My Little African Go-cart

I procured a ride to Ashton from the owner of the De Bos campsite in Montagu in order to catch my first bus in Africa en route to Plettenberg Bay. No complaints about the bus itself. I like public transportation - it's generally easy. However, after thumbing through the guidebook and asking others along the way, it has become quite apparent that the public transportation system is just not going to work this time. Many locations are not served and those that are only have infrequent, often booked buses passing through. So, car rental it is.

Before picking up the car, I spent a little time in 'Plett' exploring Robberg Nature and Marine Reserve which covers a peninsula jutting out into the ocean. Here, the first white European inhabitants lived for about a year while building a new ship to replace their wrecked heap off the rocky coast. Within less than 1 km of here, there is an excavated cave with a well-documentedarchaeologicall site dating inhabitants back to 120,000 years. The hike looping the peninsula covers large seal habitations, jagged slopes, and shifting sand dunes. While looking around, head up, eyes open, I almost stepped on a 4-ft long, pissed-off Puff Adar. I found out later that fortunately it's venom is typically not fatal.

After making a nice half day trip out of the Reserve I then sat my butt down at the Reserve entrance and waited for a cab. The cost of the cab rides to the Reserve and the amount of money the guy with a cell phone demanded for me to pay so that I may call a cab totaled more than half the rental cost of the car, reassuring me that I had made the right decision to get the car. Picking up the little no-frills, VW hatchback made for a sight. Not sure about the rules of the road, I asked the car rental guy for a quick rundown. He just said, “You will figure it out. Just don't speed.” Besides my slight disorientation because most everything is backwards in the car, the steep ascent out of the parking lot immediately made me stall-out. But after the initial learning curve, I was good to go. An American in Cape Town told me the secret to learning to drive on the other side of the road is to remember that you, the driver, is still toward the middle of the road. So far, this has worked pretty well. The car: it's got some pep for a rental and I like my little go-kart.

With wheels to the road and groceries in the trunk, I headed to Bloukrans River Bridge in the Tsitsikamma NP for a little adrenalin rush. I settled in to a really nice, fully equipped hostel-like place right next to the bridge. It was a shame that for such a nice place, the only company I had on the plateau edge was the baboons that came out at night. Bloukrans is home to the world's highest commercial bungee jump at 216 meters. With no coffee, I thought the ~175 m fall the next morning would serve as a good wake up. I was the first jumper in the morning to make the plunge. The company running the show is generally well organized. But, while getting strapped up to the bungee, the staff cranked up the hiphop. Although it is fairly straightforward, I could barely hear anything they were saying to me amidst the not-so-reassuring, blaring music. I grabbed one of the staff members before I jumped and said “You tied this tight? right?” He said, “yay man, don't worry, just fly.” Great... The swan dive off the bridge was incredibly exhilaratingg and gave me a whole different sensation than skydiving. I thought the 'jerk' of the bungee would hurt, but the whole thing was smooth as can be. By the time I came to rest, I was ready to be hoisted up with the blood pooling in my head. I would definitely do it again.