Day 23: !Khwa Ttu Indigenous Center and West Coast National Park

Today we headed up the western coast to learn more about something very near and dear to my heart. Something that I seek out on all of my travels around the world- indigenous people. I wanted to learn about the original people of Southern Africa- the San people. So I booked a tour at the !Khwa Ttu educational center. The ! isn’t a punctuation mark- it’s a symbol that denotes a certain type of click that is used in their language. It was about a 1.5 hour drive through some pretty desolate land! Lots of sand dunes and fields. Soon we were turning off the main road onto a dirt road that led to !Khwa Ttu. The center itself is very nice and modern- there’s a little gift shop, a restaurant, and a mini-museum of sorts where there is a lot of written information about the Sans people. Apparently they are going to be opening a big museum soon. And this is where I have some devastating news. My SD card on my camera indicated that it was full about half way through our tour. I had forgotten to clear out all of the pictures and videos from our day with the cheetahs! I was outside, in the sun, and frantically trying to listen to the guide and delete pictures and videos as quickly as I could. When we got back to the house, I realized that I had accidentally deleted a lot of the pictures I took of the informational signs so I could read all of it. I’m so sick about this…gawd. Especially because there’s just so little information about these people online. That said, I’ll do my best to piece together our tour for you, but I’m not going to be able to share much of the history of the San people since that information was deleted. 🙁

We sat in the informational room and listened while our guide told us what to expect. There was a male guide from one tribe of San people, and a female guide from a different tribe. The San people are designated based on their language type, but not all tribes speak the same language. He taught us about the 5 different clicks that are in the language and how to do them. It was so interesting! The San come from many countries in Southern Africa, and have been moved around due to European settlers and wars for centuries. They were originally hunters and gatherers, moving from place to place based on the seasons to follow the animals they hunted and to find land for their cattle to graze on. They had no concept of land ownership. Of course, the Europeans did, and as they claimed all of the land that was originally San land, there was no place left for the San people to continue their culture. As with most indigenous people, they were completely marginalized, forced to abandon their ways and assimilate into white culture, and given little to no opportunities. Same story, different indigenous peoples. Sickening.

We boarded a tractor driven covered wagon sort of thing for a ride across the farm, where a typical Sans village had been set up. The male guide drove us down, and we took a short hike through the bush. He taught us about different antelope tracks- Elan (the biggest), Springbok, Bontebok, and two others I can’t remember because the video was deleted. 🙁 How his people would track and hunt the animals through the bush. We saw poisonous plants that were used to coat the spearheads. Soon we met up with the lady guide. There were a few little huts in a circle, which would be typical. The fire would be in the middle of the village, and only men were allowed to start fires. In fact, to get married, men had to prove they could start a fire and hunt. Their first kill they were not allowed to eat- it was for the village.

The female guide explained in her native language (not many people speak it anymore) many of the items the Sans used. The male guide would then translate for us. Here are some of the items we learned about.

We then jumped back in the tractor thingy and took a ride around the farm to see the animals. And I got to see TWO new ones!! Zebras and Springbok!! Also saw some ostriches, and my tortoise eye saw another tortoise as well.

After the tour was over, we tried some AMAZING Rooibos tea flavored with lemon, mint, and honey. I could have drank a gallon! We then wandered out into the herbal garden for a look at the plants, had our picnic lunch, and hit the open road to go to the West Coast Fossil Park! It was just a short drive further north from !Khwa Ttu, and looked really interesting. Google maps showed that it was north of Vredenberg, but we saw a sign that pointed down another road. Followed the sign and that is exactly where it was. DON’T TRUST GOOGLE MAPS ON THIS ONE!! However, the gate was closed. We pulled up and the guard said the park had closed at 1pm. It was 1:20. Ugh. My fault for assuming such a thing would naturally be open all day on a Saturday. Note to self: ALWAYS check the hours- don’t assume!

We chose to go back along a different route, through the West Coast National Park. And on the road behind a fence, we saw zebras and a brand new antelope!! Research says it’s a gemsbok, and the horns were CRAZY long! There’s something not nearly as exciting when you see something behind a fence, but it was still really cool.

We drove into the town of Langebaan. Super pretty little town overlooking a SPECTACULAR bay!! The blue of the water was unreal! Our original goal was to make it back to Hout Bay by 3pm to go to the market and visit Xoma Aob (my Khoi Khoi friend) to arrange a tour. It was going to be a tight schedule. We passed by a church that had a “craft fair” sign outside. Looked at each other and said what the heck and stopped. Everyone here was speaking what I’m pretty sure was Dutch. It ended up being kind of a froo-froo craft market- the kind little old church ladies would attend and sell things at. But we did manage to find a couple of trinkets and some Kudu and Springbok biltong, which is basically South African jerky. Headed back down the road and entered the West Coast National Park. 80 rand per person ($6.50US), which wasn’t too bad of a price. When I saw it on the map, I didn’t really realize what it was exactly. I just thought it was a road along the coast. We pulled into a little area that had a “bird hide” you could hike to. The hike was basically down a boardwalk that was across the marshlands. It was a really cool little building with a slit all the way around so you could sit on the benches inside and birdwatch. It was actually pretty fun!! And I saw flamingos IN THE WILD!!!!! That was a crazy cool experience!! On the way back up the boardwalk, something in the bushes caught my eye. It was a mouse like thing!! I had to be very still and very stalkerish because he was really skittish. He was behind a mass of branches and I couldn’t get focused on him. Then, all of a sudden, he popped out, posed, and looked straight at me. ADORBS!!!!!!!!! Oh, soooo cute!! My favorite shot of the day.

We get back in the car and decide to head down some random dirt road. I screamed “STOP!!!!! BACK UP!!!!!!” Brian shouted “Tortoise?!” I said, “NO! BETTER!” (cuz I’ve already seen a tortoise). He says “Snake?!”. I say no. I jump out of the car with Brian behind me, and there he was. A huge dung beetle IN THE WILD!! It was FAST, and it was impossible for me to get focused on it. I told Brian to pick it up. He asked, “Does it bite?”. This is a man who has no qualms about hanging out with cheetahs who have massive teeth and claws… Here’s a good place for me to clarify my earlier remark: I was pretty sure it was a dung beetle. And dung beetles don’t bite. So I told him of course not, and added my typical smart mouth comment of “Let your girlfriend pick up the dung beetle so you can hold your purse.” He picked it up. 🙂 It was wiggly and fast as hell. When he went to put it down, he kind of dropped it and it fell on its back. It froze. I flipped him back over and gave him a little nudge. Nothing. Holy fuck, we killed the dung beetle!!! This thing had been frantically running and thwarting us at every turn. Now he was still. I was about to puke from the guilt. We moved to walk back to the car, and the beetle took off running. WHEW! That was the longest 30 seconds of my life! Dung beetles playing possum. Who knew?? Got back to the car and I was joking around with Brian about him asking me if it would bite. He said he didn’t know anything about dung beetles!! So I admitted that neither did I, I wasn’t even sure it WAS a dung beetle, and for all I really knew it could be some wackadoodle venomous African spitting beetle. Fortunately, my instincts were correct and research confirmed dung beetle. 🙂

We drove along the practically empty roads. I love seeing exotic wildlife signs! We stopped at a place called Atlantic Overlook that wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as Langebaan Lagoon. Brian laid down on a picnic table to rest his back from driving and take a quick cat nap. I had to pee, which was a huge issue because there was no bathroom anywhere. The idea of squatting on a cobra almost made me just pee in the middle of the road, and I contemplated the situation for several minutes, but modesty won out. Yes, I’m blogging about pissing in the weeds in the middle of the western coast of South Africa. Life experiences, baby!! I’m happy to report no snake bites on my tushy. Guys have it so easy. Sigh. We weren’t back on the road for 3 minutes when I screamed “STOP!!!!” again. Fortunately no one was behind us and Brian could back up. My tortoise eye spotted another tortoise on the side of the road. What a little beauty! And at least he sat still and posed instead of trying to run away like the tortoise at Cape Point.

I won’t lie- I was disappointed when the fossil park was closed. But the unexpected beauty and fun of Langebaan Bay and West Coast National Park made it all better!! Being able to switch gears and overcome those little bumps and disappointments in order to keep the adventure going is what traveling is all about.