Cape St Blaize

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Light Details:

Light Type: Automatic lamp-exchanger
Light Character: Group flashing, showing two flashes every 15 seconds
Light Range: 22 sea miles
Light Power: 450 000 CD
Height of focal Plane: 0 metres above high water

The Cape St Blaize lighthouse was erected in 1864. And up until recently, was one of the only two lighthouses manned 24 hours daily on the South African Coastline. Until the late 1970s a clockwork system was originally used to turn the lens and it required a lightkeeper to climb up the tower and wind it up every three hours! All the navigational aids and joining plant are fully automated now, but a senior lightkeeper and two lightkeepers are still employed. A constant radio watch is kept and the regular meteorological duties are also undertaken.





Ancient Khoi found shelter in the Cape St. Blaize Cave near the Lighthouse. St Blaize Cave is the biggest and most important cave of 15 caves in the area of Cape St Blaize.

The cave has always been a lookout point and is still used today for whale and dolphin watching. But 1999 the caves were choosen for excavation by the paleo-anthropologist Prof Curtis Marean of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University in the U.S.A.


Cape St Blaize Cave in Mossel Bay in South Africa

The excavations were especially successful in St Blaize Cave and Cave PP13B. They revealed evidence that early man lived along the Southern Cape coast 164,000 years ago. A scientific sensation was evidence, that early man had made use of marine resources for food. The so far earliest evidence was only 120,000 years, which means that humans started doing this at least 40,000 years earlier. There are many rock art sites in the area and ancient Khoisan fish traps. Obviously those sites are much younger.

Google Earth Placemark


Sources: Lighthouses of South Africa; www.showcaves.com




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Cape Agulhas

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Light Details:

Light Type: Revolving electric
Light Character: One flash every 5 seconds
Light Range: 30 sea miles
Light Power: 7 500 000 CD
Height of focal Plane: 31 metres above high water



The lighthouse has some very interesting history as it was modelled on one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Pharos of Alexander. It was the second solidly built lighthouse in South Africa. This site is known as L'Agulhas - Cape of Needles, and was named by the Portuguese navigator Bartholomew Dias in 1488. The reference for this was that the compass needle always swung in various directions when Portuguese vessels rounded the Cape.

This lighthouse has been in operation since 1 March 1849 and has a range of 30 nautical miles. South Africa's third lighthouse, and the second oldest surviving lighthouse (after Green Point). The lighthouse marks the southernmost point of Africa at latitude 34°50' S and the junction of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans at longitude 20°01' E and the one with the most shipwrecks near it. The ultimate tip of the continent is 1 km (0.6 mi) west southwest of the lighthouse.

It is said that this is where the Benguela and the Mozambique currents meet.





This historic light, surely one of the world's great lighthouses, was deactivated in 1968 when deterioration of the sandstone walls made the tower appear unsafe. The light was then transferred to a lattice tower. Restoration of the original tower began in 1983. The original lighthouse was recommissioned on 25 March 1988. The lighthouse museum opened in 1994. The lighthouse is now a national monument and open to the public.

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Lighthouses

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On my travels I have come across some lighthouses which, like churches and beautiful bridges, are one of those structures that always get photographed. In my research about these structures my interest grew to the point where I'd like to see all the Lighthouses South Africa has to offer. And interesting structures they are! Usually with lots of history and some shipwrecks nearby.

The world’s first recorded lighthouse was the Pharos Lighthouse in Alexandria, Egypt. Built in 280 B.C., the Pharos Lighthouse was more than 450 feet tall and had a giant statue of Poseidon (the Greek god of the sea) at the top. A huge bonfire was lit at the top of the tower and the smoke guided ships by day and the glow guided ships by night. The Pharos Lighthouse was so huge that it was named one the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The tower was used for more than 1,500 years before it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1303 A.D.

The modern lighthouses date only from the early 18th century and modern construction methods have facilitated the building of offshore lighthouses. The most common illuminant used in modern lighthouses is the electric-filament lamp. Refinements in lenses (e.g., the Fresnel lens) and reflectors made it possible to substantially increase the light's intensity.

Today radio and satellite-based navigation systems have greatly reduced the need for large lighthouses in sighting land. The result being that the houses once utilized by lighthouse personnel are now standing empty. The authorities to recover some of the costs of maintaining the properties have opened up eight lighthouses to the public and have converted the empty houses into self catering units for use by the public.

No matter their size or shape, lighthouses have served an important role in keeping ships and sailors safe from harm. Their shining lights have served as important navigational aids for thousands of years and have prevented countless shipwrecks by warning unsuspecting vessels away from unseen dangers. Although they are now considered old fashioned and obsolete, lighthouses continue to serve as symbols of hope to this day.


Lighthouses I have visited so far:
(Click on the name for more info.)

Cape Agulhas - Agulhas.
34 49 08 South, 20 00 33 East




Cape St Blaize - Mossel Bay.
34 11 10 South, 22 09 25 East




Green Point.
33°54'5.10"S, 18°23'59.76"E




Seal Point - 30 km from Humansdorp.
34 12 44.79 South, 24 50 11.92 East




Slangkop.
34 08 54.59 South, 18 19 11.89 East




Ystervark Punt.
34°23'33.51"S, 21°43'40.94"E





Lighthouses yet to be visited:

Cape Columbine - Paternoster.
32 48 39 South, 17 51 23 East

Cape Hangklip.
34 23 11.4 South, 18 49 42.3 East

Cape Hermes - Port St Johns.
31 38 06 South, 29 33 23 East

Cape Point.
32 21 24.36 South, 18 29 12 East

Cape Recife - Algoa Bay.
34 01 43.97 South, 25 42 03.90 East

Cape Vidal - Natal north coast.
28 08 51.976 South, 32 33 10.7665 East

Danger Point - Walker Bay, near Gansbaai.
34 37 48.8 South, 19 18 10.9 East

Dassen Island.
33 25 54 South, 18 05 22 East

Great Fish Point - Great Fish River, 25km Port Alfred.
33 31 10 South, 27 06 34 East


Hood Point - East London.
33 02 25.96 South, 27 53 55.00 East

Milnerton.
33 52 53.47 South, 18 29 18.52 East

Port Shepstone.
30 44 30.1 South, 30 27 33.0 East

Robben Island.
38 48 52.20 South, 18 22 29.25 East

Roman Rock - Simons Town.
34 21 52.92 South, 18 27 38.94 East

St Lucia.
28 31 08 South, 31 23 50 East

Swakopmund - Namibia.
22 40 32 South, 14 31 29 East

The Hill - Port Elizabeth.
33°57'44.18"S, 25°37'14.15"E

Umhlanga Rocks.
29 43 41.57 South, 31 05 18.20 East

Sources:

Lighthouses of South Africa

An outstanding site, posted by Simon Baillie-Cooper, with extensive data, historical information, and photos. The site is frame-based, so links to individual lighthouses are not provided.

Lighthouses of South Africa

A blog by Joe Viljoen; this very valuable site has photos and recent information on nearly all South African lights.

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Day 1

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Excitement is off the charts. The bike was loaded and ready the night before already and we were up very early. Geared up and ready we said our goodbyes to the family and headed to the rendezvous point to meet up with Smidty and his son.

Ready for the big adventure:



Smidty and I have not ridden together before and our sons do not know each other, so it was literally introductions before we set of. It was a perfect day for it too - clear skies and brilliant scenery. Smidty and I both needed to get away for a bit. Just get away from it all and recharge.

The wheels sang as we rode past Kaaimans, Wilderness, Island Lake, Langvlei, Sedgefield, Groenvlei, The Knysna lagoon... Perfect scenery on this crystal clear day. Seemed ironic that this was what we were trying to "get away from".

Just past Plett we left the Nasional road towards Nature's valley on the “old passes road”. Nature's Valley is a small village at the mouth of the Groot River at the bottom of the Groot River pass. The little town is enfolded with mountainous forest and must be one of the most beautiful parts of the Garden Route. It is the only residential area within a South African National Park. This route (the R102) runs through the Groot-, Bloukrans- and Storms River gorges are some of Thomas Bain’s masterpieces.



Nobody thought that a coastal road would be possible through the dense forest, but Bain never shied away from a challenge. This “old passes road” offers one of the most rewarding scenic drives in the country to travellers who have the time. But who has time anymore? Everybody races past on the N2. Sad that they're missing out on this:



"We're coming to the end of a hundred years or more of devices we invented to save time. What has become of this? Nobody has enough time anymore... We are a time-impoverished society. We have lots of material things, but we have no time left. It is the time of mechanical devices... It is the new poverty." Needleman - 1999

But not us We are on holiday and have LOTS of time to take it all in!

Our third pass for the day:
(Kaaimans having been the first)



The original Bloukrans Pass was built during 1881 and recently upgraded. It is currently closed to traffic though due to flood damage. Well, it's closed if you're not on an adventure bike

With the road being closed there is almost no traffic. Bliss! And just look at the scenery!

This is just what the doctor ordered. Over that bridge we enter the Eastern Cape



Shortly after crossing the Bloukrans River there is a magnificent viewpoint of the toll road-bridge over the river.



Bloukrans Bridge was completed in 1984 and is said to be the highest single span arch bridge in the Africa (216m). They claim to have the third highest commercially operated Bungy Jump in the world. The thing is that you cannot see the beauty of the bridge when you're on it. Also, by riding over it on the busy N2 highway (and paying a toll to do so! ) you miss out on the alternative - the magnificent Bloukrans Pass. No wonder people want to (bungy) jump off the bridge. You have to punish yourself for such stupidity


Next up is the Storms River gorge. The pass through the Storms River gorge unfortunately is not open to traffic anymore and you have to cross on the N2 over the Paul Sauer Bridge:



The Paul Sauer Bridge is (wrongly) known to many as the "Storms River Bridge". It was designed by Riccardo Morandi and was completed in 1956.

After a short stint on the N2 the GPS tells us to take an offramp and a minor road and so we do. We both have the same route loaded on our GPS's but funnily enough the two GPS's want to take us to vastly different places We stop at a T-junction and my GPS says "Turn Right on Road". Smidty looks at his GPS and it says "Turn Left on Road". What the hell? This is where I start having trust issues with the GPS...

Luckily we still know where we are and we turn Left. I shudder as I think we're heading into the Eastern Cape mountains where we would not know where we are and will be reliant on these devises. What did the future hold?

Another "refreshment" stop Also our first gravel for the day!



We're heading to St Francis Bay and the reason is two-fold: I want to photograph Seal Point Light house and I thought it a good idea to start off in the Eastern Cape at sea level, seeing that we're going to be on some pretty high passes at a later stage.



Cape St Francis Lighthouse or Seal Point Light house was built in 1878 at this cape point to warn ships of the dangerous reefs that stretch more than a kilometer out to the sea. It is the tallest masonry tower on the South African coast standing at a height of 27.75 m. Although it is no longer in full operation it is open to the public and guided tours of this historic lighthouse are available.

This is where the ride really started for me. From here on we ride into the unknown. Especially with our very creative GPS's The route was carefully planned and loaded but the GPS had other ideas. Somehow we ended up riding a dirt road from St Francis bay to Jeffery's Bay. I never even knew a dirt road between those places existed! Eventually we did get to the Van Staden's Pass:



The Van Stadens Bridge is a concrete arch bridge over the Van Stadens River. It was opened on November 11, 1971. Just 12 days later, a Uitenhage man jumped to his death, and its reputation as the Bridge of Death grew from there. The death toll from suicides off the bridge is currently at 72.

A R1-million video-camera surveillance system, paid for by private donors, was installed in August 2005. Gauteng journalist Franz Kemp raised the funds after his daughter Inge had jumped off the bridge in 2003. The local police and pedestrians have rescued some twenty people from jumping off since that time.



The latest suicide happened on the 8th of August 2009 when a 20 year old man jumped to his death while onlookers from Cape Town and a family from PE stood admiring the bridge. Standing here I could imagine that it must have been a terrible sight as you are quite close to the bridge.

We continued North to Uitenhage where (luckily) I stopped to photographed this beautiful municipal building.



While stopped Smidty asked whether we're not going to get fuel. "Nah. The GPS has a waypoint marked Last Fuel Today. We'll do it there."

"Uhm, we've passed that waypoint already"

What the hell? My GPS chose to ignore that little waypoint. Go figure. So we turn around to get fuel and supplies for the evening.

Some interresting trivia on Uitenhage: In the 1880s the signalman at the station, who lost both legs in an accident, trained a baboon called Jack to pull the signal levers. The baboon did the job for 9 years until his death. Maybe I should get a baboon to work my GPS?

Finally we left civilization behind. We saw some beautiful scenery and impressive structures today, but the aim of the trip was to get away and into the mountains. So off we went, heading North towards the Zuurberge and Addo Elephant park. Incredibly I have never been here. It wont be the last time.



This area was not always an Elephant sanctuary. This used to be farmland. As farming activities in the lower Sundays River intensified, the Addo farmers came into conflict with the local elephants which were very destructive of their crops. Eventually, a professional hunter was engaged to exterminate them. In 1931 there were only eleven elephants remaining when, fortunately, the government stepped in and created a sanctuary.

Today the Addo Elephant National Park has grown to some 125 000 hectares and is well on the way to becoming much larger still - about 400 000 hectares. The elephant herd now numbers over 400, a tribute to the long-term efforts of conservation.

We headed further North still to a place called Slagboom. Slagboom has it's own Police station and a dam, but not much else. I wonder how it got it's name? Sounds interesting. Anyway, we arrived at our camp at Slagboom Outdoors thirsty after a hot first day. Temperatures soared to 30 degrees today and an even hotter day was forecast for tomorrow

Camp was set up:



We were the only people there. Pure bliss. Asterix and Smidty Jnr gathered / chopped some wood (and found that my new axe was as blunt as anything ) and made the fire. We all clicked well today and got to know each other better on our first night. We chatted about the upcoming passes and it's difficulty level. I haven't been to most of the passes (except Katberg and Michell's Pass) myself so I had no idea what to expect. But I knew that there would be some testing areas.

TR: "Don't worry, it wont be worse than Baviaans and even that is not that difficult"

Smidty: "I've never been to Baviaans on my bike."

TR: "Well, it's not that bad believe me. The guys on the WD forum exaggerate everything. Some even think Swartberg Pass is difficult and that's nothing but a gravel road. I'm sure you'll be fine."

Smidty: "I've never been over Swartberg Pass on my bike."

TR: "Oh. Well, don't worry. Trust me..."


The four of us chatted around the fire under a brilliant starlit night. We removed our tents' rain flies when we turned in and lay looking at the vast expanse above us.

I even managed to clock in at home with the weak cellphone signal we had. Mrs.TR was worried about Asterix being on such a long trip.


*Phone rings*

"Hello hun! Just phoning to report that all is well. Asterix and I are in the Zuurberg mountains and about to fall asleep under the stars."


You cannot buy memories like these.



We rode 438km today and 4 passes. Tomorrow we head over the Zuurberg and into the Eastern Cape Proper. If all goes according to plan we'll ride Katberg Pass and sleep in Hogsback.







Sources: Wikipedia; Romance of the Cape Mountain Passes; jbay.com; Wikipedia; Routes.co.za; Addo
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