A scenic drive

Yesterday we took a drive round False Bay along Clarence Drive, the incredibly scenic road that winds from Gordons Bay along the foot of the Hottentots Holland range to the village of Rooi Els. Our destination was Betty's Bay for a family birthday celebration. I always enjoy that drive beneath the towering cliffs of those bare and rugged mountains, where the last of the Cape leopards roam. My eyes constantly scan the scree, hoping to catch a glimpse of these magnificent cats, but of course they are well hidden from the humans who consider them a scourge who kill sheep. Imagine putting the life of a sheep, which is reared to be eaten by man, before that of a leopard.

We returned as the sun was setting, bathing the mountainside in soft orange light, and casting long shadows up the kloofs, from where rich brown waters gushed seaward after a long and wet winter over the catchment area. Across the bay, the Peninsula stretched from Cape Point to Table Mountain, a fading blue as the sun sank behind it, reflecting off high ice clouds.

The mountains behind Somerset West are those which the first Trekboers crossed with their oxwagons when they left the Cape and the British Occupation to seek independence in the interior - they didn't know what lay before them, and the rocks bear the marks of the wagon wheels as they were hauled over a mountain which had no pass.

One can only imagine how strong those women were who made the journey to the hinterland with their possessions in an oxwagon, finding food and water along the way. Would we be able to do such a thing today? I doubt it.