"Like a mighty king it stood above the white alder and mountain saffron, stinkwood, assagai and hard pear. As if God had planted it before the others. Its' giant roots anchored in the ground like giant arms." Dalene Mathees' description of her big tree in "Circles in the forest". Though not as big as some of the others, this particular specimen in the Outeniquas was a place she visited often to "de-stress" and there is now a memorial to her and a circular trail that bears her name in perpetuity. It would appear that there is only a single cow left in the whole Knysna forest area, so it would seem that the circles are soon to be lost forever. I recall there being some scheme to reintroduce elephants but it seems to have been shelved, however there are a couple of circus's around that are called elephant reserves to cater for visitors.
A lot of trees in splendid bloom at present are the Cape chestnut (Calodendron capensis), never forget Hamish Campbell - who had to study both Latin and Greek when he did medicine - explaining, Calo - beautiful, dendron - tree. Very apt.
While taking this picture I received a call from Jan, the saner of the two instuctors at the para school, who was concerned about what had gone wrong and made some suggestions as to how it could be rectified. This included more ground work and a tandem flight to get my confidence back, which I was quite happy to do. He said he would contact me when conditions were right so figuring I had time to kill I went of to do some shopping in Knysna as the local PnP doesn't carry some of the things I like. Parking in Knysna is interesting but I found one in a quiet backstreet near this quaint little all corregated iron house, which brought back some my earliest memories of 48 Townsend Road in Bulawayo which was similarly constucted. The memories are somewhat foggy as we left when I was four, but it was always pointed out when we were in the area and in all probability is still there.
Yes I know they're alien but there are a lot of them around here and they do put on quite a show and the sunbirds love them. Being parked under one, as I am now, having moved site recently is a bit mucky to say the least.. Will have to settle for Eucalyptus sp. as I only know them as red gums, Richard Boon may be able to enlighten me.
No sooner had I taken this shot than the call came through, wind fair, we're flying from Sedgefield, get here as soon as you can. What a stunning place to fly from. Two of the other three members of the original group were also there having completed 31 of the required 35 flights so thinhgs must have been hectic, nevertheless it was a bit disappointing watching them get ready to go - that's Braam with the blue glider on the ground. He's 58 and a boer with legs that would have made Jonah Lomu envious - should have asked him for a lift up the dunes.
Then I was hooked into the tandem with Jan, two steps and away- amazing. Lots of lift at both ends of the ridge which felt like the elevator in the Carlton Tower and a running commentary on the hows and whys as we flew back and forth for what seemed like 20 minutes but was probably closer to 10, but by the time we landed I was still in two minds, but leaning towards having another go - but then the hiccup.
I had started feeling some discomfort in the groin region a couple of months ago and was aware that something was amiss. Eventually gathered the courage to make an appointment with one of the local GP's, very nice Afrikaner, who assured me that it wasn't cancer merely a sac of liquid that went by the grand name of a hydrocele.............and by the way you also have an inguinal hernia. Nothing serious but he advised that both should be sorted and it would be easy enough to do it all at once. Fine, can you recommend a surgeon, sure let's make an appointment with Dr Sunshine in George. Sunshine, you've got to be kidding, though I said nothing. His receptionist made the appointment and gave directions to his rooms in Gloucester Road, which took a while to twig as she pronounced it phonetically. I was expecting someone of oriental extraction at the very least so was very surprised to be met by a distinguished, grey-headed gentleman of very South African persuasion. I couldn't help but ask the origin of the name and though not certain, he believed it was Anglesized German, though he was born and bred locally. A bed was duly organised in the very swish George Mediclinic for the 8th December which left me a few "free days" but totally kyboshed paragliding - perhaps just as well but there's still a niggle.
So what better than to take a few days off from this hectic lifestyle and head for the hills. Many years ago when I was writing for Country Life, I visited Prince Albert and drove over the magestic Swartberg Pass, another of Bains' masterpieces. Near the top is a turn off to Die Hel (The Hell) and though I really wanted to drive there, my vehicle wasn't up to it. Now I have the vehicle, let's go to Hell. From this side the approach is through Oudtshoorn, then to the top of the pass at 1586 m (below) and soon after a turn off onto a road that carries more health warnings than a packet of fags.
For good reason, rest assured. It was only completed in 1962 and prior to that the residents trekked in from Calitzdorp through a poort on the Gamkas River. The road had to come from a different direction, which essentially involves four passes each worse than the last, this is looking back to number two.....
.....then forward to number four. Look carefully at the peak right in the middle and the little squiggle of road going over the col on the right, at the top of that..............
...............you're faced with the decent into the valley on a road with more wiggles than a dying snake. Sani Pass eat my shorts, this is 42 k's of holy shit and a lot of the time just praying you don't meet anything coming the other way. That little green strip down there is what attracted the farmers in the first place and most of them eked out a living until the 80's when drought finally forced them to abandon their efforts. Cape Nature took over the area and though there are still a number of privately owned places a lot of the old houses have been beautifully renovated.
This was my home for two nights, the Andries Marais House, complete with outside bathroom on the left, four bedrooms, kitchen and most importantly a stoep, where a man can sits and thinks or sometimes jus sits. It was abandoned in the 80's and resotred from a very sorry state in 2006.
Further down the road through the valley is Lenie Marais' House, also beautifully restored and with a little uithuis constructed entirely of wine bottles left by visitors over the years, absolutely charming.
Getting out of the valley was a lot more testing than getting in and when I stopped to take a picture of this cute little Klipspringer, I noticed a definite tremor to the hands. The Swartberg Pass is not the best road in the world but it felt like the N3 when I finally reached it.
As it was nearing lunch time I decided to find something to eat in Prince Albert which is still as cute a little Karoo town as ever, even though half of Cape Town apparantly now lives there. I took the longer route back to Oudtshoorn through Meiring's Poort with its' many drifts as it repeatedly crosses the river. It gets pretty tight at Dubbeldrift with the road diving beneath a massive overhang.
Near De Rust I came across this interesting formation, wonder what it's called.
Approaching the Outeniqua Pass just outside George blankets of cloud made it look like it had been snowing, magic.
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