Mo's African Adventure

Well, I did it! I climbed Leopard Rock! And as high as I may have been on top of that rock formation, my spirits were soaring so much higher because of all that that symbolized for me.

Wednesday dawned a beautiful sunny day. I awoke at 7:00 and set out on my morning walk. I headed up the hill to travel around the “ring road” which circles around behind the camp and comes back out to meet the laneway into Gecko. Although it was daylight, the sun had not yet spilled over the mountain tops and to watch it slip quietly through first one valley then another was like opening a gift on Christmas morning.

Once back at the laneway I meandered over to Elephant Rock, sticking to the trail today and looping down below the elephants to again meet the laneway from the other direction. It was such a perfect morning that I couldn’t bear to go back so I turned down the hill and walked out the laneway down to the road that leads into the Cederberg.

At the bottom gate I stopped to examine some tracks in the dirt that I was not able to identify. I snapped a few photos, making a mental note to ask Ingrid and John about them when I got back to camp. Reluctantly I headed back up the mountain towards Gecko Creek where Ingrid had my coffee waiting for me. I am so absolutely and completely spoiled here!

In the afternoon, John (Linton’s guide) said that it was a perfect day for climbing and asked if I was ready to tackle Leopard Rock. I had been ready since the day I arrived but the weather just hadn’t co-operated so I was eager to get at it.

John, an accomplished climber, led the way, stopping to explore caves and centuries old San Bushman rock paintings along the way. With the thoughtful care I have come to know is typical of John, he patiently blazed the trail and pointed out the best hand and footholds for his LESS than accomplished student. It was an exhiliarating experience. Overcoming my fear of heights and achieving the goal I had set for myself six months earlier was fantastic.

That memory will stay with me forever. For me, it is a symbol of self-discovery and achievement. It was one of the most satisfying moments of my life!

After my great afternoon at the Clanwilliam Hospital I spent an hour or so in “downtown” Clanwilliam. I parked at one end of the town and wandered along the storefronts enjoying the sights, people watching for a little while, and even doing a little bit of shopping. The experience would not have been complete without one of Clanwilliam’s finest citizens joining me for a stroll along the road. It was a chance to practice my very limited Afrikaans as I told him to shove off and I was relieved when he took me at my word and left me alone.

It was my turn to cook tonight so a trip to the grocery store was in order. I am sure the townspeople will be talking about the crazy woman who was standing in the grocery store laughing out loud at the impossible task of finding enough familiar ingredients to make a meal from. While some things were familiar, many things were totally different. I finally settled on lamb chops (sans mint as it doesn’t seem to be popular here), rice and carrots. Fairly safe I figured. It will require an entire re-education to cook here! There are fascinating possibilities though as some of the choices have very exotic backgrounds.

After doing the groceries and a quick stop to stock up at the wine store (Hmmmm…. there’s that recurring wine theme again) I headed home to Gecko Creek. This time I headed home along the Highway as it was approaching dusk and best to be home before dark. As I turned off the N7 onto the road into the Cederberg I was confronted with an interesting dilemna.

The bridge over the Olifants River is extremely low, only a foot or so above water level at it’s lowest times. Even though we had had no rain today, the river had begun to rise. The runoff from the higher elevations had apparently made it’s way down to the main road in the 5 or 6 hours I had been in town. Although the bridge was completely above the water level when I went into town, it was now completely submerged in water. Not being very familiar with the bridge, I was not really sure how much water! There were two choices: go all the way back to Clanwillian (over half an hour away) and traverse the old, narrow, mountainous road back after dark; or, risk crossing the river.

Well, going back to Clanwilliam didn’t seem very appealing so … in I plunged. As it turned out, the water was only a couple of inches deep and it was easy enough to traverse it slowly with a little caution.

By the time I turned into the gate at Gecko Creek it was almost dark. As I was reflecting on an almost perfect day I couldn’t imagine it could get any better. But it was about to.

About a third of the way up the lane, my attention was caught by something moving up ahead in my headlights. At first I couldn’t tell what it was. It trotted ahead of me allowing me to put my high beams on it and getting quite close. I was first able to identify a bushy tail and a furry, brown and reddish striped body. Then I saw the fluffy, rounded ears. It looked like a cross between a fox, hyena and jackal. It was an “Aardwolf”. A mammal about the size of a medium sized dog relative to the Hyena family.

There is evidence of Aardwolves everywhere here as they dig up the trails to eat ants and leave behind obvious mounds of earth. They also make short work of termites. Although they are common, many people have never even seen one so I consider myself very fortunate.

It was the perfect end to a great day!

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