Field notes
On a process chart, D is a delay. These are the good kind: mostly the Wild Coast and the Western Cape. Long walks, cold water, and no laptop.
Pondoland, Transkei ·
One of seven waterfalls on earth that fall straight into the sea.
The Wild Coast of Pondoland is raw and almost entirely untouched, which is exactly why it stays off the tourist trail. Getting to the bluff means a long hike through rolling green hills and Xhosa villages with no road at the end of it. You hear the water before you see it. Standing at the edge watching fresh water drop directly into the Indian Ocean is the moment the walk pays for itself.
Oudekraal, Cape Town ·
Kelp forests, cold water, and Lion's Head over your shoulder.
There is no better way to meet Cape Town than from the water. You launch at Oudekraal with Lion's Head watching over you and the Atlantic opening up ahead. The kelp forests underneath are dense with life, and on a good day there are seals playing in the swell and the occasional sunfish drifting past. The best adventures are often the ones twenty minutes from home, waiting on a calm morning.
California, USA ·
Some places earn the crowds they draw.
A work trip to the US left me a weekend, and I spent it in Yosemite. I usually go looking for the quiet places nobody has written about, so I expected to be underwhelmed. I was not. Half Dome rising clean out of the valley floor, waterfalls coming off granite walls, sequoias that were already old when Cape Town was founded. A few places genuinely deserve their reputation and this is one of them.