Tuesday, November 14th

Today is the day we have reservations to go to Robben Island to visit the maximum security prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment. Both of us feel this is a very important part of South African history and something we want and need to experience. And so off we go to the Victoria & Albert Waterfront to the Nelson Mandela Gateway. Here there are exhibits about the island's history. This is also the boarding point for the 30-minute ferry trip to the island.

The island is north of Cape Town in Table Bay. It is 575 ha in size and at its closest point about 11 km from the mainland. For almost 400 years it has been used as a place to put the unwanted, politically and otherwise. The information brochure states:

"The island's unwilling inhabitants included slaves, political and religious leaders who opposed Dutch colonialism in East Asia, Khoikhoi and other African leaders who resisted British expansion in South Africa, leprosy sufferers, the sick, the mentally disturbed, French Vichy prisoners of war and, most recently, political opponents of the apartheid regime in South Africa and Namibia.

During the apartheid years Robben Island became internationally known for its institutional brutality. Some freedom fighters spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs. Yet people such as Nelson Mandela emerged from here to lead South Africa to democracy with a message of tolerance, reconciliation and hope that moved the world."

It was a grey day. The ferry ride over was uneventful and the clouds began to let a little sunshine through. In addition to being a World Heritage Site for historic reasons, the island is also a World Heritage Site because of its colonies of African penguins (more than 60,000) and Cape fur seals, and we saw a few of each. But in terms of the flora it is covered in alien plants!

To handle the wheelchair we were loaded in a small van and joined by two other couples. The others in our group were loaded on large tour buses. So we got something of a personal tour of the island. Our tour guide was Thabo. He lives in the Langa township in Cape Town and travels to and from the island every workday. That's no easy feat in this city that has very limited public transportation. There are taxis and lots of them, both the kind we are familiar with in the States and vans in which as many people as possible are packed. And the drivers of these taxis are very loud, aggressive and often obnoxious. I have learned to give them plenty of room!

Many of the people working on the island are blacks, often referred to as the "previously disadvantaged." Given the nature of the most recent use of the island and given the very strong affirmative action program that seems to impact almost every aspect of South African society, this is not surprising.

Of note, the guides in the prison areas are former political prisoners. Ours, Erich Basson, had been imprisoned on Robben Island for 5 years. Interestingly there are some former wardens also working on the island. The result is that there is a small community on the island with a small school for the youngest kids. And some of the buildings are used as a conference center and guesthouses. There is work being done on a soon-to-be opened restaurant. It appears the restaurant's opening will go along with allowing visitors to walk around the island on their own. This is not possible at this time. Visitors are allowed only a little over two hours on the island before they must return to the ferry for the trip back to Cape Town. Maybe this is intended to prevent overcrowding on the ferries, which could happen if people were allowed to return at will. Hopefully this will change in the future.

We saw the house in which Robert Sobukwe (an early freedom fighter who helped form the Pan Africanist Congress) was isolated, the lime quarry where the prisoners were forced to work, the church for the male lepers, the fortifications used during WW II, the lighthouse, a shipwreck, the slate quarry, and of course the prison in which Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years. Erich painted a detailed picture of what life was like for blacks here. He didn't try to hide things or to be overly dramatic. And he did make it clear that there were good wardens and bad wardens. Nevertheless, these prisoners were denied their most basic rights as human beings. It is amazing so many survived as well as they did. How Nelson Mandela emerged from prison, after 27 years, with the presence and attitude he has is remarkable. For that the world should be thankful!

This is the sign over the entrance gate next to the dock.


This is part of the limestone quarry. It was an overcast day and so there was very little glare from the rock. The cave in the middle is where the prisoners were allowed to toilet. That ensured there was no way for anyone to slip away. One of the things the older prisoners did was write in the limestone to teach the younger prisoners. When the wardens came the writings were easily erased. What fight to maintain what one had!


This is Erich in one of the communal prison areas. He is holding an example of a prisoner's information card. On this card a prisoner is assigned to a category based on race. This determined what food you received, what clothes you wore, and what level of visitation/communication you were allowed.


This is Nelson Mandela's cell. The mat laid out on the floor in front of the blankets was his bed. The toilet was a bucket in the corner to the left of the bench.


And all too quickly it was time to board the ferry to return to Cape Town. It would have been nice to have a bit more time to sit and let things sink in. Such history and so meaningful in terms of what the country is dealing with presently. And Marcia was very disappointed that we didn't have time to visit the penguin boardwalk.

After lunch we roamed the waterfront some and then drove to Long Street and The African Music Store. I had a list of recommendations from Caitlin and was only limitedly successful in finding things. Later I chatted with her a bit more to get a better sense of the style of the artists she suggested. Guess that means a return trip is in order. We'll see what our time allows. This time in two weeks we will be back in Virginia. I can't believe it!

Edward & Marcia

Gardens, Gardens, and more Gardens!

It is time for the annual open gardens in the area around Elgin. We had planned to go last weekend but the weather didn't cooperate. This weekend (Nov. 11/12) the rain has stopped and the ground has dried. The sun is trying to show its face through the clouds. The Elgin/Grabouw area is along the N2 southeast of Cape Town over Sir Lowry's Pass. This is an area packed with vineyards, orchards, gardens, nurseries, and roses everywhere. This year 21 gardens were open to the public for visits over the first two weekends in November. If there was an admission fee charged, at least part went to a designated charity.

With map in hand we drove what has become a familiar route, east from Cape Town on the N2. This takes you past Khayelitsha, one of the largest townships in Cape Town (there are over 700,000 residents) and from what we see it is hard to imagine that conditions could be much worse. There are areas where the shacks are being removed to make way for decent, more substantial housing. The immensity of this undertaking is so great, though, that it will be many years before the job is done. But it must be completed!

We get to Elgin and begin our search for the gardens we want to visit. Some we know won't be wheelchair friendly and others are not of great interest. We eventually find Keurbos Nursery Garden on Restanwold Farm. This garden is built around an indigenous plant core to which have been added what are described as 'interesting and unusual plants'. It is a nice mix of plants, many we know but a few that we have to ask about. The LRW is able to handle much of the garden but not all, and so Marcia has to sit and enjoy the sunshine while Edward explores some of the more challenging terrain. We enjoyed it nonetheless and Marcia added a few plants to her list of those of interest.

Here is a view of one of the many orchards we passed on our drive. Not sure if these are plums or apricots, but note how all the trees are espaliered. Row after row after row of such trees. And in other orchards the trees are pruned such that there is no central stem, just a bowl of large branches. Obviously labor intensive operations, but able to be done by an unskilled labor force that is large and not well paid.


We roam the countryside a bit more and then head back to the N2. There we find Peregrine Farm Stall where we have lunch and stock up on a few goodies for later. And we visit the highway branch of Keurbos Nursery where we find the newly-introduced Agapanthus variety, 'Double Diamond', a dwarf double white. We had talked about this with someone recently and we thought it might be Jenny. No matter, we bought one for her. Turns out it WAS Jenny and she was delighted to get it.

Next stop was Heaven Scent Garden on Barkai Farm. Had to really get out in the country for this one. This was a working cutflower garden with nursery. We tried LRW here but with no success. Time to get out the manual chair and give Edward a workout. We made our way with some effort and added a few more plants of interest to Marcia's list. The one at the top of her list here was the hybrid tea rose cultivar 'South Africa'. It was a wonderful golden apricot color with lots of substance. She deemed it stunning! Unfortunately, she has had no luck finding a source for it. But I suspect she will continue trying.

That was our Saturday. We headed home with the mountain in front of us and the sun in our eyes. I was a bit weary from all the pulling and pushing but both gardens were fun to visit and the area we drove through was truly beautiful. Certainly glad the weather allowed us to do this.
And here is one of the many Polygalas we have seen, both in the wild and in gardens. Some of these rate as stunning in MY book!


Having read about it in Country Life and then getting a strong recommendation from Jenny, we decided to visit the gardens at the Stellenberg estate on Sunday. This is actually located just down the road from us in the Kenilworth area. Yes, the same general area as the Race Course. But what a different world this was. This was an estate in every sense of the word. Stately buildings and grounds that were meticulously kept. Here is a picture of the main house. It just had an air of elegance about it! And there were at least 11 different garden areas, some formal and some more informal. Each was themed so as to provide a different mood. The picture below is of part of the Formal Garden. Very impressive!!
It was also the case as with the gardens yesterday that the admission fee was donated to a charity. In this case the charity was The Caring Network Trust in Khayelitsha. This group is involved in providing health care services in under-resourced communities. Last year's open days at Stellenberg raised 31,000 rand. A great way for the haves to give something to the have-nots.

Marcia found another plant of special interest. This was Thunbergia 'African Sunset'. Not sure if we will have any more success finding this one. The associated Stellenberg Nursery didn't have any currently available but the propagator assured Marcia that she had seedlings started which would be available later in the season.

And isn't the ladybird beetle cute!

Much to the amusement of a number of folks I had great fun trying to photograph the animals we saw. Here are two beauties!



Oh yeah, I forgot to say that this garden was even less wheelchair friendly than the ones we visited yesterday. That was even printed on one of the sheets used to advertise the event. Nonetheless we figured we could manage, in the manual chair of course!!!! We did get to most places but it was up and down steps, with many folks helping along the way, and through the grass and up and down the hills. My poor little body was ready for a rest when we were done. But it was worth it. These gardens were just incredible. And it is hard to imagine that this is one family's residence. Truly a different world from that in which most of us live.

On Sunday evening Marcia went with Jenny to the Evening Prayer at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Newlands, Jenny's church. She will have more to say about that in a later entry. But let me add that the result of this visit was that I had to go to St. Andrew's early Monday morning to take pictures of the church and the flowers. Marcia will explain more about that as well.

For now that about covers our garden weekend. Three very different gardens, each with something to offer. But I need to go back to work to let my muscles recover!

Edward (with notes from Marcia!)

Time to head back to Cape Town

No time for going anywhere before we start our last retreat day. Breakfast and then a full morning to put all of what has been discussed over the previous day and a half into a picture of where CREW wants to go in the coming years. It is very ambitious, with offices in more locations around the country and more activities being undertaken in each of these offices. Everybody seems pleased with the progress that has been made and with the good and the not so good things that have been identified. There has been real openness and willingness to deal with all issues. Everyone rates the retreat a success and feels this is a good foundation from which to build and move forward.

Though the discussion could have continued into the afternoon departure had to happen soon. Suvarna had a plane to catch in Cape Town around 6 PM and so lunch would have to be along the way. One change had to be made to the traveling grouops. Annelise and Caitlin swapped vehicles so that Annelise and Tilla could continue their discussions on the drive back. And once we rearranged the wheelchairs and luggage, my vehicle could stop along the way and not worry about meeting with Ismail in Cape Town. I would get the LRW from the back of the bakkie on Friday morning.

Caitlin, Wendy, Marcia, and I loaded outr things and departed from Nieuwoudtville. The passge over the pass was uneventful and our first stop was the succulent nursery (Kokerboom Kwekery) in Vanrhynsdorp. Easy to see why busloads of tourists stop. Bench after bench of plants, most small and very inexpensive. Makes it very easy to decide you want one of this one and one of that one and one of ...

Caitlin had great fun choosing the little beauties she wanted to take home. And one of her selections was a little kokerboom. Marcia even had to have one. It will be with us until we leave and then I will donate it to the CREW office.

Speaking of leaving, there has been another change in plans. This one was not of our doing. Marcia called KLM to see about our seats for the return flights. But there was a slight problem. Northwest had changed its flight schedules and so we really didn't have return flights at this time. The KLM representative said she would look into this and get back to Marcia with more information. It took about a day but we do now have flights to return home. Departure has been pushed back one day, to Dec. 4th, and we connect in Minneapolis not Detroit. No big deal just a short period of concern until things got sorted out.

After succulent shopping Wendy found a place to buy bread and we stopped at the local garage for another picnic lunch. Wendy, Caitlin, and I ate at the stand-up picnic table and Marcia had lunch in the car.

Then it was back on the N7 for the ride back to Cape Town. But first a brief stop to allow me to investigate this unusual area. The region of the Succulent Karoo around Vanrhynsdorp is known as the Knersvlakte. The name is Afrikaans and means grinding flats. But exactly why these terms came to be the name of this region is less clear. What is clear is the strange nature of this region. In addition to being very arid, rainfall being typically no more than 125 mm per year, the surface of the soil is covered with white quartz pebbles. The landscape appears blotchy white because of the presence of these pebbles. It is the grinding of these pebbles underfoot or by wagon wheels that may be the basis of the region's name. What is also clear is that this region is rich with succulents. Between those pebbles are numeorus species of small to very small succulents, some only a few leaves in size. And a species may be limited to a very small area, a patch or two of pebbles.

Here is a picture of the soil surface where we stopped. Can you find the succulent in this picture?

Now look at this picture. See what looks like a baby's bottom? That is one of the succulents, probably a species of Argyroderma. Note the structures at 3:00 and 6:00. These are fruits. The seeds would be splashed by raindrops, when it rained, and so dispersal is obviously very limited.

And look at all those pebbles!

Here are two different succulents, vygies, that were growing along the side of the road. Notice the bubbly surface of most parts of these plants, the glistening of the stems and leaves. The outer cells are swollen and filled with water. Another adaptation to deal with limited water. These are probably in the genus Mesembryanthemum.


Have to be impressed at all the ways plants have adapted to survive in these very arid environments. The fynbos has its beauty and specialness and so do all of different arid regions. Certainly makes me want to return in late winter/early spring to see these areas following the rains. But that will have to be in another visit.

The rest of the ride home was uneventful. Dropped Caitlin off at home and Wendy at her car at Kirstenbosch. Then home for us. Though too short this was a great trip. We got to see some very interesting areas of the Karoo and to share time with some terrific people. I hope they found my contributions useful and worth their efforts to bring me and Marcia along. My sincerest thanks to Tilla, Ismail, Caitlin, and Wendy for including us. And to Suvarna and Annelise for their warmth and wonderful friendliness. We really had a great time!

Edward