Capetown to Durban

Photos will come later when I have access to stronger internet.
Friday, 22^ndMarch. Capetown:

We sailed into Cape Town just as the sun was going down and its last rays were shining on Table Mountain and the other mountains around. It was a pleasant journey rounding Cape of Good Hope and following the beautiful mountainous coast up to the harbour at Cape Town. It was busy for a while as we were called to go ashore to pass immigration individually.  While I was standing watching my passport being checked, I remembered that it was 52 years since my last visit here when the country was under apartheid. I was on my way to Australia as a young Irish emigrant. I said so to the officer and told him I was happy to see a different country now. He just smiled and said: “we appreciate your visit.”   

This morning we booked on a tour to Robben Island to visit the prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for so many years. We made our way through the new dock area. The Docks have been developed into a huge smart shopping and entertainment precinct.  A great place to call in to. We walked through on our way to catch the ferry to Robben Island spotting places to come back to.  The ferry was a bit of a bun fight, we had to queue for more than hour – it was quite warm and sunny, and felt quite exhausting standing all that time. Being a tourist is very, very tiring!  What a change from the southern-ocean islands.

On Robben it was all very well organised, with all tourists put in buses with an individual guide to take them around and explain the history. It was formerly a leper colony, and a place for people with mental health problems. We saw where the prison was, the dog kennels, the individual prison for extra punishment, and eventually got to the prison where Nelson Mandela was kept. Our guide who was originally from Sowetto, was a young student activist who was part of the organisation of a protest march protesting that African students at school were being taught through Africaans language, instead of their own languages. The students were betrayed, and many of them shot. Many of you will remember the Sowetto Massacre.  Survivors including our guide Kgosgo were sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason. He in fact served 7 years and was released in 1991 as a result of the end of apartheid. 

He told us that a group of 10 former prisoners are volunteers and are passionate about their work, telling the history of their years in the prison and how they eventually achieved freedom.  He stressed very strongly that it would not have happened if the world hadn’t taken action, groups such as Amnesty, The Red Cross and other activists around the world. The banning of the South African team from the Olympics was significant.  Some international groups organised sending postcards and letters to the prisoners and he said they all received hundreds of these, which warmed their hearts giving them hope that freedom would come with the help of their supporters around the world. 

We visited the lime quarry and saw a cairn of stones placed there by prisoners returning to visit, including Nelson Mandela, remembering those who died there.   As we were driving along the road a small very young springbok ran into the bushes. Pretty little thing. 

We were exhausted when we returned, but it was an experience we will never forget – seeing Nelson Mandela’s cell was moving. The island itself is very flat and mostly sand with low coastal shrubs and bushes. As we were looking back towards Table Mountain, we saw two whales playing in the sea nearby, slapping their tails and swimming around. 

Sunday:  this morning when we woke up everywhere was covered in mist and it was much cooler.  A large number of passengers and staff were disembarking as this was officially the end of the Expedition voyage to the Southern Ocean. A new cruise starts here from Cape Town to Durban.  We walked a short distance to the waterfront development and spent some hours in the Museum of Contemporary Art.  The building itself was an incredible example of modern architecture, and the art works clever but “noir” I would have to say. They are of course illustrating some dark history, of slaves, exploitation of nature and the land, for mining and greed, leaving the native people in extreme poverty and in a barren land. One short movie was about the land being destroyed by nuclear radiation and one survivor who managed to plant a tree, using her own sweat as the final drops of moisture to nourish it. 

When we had recovered from that John’s former colleague Kenneth Tiven and his wife Annie met us outside and we adjourned to a restaurant.  We spent some pleasant hours talking with them and John had time to catch up on the past and remember some of the others they had worked with. 

Returning to the boat just before the new passengers came on board, we had time to watch them boarding.  This time there are more French passengers, so I will have to make an effort to get used to speaking French again. It will be good for me. 

Our excursion tomorrow is to a world-famous Botanic Gardens: Kirstenbosch, a drive along the coast and a visit to a winery with a tasting session.  After that we will spend a day at sea before arriving at Port Elizabeth where we stay 2 days and have a game park excursion each day. 

Tuesday, 26^thMarch.

We are still in Cape Town, the harbour has been closed because of high winds and we are not allowed to leave. Even inside the harbour the waves are banging against us, so goodness knows what it would be like outside.  

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden was truly magnificent.  Not only its size and lay out, and it’s amazing endemic and indigenous plants – many of them familiar to us – but the setting is unique.  It has a picture postcard backdrop of the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. The whole gardens are set out and surrounded on three sides by mountains, Table Mountain and the Cape Fold mountains.  I had the impression that the gardens were embraced and protected in this beautiful landscape. Everywhere I looked there was a beautiful mountain rising up behind the gardens and framing the landscape protectively.  They protect the gardens from any strong winds which are common in this region. A magnificent sculpture garden, stately trees including mahogany, ponds, streams and thickets stretching up the slopes, were all there.  There is a conservatory, a plant shop and a large shop with books, gifts, clothes and other goods reflecting the theme of the gardens.  The gardens are quite lush with a good annual rainfall, and the district nearby is Constantia, a wine growing area.  

Many of the wineries have been established for several hundred years and have very graceful old Dutch style buildings with fine thatch roofs. Part of our tour included a visit and a wine tasting to a beautiful winery. Curious to taste a unique wine to this area, a Pinotage, we enjoyed tasting a choice of 5 different wines. Some of the grapes were familiar to us, including shiraz, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. After a very pleasant outing we returned to the ship.  In the evening there was a show after dinner, with the onboard dancers performing very well. 

We are getting used to all the new people on board – most of them French, I hope there will be interesting people to talk to. 

We were delayed overnight in Cape Town due to very strong winds – the harbour was closed.  This morning we got away on a sunny – still windy day – and were able to watch the tugs pulling us out from the quay and gradually turning us around to face out of the harbour.  We travelled around the Cape of Good Hope again, and along the coast.  Due to the delay we will be a day late in Port Elizabeth, so the team are juggling the programme so we don’t miss out on the interesting shore visits to game parks and a visit to a Zulu village. 

Frederick Mitterand, nephew of the former President, is a special guest on board and gave a rather dull very anti-British lecture on the history of South Africa this morning. Very much from the French Colonial point of view. 

Tonight we will be dressing up for the Captain’s Gala Dinner – again. Most of the guests on this part of the cruise are only travelling from Cape Town to Durban.   It is quite different having 90% French on board. Many of them are loyal Ponant clients and know each other from other voyages.  

We are now in KwaZulu Natal where Zulu is widest spoken language.

We were happy to dock in Port Elizabeth and have another few days on land.  An early start saw us on buses with a 100km drive to Addo National Elephant Park.  On arrival we were divided up into groups to drive around on 4 wheel drive vehicles spotting animals.  It was all very interesting especially seeing some of these wild animals up close with no fear for the vehicles.  Our major sightings were elephants, zebras, various kinds of antelopes and warthogs. 

In the afternoon we took a shuttle bus into town and walked around a bit.  The old town was rather depressing – run down and very shabby.  There have been heritage restrictions put on the buildings and no developer is prepared to invest money to renovate.  They would rather knock down and rebuild. We got on the shuttle bus again and had a pleasant drive along the coast through the new part of the town.  It was quite different with parks and walks along the seafront and suburbs spreading out behind.

Next day another early start; this time to drive even further to another bigger game park. Pumba Animal Park. It seemed to be a more commercial enterprise with some nice touches.  Such as a glass of delicious home-made lemonade on arrival!  Again in a 4 wheel drive we saw elephants, giraffes, rhinoceros, warthogs, blue wildebeest, lions, zebras, impala, eland, tapir and many antelope types: blesbuck, kudu, nyala.  We stopped for a BBQ lunch, delicious, then another short drive before the long journey back to the ship.  

We left port around 7pm and watched from the deck. We had dinner out on deck as we moved through warmer and much calmer seas thank goodness.

Straight from Richard’s Bay overnight to Durban, a very big city.  A large number of passengers got off here, and another large number embarked.  It will be interesting to see who turns up, and what percentage there is of French to others. 

For the day in port we went on an excursion which took us to Pietermaritzburg.  We spent a couple of hours in a terrific museum, which helped us considerably with lots of information we needed about native people, flora, fauna and history. That was followed by a drive into low mountains – beautiful countryside and scenery, and a visit to a Zulu village where there was a demonstration of Zulu culture – an amusing play which was very good.  We passed eucalyptus plantations, sugar cane and cattle farms The Zulu culture display took part in a crocodile farm where they breed crocodiles for meat, and snakes for their venom.  It included quite a pleasant lunch – a beef curry was nice and spicy, lovely to have some spicy food!  We are certainly not hungry on the boat, on the contrary we are given too much food and choices.  It’s just that they are all rather lacking in flavour for us.  Sometimes there is something fabulous, but much of the time it is traditional French food with too much cream and butter for our taste.

We left Durban at around 8pm, and despite the wind and rain we managed to eat out on deck under shelter.  We listened to a jazz pianist and singer after dinner for a while and then bed.  The boat was beginning to rock by then and I think we are in for a bout of bad weather. Back to TravelCalm tablets again!!!

Looking forward very much to a session by the Expedition Team of scientists, many of them new, and hearing what program they have planned for us over the next 2 weeks. Some of them we know from previous cruises.