Took a drive down to Olifantsbos (Cape Point nature reserve) today, to see the gigantic seas on the reefs down there. Its years since we used to go down there every weekend to dive perlemoen, free from the sea. We would make a day of it, taking food and drink (that's how it was done in the old days) and plenty of warm clothing. The girls would huddle in the cars or lounge in the sun, depending on the weather, while the guys went diving for this delicacy. The shells still lie all over the garden in our modern midden. They would come out of the sea carrying heavy bags, within the legal limit of course, and spread their spoils on the road for us to admire (hunter bringing home the kill). I particularly remember an incident when a busload of Japanese tourists stopped and gawped at our casual disregard for what they consider gold of the sea. Lots of Nikons clicked that day!
Today we can only walk along the shore and remember those days of freedom, picking up jetsam from the jumbled kelp. Sea lice scatter before us; a rat scuttles under a rock. An ostrich pecks nearby and in the distance, a bontebok strolls along the beach toward a stream emptying into the sea, and beyond that a small troop of baboons forages peacefully without human interference.
An oystercatcher shares a rock with two gulls, beaks to the wind.
A little piece of paradise.
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