The stark and rugged beauty of Africa’s deserted southern coastline

Welcome to another edition of “The Shape of The Cape” with your tour guide Julescape. On today’s stretch of coastline here on the south Cape coast of Africa, you can really get the impression of being in the middle of nowhere, which is somewhere far from the madding crowd. There are no indicators anywhere around to suggest where we might be or which direction to take. The setting consists purely of rock and ocean as far as the eye can see.

Since I know where we are and have a fixed direction, it’s easy for me to continue onward. Nevertheless, the terrain seems wild and desolate. Fortunately the sea is calm today, and with the tide somewhat lower, I was able to investigate the interesting little shallow rock pools that formed among the chunks of giant boulders.

The combination of thick low hanging cloud and equally steel grey vast Indian ocean really conjured up a sense of the true remoteness and emptiness of this particular stretch of coastline. It’s interesting how a setting can simultaneously look so full and yet so empty. Perhaps my solitary explorations are causing my mind to lose touch with the normal everyday existence of humanity.

By hiking alone for days on end through this austere beauty of the African southern coastline, I seem to have stumbled across a timeless terrain that could be anywhere on the planet, or even on another planet altogether. My mind must be playing tricks on me. Fortunately in places I can still look up and see the dark olive green vegetation that is predominant throughout the southern African coastline and remember which continent I’m on.

But when I focus on my close-up immediate terrain, I only see a combination of rough and smooth rock formations, rocks and boulders big and small and all sizes in between. Fortunately the sea has weathered and rounded or softened the edges of most of the rocky landscape all about me. Still, it looks somewhat harsh and hard.

For a start there is no dirt, soil or sea sand anywhere in sight. Imagine a coastline or shore with no sand at all, only rock or stones. There is nowhere where one could lay down a blanket or sleeping bag to rest or sleep overnight. It’s all steep slopes or bumpy rocks. If I wanted to camp here in a cave or alcove overnight, I would have to make some sort of serious attempt to arrange a level and soft floor on which to lie.

Other than that, a wandering nomad could perhaps forage for food by collecting some small shell creatures or snails that cling to the rocks in the little pools dotted all over. Hundreds of years ago the wondering indigenous tribal people called the Khoi/San Bushmen would have roamed these shores freely, perhaps finding fresh water at a stream or collecting edible shells and snail-like sea creatures that are so prolific here.

With the sky so overcast, the entire scene has become muted and subdued. The colors are a variety of grey, of which there are countless hues. Even the rock is a dull matt brown or grey in places and glossy grey where the sea has splashed them. This muted backdrop makes any random dash of color quite unique and out of the ordinary. Curiously the general rock formations sometimes present a patch of color where some mineral content tinges the rock red.

Other than that, the smoothed and rounded rocks along the actual shoreline that makes up a stretch of occasional beach seem to have been bleached white by the continual wave action washing over them with time. You could say that the place has a kind of austere beauty about it, like a desert perhaps.

The vast ocean stretches into the distance for miles as far as the eye can see, and not a drop of it is drinkable. The rock is hard and bare, though the little sea shells act like sources of food, so the setting is not totally barren. One could indeed survive here for a time. You would just need to have some sort of bedding to cover the rocky floor. Otherwise sleep would be really difficult, despite the occasional cave or overhanging shelter.

Despite the apparent desolate feel to the place and the somewhat stark and uncomfortable setting, I have grown very fond of this stretch of Africa coastline, called the Garden Route. As with most shorelines here, it looks really pure and clean, untainted by any form of human intervention. There is barely any sign of litter or pollution in this bay, although occasionally I have encountered some plastic items that wash up on to the shore in other little bays.

Here the setting is generally smoothed and rounded by the sea erosion on the rock, and it’s clean and refreshing. Thus despite the muted colors and hard austere surface of today’s stretch of the southern African coastline, I can’t help but remain impressed by the overall scene. Surrounding myself with this landscape actually feels like it purifies my mind.

The absence of human signs and the purity of the natural environment creates a purifying effect overall for the observer. And in today’s world that alone is refreshing and inspiring, like a zen garden that stretches for miles in all directions. So if you’re looking for a place to calm the mind and reconnect with the peace and tranquility of nature, then you will be inspired by the austere beauty of this stretch of the southern African shoreline, called Plettenberg Bay, in the Garden Route, South Africa.

(photos my own)

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