Issue 6: Cape of Good Hope

If only I had more time, I would not take the flight from Durban to Cape Town. There is a “Great Ocean Road” at South Africa named the “Garden Route”. If only I have the opportunity to visit South Africa again, this will be in one of the must do list.

Cape Town is the province capital of Western Cape with 4.2 million people, equivalent to Singapore. I met Aubrey at Cape Town International Airport and stayed with him for four nights. Once again I need to thank Aubrey, a Zambian friend I known in Brisbane. He played the host so well that I am unsure if I can do the same for him when he comes to Singapore next Feb with his wife. I would certainly try my very best.

I went to University of Cape Town for a little visit, the day I arrived. The university just celebrated 175 year anniversary last year. Cape Town is one of the few cities that enjoy mountain soaring above 1000metres as back drop. Another city that I can remember having the privilege is Hobart with Mount Wellington. With such a prominent landmark, it is useful for sailors’ navigation.

On 2 Sep 05, Aubrey, Karen and me headed South to Cape of Good Hope after checking weather for the day. It is always more interesting to visit a country with a local. I gained knowledge of the place and view of people living in the country. Cape Town and water near Cape of Good Hope used to be an important harbour that the Dutch and British used to fight for the rights for using it. A battle was conducted in 1795 at Muizenberg before the opening of Suez Canal. Who won the battle? Check your answer or guess at

http://www.southafrica-travel.net/westcape/cape_05.htm

The bay that stretched from Muizenberg to Simon’s Town is called "False Bay". During the early years, ships coming from the east would stop in this bay mistaking it to be Table Bay. It would be very “exciting” if a merchant ship tried to dock in Navy harbour? We stopped for lunch at Simon’s Town. Simon’s town is home for South Africa Navy now and the last railway stop.

We stopped at another important tourist landmark, the Boulders. It is the home for about three thousands African penguins which started with two breeding pairs in 1982. Do you think the penguins are master of breeding? Well… the breeding of African penguins can only happen if human stop uncontrolled harvesting of penguin eggs. Think again, there were 1.5 million African penguins in 1910, by end of 20th century, only 10% of the original number remains.

There is an interesting fact that is shared by both Navy ship and penguin. Do you know why are all Navy ships painted grey, and why the penguins refuse to take off the black and white tuxedo?

The answer is “CAMOUFLAGE”.

We reached Cape Point at close to 3:30pm. Many people including me used to think Cape Point is the place where Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean meet. Even the restaurant at waterfront of Cape Town would suggest Cape Town is the place where the two Oceans meet. I think the mistake has commonly accepted.

How do Scientist or Geologist determine and name these Oceans. How are boundaries drawn? I used to watch a documentary about how the sharks did a migration from India all the way to South Africa. The sharks would automatically make a turn back to India before reaching Cape Town. How did these sharks do that? Did the sharks follow the curry smell of Indian Ocean back home?

If you had watched “Finding Nemo”, you would probably know about the famous EAC or Eastern Australia Current. The movement of all current are determine by Mother Nature. The official meeting place for the two Oceans is at Cape Agulhas, which is about 300km south-east-east from Cape Point. Water from Indian Ocean is warmer at 20c, faster at 90-230km/day and more powerful, transporting 80 million m³ of water per second. For Atlantic Ocean, Bengula current is cooler at 14c, slower at 16-40km/day and transport 15 million m³ of water per second.

We saw another big bird that does not fly when visiting the Cape of Good Hope. Actually, there was not too much good hope. There are a lot of ship wrecks near the Cape. Sailors centuries ago need an effective charm to cross the little cape, for India, South East Asia and China.

Day three at Cape Town was spent at District Six Museum and Table Mountain. Everyone knows South Africa is a relatively young nation. The first president was chosen by people of South Africa in 1994, Mr Nelson Mandela. District Six is an interesting museum, it was opened by the people who used to stay in District Six.

District Six was a large compound that the Blacks, Whites and what the Whites labelled “Coloured”. Being a Chinese, I am proud with my colour, please call me “Yellow”. Haha… Well… I thought we should all be addressed as Earth-ings. Interactions between nations have brought cultures beyond five oceans and seven continents. Nevertheless, I have to admit racism is real and will always be around. Ghandi, Father of India, has been fighting for rights of human almost 100 years ago. Do you know Ghandi actually spent a majority of his life in South Africa? He was greatly inspired to retaliate and fight in a peaceful manner, when he was denied public transport meant for the whites only.

I am always glad to have a lady with me when I need to do some shopping. With Karen around, I purchased the presents for some friends. I sincerely apologise to those I who I met empty-handed. Green market of Cape Town is the place for some tourist souvenirs, the art of bargaining should be put into good practice.

Ascend to Table Mountain was conducted in a touristy manner. While there are up to 300 established route to the table top. Karen and me choose to tackle the mountain in less than ten minutes using the cable car! The rationale for using the expensive mode of transport (110 Rands return) is to view Cape Town and beyond before the table cloth covers the mountain. Sadly, we spent quite some time in the souvenir shop on top table top.

On 4 Sep 05, we visited Robben Island, the infamous prison where Mr Nelson Mandela and many influential political members of South Africa spent their time in. If South Africa is as racist as it was twenty years ago, I probably would not visit the country. It is at Robben Island that I learnt the importance of international effort in a making of a country. While thanking Mr Mandela for holding fast to the "dream" against racism in South Africa, I shall not forget to wish MM Lee K Y of Singapore a happy belated birthday. Sorry Sir, I am about two hours late.

Departed Cape Town on 5 Sep.

Kia-Ora!

Issue 5: Dragon Mountains

Drakensberg is also known as Dragon Mountains. Locating at the KwaZulu Natal (KZN) Province, the highland is probably the where “People from Heaven” came from? On 26 Aug, Karen and me departed Durban at 0530. Karen started driving, but she did not last the drive because “Queen Elizabeth” kept summoning her back to sleep. I took over the last leg, the car was park at Bushman’s Nek. We were then transported to the Sani Pass Backpackers which about 5km away from the start point of Giants Cup trail. A prearranged transfer brought us to Sani Lodge Backpackers.

After gathering some information from Sani Lodge Backpackers and Sani Pass Hotel, we were offered a free ride by people of Sani Lodge Hotel to the start point of the 60km track. I am very touched by the good service and grateful for the free map that covered half the track. I would feel extremely uncomfortable to start any trail without a map.

Day one of the track began at about 1230hrs. As we started the trekking late, we did not see other trekkers along the 13km scenic track. Walking at altitude from 1500m ASL to less than 2000m ASL was very comfortable. We reached the Pholela Hut in Cobham Reserve within five hours.

Well…. I thought I have come to the stage that I don’t really like to plan my trips. I prefer to be spontaneous to changes. It would be good to have some ideas of what is going on before every journey. My preference is to make decisions on the ground. I was thankful Karen understood that, when I “destroyed” her plan. I kind of combined day two track with day three accidentally. We skipped the Mzimkhulwana Hut in Cobham Reserve for Winterhoek Hut in Garden Castle.

The walk on 27 Aug was eventful, it was a black day for me as I dislocated my left shoulder for the first time while tried to make a rock climb pose. Sadly, the photograph did not turn out the way I want it to be. I would rate the level of pain at 6 on my “Ouch-meter”, the pain impaired some of my moment. Thankfully, it is left not right shoulder again. I had been trying to keep my right shoulder intact since I drop it some three years ago. I was able to write to Chloe and Choy Ping telling them life is never too bad even you change your job. I had to inform Joanne I can not commit the technical climb at Naya Kanga, Langtang, Nepal. There was an interesting saying, “Life is 10% how yo make it, and 90% how you take it.” I could never agree more.

Day three walk was pretty relax, we reached Swiman Hut in Garden Castle in less than six hours. Swiman Hut is probably the best hut along the trail, the mountain setting around the region is beautiful. Sunken valley is located at the South East while Castle Garden is at the North West. Karen said she would become a song composer or a poet if she could stay Swiman hut longer. My life was spared as she did not see my toes laughing. However, a little mishap happened when I tried to set fire using the spare petrol from my MSR. I “arson” some hair and eye lashed when the lighting up the wood at the fire place within the hut. Having some burnt some hair was not a big issue, but some of my eyelashes curled after exposed to intense heat. This posed a problem when blink to moisturise my eyes. The top and bottom of the eyelashes would interlock, keeping my eyes open was uncomfortable.

29 Aug 05 began with a beautiful sun rise. Instead of heading off to Bushman’s Nek, we left our backpack in Swiman Hut and did a side trail to Sleeping Beauty Cave. There was no sleeping beauty, but the cave is definitely there. We had our lunch and proceeded with the track. The memory for the CF card was running low, so was my film.

For more information on Giant’s Cup Trail and other track at Drakensberg, please check out

http://drakensberg.kzn.org.za/drakensberg/

http://www.ecotravel.co.za/Guides/Reserves/Drakensberg/Activities/Giants_Cup_Hiking_Trail.htm

http://www.drakensberg-tourism.com/drakensberg-hiking-trails.html

After the trek, we returned to Sani Lodge Backpackers. There was something I liked about this lodge. There were two cats during my stay! Cats appeared around 30millions years ago, the primitive carnivores are commonly known as “Miacids”. They evolved to three main species – European wild cats, African wild cats and Asiatic desert cats. Domestic cats are believed to be part of African wild cats, due to the tabby markings.

Karen was against me buying cat food for the two cats. I’d encourage feeding of the cats. There was an interesting story about Prophet Muhammad and his cat, Muezza. The Prophet found his beloved pet asleep on the sleeve of his robe when the call for prayer was sound. Instead of waking up the cat, the Prophet cut off his sleeve. When He returned, Muezza bowed in thanks to Him, Muhammad was guaranteed a place in Heaven. Think about it, the Prophet went to heaven when he did not disturb the cat. I bought cat food for not one but two cats! I should have at least two express tickets for redemption.

When I was studying at Brisbane, Benny, Valerie and me often go for short trips leaving behind the two cats. We could do that because unlike dogs, cats could ration food. If one is interested with a budget stay at Sani Pass area, please go to Sani Lodge. For booking and more information go to http://www.sanilodge.co.za/. Do remember to feed the cats if they are still there. For better service with higher budget, I would highly recommend Sani Pass Hotel, http://www.sanipasshotel.co.za/.

With the kind assistance from Sani Pass Hotel, we managed to “burn” 512MB of photo into CD. Karen and me gathered some information on Sani Pass, gate way to Lesotho, from Underberg. If Drakensberg means Dragon Mountains, I guessed Underberg probably mean under the mountain? We needed a 4WD transport to cross from South Africa border to Lesotho border, the day tour to Sani Pass and Africa Highest Pub would cost 220Rands (S$1 = R3.88). After some careful considerations, we decided to cross the 8km no men land with our legs and trekking pole.

I am pretty glad we made the choice of driving to South Africa Border and walk to Lesotho to collect the stamp on my passport... This gave me the flexibility of stopping and looking at rocks and flowers whenever I wanted.

Issue 4: Gold Coast of South Africa

After ten hours of driving with shifts, petrol, toilet and lunch break, Karen and me reached Durban (South Africa third largest city) just before 2100hrs. Durban is a city with population in excess of 2.5 million. Though it is the largest city of Kwazulu Natal Province, it is not the Province Capital. The capital of the province is called Pietermaritzburg and it is located centrally. Kwazulu Natal literally means Place of People from Heaven.

Staying in a self sufficient apartment called "The Palace" did not make me a king. In fact, I was thought to be Karen’s travel MAID! Nevertheless, I enjoyed the spectacular sunrise view and sea breeze of Indian Ocean everyday. I have a lot of free time everyday when Karen attended her International Surgical Conference. It was in the city that I got to check E-mails and read about facts of South Africa more regularly.

South Africa is one of the top 30 richest countries (in term of GDP). Interestingly, South Africa is rich but the unemployment rate in the country is relatively high at close to 30%. Think about Singaporeans complaining when the unemployment rate of our mother land was at 4% previously.

Crime rate is high and personally I think it is not a very safe country for solo female travellers. In 2003, there were 52000 reported rape case. About one woman was assaulted every 23sec and one in two ladies was raped at least once in her life time!! For guys, young men aged between 16 to 29 were likely to be shot. The cause for the death due to penetrating wound is probably second to AIDS. About 4.5millions of the 48millions population are affect with AIDS!! I hope all the statistics had improved over the last two years.

Ironically, it is the high penetrating trauma rate for Karen’s conference to be held in South Africa. I never thought of visiting the country that lies below the tropics of Capricorn if Karen had not been tempting me with the free lodging at Durban. My routine in the city was simple, I need to send and pick Karen up from Durban International Conference Centre, prepare breakfast and dinner everyday. Do you understand why I was thought to be “MAID” instead of “Mate”?

Nevertheless, I think of this country as a safe destination with little "travellers' common sense". I would suggest few the following preventive measures.
Please do not to cover your face with a tourist map.
Never flash money or hang camera around neck in the public.
Put your money at different places. If there is no need for you bring all the money out from the hotel, don’t do that.
Never brave beyond the travellers’ territories.

While Durban is the busiest port of Africa, ninth busiest in the world. There are nice surf and good beaches. I was happy to brave the surf of Indian Ocean (part of my morning routine) with many other travellers who supported the growth of hotel industry. The fourth Holiday Inn was built along the touristy part of the coastline.

Keep Exploring New Ground!

Issue 3: Big Five

I enjoyed the view of East Africa highland while cruising from Moshi to Kenya International Airport in a little bus. My breathing was steady then, while my heart rate had dropped to sea level. I can feel the high altitude with “big white cotton” hanging on top of trees. The flight from Nairobi back to Johannesburg via Namanga was pretty smooth. I sent a SMS to Jeanny wishing her “Happy Birthday”, and wrote 15 postcards while waiting for my flight, SA 182, to sail me through the cloud.

Do International Airlines do posting of postcards for the passengers FOC?
I was pretty shocked when air the steward denied this practice, more surprise when South Africa Airline did not have free playing card for passenger to entertain themselves onboard! My friend, ShuiYen, had been collecting playing card of different airline. I thought South Africa Airline would be a good contribution. Karen who took Air Tanzania from Kilimanjaro Airport to Johannesburg was denied the free postage service and playing card too. Probably only few international airline companies offered that?

Karen collected the romantic purple car and had a little fun driving around Johannesburg before meeting me at airport. There are nine provinces in South Africa. Joburg is located in the smallest province, Gauteng, which covers 1.4% (17000km²) of the country with close to 18% of the population (8 million people). According to my Zambian friend, Aubrey, Johannesburg aka Joburg is the fourth largest city in Africa (Cairo of Egypt is the largest). The city is also nicknamed “Egoli” which means “Place of GOLD”! Think about it, 40% of the world’s gold has been found here! I do not have much time to find out more about this concrete jungle. Karen and me set off for the Safari at Kruger National Park (NP).

Unlike Mount Kenya NP and Kilimanjaro NP, Kruger NP is named after a person. Paul Kruger, President of Transvaal (South African) Republic from 1883 til 1900, established the NP in 1898. The NP grew in size over the years. Today it is one of the most important landmark of South Africa. The 20000km square NP was indicated on the map when I was flying in from KL to Joburg!

I used to believe if one needs to see animal, just go to the zoo. Singapore has one of the zoos on planet Earth. I would normally tell my foreigner friends, if there is one place you need to visit in Singapore, make it the Mandai Zoo. This is probably a good recommendation for most people except Aubrey. 7600 animals of diverse species and the night safari zoo can never match a NP in the eyes of a real nature lover. I respected that, and could not agree more. There may be less species of animal in a Safari, but one would definitely learn more in a safari than a zoo. Probably, this is one what my Prime Minister, Mr Lee, meant by “study less and learn more”.

Do you watch documentary about animals in the wild? Personally, that is one of my favourites. Others would be about travel and culture. I used to think the person who videoed predators ambushing their prey very cruel. They could have warned the poor veggies. Sadly, during the three days stay in the NP, I wished to see the cats in action.

I saw three of the "Big Five" (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard and Lion) except the cats. The three cheetahs kinda replaced the leopard. But nothing can ever replace the King of the Savannah! I love lions, this beast is often portrait to be the King, a leader with grace. The fact is he is a king when comes to reproduction. Male lions don’t or seldom hunt and but get to eat first. A male lion can mate up to 40 times, and sleep up to 20 hours a day. Think about it, if a lion is sexually active for three days, it has had more sex than a normal Singaporean man. According to a report by Durex, Singaporean men only make love twice a week. Probably all men need more than a wife, that is why we normally see a few lion but a lot of lionesses?

Cheetahs are interesting cats, they are known for the capability to accelerate to a speed of 100km/h in 3 seconds for 200-300m. Little is known that Cheetahs are the most “out-dated” cats. Cheetah can never retract their claws. The paw prints of a leopard and cheetah can be easily differentiated. At the turn of the nineteenth century there were about 100,000 cheetahs on earth in a range that included India. Cheetahs in India were wiped out by the 1950s. Today cheetahs are extremely endangered, with only about 12,500 alive in Africa. Namibia, with an estimated 2,500, has the largest population. Because there is only one cheetah species in Africa, the cats are particularly vulnerable. Seeing cheetah was definately more rewarding than seeing leopard?

But how can one tell the difference between a leopard and cheetah? Other than getting a supervising, conducting and safety officer for 100m sprint race, one can tell a cheetah from a leopard by the black tear marks running down its face. So far, only April identified it correctly. There is an interesting fact about leopards, they drink blood seldom water, and leopard would never change its spots. Do you know the size of human eyes will never grow? Now you know why you used to look so cute.

For more information, on big and small cats check out...
http://www.bigcats.com

Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo are veggies. There are nothing interesting about them. Haha… If Joanne tied three of them together, they would make good anchor points (easily up to 8000kg) for Ace Adventure Race III racers to do rappelling.

In animal kingdom, all predators are “Built for the Kill” and the preys would try their very best to escape. Giraffe and Zebra camouflage themselves. No two zebras have the same strips. Imagine a herd of zebras being chased by lionesses, the young zebras have to recognised their mothers using the stripes on their ass! Thanks to God, many cats can not see the camouflage prey well.

A good nature reserve is determined by the number of predators. I can not remember the exact figures, but it was said one hectare of good grass land can support one zebra, and it takes up to 100 zebras to support a lion. I believe I saw hundreds of antelopes (Impala, Kudu, Springbok), zebra, giraffe but NO lion!

Meow! Meow!!

Issue 2: Freedom Peak

The bus journey from Nairobi was not too exciting. I tried to plan everything to perfection, but new situations caught me! Normally, when I need to take a bus or train, I would try to determine the direction I am travelling. This is very important for choosing the seat at port or starboard side of the mode of transport. During the 7-8 hours bus journey, my knees would press hard against the seats in front of me when the driver depressed the brake pedal. Thankfully, it is not painful. I would rate the level of pain at 1 on my “Ouch-Meter”. It is not painful, but the discomfort was sufficient to keep most people awake.

Choon Wee and me reached Moshi at about 4pm. We went to explore the town. Generally, I felt Moshi is a much safer place compared to Nairobi. The town is laid back. I like the setting of this little town, there are a lot of sunflower plantations in the highland. Weather was not too humid and cooling during August. Probably one of the better season for climb Mount Kilimanjaro aka Roof of Africa at 5895m ASL. We waited for another Singaporean travel mate, Karen, who arrived on 9 Aug 05 at night.

I was pretty concern about Karen for this mountain track. Though Kilimanjaro is not a tough peak, the altitude posed a challenge for most climbers. Doing the mountain in six days is not an easy task, especially when we were trying to tackle the Western Breach. This route was listed to be technical a few years ago. I have reserve thoughts for route from day two to day three. We were expected to sleep at 3800m ASL on day two and 4600m ASL on day three. There is no opportunity for proper acclimatisation for Karen. There is a medicine commonly known as “Diamox”, the pills are normally taken for people who experience altitude sickness. I would never encourage taking medication for climbing. For climbing is purely for fun, never for pain.

The climb started on 10 Aug 05, as planned. We were supported with 2 guides, 6 porters and “1 phantom cook”. Day one was relatively simple. We trekked from the cultivation, through the wet tropical region from Machame Gate (1800m ASL) to Machame Camp (3000m ASL) in six hours. After Mother Nature switched off the light, the sky cleared gradually. I witnessed some of the best starry sky. How I wish RuiMin can be around to navigate me across the countless the star constellations.

However, Machame route (my guide, Prosper, prefers to call it the whisky route) is not for some ladies. There is no proper toilet, and we slept in tents throughout the climb. There is another Marangu route, which is also called the “Coca Cola” route. This is a better route for trekkers prefer a more proper shelter at night.

Day Two, we entered the Moor lands region (third climate for Kilimanjaro). My guide, Prosper, started chanting “pole pole” (pronounce as “po-le” or “pole leh”) and “A-ku-na Ma-ta-ta”. “Pole Pole” means “slowly slowly”. If U can remember from the movie “Lion King”, there was a song called “A-ku-na Ma-ta-ta”. In Swahili language, “Ma-ta-ta” means “trouble or worries”, “A-ku-na Ma-ta-ta” literally means “NO WORRIES!” I like that!

Contingency planning started at Shira camp instead of Lava Tower. At 3800m ASL, Karen experience mild headache. Advices from Francis and Cooper’s map became an important asset. I knew the option of skipping Lava Tower and proceed toward Barranco and Barafu Camp direction. However, this opposed the plan of seeing and touching the glacier at Crater Camp. The glaciers at Kilimanjaro are receding. According to the IMAX movie produced years ago, it was said all glaciers would be gone by year 2020. Missing the glacier would be a great pity. It was actually the beautiful glaciers instead of the summit that drew me to Tanzania. Summiting Uhuru peak is an extra bonus from Mother Nature.

Thanks to Tan SiYan. There are more information on Kilimanjaro! For those interested read
http://www.ewpnet.com/kisummap.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilimanjaro

Karen was very determined to see the glacier! I believe her passion for the big ice cubes was much stronger than mine. As she had similar number of high altitude experience, I left the decision for taking Diamox to her. We proceeded from Shira camp to Lava Tower at 4600m the next day.

Day four is a relatively short walk. It took us about three hours for a DIY transfer from Lava Tower to Arrow Glacier at 4980m ASL. The campsite was nearly bare with rocks. We were into the fourth climate, the “High Desert”. As the gain of altitude for day four was not too abrupt, Choon Wee, Karen and me proceeded with a short acclimatisation walk as we have a lot of daylight hours.

14 Aug 05 was the day that we tackled the “technical part” of the track, there is nothing too technical for the usage of ropes. However the initial route of the Western Breach can be pretty dangerous, everyone who attempted this route needs to clear the initial 300m before sunlight hit the glacier. My team started climbing at 5am. We were not fast, but relatively steady. I love this route very much. The rocks are big and easy enough to hold. I felt myself doing a little rock climb along the way. The sensation of dancing on rocks was fun. I was also happy to photograph this route. However, Prosper thinks it is not too safe to hang the camera around my neck. I hate it when he wanted to take away my trekking pole, thinking I should use my hands to climb instead of legs to balance. If weapon is important to a soldier, I believe I did the right thing for not handing over my trekking stick.

Nine hours was not a bad timing for the climb, we rest at Crater Camp by 2pm. Cloud was covering the camp site. We were blessed with good fortune just prior to dinner time. I believe Karen would crawl out of the tent if needed, just to touch the glacier.

Summit walk was relatively easy from Crater Camp which is 5700m ASL. Ascending 185m took us 90 minutes. We spent about 30minutes at the summit, I am pretty glad we are one of the first few team to reached the summit as the team has lot of time to pose for summit shots. Descending from the Freedom Peak or Uhuru Peak was fun! I enjoy the sensation of breathing denser air freely.

Tips were given at USD7 per day for guides and cook, and USD5 per day for the porters. The guides received additional USD40 camping at Crater, while porters who sleep at Crater earn an extra bonus of USD20. Total tipping was of a hefty USD500.

Tanzania is a good destination for revisit too… I would love to see Africa third highest peak Mount Mawensi at 5149m ASL closely. If Tanzania named herself the “Land of Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar”, I would be an incomplete traveller for I have yet to visit the beautiful island that was once war torn. For more info, check out http://www.allaboutzanzibar.com/ . Diving at this island would be fun!

Never Stop Exploring!

Kia-Ora!

Chee Meng