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It was early morning in Plettenberg Bay when my dad woke me. I was very lazy to get up and do this walk. I just wanted to spend the day at home. On the way to Robberg, I started to tell myself to just do it and get it over with. I was not in any way dressed for a hike, but when we got there we decided to do the Island walk. It’s not really a true island, it’s connected with a sand bank to the main peninsula. As we walked we saw the most beautiful sights. My sandals kept getting stuck and slipped everywhere so I took them off. For the rest of the hike I was barefoot. It felt like I was part of nature!

After we finished the walk we were so tired and just wanted to go home, but then we saw a notice board that showed there’s a cave just a little further down. It’s called Nelson’s Cave and it’s also a monument. Without hesitating we were on our way there. The entrance of the cave looks like any other cave, but as you go inside it’s something very different. It is huge with shells covering the whole floor area. It is very quiet, but in the distance you hear water flowing and subtle dripping sounds. There’s a little room, sort of like a bunker, with lots of information about the cave. There are tools and “household” items on display which they found in the cave. Research showed that there were inhabitants up to as long ago as 125 000 years.

Finally when we got into the car after this awesome hike I wasn’t at all sorry for getting out of bed that morning to do this hike. This was an experience that will stay with me forever. If you click on this link you can follow our hike and some pictures http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/corrat/83rickrhgr0pf3mi

PS. Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plet or Plett, is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It was originally named Bahia Formosa (beautiful bay) by early Portuguese explorers and lies on South Africa’s Garden Route 210 km from Port Elizabeth and about 600 km from Cape Town. The bay is defined on the southern end by Cape Seal at the terminus of the Robberg (Afrikaans for Seal Mountain) Peninsula, separating the bay from the open Indian Ocean. It is one of the southern cape coast’s typical “J-shaped” bays, which is formed by wave action eroding the shales of the Bokkeveld Group between the weather-resistant headlands composed of the Table Mountain Group, both of the Cape Supergroup geological sequence of rocks. To the north, the Tsitsikamma and Langkloof Mountains keeps the moisture on the southern slopes of the mountains and prevent the temperature extremes of the interior reaching the bay.

Caves in Nelson’s Bay Cave and Matjies River Cave  nearby Keurboomstrand indicate they were inhabited for over 100 000 years by Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) man and then later by ancestors of the Khoisan, who were possibly the same people who traded with the Portuguese survivors of the San Gonzales shipwreck. Their tools, ornaments and food debris can be viewed in these caves, which are still being excavated.

Plettenberg Bay hosts one of the largest seagull breeding colonies along the South African coast at the mouth of the Keurboom’s River, named after the indigenous keurboom tree. The Robberg Peninsular is also home to a large seal colony and one can see seals playing and hunting in the surf off Robberg Beach. Whales are a common sight in the bay during their breeding season, while dolphins are frequently seen in the surf.

Tourism is a thriving industry in this area, starting in November when teenage school leavers are the first to descend upon the small town, followed thereafter by various waves of arrivals from abroad as well as other parts of South Africa. The greater Plettenberg Bay area (known as Bitou) is also home to Birds of Eden, the largest free-flight bird aviary in the world, and the free-roaming primate sanctuary called Monkeyland, among many other tourist attractions.

Maximum/minimum temperatures: January: 23 °C/17 °C; July: 17 °C/10 °C; rainfall: 945 mm per annum.

In  short . . . . . Plett is the most awesome holiday destination!! See you there!

To view some more pics of  our hikeNelson’s Cave_2

This was just such a cool card, we had to think of something other than liquorice to associate it with. The dice fell on the many languages of Africa. . . .

A postcard that will be sent to Natalie and used as the launch project

A Xhosa Woman in traditional clothes. These outfits are worn on special occasions. Such occasions could be weddings, funerals, Mgidi’s and for the rural Xhosa this could also mean a trip into town. Mgidi’s is the “coming home” ceremony of the Makwetha.
Makwetha is the name given to a young male initiated into manhood.

Face painting by the females is usually done on a woman when she is about to get married.  When a female paints her face before her marriage it is done in a specific way and each design represents a certain aspect of the Xhosa culture.

The red bag is traditionally for her smoking accesories. Only married women were allowed to smoke.

Many Xhosa live in Cape Town, East London, and Port Elizabeth. They can be found in lesser numbers in most of South Africa’s major metropolitan areas. As of 1995, there were about 6 million Xhosa, making up approximately 17.5 percent of South Africa’s population.

The Xhosa language is properly referred to as isiXhosa .  Xhosa contains many words with click consonants that have been borrowed from Khoi or San words. The “X” in Xhosa represents a type of click made by the tongue on the side of the mouth. This consonant sounds something like the clicking sound English-speaking horseback riders make to encourage their horses. English speakers who have not mastered clicks often pronounce Xhosa as “Ko-Sa.”

Click here to view our photo story with pictures of the lady we interviewed . . .

Xhosa Woman

Yeah! . . . . Kyra received the card on 27 May 2011