Ryan's Journal

"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell

The Overberg

Posted from Swellendam, South Africa at 9:37 pm, September 4th, 2014

Today was obviously not going to improve upon yesterday’s airborne sharks, so I told Audrey to sleep in while I did a quick walk along the coast searching for whales. Breakfast at our B&B provided a reminder that no matter how similar a foreign country seems to home, there are tiny differences – our pancakes were served topped with apple (not particularly unusual) and sour cream (yowza). After checking out of the sour creamery we did a loop through town looking for whales, encountering the Hermanus “whale crier” who stood on a point with a vuvuzela that he blew whenever he sighted a whale – even with the vuvuzela, his was a job that I coveted.

Our drive to Swellendam was through very pretty farmland and included flocks of huge blue cranes, and the town of Swellendam turned out to have a tremendously nice place for us to stay at Gaikou Lodge, and incredible food hosted by a very pleasant Scottish man at the Powell House. The afternoon activity was a visit to Bontebok National Park, a place we targeted mostly because we noticed that it was along our route, but that provided more than enough animals to keep us entertained for several hours.

Tomorrow we’re heading in the direction of the town of Oudtshoorn, aka “the ostrich capital of the world”. This portion of the trip continues to be unplanned, with a nightly perusal of the map giving us a general idea for where we go the next day, subject to detours for any interesting distraction we might discover en route.

Cape weaver in Bontebok National Park

Cape weaver, with weaving material in-beak, in Bontebok National Park.

4 responses to “The Overberg”

    1. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a fake. I was there, and I took the photo, although we were in wine country and I have the tolerance of a six year old girl, so it’s possible I’m mis-remembering.

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