Dawn is the best time to run. Port Owen sunrises come over the many inland estuaries. Water from some is siphoned into pans for salt production.
The west coast of South Africa is known for its displays of Spring wildflowers, and Ed and I saw yellow, orange, and purple daisies, often arranged in blankes covering the roadside, as we drove. We saw several inland lakes sporting flamingoes and pelicans. We stopped at Elandsbaai and saw some unexpected human behavior: standing on water while outrunning a wave. (Amazing!) We saw rooibos and onion farms. We saw the Clanwilliam Dam which was spilling its water rather liberally.
Our destination was the Cederberg Wilderness Area which we reached about Noon, in time for lunch but too early to occupy our cottage and too early to obtain permits for a hike to the Maltese Cross (available only at 2 PM). So after a quick lunch and after stuffing our perishables into the fridge, we decided to head south.
Our first stop was the Stadsaal (City Hall) Caves at which Ed displayed his affinity for biltong. These caves are famous for the San rock art arranged on the walls. A well-preserved example shows more than a dozen people and six elephants, huge in size (about six feet wide) and breathtakingly beautiful. Other examples showed a lone archer and an archer taking aim at an eland.
These caves are the site where the National Party was born in the early 1900s. This is not verdant country; aside from the fynbos, it is a moonscape, and the NP schemers would have been left alone here. To immortalize their presence, several scrawled their names in the stone, including D.F. Malan (25 October 1919) who was later to be prime minister (1948—1954), the first apartheid leader of South Africa.
We needed to obtain permits and move to the trailhead, but we stayed longer at the caves than we should have done because they were so very interesting. We reached the end of the Jeep track and starting point for the Maltese Cross hike only at 3 PM; our goal had been 2 PM. Ed’s book indicates the hike should take 3.5 hours round trip. With sunset at 6:15 and unsafe temperatures to follow, our dallying at the caves put us in danger of missing the cross. We decided to set out anyway. We were not disappointed by that choice.
The route provides majestic views of the unforgiving landscape, and it took only 1 hour 10 minutes to reach the cross. Hundreds of small cairns indicate the preferred path.
The cross is a huge sandstone formation in the middle of an amphitheater of fynbos and rock. It is almost as if the nearby (much shorter) rocks are bowing down to the cross itself. We approached from the east, meaning the the cross was backlit by the late afternoon sun. I went around to photograph the sunlit side as Ed stood at the foot. Can you find him? There he is. It appears that someone (amazingly) scaled the cross and installed rope at the top.
After I took a selfie, we departed and headed back down. Along the way, we saw an extremely rare Cape rock hopper. At the bottom, the low sun provided nice lighting for a photo of me. Ed took the last few steps along the path toward our car. As we crested the pass driving back to our cottage, one final treat: a take-your-breath-away sunset. I gasped when I looked up to see it.
Of course we braaied for dinner and of course it took forever. We ate at 9 PM, and it is now 11:30 as I finish this post. It was a day I will remember forever.
—Matt
