Deserts and daisies days 14 - 16

[ali-s]

Deserts and daisies days 14 - 16

We leave Clanwilliam today. After one last yummy breakfast in the gorgeous garden and a little souvenir shopping in the B&Bs gift shop ,we pack up and head off on the R364. No mongoose in this area, but we have encountered several tortoise trundling across the roads. Luckily the roads are so empty and straight it's easy to spot them in the distance.

On our flight from Johannesburg to Upington I read an article in the inflight magazine on Bokkomlaan which seemed to be a road fronting the water in a town called Velddrif . I had found Velddrif in our road atlas and it was on our way to our final stop, Langebaan. This seemed serendipitous so I decided we would stop there for lunch. Velddrif was easy enough to find but we stumbled upon Bokkomlaan by accident after driving along the waterfront admiring the flocks of flamingos .

Bokkomlaan used to be the heart of the Velddrif fishing industry, basically a dirt road alongside the Great Berg river. There are restaurants, a few gift shops and a couple of boat trip operators but it is decidedly un touristy. We had a very good, reasonably priced lunch of fish and chips, (my small portion was huge) while watching kingfishers, ibis and herons, just feet away at the waters edge.

We then wandered down the track, past the fish strung up to dry under netting, to a jetty where the next boat trip was advertised for 2pm. It was 2.09 but a boat was just pulling in with 2 people on board, when they had disembarked we asked if this was the 2pm boat trip? Yes, it was,we were the only passengers, R100 each for a 1hour private boat trip . Loads of birds to see out on the river but flamingoes were everywhere . A few fishermen bobbing about in row boats and we saw the longest train in South Africa /the world? on it's way to a nearby port. I gave up trying to count the wagons but it took several minutes to pass. It was a thoroughly enjoyable stop on our way to Langebaan, so pleased I picked up that magazine.

We arrived in Langebaan at 4pm exactly. We were renting an apartment on the seafront and the owner was supposedly meeting us outside. We'd told her we would arrive between 4 and 5pm , no sign of her so we went to sit on the beach and wait. We could see the apartment from the beach , literally about 50ft away, at 5pm we were still waiting. I sent emails and texts but had no call time left to phone her. Was getting rather fed up as we had been bang on time. Decided to beg the use of a phone at a nearby guesthouse, as we were crossing the road the apartment owner appeared, she only lived next door! No apology for keeping us waiting and as with so many houses in South Africa we couldn't get to the front door to knock or ask without a code to get through the alarmed security gates. Anyway. The apartment was lovely. It had a little courtyard area with outdoor shower and seating surrounded by high walls and an alarmed gate, alarm on the door and 2 panic buttons I could take into the bedroom at night if I wished. I'm sure the latter were supposed to be reassuring but they actually made me feel anxious when I hadn't before. The panic buttons stayed in the kitchen. I can't imagine living your day to day life feeling the need for such measures .
Dinner was at a restaurant a few minutes walk down the road ( and yes, we felt perfectly safe walking in the dark ) our most expensive meal so far, but we were probably paying for the view of the sunset over the water