We did finally make it out of the rainbow city - about an hour up the road via a route called Clarence Drive. It twisted and wound it's way along the coast with impressive views from whence we'd come. Arriving in Kleinmond we set about pulling everything we'd bought out of the car, so that it could be organized, ordered and then put back in - ready for the adventures ahead. We learnt something here: if you're going to make a BBQ, don't put the axe at the bottom...you'll need it (It's now at the top, and the boot has been packed and repacked again since then). Though Palmiet campsite was shady and picturesque, we stuck around only long enough to organise and test out the gear, stroll along the sand a little and grin at the resident mongoose...mongeese?? (The mongoose plural.) Africa's southernmost tip was in our sights, so we headed, well, south. The drive between Gansbaai and Struisbaai was a bit special- wide open plains, gorgeous little farm villages (think white rendered walls and thatched roofs) and wildlife - we spotted blue cranes, ostriches, flamingos and our very first springbok. At the time we were pretty stoked, but it had nothing on what was to come! We took some snaps at the cairn marking southernmost Africa and camped out the back at a delightful little hostel, where we met bird mad Patrick. Bird mad Patrick helped plan our next few days with beach walks, caves, wrecks and picturesque little towns with the knowledge only a local can give. Bird mad Patrick also pointed us in the direction of the last colony of Cape Vultures. To the vultures we went. We hiked in the blazing summer sun on a rocky cliff (read uphill again!) then perched on said cliff all afternoon to watch these huge birds cruise past and circle around. That was amazing; the last of their kind, eyes that see all and they make the whole flight thing seem effortless, despite their size. But bird mad Patrick didn't tell us about the rest of the park, just about these amazing big birds. Eventually we scrambled down from the cliff and set about finding a campsite. We knew where to go, but the drive in was peppered with creatures we'd never seen nor heard of! This caused much excitement and much stopping, so it took a while. All around were eland, bontebok, rhebok and even zebra (the Cape Mountain kind..we now know that there are different kinds). After much gawking and snapping, we made it to our next home. There they had little A4 pages of animal pictures with labels and boxes to tick when you see them, so we managed to learn the names of the things we'd photographed. The car has stayed parked since then. We've set up camp, tracked down some bikes and set about trying to find the animals on the paper with two wheels. It's amazing ditching the fuel guzzler in favour of the bikes, because on the bikes we're almost silent (especially in the wind). We've rounded on all kinds of unsuspecting animals going about their business. Big surprise (for us and them) was the baboons - they screeched and grunted and went crazy as we came around a bend on a downhill stretch - baboons went everywhere! Once we dropped the bikes and sat down things calmed down. Some perched in trees and let out the occasional warning, but they mostly got back to what they were doing. Lots of eating, digging, scratching and sitting about. The big guy sauntered past without a sideways glance... pretty sure he knew we weren't about to mess with him smile emoticon This park doesn't even rate a mention in any tourist guide...while we're even more super excited about what's to come, for now we're happy in De Hoop.
Up Next: a hand drawn punt and a meerkat hunt (we hope!)