Sunday Snow Search

Saturday 29 August was bitterly cold across the Western Cape. The type of cold that only comes when there is snow on the mountains. We don’t often get a lot of snow in the Helderberg Basin, but when we do, it is normally a pretty decent amount.

 

I didn’t get to see any of it, as each time I had a chance to peek out of the window, dark grey clouds had settled on top of the mountains. But, there was no lack of photos on Facebook and Whatsapp, so at least I got some idea of the coverage.

 

I declared Sunday a rest day. No admin, no DIYing, no worrying about the to-do list. I even slept in until 07:00, but as I sipped my coffee something told me to head to Radloff Park. So I did. It was a beautifully crisp and clear morning, and I could see the Hottentots Holland Mountains capped with snow. Even The Dome of the Helderberg Mountain still had a light dusting. Now that doesn’t happen often!

 

As I walked around Radloff trying to find the best vantage point, and the caffeine started to take effect, the gears in my head slowly began to turn. I Facebook’d Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve and saw that they had had decent snow on Saturday. Done. Road trip!

 

I called up a friend and two hours later we were on our way to Mont Rochelle. Driving via Stellenbosch, we spied many white peaks: Stellenbosch Mountains, the Simonsberg, Jonkershoek, and of course, rising behind Franschhoek, the Franschhoek Mountains.

 

Looking down on Franschhoek

​

Excitement mounted. We wound our way up the pass and hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. Looks like everyone had the same idea as us! We eventually found a parking spot and set off for the entrance to the reserve. I asked the ranger if people had reached any decent snow, and he replied in the affirmative. Permit paid for, we set off. Up, up, up.

 

A smattering of snow

​

We were cold initially but within 10 minutes had to shed layers to avoid overheating. 20 minutes in to our hike and my legs were burning! I asked a couple with kids coming down if they had reached snow, and they said that they had, and it was about one hours’ hike from where we were. I always take these sort of estimates with a pinch of salt: their hiking pace might be a lot faster or slower than mine. So I told myself that we could probably budget for a 1hr30min hike.

 

There were a lot of people on the trail, and they ranged from cozy toddlers clad in onesies to folks who looked to be in their 70ies. Some were kitted out in trail running gear, others all sorts of hiking paraphernalia, and then there were those in high-heeled boots, and even one lady in slippers!

 

Massive respect to the mom’s and dad’s carrying their kids up and down that mountain. While not technical, the trail does ascend quite steeply. We opted to follow the Uitkyk trail, and were rewarded with the most stunning mountain views. The higher we went, the more snow there was covering the ground. And soon, we started to spot snow men, and had to take care not to get caught in the crossfire of snow balls being flung around.

 

At last, after about an hour,the climbing stopped and we had a choice of: left to DuToitskop, right to Perdekop, or straight ahead to Uitkyk. Perdekop looked steep, and while we couldn’t see it at the time, would have taken us to proper snow. You know, the type of stuff where we could have made snow angels. But I wasn’t prepared for a big trek, in fact, having never been to Mont Rochelle before, I hadn’t even prepared for the hike we had done. I had water and fruit – I always take something with on unknown walks – but I had bargained on just that: a walk.

 

Decisions. And a stealthy snowman.

​

So, as I wasn’t mentally prepared for a long hike (it was about 3.5km one way on the out-and-back route), and neither of us had extra trail food, we opted to go straight and were rewarded with fantastic views from Uitkyk. For me, it was more about the adventure of exploring somewhere new, and being able to be on the mountains; not so much about the snow. Though we did partake in a bit of snowball-flinging.

 

We rested, had some fruit, and soaked it all in. In a spot out of the wind, the temperature was pleasant, and I got lost in the sound of the wind funneling down the mountain valleys. It sounded like the ocean. I was in awe of the giant pieces of rock laid out before me.

 

Mesmerizing Mountains.

​

As beautiful as it was, I was getting hungry, and we packed up and headed back the way we had come.

There was less traffic coming up and we made good time. A large amount of the remaining snow had also melted, changing the landscape. Clouds had begun to roll in, and it was getting colder. As fantastic as it would have been to reach proper snow, I was happy with my decision to stick to a shorter hike.

 

Snow!

​

On our way home we pulled in at Rickety Bridge and had vetkoek and roosterkoek at Paulina’s. For the non-South African readers, vetkoek is similar to a doughnut in that it is a deep-fried dough, but it isn’t sweet. It is traditionally filled with beef mince, but chicken mayo, or cheese and jam are also very popular. This one was filled with delicious pulled pork.

 

A roosterkoek, which translates to “grill cake” is a dough normally formed into a ball similar to a bread roll, and cooked on a “braai” (open wood fire is ideal) or grill. This tends to give it a nice crisp crust while the inside stays deliciously soft. These can be filled with anything, but bacon, egg and cheese works really well.

 

The food was well-deserved and hit the spot!

 

Almost back at the trail start. What little snow was down here had melted in a matter of hours.

​

What a brilliant way to end the weekend!

Maun, Botswana

Thursday 1 September – Friday 2 September

I’ve wanted to go to Maun for months having never been there before, but getting there would be a problem; flights are in excess of R3500, and driving wouldn’t be much cheaper. I tried to save as much money as possible, but I was struggling. But then things changed.

A charter came up, and there was an open seat. When I first heard about it, I refused to get my hopes up; we first had to make sure that I would be able to go with, and flights like these often get cancelled at the last minute. A few days before the flight we (my dad, who would be flying, and I) received confirmation that the flight was still on, and that I was going with, but it was only the day before the flight that I started getting excited.

Waiting for a 737 to take off at Cape Town

We would only be in Maun for one night, so all that was required was a change of clothes. Which is probably a good thing; we wanted to keep the weight down so that we could carry enough fuel to make the trip in one (3 hour) leg.

We took off from Cape Town on (a somewhat chilly and cloudy) Thursday morning. It wasn’t long before the lush green mountains of the Western Cape gave way to harsher, drier terrain. The landscape became flatter and flatter, and every time I looked out the window, it had changed.

Sand as far as the eye can see

Rocky. Dunes. Almost completely flat with salt pans. The Orange River. Sand with some bushes. Sand with some grass. A bit of water here and there. And then... Maun. After over 2 hours of looking at sand, I saw the Thamalakane River, and after searching a bit, I realised that the dry, barren area I was looking at is Maun.

Welcome to Maun

I knew it would be dry, but I didn’t realise how much of a desert it is; one only really sees the photos of the lush green Delta. We were instructed to join on right base for runway 08. We found the ATC’s (air traffic controllers) in Botswana to be very good, once you figure out what they’re saying; they talk really fast.

Maun International is expanding, and they’re in the process of building a new runway. The ramp was packed with C206’s, C208’s, C207’s, Airvans, ATR’s, and even a DC-3. Here’s this little airport buzzing with arrivals and departures (it’s much busier than Cape Town), and it’s in the middle of nowhere. Weird.







Apart from the sand, the other thing I noticed once we landed was how hot it is (the heat hit us as soon as we descended to join for landing). It was probably around 30degC, and that’s quite normal for winter! From chilly 18deg weather in beautiful green Cape Town, to this... that’s not what I saw in the photos!

But I soon forgot about the heat and instead focused on the arrivals and departures. At least 5 Caravans departed in the space of 5 minutes. I’ve never seen so many Caravans in one place before!

After tucking the plane in for the night we cleared customs and immigration (which was a lot less painful than in Cape Town). There were several reasons why I went on this trip, 1.) To gain experience on the Cessna Mustang, 2.) To complete my first international flight, 3.) To see what Maun is like, 4.) Do look (beg) for work.

So after finding out where the offices of the various charter companies are, I set out with a stack of CV’s, a smile on my face, and what was once a very nice, crisp, clean shirt, which after a 3hr flight and about 45minutes on the ground in Maun, was now crinkled and sweaty.

There are 7 charter companies in Maun; Wilderness Air, Safari Air, Mack Air, Kavango Air, Moremi Air, Delta Air, and Major Blue Air (the new kids on the block). Their offices are located within 400m of each other, which is rather convenient when you’re running up and down between them (most of the chief pilot’s were out to lunch, so I had to keep going back and forth between the companies in the hopes that I might catch them before they go fly).



These guys are used to low-time pilots asking for work, so I’m sure they weren’t surprised to see me (but I think I stood out in my white shirt and black pants with smart shoes; everyone wears shorts and plakkies around there).

For those of you that are hoping to find work there, here’s what I was told:
Botswana isn’t issuing work permits. There are a number of locals that are looking for flying jobs, so the rest of us must wait. Hopefully things will come right in the next few months.

Working conditions can be tough. Most companies require a minimum of 250hrs, but 500hrs is preferable (obviously), and they also don’t want people that are too young or too old.

An Instructor’s Rating and experience as an Instructor might give you an advantage.

“We aren’t hiring now, try in December.”

So it’s looking quite bleak, but at least I’ve met the chief pilots (all of which are very friendly and helpful) and they’ve seen me. Now it’s a case of bugging them with updated CV’s. Bring it on!

It was after 5pm when we left the airport and made our way to where we would be staying. Maun is very much like Oranjemund, only bigger and they have a Nando's and Wimpy. The streets are lined with sand, the buildings are small and weathered, and the people are friendly. I imagine that life in Maun is very simple.



There are more donkeys roaming the streets than there are dogs. Grass is almost non-existent, and when you do find some, it’s yellow and straw-like. But the river banks are flooded; fences and signs are almost completely underwater. It’s quite a stark contrast.



Another thing I’m not used to are the driver’s; while there are plenty of taxi’s just like in Cape Town, everyone drives at about 60km/h, and the taxi drivers drive the slowest. At first I thought it might be due to the lack of streetlights, but they drive like that during the day too. Go figure. Botswana has very little tolerance for crime, and there are posters everywhere that remind you of that little fact.

We were staying at the hotel section of the Maun Lodge, which is right next to the Thamalakane River. It’s a 3-star hotel, and while my room had a boring view of the road, all I had to do was walk down the hall to get a view of the river.



Maun Lodge

After a quick look around and a change of clothes, we drove to the Island Safari Lodge, which is a couple of kilometres from the centre of Maun. On the way there the sun started to set, and it was amazing; as it gets lower on the horizon the layer of sand and dust give it a brilliant red/orange glow.



What all the roads used to be like

The Island Safari Lodge has been around for over twenty years, and it’s gorgeous. The river is calm and the only sounds are those of the birds and monkeys (I think. They looked monkey-ish) and the bugs. I could’ve sat by the river bank all night, but when the mozzies came out and my stomach started to grumble, we decided to head back to the hotel.



There are two restaurants at the Maun Lodge, but it seemed that the one was more suited to conferences, and as it was completely empty, we opted to go to The Boma instead.



“Boma” means enclosure, and this is exactly what this was. Surrounded by a wall of thin pieces of wood, tables were located around the edges under a large thatched roof, with a large open sand area with some trees and a roaring fire in the middle.



Dinner was a buffet with all the usual stuff (salads, potatoes, veggies, rice), but it also had some other things like Mexican salad (I still don’t know what meat was in there. I hope it wasn’t something really exotic like donkey...) pap and goat stew. There was also stir-fry, and what was really cool about that was that you could decide what you wanted, and then the chef would cook it for you right then and there. As for dessert; there was chocolate cake, cheese cake, and fruit salad. I helped myself to both the chocolate and cheese cake. Everything was delicious and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

By about 8pm the temperature had cooled to somewhere in the low 20ies, and the live music that ranged from Afrikaans songs to African songs to some other stuff I couldn’t identify, and the roaring fire made for a very relaxed atmosphere.

On Friday morning I woke up at 0545, and when I looked out the window the sky was light. It was chilly, but thankfully it was nothing like the icy chill we get in the Cape. We were at the airport by 7am, and we set about getting the plane ready for the flight back to Cape Town.

Sunrise

There would be 3 other people on the return flight, so the weight had to be calculated carefully. We wouldn’t be able to take enough fuel to get us to Cape Town, so we would stop in Upington to refuel.

To give you an idea of how busy it is in Maun; we had to wait about 15minutes for the arrivals and departures before we were cleared to take-off. And this was at 8am. With three aircraft on Final, one vacating the runway and one lining up for take-off, it seemed a little bit like Heathrow.



Unfortunately we didn’t have time to fly over the Delta, so after taking off from runway 08, we turned right over the town and routed directly to Upington. Farewell Maun.



The flight was rather boring, and I alternated between looking out of the window, trying to understand the Garmin 1000 system, and trying to understand the Controller’s (I think the Garmin was easier to understand).

After almost an hour and a half we crossed the border and were back in South Africa. I’d never been to Upington before, but it’s much like Maun and Oranjemund; located near a river, dry, and desolate. The airport was quite nice; there were a few aircraft that were in storage, one or two light aircraft, and two scheduled flights (Air Link) arrived shortly after we did.

South Africa/Botswana border

The terminal is very smart and modern. Clearing customs was a breeze (we were the only ones there), and we had a bite to eat while waiting for the fuel guys to finish with the scheduled flights. For those of you that don’t know; Upington has one of the longest runways in the world.

Upington

Fed and watered, it was back into the Mustang for the last leg; another 1.5hrs of almost-complete boredom. But at least the view from FL320 is quite good.

Once again, the scenery changed every time I looked out of the window, but this time it went from flat, to hills, to mountains, to green, to green mountains. We passed overhead the Tankwa River, near Clanwilliam. The last time I was here it was in the Cubby, and I was bumbling along at FL065.

Tankwa River

Cape Town was cloudy and rainy, with strong winds. As soon as I got out of the aircraft I wished I was back in Maun with the sound of Caravans buzzing around, the friendly people, the warm weather, and the simplicity of the place.

Island Safari Lodge