False Bay afternoon...
I've not finished with Cape Agulhas yet... there's the inevitable lighthouse — which has a pretty interesting history. You also get to meet fascinating people in the country, including former generals charged with funding covert wars and chemical and biological weapons' programs, but these snaps couldn't wait.
Platboom sandscape...
Where else but Cape Town would an afternoon at the coast deliver such contrasts? On the western side of the peninsula — at Platboom, a windsurfer's paradise — a virtual snowscape of blinding sand and, on the eastern side, i.e. False Bay, a sun-purpled Sea of Tranquility.
I must say I empathized with the General and, for a while, felt I was chatting to another side of myself. He retired at 45, owns a couple of properties, and is a pillar of his community. A hell of a nice guy...
Ostriches on the beach...
Yeah, yeah... we're nothing special. But which other coast suffers birds like these?
Ostriches are classified as dangerous animals in Australia, the US and the UK. There are a number of recorded incidents of people being attacked and killed. Big males can be very territorial and aggressive and can attack and kick very powerfully with their legs. An ostrich will easily outrun any human athlete. Their legs are powerful enough to eviscerate large animals.
Wikipedia
A Chacma baboon ponders his next meal...
Or guys like this?
Their diet is omnivorous, but is usually vegetarian. They are foragers and are active at irregular times throughout the day and night. They can raid human dwellings and in South Africa they have been known to prey on sheep and goats. Their principal predators are man and the leopard, although they are tough prey for a leopard and large males will often confront them.
Wikipedia
I've always felt kindly disposed to conservative Afrikaner nationalists living the legacy of their war against democracy (in democracy's name, of course). I understood them in a way — back then, and respected them in many others. Fearsome opponents, their world view clashed with mine, but they were — and remain — as honest as the day is long.
Ah, well. As much as I'd like to have retired at 45 on a golden handshake (state employees were allowed to buy back pensions to age 19 at a nominal fee — or something equally ridiculous), I'd have made a lousy general.
Another time perhaps...
Note: And yes, for those who remember a time when English and Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans hid their guilt by taunting each other, the juxtaposition of the baboon and my mention of conservative Afrikaners is entirely coincidental.
Ask Gary Younge; he hits the nail on the head. Myriad responses to his article highlight his reasonable view...
