7 - 12 July 2005
(Click on the photos to view them full size)
|
Cederberg - Wuppertal to Algeria The Wolhuter Trail - again (by Peter Groves) Self-drive, overland safari to Namibia Botswana - Zimbabwe lodge and canoe safari |
 Morning tea on Potberg. The Breede meanders to the coast below. |
 The trail follows Potberg's spine. |
 Cupidoskraal hut is a welcome sight after 15km on day 1. Contrast the diversity of the fynbos in the foreground with the drab green of invasive bluegums behind the hut. |
 Protea as far as the eye can see. Who would believe it's mid-winter? We experienced five warm, windless and cloudless days. |
 Deon above the ecotone where fynbos on sandstone gives way to fynbos on limestone. The bay at Noetsie, our destination on day 2, foams invitingly at centre left. |
 Succulents on limestone in riotous colour. The bright red-green in the valley is alien Rooikrans I think. |
 Noetsie. |
 I thought this looked interesting. |
|
 Bush cuisine conjured up by Alwyn. Noetsie's meal comprised springbok and veggies done in foil on the open fire. |
 Noetsie in the morning. All evening and night we heard the whales blowing in the bay. |
 Rugged coast. |
 Leaving the hut at Hamerkop on day 4. |
|
 Morning on the beach between Hamerkop and Lekkerwater. |
 Blowholes. |
 What is it? |
 |
|
 Alwyn and Deon plan and visualise the evening's meal - or something. |
 Last time I promised myself a return to Vaalkrans. Vaalkrans is the Olde Seadog Inn of my boyhood stories. |
 This time the weather provided the perfect ambience for seafaring yarns - fog and crashing seas. The cave under the hut reverberated under the onslaught. |
 A wild scene. For once the whales are drowned out by the din. |
|
 The morning after, looking east. Later we watched a pod of about sixty dolphins porpoising up the coast. |
 A last look at Vaalkrans. |
 Ingrid prods our environmental consciences. As she said - if each one of us lugged 10 plastic bottles off the beach, that would make 120 each day. I wonder if we could outmatch the rate at which passing ships litter the coast. Perhaps a cleanup expedition is called for... |
 A group on a high: (b) Alwyn, Lorette, Marion, Karen; (f) Deon, me. |
|
| Photos and text: Ralph Pina | ||||