The
shortest distance between two points is not always the quickest. But it’s
BEAUTIFUL!
So, Roy and
I woke up early this morning and decided to leave Knysna and head to Lesotho which
is a small country in the heart of SA. We looked at the map and decided that we
would take the back roads since it would be more interesting and actually
should be a faster path from point a to b.
The road
started out bumpy, I mean literally bumpy. But that’s not unusual when you
travel in Africa. Surely, the road will improve and if it doesn’t… no big deal
it should be a short ride maybe 20 to 30 minutes.
About 45
minutes into our drive, we stumbled across a park that boasted of a 650-year-old
large tree. We decided to check it out since it was right off the road. When we
pulled up to the entrance, we were a little surprised that there was no one
there and all we had to do is fill out a slip of paper and we could enter free.
We found the tree just a short drive into the park and it was amazing! We left the
park and tree very happy and thus far our morning had proved to be very
fruitful. We actually felt sorry for the average travelers… they miss so much.
As we drove
down the road, all I could keep saying to Roy was how absolutely beautiful
everything was. The trees were beautiful, the thousands of ferns lining the
road were beautiful and even the little dirt road was cute. At one point we stopped
to take pictures when we reached new heights and became one with the clouds.
As we
pressed on, it wasn’t long before we were inching our way through the mountains
winding up and then down on the narrow road often looking hundreds of feet down
with no guard rails.
Surprisingly,
we had been driving on the dirt road for about an hour and remarkably we hadn’t
even passed another car. Oh well, I guess this road is a well-kept secret.
Suddenly,
the road became a ONE lane dirt road. We surmised that we were almost to the paved
highway.
As we
traveled up another mountain and down another pass all I keep saying was how
beautiful everything is. I told Roy he should look, and he said rather testy “honey
if I take my eyes off the road we’ll probably die”! Okay, sorry I just thought…
Now we are one
and a half hour in, and the road is almost impassable. But what can we do? If we
turn back, it’s another one and half hours back. We reassure ourselves that we
are getting close to being out of the mountains.
Although
I’m thankful there are no cars, I am now starting to wonder why no one else is
on this road. So, we keep moving on and by now my heart's pounding and Roy is
white knuckled as we continue winding through the mountains.
Then I
realize no one even knows where we are! I imagine our little car flying over
the cliff disappearing forever never to be found.
Two hours in
and Roy said, “if you say beautiful one more time you have to walk”. OUCH!
Suddenly, the beautiful mountains are getting uglier by the minute. I want out!
The only
living thing we have encountered is a family of baboons and even they looked
surprised to see us. Roy said reassuringly that this has to end soon or was he
just praying out loud?
Two and a
half hours… is that rain? Please no rain! I tell Roy go slow don’t look over
the cliff you’ll get sick, really, I mean it don’t look it’s really bad.
Three hours
in OMG not another bleeping
mountain. I am now convinced we are in hell. In fact, I’m sure of it. The we
saw it… a two-lane blacktop road in the distance. We’re out of the clutches of
the mountains and free at last!
As we
traveled down the black top road feeling confident that we would live, we
laughed about how fun traveling the back roads can be. It can be BEAUTIFUL! Thank
God for short memories!
 |
| BABOONS!! |
