At this point we had a little over a
week, and only a few hundred kms to go. This is the “Garden
Route”, South Africa's answer to the Pacific Coast Highway.
We shot over to Knysna, a pretty, but
overrated town.
The most striking part was the new developments of
vacations homes and condos that looked straight out of the Truman
Show. It was spooky, knowing that the township and it's poverty was
a short drive away.
From Knysna we took in Swellendam, a
cuter town up in wine country. We had a couple of fantastic meals,
adding Warthog Samosas and Springbok Filets to our list of game-meat.
One of the beautiful things about
having plenty of time on your hands is you can risk a day on the kind
of things that could be a hoot, or a total disappointment. With
careful expectations, we shot up to Outshoorn, the self-proclaimed
“Ostrich Capital of the World.”
Naturally we had ostrich steaks,
ostrich burgers, and ostrich eggs. We took the tour of the ostrich
farm, but the big winner was Susan's Ostrich ride.
I was laughing so
hard I could hardly hold the camera. OK, before you watch this
video, you need to swallow whatever sip of coffee you have in your
mouth, because you really will do a spit take:
Ostrich Video
But the surprise hit of Outshoorn was
“Meerkat Magic”. That's OK, finish laughing, I'll wait.
This was a kind of pricy item. I'd
booked it through the hostel's reception, and when Susan heard we
were going to spend the equivalent of $30 each to look at “overgrown
rats” she was a little surprised. She grilled the hostel desk guy,
“Is it worth it?” So now both he and I were on the hook for the
promised “amazing” experience.
We'd also been warned that this
“Meerkat Man” was a little crazy. He doesn't do the tours
everyday, just “when he feels like it”, so you have to book
ahead. We were “lucky” and he accepted the booking. You meet
him on the side of the road at precisely 6:50. If you are late, he
won't wait for you, we are told. He'll then take you to the secret
entrance to the Meerkat sanctuary. But you can't take pictures,
because the whole place is “copyrighted.”
Dateline 6:53am, near Outshoon South
Africa. We're sitting in our little rental car on the side of the
road, with two girls from our hostel bumming a ride in the back.
There is another car parked behind us, with an American in it. I
have no idea if we are actually in the right place. A beat up old
white BMW pulls up. Picture a fortyish, big, ball shaped guy in
denim vest and bowl haircut. This is Grant. The sun isn't up yet,
but Grant is all smiles, handshakes and booming voice. He's the
world expert on Meerkats. Discovery Channel, National Geographic and
such come to him for info and to his sanctuary for filming.
We follow him to the sanctuary, and
quickly after parking the tour begins. He is a font of information,
and as enthusiastic as a child at play. Mid sentence whilst
explaining that “Now these aren't the Kalahari Meerkats, but a
different subclass, with darker coloring” he stops to point at some
rocks on the path “See these rocks? This is exhibit A, I'll get to
that later”. And then returns to his train of thought.
Grant has 36 pairs of shoes. Two pairs
for each Meerkat group, one day pair and one nighttime pair. He's
treated these with the scent of the group, so they know to expect
him. “Anyone wondering why I'm talking so loud?” Well, yes
actually. Turns out that since he has habituated this group to his
presence he wants them to hear him coming. If all they hear is the
quiet crunching of leaves etc. they might think a predator is trying
to sneak up on them. “OK, I'll be making funny noises and gestures
with my hands” (He really did say this) “This is so the Meerkats
know it is me, and since you are with me, they won't worry.” Grant
sets up a line of chairs.
“You can sit in the chairs, since
they are left here all the time, they have the smell of the Meerkats
on them. As long as you sit in them, they don't mind you. If you
need to stand up, let me know, and I'll stand next to you.” I'm
halfway between really impressed and really depressed. Did I just
give $60 to a crazy man?
“In a minute, the Meerkats will start
coming out of this hole right here. See the hole?” No actually,
but Grant doesnt take a moment to breath, much less respond to his
rhetorical question. “First one will come up, I call him the
weather forecaster. He'll come up, and look at you. Don't make any
sudden movements. If everything is OK, the others will come up too.
Then they'll stand in a line, and warm their bellies in the sun. If
one of them stands in front of the others, they'll move so they
aren't in the shadow, even a little bit.”
OK, he's nuts.
Then, way closer than I thought his
invisible hole was supposed to be, there was a Meerkat. “Meerkat
Magic!” He said. Then “Brrr, Brrr, Tweep, Tweep... Look at me,
it's OK” as he made little round gestures with his hands. I
thought of Ophelia with her “herbs”. But the little guy didn't
run away, instead he stared at Grant for a second, then each of us,
then he kept looking around... Then it happened, just like Grant said
it would. One after the other. Meerkats appeared from this pile of
mud, warming their bellies in the sun one by one. Nineteen in all.
After their sunbath they went on the
hunt, and we followed them for a good two hours, sometimes getting
within a couple of feet. A few came up to us, curious, but mostly
they just dug for bugs and crunched along. Grant explained social
structures, lookout behaviour, child rearing (they have babysitters),
etc. The guy knew everything – geology of the environment, the
plant and animal life (common English, Dutch and scientific Latin
names). He was spotting other game and birds from impossible
distances. At some point they started infracting to the territory of
the next group, and were visibly nervous. It was amazing... magic.
Basically, Grant was an academic in his
previous life. Writing academic papers for esoteric journals. But
he came to realize that if he really wanted to help save the
Meerkats, he needed to reach a different audience. So, now he tries
to educate the public, local farmers and anyone that will listen.
Meerkats eat pests, not crops; make lousy pets; and need corridors of
bush connecting their sanctuaries to enable reproduction. Now you
know too. Plus, they are really cute.
Bottomline, Susan said she would have
paid double.
From Oudshoorn we criss-crossed down to
Hermanus Bay, the “Worlds Best Land-based Whale Watching” We had
lunch, saw some whales, and promptly got bored. Plus the weather was
lousy.
Next stop was Stellenbosch, a college
town just outside Cape Town. Good food, and good bookshops. We were
happy to be back in civilization.
The next morning we were in Cape Town.
With four days to spare before our organized overland safari. We had
a cool boutique hotel with a nice room (ensuite!!) wireless, and
wicked milkshakes.
We took in the sights, including the brilliantly
curated Jewish Museum, and less than impressive National Gallery.
Plus, did some essential shopping (a new camera) and got some sleep.
We were now ready for our big
adventure: 21 days, Cape Town, South Africa to Livingstone, Zambia
in a big safari truck with 3 guides, 9 brits and the best leopard
luck anyone could possibly hope for...
It's an eclectic group; there is the
fifty-something guy sharing a tent with the twenty-one year old girl
who he claims is his daughter, but isn't. There's Angela, who is
married to Karen, and Becky who lives with Hannah. Paul, no relation
to Paula. Plus, one (dumb) blonde, the sweet nice girl and three
African guides. Susan couldn't have cast it better...
