I turned up at the airport in good time, three hours early in fact, for my British Airways flight to Cape Town. So imagine my surprise when i was told that, even though i was one of the first people to check-in, i didn't have a seat on the plane. I was on a stand-by list, with 25 other names. Well, i nearly blew up on the spot. God help the poor guy who broke the news to me, but having planned this trip for the past year and payed for the flight ticket 5 months previous, this was not the sort of greeting i had expected at the airport. Bloody BA. I'd heard they had a habit of overbooking their flights, just to make sure they can have a full plane going out, in the event of cancellations or people just not turning up. But from speaking to other people who work in the airline industry, it seems that overbooking of flights is a pretty common occurrence with airlines. So, i kicked up a fuss. Said i had an important business meeting in Cape Town the following morning and i had to be on the flight that evening. Despite, being dressed like a gypsy (with my comfortable backpacker threads on), they bought it. I was put on a 'Priority Stand-by' list. They probably told all the other stand by passengers they were on this too. How and ever, when i returned, 30 minutes before boarding was due to commence, my name was called out first on a list and i was rushed through security to catch the plane. Thank Christ for that. I was sitting next a young English woman who was on her way to a wedding in Cape Town, and had been hit by the whole 'stand-by' spiel too. To show our relief at finally being on the plane to South Africa, we both drank loads of wine, taking full advantage of the free bar, to ensure a good night's sleep after all the earlier excitement.
I landed in Cape Town airport around 9am and picked up my Avis hire car. This was a first for me, hiring a car abroad. And in South Africa of all places. This was going to be 'interesting'. So i got settled in behind the wheel of my Toyota Corrolla sedan and familiarised myself with the vehicle. Thankfully, they drive on the left side of the road down there too. Armed with directions from the Avis assistant, i set off on the Freeway leading into the city and on towards my hotel. The problem with the map i had in front of me was that Cape Town turned out to be deceptively much bigger than it seemed on the map. And with a heavy fog shrouding the one landmark i could use to get some orientation, Table Mountain, i was at a loss to work out just how far i was from the exit i needed to take off the Freeway. So when i hit a traffic jam, i decided to take an exit and play it by ear. Big mistake. I drove for about 15 minutes through the dense fog, hoping to see some tall, shiny buildings, or anything to indicate that i was approaching the city centre. Then i started to notice the shantytowns on either side of the road. Old black guys grinned (with a fist full of teeth missing) and waved as i drove past. Shit! Turned out that i had turned off way too early, and was now in the one place that the guidebook definitely recommended be avoided: the Cape Flats. Almost like a second city tacked onto Cape Town itself, the Cape Flats were where the majority of poor and underprivileged blacks lived. I soon corrected my driving error, by finding a flyover and promptly getting the car turned around and back towards the city. After a bit of hit and miss driving around, i finally located my hotel. After checking in, i went to bed, relieved to have made it, and slept for 5 hours through the afternoon.
Cape Town turned out to be a beautiful city/peninsula to explore by car.
Drove along the very scenic Chapman's Peak Drive, with it's winding road hugging the steep cliffs and precipitous drop down to the sea. Visited the area of the Cape of Good Hope, at the South of Cape Town peninsula.
Take note...
On my third day, i decided to take on the steep walk to the top of Table Mountain via Skeleton Gorge. I chose this way as it was shaded for the best part, and with me already looking like a lobster from the previous day down at Cape Point, i really didn't need too much more exposure to the hot midday sun. The summit of TM afforded great panoramic views of the city below, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela had once been held captive) out in the bay and the beautiful Kirstenbosch Gardens, from where i had started the walk. I enjoyed a good steak near my hotel after that day's activity.
View from atop Table Mountain (including my feet)
Table Mountain views from the beautiful Kirstenbosch Gardens
In my short time in Cape Town, i also managed to go see a local derby football match between Ajax Cape Town and Santos. The standard of play was pretty poor, but at least the fans were lively and proved a welcome distraction from the inactivity on the pitch. It didn't take long before i realised that i was the only white person in the stadium. Football is a predominately black followed sport here, i was later told. We'll see if that changes after South Africa hosts the World Cup here in 2010. Most people seem to think it will be a huge failure due security issues.
Making friends at a South African football match
On my last day in Cape Town, i did something that i have been meaning to do for a long time but had not yet got round to it. Throw myself out of a plane.....with a professional skydiver strapped to my back, i might add! Turns out, that with the weak value of the South African Rand against the British Pound (the currency which i'm fortunate to be travelling with...thank you Ma'am), this was one of the cheapest places to do a jump. I was only hoping that they didn't keep costs down by using inferior parachutes! Well, it took the little 2 engine plane 25 minutes to get us up to 9,000 feet, but at least the views over the ocean were pleasantly distracting. The jump was, to use an Americanism, 'Totally Awesome'! I thought i was about to sh*t myself when the door flew open and the tandem instructor had me dangling out looking down at nothingness. The rush of the next 30 seconds leaves me at a loss for words. All i can say was that i quickly went from feeling terror to elation. When we touched down safely on South African soil, i knew that this would not be the last time i would be doing this.
Free-falling over Cape Town, an unforgettable experience
With a great buzz going on with me after the skydive, i jumped in the car and drove to my next destination, Hermanus, famous for the Great Southern Right whales that bask and bob around in its bay. The drive there was once again visually stunning, and i got to see some baby whales jumping from the water in the bay. Then, in the distance, i was sure i could see one holding up a placard saying "Great to have you here, Gavin"...but then i think that must have been me still buzzing from the morning's jump.
This area around Hermanus is also famous for something else other than whale watching. It's also one of the best places in the World to get up close and personal with one of the planet's most feared and dangerous predators: the Great White Shark.
I booked onto an afternoon tour in nearby Gaansbai, but was a little pessimistic about the chances of seeing sharks, given how bad the afternoon weather was before we even boarded the boat. It was dull, showery and really choppy out on the water. No shark was going to want to entertain a boat load of gawking tourists on a day like this. The deal with the tour company was as follows: they drop anchor in this area known as Shark Alley (popular with sharks due to the colony of seals on a nearby island, some of whom end up as a shark snack whenever they get too close to the water's edge); throw a large tuna head on a thick rope line to get the shark's attention; wait until one appears; then everyone rushes downstairs to don a wetsuit and prepare to get in a 5-man cage where you get to see Jaws in the flesh, right before your eyes. So the guy on the boat tells everyone to keep their eyes on the end of this yellow line with the tuna head bobbing around at the end of it. One hour passes. Then another. After three hours of watching that Goddamn tuna head bobbing about, people were starting to get impatient. It was cold and it was raining. But the guys running the boat were not to be disuaded. The people came to see sharks and they were going to give them sharks. By 5.30pm, and people getting seriously disgruntled at this futile endeavour to see a shark flash a toothy grin from the water, the boat turned around, and headed back to dry land. A big disappointment. However, the tour company did offer everyone the chance to go out on another day for a second bite of the cherry. That's if people weren't on such a tight schedule to hang around Hermanus for a day or two to get a second shot at seeing a Great White. I had plans to drive to a place where you can do the World's highest bungee jump the following day and then return the hire car back to Cape Town a couple of days later. With a bit of hard driving and some juggling, i thought i might just be able to make it back for a second shark cage-diving trip.
And make it i did. And it turned out to be worth all the efforts to get back there. But before then there was the small matter of this bungee jump i wanted to do. I went and did my bungee jump as planned, jumping from the concrete structure of Bloukrans Bridge, 216 metres above a stream running through the luscious green gorge below. The jump was amazing and one of the biggest andrenalin rushes of my life. Having done a smaller, 55m, jump in London the previous Summer, i was better prepared to enjoy every moment of the 7.8 second freefall into the gorge, with nothing but a piece of elastic tied around my ankles. If anyone out there is thinking they would like to do one, and is undecided, "get out there and do it". I used to be afraid of my life of heights in my early teens. I don't remember what happened to help me overcome this, but i sure as hell have obliterated any fear i once had. Woo-hoo!
Most important, make sure nothing of great value gets trapped in the harness
With fellow jumpers before going out to the bridge
The quickest way to get to the bungee jump location at the centre of the bridge arch: The Flying Fox cable glide beneath the underside of the bridge
Last rites...
Over we go...look at that perfect jumping form!
216 metres to the bottom of the gorge
What a rush!
Anyway, back to the second shot at the shark cage-diving.
It was an absolutely beautiful morning and no sooner had we dropped the anchor in Shark Alley, than we had some activity at the tuna head. This was more like it!
The tour leader told us that most of the sharks we were likely to see out here were about 2.5 to 4m in length. Great Whites grow to be much bigger than this (sometimes as much as 13m long!) as these were still relatively young and curious sharks. After 4 years old for females, 5 years old for males, they become sexually active and tend to be a lot more solitary, spending most off the time further out to sea, hunting solo or maybe looking for a mate. These younger ones like to swim quite deep in this channel known as Shark Alley, and when they sense something they want to check out (like the tuna head) they swim up from deep and take a bite of the object of their interest to try to identify it. Just don't let it be your feet dangling over the side of the boat that catches their attention! Well, it turned out to be a very busy morning for shark activity and the clear visibility in the water made it excellent for watching the sharks circle the boat. The first time i went down in the cage with my diving gear on, shivering with waterproof camera in hand at the ready, was a very surreal moment. The skipper, Hansey, would throw the bait and line into the water just in front of the cage with us all bobbing in it with our heads just above water. Then he'd spy the shark approaching to attack the bait and shout (imagine it in a very thick South Iffrickan accent!) "Shark approaching on the right. Dive! Dive!". And down we went and then, next thing you know, this awesome and fearful looking creature drifts past, not more than a foot and half away in front of you. You wonder if he can see you in the cage with that huge inky black eye that's right before you. Bubbles and utterances of "f*ckin' hell" float to the surface as everyone tries to do their best to get a photo of this amazing sight. Also, with the bait being situated right in front of the cage, on a couple of occasions, the shark would swim up at a tremendous speed and attack the bait right before us. There's something about seeing these ferocious jaws opening to show row upon row of razor sharp teeth only a couple of feet in front of you, to make you feel very powerless and insignificant in the presence of such a perfect killing machine. I clicked away all i could when in the cage and did my best not to drop the camera.
It was easily one of the most awesome sights i have ever seen.
Shark bait....Thankfully, Great Whites haven't discovered tin openers yet.
When sharks attack
The sharks were plentiful around the boat that morning and we got to see a couple that were approaching 4 metres in length. One had a huge scar on its head, which you could clearly make out from the boat each time it circled us. We were gifted a spectacular finale to wrap up a memorable morning. One of the big 4 metre sharks decided that he'd had enough of being teased with this tuna head. He wanted it, and by God, he was going to get it. Just when it seemed like he had lost interest and retreated back to deeper waters, he appeared in a flash from deep below and jumped from the water, jaws open, and took the tuna head (and half the yellow bait line with it) in his mouth. His razor sharp teeth sliced through the line in the blink of an eye. And that was it. Our last tuna head was gone. Time to go back to dry land. Needless to say, as i was driving back to Cape Town that evening, i was really glad to have come back for a second chance to see some sharks.
The next day i was due to fly to Johannesburg. A notoriously dangerous city, if you're to believe everything reported about it in the media. Here, i was hoping to get out to a game reserve and hopefully see a few of 'The Big 5' and then, back in Jo'burg, take a trip into, perhaps, the World's largest and most famous ghetto, Soweto.
