The Other Side

Day 195-196, Sunday 1st – Monday 2nd March 2009 (Al)

After saying some final goodbyes to more of our Oasis friends this morning, Emma joined us for the trip to Robben Island. During the seven kilometre ferry ride we focussed mainly on the video so as not to get seasick. But soon our attention was drawn outward as three whales were swimming some fifty metres away! We really felt like Africa kept on showing us new things every day, as if the continent thought we might be getting bored – so decided to add some whales to the shimmering sea.

After its previous existences as a prison and leper quarantine colony, Robben Island became the infamous Apartheid political prison in 1959. We had two guides today, both members of the ANC who had been incarcerated here. The first guide showed us around the cell blocks, discussing prison life and answering questions politely. Although he normally does not talk about such things, he admitted to being tortured several times – including by waterboarding. He mentioned how more or less rations were given to prisoners based on their race – solely to create an air of distrust and hostility. And, of course, he talked about Nelson Mandela. A visitor asked if he felt part of the reason Mandela was so revered was that he was the only anti-Apartheid activist most people knew, and in fact a lot of other people deserved some of the credit. Our guide (who was an ANC member) replied that although of course there are other people who deserve and receive credit, in fact Nelson Mandela should be celebrated even more than he is – that it is impossible for South Africans to thank him enough.

What most people came to see – Nelson Mandela’s cell for many of his 27 years of incarceration

The prison yards with the mainland viewable in the distance. The isolation felt by the prisoners would have been unbearable if they couldn’t talk to each other.

As our second guide (taking us on a tour of the island by bus) told us, Robert Sobukwe – the former leader of the Pan African Congress – did not have this luxury. He was thought of as such an influential threat that he was kept in a nearby cottage by himself for several years. When he was released he had difficulty speaking as his vocal chords had withered away during his solitary confinement. Even upon release, he was forced to live in an isolated part of the country, and forbidden to travel abroad or be involved in any political activities.

This second guide had such a regal and commanding, dramatic voice that he was a joy to listen to. He would tell stories as if he was reciting Shakepeare, and made an effort to mention how the countries of each passenger on his bus contributed to Robben Island and the struggle against Apartheid. This included Australians invading a rugby pitch in protest during a South African tour. His other mentions of Australia’s impact on the island were not as flattering: the introduced rabbits were a pest and the introduced thirsty Eucalyptus trees had assisted in depleting the island of any natural water supply. We did try to tell him that the English introduced rabbits to Australia, creating a pest that still bothers our country today, and that the Eucalypts flourish in Australia precisely because of their abilities to drink every last drop from the ground, to help them survive through dry times. But these facts would have got in the way of a good story, and we forgave him, because he was very funny.

Shipwreck – Table Mountain visible in the distance

The limestone quarry where prisoners were forced to work (in not the most satisfying way – moving the rock out, then later moving the rock back in) under the blinding, scorching hot sun. To this day, Nelson Mandela has problems with flashing cameras because of the damage his eyes suffered whilst working here.

On returning to the mainland (once again seeing the whales on the way), Cathy and I went to see a wildlife photography exhibition which was great. We almost felt like some of our animal photos could have made it in – if we were eligible for the under 13 age group perhaps. A final seafood dinner down in the waterfront area of town was the scene of our final, final goodbyes to some of our Oasis friends. It was a very bitter-sweet evening, and we wished we had a lot more time to stay and explore this really beautiful city (we had looked into changing our flight to a later date, but it just didn’t work with the rest of our plans).

We realised that we were not only saying goodbye to our friends, and to Cape Town, but also to Africa itself. We had been there for over two months, and the continent had shared with us its amazingly varied landscapes, beautiful wildlife, fascinating cultures and friendly people. We can’t recommend south east Africa highly enough, and would love to come back to spend more time in one or two places, with lots more money to spend at local markets and to pay local tour operators and businesses (probably the best way, as far as we know, to offset any negative impact tourism might have on local communities). And we’ve really only seen such a small corner of a huge, diverse continent.

We were off to the airport quite early the next morning – with some important news for our families. Sitting at Johannesburg airport waiting for our connecting flight to Hong Kong, we made the final decision that we would come home one month early and surprise our families and friends  – with plans to return to south east Asia a few weeks later. We wanted to tell only the people we thought needed to know we’d be home for our plan to work. So we called Cathy’s parents, my Mum, and then my brother Hamish (I decided the brother who picked up the phone first would be the one to be told). All were surprised and pleased to hear that we’d be home in two weeks – and we were starting to get really excited by that idea too!

Day 193 – 194, Friday 27th – Saturday 28th February 2009 (Al & Cath)

Who doesn’t get excited by the term “road trip”? We certainly were, despite the baffling and inefficient service at the post office this morning (we sent home a couple of huge parcels of souvenirs and books). Putting that behind us, our group of 5 and a choice selection of our luggage piled into the tiny little hired hatchback and hit the road. Various road closures meant it took us a little longer than expected to get to our first destination – the Cape of Good Hope. Some healthy gossiping and story telling made this an enjoyable drive.

Road trip crew! Matt, Keryn, Emma, Cath & Al

The legendary Cape of Good Hope – the ‘Most South-Western Point of the African Continent’

(Cape Agulhas, not far from here, actually reaches further south and marks the dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans)

Stopping off at Boulders Beach on the way back north allowed us to see some very cute African Penguins in their natural breeding grounds. You could actually pay to walk in the water and around on the rocks with the penguins, but we were content to stand and watch from the free side of the fence.

Boulders – I guess that’s where they got the name from

Hey lil’ fella

Whoops (note the useful diagram on the left – a penguin lying under a car, with another penguin looking on helplessly)

Based on some of the unusual noises eminating from the bushes, we can conclude that it was mating season

We then headed East through the traffic and road works to a town called Hermanus. A nice dinner in town and an early night was in order, for the next morning we were up early and driving to Gaansbai – ’shark capital of the world’. Joining our guide ‘Shork Man’ (imagine a South African accent there), birth name Mike Rutzen, we ventured out with about seven others to the cage, which was attached to a buoy and already being circled by great white sharks attracted by the early morning group that dived before us.

Shork Man (with cute baby sea lion) – well known for a documentary featuring him swimming with great white sharks, cage-less, and stroking their faces to put them into a trance (demonstrating their tonic immobility reflex, really).

With cold wind and misty rain, we were ordered to hurry into our wetsuits and for half of us to get into the cage (they did mean half the people, not half of each person, although that would have created a great shark spectacle). Matt jumped in first with a group of other people whilst Shork Man used fish heads on a rope to guide the shark towards the cage – the shark was never actually given a chance to grab the bait, just tempted with it, as these companies are only allowed to operate if they don’t do anything to obviously alter normal shark behaviour. The staff shouted “down now!” when it was time for Matt to grab hold of the bar under water, and pull himself underneath to come face to face with the shark. After five or ten minutes, their group was ordered out, so that Cathy, Keryn, myself and two others could get in. On this run we only caught glimpses of grey gliding past. With the bubbles, schools of small fish and murky water, it was not great viewing. A second trip into the water when a much bigger shark was circling was much better – the nearly four-metre apex predator and its huge teeth swam past 50cm away from our faces, before banging against the side of the cage and boat as it gripped a fish head (it clearly didn’t know the rules!). Our hearts were pumping  – this was what we came here for!

Two sharks circle the bait, the breaching shark being the largest we saw (something over 3.5 metres)

Jaws up close! Matt took this awesome photo from the safety of the boat. We were in the water so could not see this view, but it shortly afterwards swam past our faces and shook the boat and cage.

Kerryn, Cathy and Al after our second near-death white-water experience (note from Cath: yes, those gaps between the bars of the cage were a LOT bigger than I expected, and I was not comfortable with Al being on the edge closest to the bait!)

Overall though, being in the cage gave us a much calmer feeling than we’ve described so far. To see the sharks swimming so gracefully and silently past us, it was hard not to be in complete awe, and to feel like you were watching a documentary rather than something less than an arm’s length away. The coldness of the water was quickly forgotten. Great white sharks really are beautiful animals, and not naturally man-eating monsters, although we admit we did rely on that image just before to give our story a bit of easy and obvious drama, just like Steven Spielberg did. There is some controversy about the impact cage diving has on sharks (accidental injuries when chasing bait; associations being created between humans and food), and with the number of boats heading out to do the same thing that day, we could see why it is a topic of heated debate. Shork Man might be a bit like the Crocodile Hunter – well-intentioned, but not exactly an environmentalist’s dream. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence either way yet. But at the very least, as long as most operators are responsible, there are now lots of people learning to respect and admire sharks for reasons other than pure Hollywood-inspired fear.

It was a quieter drive back to Cape Town as we ran out of adrenaline and the lack of sleep kicked in. Whilst I enjoyed the rugby match we all went to that night (Stormers vs Blues, with other members of our tour who hadn’t yet departed) I was still imagining that moment in the cold waters off Gaansbai where I could have reached out and touched a great white.

Day 191 – 192, Wednesday 25th – Thursday 26th February 2009 (Al)

We awoke in the pre-dawn hours of the morning to Matt and Keryn yelling at a large, hirsute and loudly snoring man to “SHUT UP!!!” or words to that effect. He had joined our dorm room during the night and sounded horrendous – picture a chainsaw and a lawn mower having a baby – the sound of that baby crying at the top of its lungs is what this man sounded like.A pillow may have been thrown but he did not wake up…

More important this morning was leaving Stellenbosch for our FINAL drive on the truck – only 45 minutes to Cape Town. Barbara (Babs) the truck and Franco the driver had taken us over 10,000km in 56 days. It was a sunny and exciting drive, tinged with a sad feeling that an amazing life experience was drawing to a close. Driving past the vast townships that surround Cape Town added to these mixed feelings – more on them later.

Franco receiving a well-deserved round of appluase

After checking in, we decided to join Matt and Keryn on a circuit of the city in a red double-decker hop on-hop off bus. Our first hop-off stop was at Camps Bay on the far side of Table Mountain. It was a beautiful beach under clear skies and a gentle breeze. The drive on the bus continued around past other beaches and the wealthy homes surrounding them – the contrast between these areas and some of the townships we had passed less than twenty minutes out of town was almost unbelievable. The only other place we’d seen such a huge and obvious gap between rich and poor was in Rio de Janiero – but here, the wealthy parts of town seemed more ‘normal’ to us than they did in Rio, like exclusive suburbs around Sydney Harbour. And in Rio the poverty was almost impossible to ignore; here, it could be completely out of sight and out of mind. But at least there is a free press, which constantly reminds people of the work still to be done.

Camps Bay

We saw the World Cup soccer stadium in construction, the Fort (the only place where the old, Apartheid-era South African flag can legally be flown, lined up beside other historical flags), the main CBD, District Six, the waterfront precinct and its markets, and the townhall where Nelson Mandela made his famous freedom speech on the balcony:

The next day Cathy and I set off for a walk around town, first visiting the District Six museum. District Six itself lies on the fringe of the CBD. It was once a bustling, multicultural suburb where people of all colours and creeds lived and could easily walk into the city to work. During Apartheid, this district was reclassified by the government as a “Whites Only” area. Residents who had lived there for all of their lives were forcibly removed and relocated to what has become Cape Town’s many townships – many kilometres away from the city centre. The government bulldozed the entire District Six area but to this day, only a handful of houses have actually been built there. It turns out that many of the white middle and upper class people who the land was set aside for did not care to live in an area the government had previously determined was a slum area. More positively, of course not everyone agreed with the regime, so many people also refused to move in for reasons of conscience. Although various plans are now being made for this empty land, its current state does serve as evidence of the sheer stupidity of a regime making decisions based solely on race and colour.

District Six today

Outside the museum

The museum is filled with people’s photos and stories of life before Apartheid. Signs and paraphenalia from the Apartheid era – including ID cards that state the person’s race (white, malay, Cape coloured, black) – would have seemed like movie props or sick jokes, if it wasn’t for the evidence of how horribly real this way of living was for so many people and so many years.

Later in the afternoon, we headed up Table Mountain with some of the others to enjoy the views and the sunset. The “Table Cloth” – the thick layer of cloud that regularly blankets the mountain – was present but not yet covering the summit. So, with fingers crossed, we hoped for clear views.

Steep cable ride up

Amazing views with the clouds spilling over the edge of the mountain, then evaporating, the shining sun and sparkling water. A glass of champagne, a can of coke and a small pack of salt and vinegar chips capped off a beautiful, peaceful sunset.

A fun night out on Long Street with the group felt like the official end of the tour. People would start to head their separate ways. Either back home to family and work, or on to the next travel destination somewhere around the world. We had a few days left in South Africa and decided to join Matt, Keryn and Emma for a road trip!