Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Stanley - Thursday

Like everyone I know, I'm sick and tired of the pandemic, the trauma it's brought to so many families, and the idiocy it has encouraged to surface. So I decided to push back and show how life is going on near the source of the damned omicron variant - Cape Town. My blog for today was going to be about one iconic Cape Town tourist attraction, namely paragliding from Signal Hill over the houses and apartment buildings of Sea Point onto the beautiful Esplanade along Table Bay.

I was up at 0600, then, coffee cup in hand, headed to the launch point high above the Sea Point buildings.  A beautiful day: 20C (about 70F), barely a cloud in the sky, and a gorgeous drive below the striking Lion's Head mountain that soars over 650 metres (2100 feet) above the city. A perfect day for the adventure of a lifetime - not that I was going to parasail, rather I was going to watch others do it and relish the fact that life was returning to normal.

The drive from my flat to the launch point

Three of the Twelve Apostles, which line up behind Table Mountain

At the top of the Kloof Road forest, I popped into the sun with Table Mountain looming nearly 1100 metres (3600 feet) in front of me.

Table Mountain with Devil's Peak to the left.

I continued driving below Lion's Head until I reached the launch point. Spectacular views!

Lion's Head

Table Mountain National Park motto

I wandered over to the launching area, a specially-prepared permanent runway for paragliders.

The rather daunting view down. Gliders fly over these buildings and land on that thin strip of grass on the other side. Wet if you go too far; not good if you land short.

I was ready! 

However, I was surprised that there were only a few glider operators sitting under the trees, with a few anxious first-timers nervously chatting to each other. Then I looked up and saw the windsock.

The wind was from the wrong direction - southwest instead of west or northwest. That meant there was a tailwind, which makes it impossible to lift the wing before take-off. No wonder everyone was sitting down. Waiting for the wind to shift. 

After an hour and a half, I decided it was time to leave. So I did and went for a walk in the beautiful Greenpoint Park with its banks of blue agapanthus plants.

So, I will return to the launch point to chronicle the famous Cape Town paragliding when the wind is favourable. Meantime I'll enjoy seeing life slowly returning to some semblance of normality.

Bad news and good news from Cape Town

What a week it has been!

Like Southern California, the area around Cape Town has a Mediterranean climate - wet winters and dry summers.

This week the huge Table Mountain National Park (25,000 hectares), which is surrounded by the city of Cape Town, caught fire.  Fanned by an extremely strong south-easter, the fire spread rapidly, threatening homes and communities.  Three retirement homes in Noordhoek were evacuated in the early hours of the morning, as half a dozen homes in the area were burnt to the ground, as well as a 5-Star hotel sitting on the water's edge in Hout Bay..

One of the retired women commented to a reporter that she hadn't had as much excitement in years!

To compound the problem, persistent winds combined with the hottest day on record for Cap Town (40 degrees C - 104 degrees F).

Firefighters had to walk to many of the fire due to the mountainous nature of the area.  And as you can imagine, there are hundreds of them trying to contain the blaze, plus water-bombing helicopters and planes.

As of Wednesday evening, fires were still raging in many areas, and a new one had started in the Cape Point area.

This area is by far the smallest of the earth's six floral kingdoms (about a third the size of the UK) and is the only one contained within one continent.  Fortunately the 8000+ species of plant thrive when there are fires like this.  However, the animals don't, and the kill rate has been very high.

Of course, the best way to convey what is happening is to show you.

300-year-old Tokai Manor is threatened.

A bakkie (pick-up) full of ice for the firefighters

A small tortoise rescued

A large one perishes

Rescuing a baby squirrel

One of the many who put their lives on the line

The good news:

After Caro's sad tale last Friday about Mikaeel Kular, I have a happy one.

Seventeen years ago, on April 28, 1997, Celeste Nurse gave birth to a daughter at the famous Groote Schuur hospital (of Christiaan Barnard fame).  She and her husband gave the little girl the name Zephany.

When Celeste awoke after being heavily medicated for a Caearean section, the little girl had disappeared - abducted by someone unknown.

One cannot imagine the grief that the family felt.

Later the Nurse family had three more children, the eldest being Cassidy.  But Zephany's family never gave up hope and celebrated her birthday every year.

At the beginning of this year, 15-year old Cassidy befriended a new girl at the school she attended, and they started hanging out together.  The friendship blossomed as they found they shared similar tastes in almost everything - music, clothes, boys, etc.

Other pupils at the school started commenting on the two, saying how much alike they looked.  Cassidy's father heard of this and decided to take a look himself. One day he joined them for lunch at at a local fast-food joint, and was also struck by the resemblance.  The girl also had a birthday exactly the same as Zephany's.

He decided to alert an investigator and the police.  Before doing anything, they checked on the DNA and, when it matched, took Zephany (not her name for the past 17 years) from the woman who had abducted her.

Zephany

Now begins the slow, difficult, and complicated process of integrating her into her biological family.

But, nevertheless, a very happy ending.

Stan - Thursday