"Surviving" Wolwedans

My summer vacation started of with a bang. On Monday I had a good kitesurfing session which would probably be the last one for 2011 as I am in a different part of the world now. Yesterday I was on the motor bike on my way to Mossel Bay where I will stay at least a week to spend time with the family and to do some of my other hobbies. This morning I took my son for another one of his "Ultimate Survival"excursions.

The Wolwedans ("Wolf dance") Dam is situated in the halls behind Great Brak River close to Mossel Bay and the Garden Route. I have no idea why the name has something to do with wolves as I am sure that there were no wolves in these parts of South Africa. Anyway, the idea was to be dropped off at the dam wall and to find our way back to "civilization". So kitted out in his latest survival gear and all the Bear Grylls survival goodies he received at the Xmas Party, the little survival man headed down to the river valley. "We always follow the river down where the possibility of finding humans is always better downstream." Quoted from Bear himself. 

As we climbed down into the ravine, we were very soon surprised with our fist wild life in the form of the Knysna Loerie. The problem with doing a survival trip with a five year old is that the continuous chatter of a little boy over-excited about what lies ahead, has the tendency to scare away any possible close encounters (or good photos) of the local wild life. I managed to calm him down and get a very vague picture of this rare and very shy bird just as evidence. See if you can find it on the photo below.

The route along the rock boulders is about 3 kilometres from the wall until you first see "civilization". My first concern was the sign warning that the water level could rise at any time when the flood gates are opened. There were no numbers to contact for verification so I just hoped for the best while continuously looking for a way up the steep hangs of the valley. My second concern was that all the climbing would tire out the little survival man and that I might have to carry him to the end. Fortunately none of these happened.

There is not much of a trail along the river bed, so climbing the boulders were the only way forward. Occasionally we had to stop for "food", but apart from a small crab that quickly got away there was not much evidence of any form of life in the water. Fortunately we had our own water and the peanut butter sandwiches made up for the lack of fish and crabs. We did try and build a wall the stop the flowing water with the hope of trapping some fish, but I knew that this was wishful thinking and did it for the sake of a little man who no-one wants to disappoint with the reality of the damage that big dams can do to little rivers and its aquatic life.

Along the way we also saw a beautiful Fish Eagle and a little Woodpecker. Yet again startled long before I could get the lens cap off. Apart from that and a lot of monkey and baboon poo, there wasn't much to get excited about. Being alone in the "wild" was just amazing, and I can imagine what it must feel like to be really away from civilization.

"Surviving" Koeberg

Today was one of those days where I didn't know what to do to get some "excitement". On Wednesday I am traveling to Chad and will be away for 10 days, so I wanted to at least do something nice over the weekend. The weather unfortunately wasn't playing along. It was very misty and a bit chilly. In a last attempt to do something we decided to go to Koeberg Nature Reserve and do another "Ultimate Survival" with the little survivor man.

Koeberg Nature Reserve is just outside Melkbos and adjacent to the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, the only nuclear power station in South Africa. Having a nature reserve around a nuclear power station is like the lollipop the dentist used to give us as children after he relentlessly tortured us with his drill. Some sort of atonement gift for for the pain he caused. I wonder sometimes if the animals are not only kept there to see if the radiation affects them or not, some sort of early warning that we all have to get the hell out of there. I wasn't keen on going there in the first place, but my wife as many other mountain bikers frequently make use of the reserve. She mentioned that there were hiking trails as well, and of course some wild animals roaming around freely. The entrance is free and that was probably the only attraction and the fact that it is very close from where we live. So no need to spend the best part of the day behind the wheel again.

We weren't even five minutes on the trail when I realized that the feeling of being out in nature far away from civilization was not going to happen today. I tried to take a few pictures but 90% of them had some sort of power cable in the background. When we walked underneath the high power transmission lines that was providing electric energy to basically the whole Western Cape, I could feel my sperm count diminishes as the static discharge was buzzing in our ears like a swarm of bees stuck inside a jar of honey. Definitely not what anyone would like to hear when searching for peace and tranquility. The wet air obviously increases the noise that these transmission lines are making and it was really not a pleasant feeling walking underneath it. That was unfortunately the only way to get to the trail which we were about to take. The trails are clearly indicated, but there is no worry that one would get lost. The whole reserve is basically just a flat sand dune with Fynbos. At times I walked bare feet, easier that losing your flip flops in the sand the whole time.

The animals were few and far between. I saw more mice than anything else, and when we got closer to some Springbok and Zebra, it felt more like I was in a zoo than in a wild enclosure. The only other living things we saw was a Bontebok and some mountain bikers. My son lost interest in "survival" soon after we've started, so he was talking non-stop and disturbing the peace instead...and the few animals that was kind enough to stick around so that I could snap them. But each time I wanted to take a nice "wild life" picture, there was either a power cable or building in the way. At one point when I had the best angle on the Bontebok, I couldn't help but notice that there was a white bus in the background that was more prominent than the antelope in the foreground. As a matter of fact, my camera kept focusing on the bus instead of the animal. Halfway on the trail we decided to take a shortcut and head back to the car. Definitely NOT one of our best discoveries up to date and NOT a place I will ever go back to have a hike again. In the meantime I cannot wait for for the sun to go down, I am pretty sure we are all going to fluoresce in the dark tonight....

"Surviving" Silvermine

So we were on our way to Cape Point. Having arrived there we saw that the entrance fee to the Cape of Good Hope would rob us from R180. That is R80 per adult and R20 per child younger than 12. My wife and I looked at each other and wondered if we wanted to pay that money to see Cape Point. In the back of the car we had a little boy just wanting to do another survival expedition. We didn't want to disappoint him either, but this was clearly a rip-off. The only place I could think of to do another survival which was not going to cost us an arm and a leg in the process was Tokai Forest. We turned around without shame and headed back to Fish Hoek and over Ou Kaapse Weg towards Tokai. On our way we wanted to stop for water, but my son nonchalantly told us that he doesn't want to stop and that we could find our own water wherever we are going. I wasn't going to take that chance but I did appreciate his confidence. When we crossed Ou Kaapse Weg we saw the Silvermine Nature Reserve turn-off and decided to give it a try instead. Fifty Rands later we were heading towards some unknown destination to do another "Ultimate Survival". Unfortunately this time we were met by more cars than all put together on our previous locations. My son pointed that out very quickly but we persuaded him that we could just check out the place and see what it was that was drawing all these people to Silvermine.

If there is one thing that my son's interest in survival has given me then it is the joy of discovering many hidden gems I probably never would've seen if it wasn't for our continuous search for "uninhabited" destinations. Silvermine Nature Reserve is probably not the best and most beautiful place around the Western Cape, but discovering a new place today was yet again very exciting. I guess there is not much to do other than hiking or hanging round the reservoir with its black water at Silvermine, but the place was popular nevertheless. At first we were feeling a bit weird walking there feeling like total intruders into someone else's secret. I said to my wife that this could've been a well-hidden nudist colony, or at least a very good place to start one. Apart from small kids swimming totally naked, fortunately this wasn't the case and soon we realized that we were probably more surprized by what we've found hidden away in the mountains than by being "intruders".



Practicing rope skills






Building a shelter





Shelter completed :-)

In order to get to a path with less people around, we started with one of the hiking trails but turned around after a short while. Closer to the entrance gate was a shorter trail leading to the river which we thought would be more suitable for a 4-year old adventurer. We eventually walked right around the reservoir while my son was constantly looking for things that he could use for his survival. I took pictures but only when we went to the river trail we actually found a dry river bed where my son had plenty of time to practice his survival skills without having any people around. We spend some time there while he was building a shelter and collecting fire wood. It was amazing to just discover another place I probably never would've seen if I hadn't decide to turn off and investigate for the sake of my son's happiness. With all the braai areas I think this could be a very nice place to have a picnic/braai at some stage. I am thinking of getting a Wild Card so that we can enter all the CapeNature Reserves for free. There are 24 of these reserves and I am sure that we could visit all of them in one year. I don't know when I am going to ride my bike again, but the satisfaction I get from doing this for my son is probably more than what he gets by pretending to be the "ultimate survivor".





"Surviving" Jonkershoek

 In my previous post I mentioned about the predicted cold front heading towards Cape Town. Three cold fronts later and tired of staying indoors it was yet again time to explore the outdoors and what better way than to do another "survival" trip with the little survival man? When we left for Jonkershoek just outside Stellenbosch the weather was opening up, but a stubborn dark cloud was still hovering over the Jonkershoek Valley where our next expedition was about to take place. But this is what survival is all about and how do you tell an excited 4-year old that he cannot "do survival" because of a possible runny nose afterwards? Jonkershoek is nestled between the Hottentots Holland Mountains and a perfect place for hiking and mountain biking...and in our case...playing ULTIMATE SURVIVAL. At the highest peaks snow was still visible, but getting there was not a possibility at all and we were happy sticking to the easier routes.

It took us a while to get to one of the shorter hiking trails after taking the wrong direction in the circle route that is running through the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. But, when we arrived the little survival man was ready to take on the challenges that only Mother Nature could throw at us. Armed with only a map (that is what we've made him to believe) we headed into the mountains. Our aim was to find water and any possible food sources.  The latter only presented itself in the form of a dead grasshopper, but my son was clearly not hungry when he suggested that his mom tries it first. Water was in abundance, with streams everywhere as could be expected after three days of continuous rain. Food however was scarce, but mom was there, so we had nothing to worry about. The sun was struggling to get through the clouds, but the cold wet weather added to the experience and the need for proper shoes was clearly illustrated as we went along over rocks and through water. When the little survival man stepped with his one foot into a stream, he immediately wanted to get rid off his "survival shoes". Fortunately mom was clever enough to pack in his water boots, which in the end saved us from a lot of trouble. 


Reading the map. Important.

 

Anthill. Mmm, food maybe?

We were still on track but when it looked like we were going to get caught in the rain, we took an early turn-off through one of the plantations. This not only provided us with more things to discover, but more importantly a place to sit down and have our coffee and rusks. The little survivor man requested Rooibos tea and oats cookies, not even realizing that survivors don't usually have this luxury. The rain never came. After about two hours of walking we reached a road and saw our first human life in the form of a mountain biker. We were saved yet again. Our little survivor man was very pleased with himself, the only problem is that he wants his next survival experience to be in the snow or the desert. This is going to be a difficult one to solve....

Filling up

Building a soft "bed"