Travel
Round South Africa
[We publish on this page articles and They are written by correspondents who of the Travel articles published in our
notes which may help our readers in their plans for travel at home and abroad have visited the places described. We shall be glad to answer questions arising ou• columns. Inquiries should be addressed to the Travel Manager, The SPECTATOR, 99 Gower. Street, W.C.1.] THE other morning before it was light I heard, through my open bedroom window, the now familiar sound of the milk cart-the crunching of the wheels on the gravel and stones, the clatter of the glass bottles. At that moment it was the only sound in all London, and it has always seemed to me a friendly greeting, for I am a veld dweller, accustomed to waking with the dawn and waiting in that intense silence that always precedes the dawn for the first faint sound that heralds the day. Here it is the milk cart. Out in the veld it is a bird's note, the rustle of a leaf, the tinkle of a stream, the call of a partridge. And as I looked out of my window later and saw fog and drizzling rain I thought of that land in which I have made my home, not much more than a fortnight away from London. And in my mind's eye I saw the clear dawn followed by gorgeous colours tinting stupendous views. The next day I booked my passage out to South Africa. And looking around me at the millions of people in this seething city I could not help wishing that some of them could have the joy that I knew was to be mine in a few weeks' time. What a glorious land and what a mighty programme of sightseeing for them !
The sea trip itself is one of the finest holidays you can find ; a holiday of blue seas and bright sunshine and luxurious travelling, touching en route either at Madeira or Teneriffe or Las Palmas or St. Helena, just to remind one that in this heavenly holiday one is really still on the earth
Then Table Mountain emerging from the dawn-as grand and as impressive a sight as there is in all South Africa-that wonderful flat-topped mountain, mighty and mysterious and full of depth and colour and beauty, so typical of the land beyond, the thousand odd miles ahead through which you are to journey. But one day Capetown will be as famous for its magnificent Marine Drive as it is to-day for its glorious Table Mountain, that hundred-mile drive along the edge of two oceans-the Indian on one side, the Atlantic on the other- and which for scenic grandeur is said by many travellers to be the finest marine drive in the world. And looking out here in London at the fog and drizzle and the multitude of people, I wish they could just be transported quickly to the sands at Muizenburg to enjoy the best surfing and bathing in all South Africa. Capetown ! You will want to spend a month once you get there-so much to see, old historical places, beautiful suburbs, exquisite drives, Rhodes' famous Groot Schuur, the Kirstenhosch Gardens, Cape Point, Chapmans Peak and that wonderful spot on the cliff beside the Marine Drive where, no matter how far out you throw a stone it comes back and hits the face of the cliff before it reaches the sea. You who can afford the £50-or £200-for the voyage, spread out a map of South Africa on your table and come with me for-no idle, thoughtless remark this-for one of the most fascinating and most varied holidays in the world. Let me tell you that the trains on the main line-the Trains de Luxe-are the last word in comfort. Hot and cold water in every compartment ; all-night service ; boots cleaned ' • suits pressed : it is not a train ; it is a travelling hotel. Look on that map and see the enormous country and picture it all in bright white sunshine, for it is always sunshine in South Africa-a land of gorgeous colours. There is that marvel of engineering, the Hex River Pass, where the train twists and turns through mighty mountains ; the wonder city of Johannesburg with its gold mines and clean, crisp air 6,000 feet above sea-level ; the magnificent Union Buildings at Pretoria and Paul Kruger's cottage • the diamond mines at Kimberley, where is to be seen the largest hole in the world, the neat and well-run town of Bloemfontein on the way to Durban, that sparkling gem by the sea reached by way of the Van Reenen Pass at the top of which one sees a mighty panorama of deep valleys and towering mountains, the quaint native villages ; and, for a contrast, go from this modern up-to-date city and dip into Zululand. Go to the Mont Aux Sources, that wonder of South Africa where, in the heart of the Drakensberg Mountains three rivers have their source ; and see the beautiful Falls near Pietermaritzburg and the famous Spion Kop and Majuba. Good cars and reasonable hotels are to be found everywhere, and I would strongly urge you to go a little off the usual beaten track, hire a car and get down to Port St. Johns by way of the Native Territories. Go to the fascinating hot springs at Aliwal North, the Cango Caves, George, Knysna and The Wilderness (these three places are on what is known as the Garden Route) where at some parts of the road one is looking down on to the tops of trees 200 feet or more in height, and where for a hundred _miles one sees a coast line and scenery of superb beauty. But how can one tell of all the charms and joys and fascination of a vast continent like South Africa on one page ? One thing I promise you after you have visited it :- " You can wander the world and see it all, Visiting all the haunts of men,
But wherever you go you'll hear the call
Of the veld, which is calling you back again."
LEONARD FLEMMING.
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