool ocean breeze whisping in the balcony door. With crusty’s still in the corners of my eyes, the soft waves crashing onto the beach, I almost want to go back to sleep. I hear someone talking about whales and I jump to the balcony. A mere couple hundred feet off the beach a whale frolics in the surf. His massive body jumps through the air, turns sideways flopping on the surface causing a an enormous splash. He’s having fun. He flips his tail smacking the water and then jumps again. It’s almost like watching a show at Sea World, only it’s free and it’s the beauty of nature.

Today I have my heart set on Kloofing. It’s the South African term for what is known as Canyoning elsewhere in the world. So what is Kloofing you may ask. Well it’s where one descends down a river within a canyon or ravine. It entails scrambling/climbing over rocks/boulders, high jumping, abseiling/rappelling, and swimming! I’ve been referred to Marthinus a professional Redbull sponsored extreme mountain biker, who in the off-season guides custom tours for individuals and small groups. While I’ve been canyoning before, in all my years of travel and all the various activities, this day has turned into the sole best thing I’ve ever done. It’s going to be extremely difficult to top. His company is Paradise Adventures. If you ever end up here, book him as a guide.

Our day sets out hiking a trail, if I can even call it a trail, through the woods and bush. Stepping on tree limbs, pulling back branches, and waist deep grass and various plants scrape my waist and legs as we make our way to a location Martinus has discovered over years of canyoning the local area. Nobody else leads these small tours.

We start out in a scene I know many have seen but never imagined descending. It’s a rock/boulder filled ravine with a river flowing down between the canyon walls. We start hoping boulder to boulder then wade through frigid rock filled water. The canyon walls are 75-100 feet apart and go straight up on both sides. The canopy cover at the top almost obscures any sight of the sky. We come to a large boulder water pouring over a 20 foot drop. Martinus tells me to jump that the water is deep enough. I plunge over the edge. As I hit the water, it’s so cold my chest tightens, taking my breath away, making it almost hard to breath. Thank goodness I have a life vest on. As I swim down the river the walls begin getting closer together, sheer, and higher.

Swimming until my body and hands are numb we come to more boulders. More scrambling combined with a few more death-defying jumps over slippery moss-covered rocks down waterfalls continues for at least another hour as my core temperature begins to slowly drop. We encounter a waterfall to high up to jump. Martinus rigs us for an abseil/rappel down the fall and over the edge I go trusting the equipment and Martinus as my belay.

For the next several hours we climb over boulders, jump down water falls, swim through frigid waters, and make a few rappels. All the time the ravine gets narrower and narrower. It’s a mere 10 feet from wall to wall. Here we encounter our last rappel A huge boulder is lodged between the two walls. We swim up to it water flowing around both sides, scramble on top, rig ourselves for the descent. Over the edge I go water pours on top of me. As I slowly descend the rock face of the boulder disappears and I find the boulder has created an outcropping and I’m now dangling mid-air behind the waterfall and underneath the wedged rock. Thousands of gallons pouring over and I land in a deep pool. White froth foams all around as I swim through the falls, and down the river. We swim our way down stream through curving canyon walls, around a corner and viola the canyon walls dissipate to a rock and stream filled bed. I’m exhilarated, freezing, shivering like crazy, and wonder how close I’ve come to hypothermia. I’m on cloud 9. This has been an amazing experience I’ll probably never exceed. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the video Martinus shot with this helmet cam.

I set out on this day not sure what was in store or how extreme it would be. I was nervous and anxious how my hip would handle the day not knowing how out-there the day turned out to be. I can elated report, not one issue at all. I felt whole and normal, doing extreme stuff, if even it was for a day. I’m thankful and hopeful for more such days.

Posted in Adventure Activities, South Africa, Travel | Tagged , | Comments Off on Kloofing