Mo's African Adventure

Thursday saw me return to Cape Town for a few days with my friend there. Cape Town is an amazing city full of culture and diversity. You can see or do just about anything you could imagine there and tonight, Kat had a treat in store for me.

Ingrid and I met Kat at her work which is near the Capetown waterfront. She had had a hectic day and was ready to get out of the office and enjoy her evening. And enjoy it we did.

Tonight’s adventure began in an converted warehouse not too far from Kat’s work. As we pulled up, I wasn’t too sure what we were in for as from the outside it didn’t look like much but once we walked through the front doors the magic began.

Gold is one of Cape Town’s finest dining experiences. You are met at the door by absolutely beautiful African women wearing traditional dress. The decor is stunning. Exposed brick, beautiful earth tones and the bright vibrant colours of the African people are everywhere. As you are shown to your table, a joyful waiter delights you with his sing-song banter as he brings you a sherry to begin your evening’s taste experience.

Gold offers you an amazing adventure in African and Cape Malay cooking. You do not order off the menu but rather enjoy very small samplings of traditional foods from around the continent. For starters, Spiced Tomato Soup (actually an Indian dish but remember there is a strong Indian influence here) accompanied by Xhosu Pot Bread. These dense, white rolls are delicious, particularly spread with the South African Billtong (dried meat) Dip they are served with.

Next, Moroccan Prawn Briquats and Cape Malay Pea and Potato Samoosas. Both pastry wrapped parcels are absolutely delicious!

A tasting of Kalahari Venison Pie (a venison stew made from Springbok smothered in a rich, spicy broth) followed. Absolutely to die for.

The main course of Moroccan Chicken Tagine, Creamy Pap (traditional corn meal) with corn, Manzanian Mchicha Wa’Nazi (spinach in a creamy peanut sauce – fab!) and Malay Lentil Dhal, was absolutely delicious. I was not particularly keen on the lentils but everything else was exceptional.

After all of this food it was hard to imagine that one could find room for dessert but once you have tried South African Mulva Pudding with custard you can never pass it up. This dark sweet treat is one that I will definitely be making at home!

Finally, Karamonk Biscuits. These light and sugary crisp cookies are flavoured with Cardamon and Orange Zest. A nice light nibble to end this feeding frenzy.

While it has taken me a little while to go over the menu, eating is only part of the experience at Gold. Before you begin your meal, you are taken to a large room where an African drum master teaches you to play the Djembe drum. These colourful drums rest on the floor and are held between your knees. Your instructor patiently leads you through a few quick lessons and then lays out rhythms and beats for you to follow. It is great fun and surprisingly exhausting. When you begin you are rigid and stiff but as fatigue sets in it actually helps to loosen up your hands and makes the drumming easier. We were all quite “chuffed” with ourselves by the end of the drumming session but we were soon reminded of our novice status as we were delighted with a display of real African drumming by the drum master.

Throughout your evening meal, ladies in traditional African attire circulate through the restaurant singing the stories of the African people and dancing as only the African’s can. It is absolutely riveting and you can’t help but marvel at the rhythm and grace these people are innately born with. I must have looked like I was enjoying the show (which I was) as one of the ladies grabbed me by the hand and pulled me up onto the dance floor, showing me how to follow her as she danced and sang. Great fun! I am sure it was quite a site to see a pasty, white, 50 year old trying to keep up to these lithe young things.

As the song says, “Oh what a night!” It was a fabulous evening shared with good friends and of course fine wine. An unforgettable experience.

Sunday was again a beautiful day and I took advantage of the weather by exploring the back half of the Gecko Creek property. The recent rains have meant that water is running freely off of the mountains and the guests and I had been hearing the sound of running water from the cottage and the cabins. There was no apparent stream to be seen so, of course, that meant an excuse to go exploring.

Although the Fynbos is considered low vegatation, it can be very dense and tangly stuff. John and John (who work here) have been busy clearing underbrush so the area in front of the cottage was fairly open and easy to traverse. It wasn’t too long before I came upon a stream of water about a metre wide flowing off of the mountain that is called Baboon Ridge. I was surprised at the volume of water that was cascading down and even now I am not sure where it ends up although I am sure it eventually makes its way down to the Oliphant’s River. Of greater interest to me was were did it come from?

I strated up the hillside to see if I could track down the source of the water. Because of the density of the underbrush, I had to weave my way away from the watercourse to get some elevation and by the time I made my way back over to the area I realized that I had actually overshot and come out above the source of the water. As curious as I was to find the source, it seemed a waste to climb back down without going higher to first explore the ridge itself.

Up until this point, the steady climb had been on sandy soil through fairly dense underbrush. Soon, however, the gentle slope gave way to squared off rock faces about a metre in height. There were lots of cracks and crevises as well as many rock falls which meant foot and handholds were plentiful. There was no difficulty maintaining your climb as there were so many alternate routes to use if one didn’t pan out. After about half an hour of steady climbing, I crested what from the camp looks like the summit of the ridge but in fact, there was a lot of height still ahead that you couldn’t even see from the ground. As I pushed back through the scruby underbrush, I was soon looking across the valley to the other side and the camp had completely disappeared from view.

On top of the ridge there were two rock formations which tempted me with a 360 degree panorama. It was too appealing a prospect to pass up so, although I was tired and ill-prepared (I had not set out to climb so I had not brought any water, no hat, no sunscreen) I couldn’t resist climbing the smaller of the two formations, it also being the closer of the two.

The view from the top made the extra effort worthwhile. Looking down the backside of the ridge saw the mountain split into two separate ridges with a deep ravine between them. Looking across, you could see for miles down the N7 highway and across a vast expanse of mountain peaks to the south.

After surveying the countryside from my lofty perch I made my was back to the crest of the ridge. I wanted to see exactly where I was in relation to the camp and to yell down to my friends there. As I stood on the ledge at the top of the ridge I began to mentally map out my decent route which now seemed somewhat more difficult than the way up. Oh well. At least I wasn’t working against gravity any more.

The way down did indeed prove more challenging than the climb, surprisingly. I had deliberately skirted the largest part of the rock face as climbing down rock is harder than climbing up it. That seemed like a good plan however finding a viable route through the thick underbrush was at times challenging. Although it is winter and most snakes are dormant, they are still there and need to be respected. Although I saw and heard lots of evidence of baboons, rock dassies and diker (small deer) I was just as glad to not encounter any of the local wildlife as I made my was down to the bottom of the incline.

Quite by chance, as I crisscrossed my way down the hill, I came across not one but four water sources which were all feeding into the larger stream that I had seen further down the slope. It is amazing to see the speed that the water runs and you wonder where it is all coming from.

Eventually, the cottage was in view and I began to look forward to a nice, hot shower, along with the customary “tick check”. Ticks are common in the underbrush here and whenever you come in it is wise to check whether you have picked up any unwelcome hitchhikers. While many tick bites are harmless, some do carry diseases which need to be avoided if at all possible.

With the refreshing, hot spray of the shower revitalizing me I was feeling pleased with myself for having successfully ticked off another of my goals for this trip as Baboon Ridge had been on my “to do” list. My only regret was that because I hadn’t set out to climb it, I didn’t have my camera with me. So you will just have to take my word that I actually made it to the top. Two steps away from heaven!

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