Clarens is a wacky wacky place. And I’m not just saying that after three double espressos. I want it back!
We arrived after midnight and hadn’t had anything to eat but dried peaches so after running into every half-open (positive thinking still) restaurant and being turned down with statements like, ‘Sorry our kitchen are closed,’ ‘Sorry you’re too late,’ ‘Sorry you’re just going to have to starve,’ we finally found one little place called Friends – how fitting. The meal had too much tomato hiding the pretty green vegetables but, alas, food is food.
We – travel partner and I – then headed to the Old Mill Drift. LOVELY! It’s a great farm, as unbelievable as they come, on the border of Lesotho. There’s an old mill there that the Basotho have used for years – ok, it doesn’t work anymore but there’s a new mill, and a shop that many people from Lesotho come down to visit – they simply cross a little bridge running over the Caledon River that is the border and stock up on supplies. It’s great to mingle with the people; even if we can’t speak each other’s languages, everyone understands soccer and music. Spent two nights here; thunderstorms loomed and spat like caged snakes above.
Next we hopped in a hot air balloon – AMAZING! I wanted to jump out the whole time, not from fear, but sheer excitement and the belief that I could fly if I tried. – I blame Richard Bach. We cruised over green green hills and one larrrge cave up, up and away over Clarens. Then when we touched down on terrafirma I made sure to run wild inside the balloon as its roof rose and sank, rose and sank.
Met a sangoma along the road to Fertility Cave – followed the turn off to Surrender Hill, to the end of the dirt road where you come to a farm. There he was, dressed in bright red, with beads and a Manchester United lanyard! He took us to the cave – the biggest overhang in the Southern Hemisphere – which blew my mind. It’s massive with several people living inside it in little huts built under the overhang. Chatted to the other sangomas inhabiting it – about plants, ancestors, cities, spirits and more – enlightening I tell you! Head there now!
Clarens is magical – so if you’re looking for magic in your life, go!
