I was in South Africa last week visiting Cassandra’s family. Because there’s only so much to do in Kimberley (yes, I’ve seen the Big Hole), we decided to take a road trip to see some new scenery. I had been looking at the map of South Africa and noticed that Lesotho, the small nation enclave surrounded entirely by South Africa, was fairly close. Cassandra’s dad suggested that we drive to Clarens to get a good view of the Maluti Mountains.
Clarens was a pleasant surprise. It kinda reminded me of little towns I’d been to in Northern California (especially Calistoga) — quaint, quiet, clean, and safe. The town is situated around one or two main streets and a small square, with cute restaurants, pubs, antique shops, and bed and breakfasts dotted along the way.
We arrived at around five o’clock so we still had a good hour or two of sun. We spent a few minutes searching for a suitable bed and breakfast, and then we went to scope out the town and check out possible dinner joints. You can see the mountains from almost anywhere in Clarens…
Other than the beauty of Clarens and its environs, a few other things stood out to me as being different than what I had experienced in other parts of South Africa I’ve visited:
- I heard very little Afrikaans being spoken (and not one printed sign that I can remember).
- I didn’t see any electric fences, high walls, or crushed glass around any homes.
- While I did see police officers, I didn’t see any private security guards. I’m used to seeing private security like G4S everywhere in East Africa!
If you ever get a chance to go to Clarens I’d highly recommend it. Here are a few more pictures:
Nice pics mate! looks like you had a great time exploring around South Africa. No green robots around eh ? :)
No green robots… but I did take those pictures on a Samsung Galaxy S on Ice Cream Sandwich beta! ;)
Actually, there were green robots, red robots and occasionally orange ones ;)
‘robot, robots – besides the standard meaning, in South Africa this is also used for traffic lights. The etymology of the word derives from a description of early traffic lights as robot policemen, which then got truncated with time.’
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_African_English_regionalisms
It was a really cute little town, totally worth a visit!
You look like you have a faux hawk in the photo of you in Clarens! Nice look.
Receding hair line… crap!
The name Clarens reminds me of the bar where Barney, Ted, Marshall and Lily hang out….nice place. Looks exquisite.
Alan! you were so close to my ‘hood! Clarens is super cute. And it’s true, the Afrikaans didn’t get into Lesotho/surrounding area too much, I think because King Moshoeshoe I threw rocks at them a hundred years ago, or something. You should visit Lesotho sometime! I can give you the info of some awesome people to stay with :)
you sure look different with short hair… Hope yo had a memorable time.