Cape Point: Local Colour

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I was down at the Point for sunrise this morning and, though the light was lousy, played with colours. More, with a panorama here and an HDR there — they're about 800 KB each, a few hours under the cliffs showed a point-and-click can do pretty much anything normally attributed to a digital SLR.

Not that that makes me feel any better ...

Although only 45 minutes' walk from the top, the caves are usually inaccessible. Do not try to visit them unaccompanied by a local or guide. In all likelihood, you'll find yourself caught between Dias Point, Cape Point and a rising tide, sheer cliffs at your back, and nowhere to hide. The sea is alarmingly powerful and often deadly.

Cape Point: Antoniesgat ...

I've spent much time at Antoniesgat; not because its history is still being written, revised and embellished, but because it's a remarkably beautiful, rugged, and isolated spot. Reached from the Rookrantz parking area (heading north) or Buffels Bay (heading south), it comprises the start of the orange and red sea cliffs leading to Da Gama Peak and Cape Point. Both approaches from the main path are marked as being dangerous, but knowledge of the area makes them less so.

The stories surrounding Antoniesgat originate in Dutch colonial history, eighteenth-century slavery, and the nearby Simon's Town Muslim community. In 2007, Martin Weltz's noseweek turned its investigative reportage to the War of the Red Kitaab.

"She was born Juleigha Anthony, a daughter of what she claims is the oldest Muslim family in Simon's Town. She says her granny used to tell a spook story involving a slave ancestor named Antonie, brought to Simon's Town in chains by the Dutch and locked in a dungeon. According to legend, Antonie escaped, stole a boat and sailed away to Cape Point, where he took refuge in a cave. The Dutch could never catch him, because he was a Sufi mystic who could make himself invisible. As a child, she was taken to his hideout, which the family called Antoniesgat. Powerful spirits seemed to lurk nearby ...”

"Circa 2001, Juleigha met Ebrahiem for the first time. Prior to this, Ebrahiem had never heard of Antonie, but he liked the story, especially the bit about escaping from Dreaded Slave Dungeons. He put two and two together and decided that Antonie and Prince Ismail of Sumbawa were probably the same person. His grounds for this are somewhat shaky. We do not know that Antonie really existed, and Prince Ismail is also shrouded in mystery. Ebrahiem says the oral history of Sumbawa mentions such a man but his name does not appear in the records of the Dutch East India Company, which is odd. The Dutch usually made quite a fuss of royal exiles, providing a stipend that enabled them to maintain a dignified lifestyle.

But Ebrahiem was not concerned about the lack of corroboration, because the oral histories of oppressed people are just as valid as records kept by imperialists, not so?"

more ...

 

No matter how intricately woven the colourful web of suppositions surrounding Antoniesgat may become, nothing can detract from its unspoilt natural beauty and isolation. In this last sense, it is indeed a "spiritual" place.

Beside the Point

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Do we need an introductory entry? I suppose, although the little 'about' block at top right just about sums it up, we do — if only to try out this template and figure out how to embed this, that, and the next thing. Mixing XML and HTML does not feature highly on the list of things being second nature to me.

OK, it's in the nature of the place, I guess. Cape Point Nature Reserve, that is. Most people visiting the reserve head straight to the south-western tip of Africa on the slightly claw-shaped headland hosting Cape Point, Dias Point, Cape Maclear, and the Cape of Good Hope. The rocky promontory giving the Cape of Storms its name and the reserve itself are synonymous. For many, there is little else to find there.

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Until you look about you. Cape Point then becomes a fascinating mix of oft-seen, infrequently visited, and generally obscure places of magic and wonder, most often wandered by locals in search of solitude. Through this blog, we'll visit all these spots — the known and lesser known, but at a different time and pace from that set by your average tour guide.

The typical guide, it seems to this usually shabbily dressed local frequently seen stomping through the crowds thronging the parking area, appears preoccupied with getting his charges to the toilets, giving them 30 minutes to head to the replica lighthouse atop Cape Point, and hustling them down to the Cape of Good Hope — there to have their photographs taken standing behind a sign demarcating the continent's south-westernmost piece of real estate.

That's after they've surveyed the walk up to the lighthouse; have consulted whatever it is they use to tell the time, and have settled for having their pictures taken alongside a sign proclaiming baboons to be dangerous — which they're not if treated with respect.

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Peter Slingsby's excellent map of Cape Point names each promontory and marks the spot under Dias Point on which the Iranian barge, the Shir Yib, came to rest in July 1970. More importantly, Slingsby points to the caverns under our point of focus, sea caves with which I became fascinated after taking my first photographs from the top close on three years ago. I've used a few shots of the Dias Point Cave to illustrate this entry.

Over three years, I've used two digital cameras; the Canon Powershot A520 and S3 IS. Today, they're decidedly "low end" and their capabilities are far beneath those of the cheapest SLR. Which lack of capability, it should be noted, says a lot for Cape Point. It knows no technical limitations and will offer any camera stunning shots at the squeeze of a button.

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Reached by way of a short walk from Dias beach on the western side, the caves, carved out of rock laid 450 million years ago, lie beneath occasionally richly vegetated, soaring sea cliffs and the replica lighthouse atop them. Because their access depends on a notoriously fickle swell, a denuded beach and the tide, Dias Point Cave offers a solitude far removed from the crowds surveying the south Atlantic from the headland above.

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Although you can visit the main cave only in the best conditions — and armed with local knowledge and a low tide, there are caves and aptly contorted rock formations further towards the point. Should you be unable to visit them, chill out in the main cave, which offers a window on to an ocean over which myriad seabirds circle, swoop and glide.

Although only 45 minutes' walk from the top, the caves are usually inaccessible. Do not try to visit them. In all likelihood, you'll find yourself caught between Dias Point and Cape Point with a rising tide facing you, sheer cliffs at your back, and nowhere to hide. The sea is alarmingly powerful and often deadly.

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The boom of the Shir Yib, a proud, triangular span of heavy steel just a year ago, is today a twisted mess of flattened metal forming a featureless tangle among the gigantic rocks littering what can be an extremely inhospitable and unforgiving shore.

Must Read Dias Point Cave by Sean Houghton and Bruce Stevens in Full Circle Magazine's December 2007 issue. As for Bruce's photographs ... Eish!