Along the southern coast of South Africa, traffic signal lights (called “robots”) are frequently put out of service by the country’s inadequate power grid that requires “load shedding”: almost daily, usually two- to three-hour periods when electrical power is reduced or eliminated for wide swatches of the country.
Nevertheless, I was about to prepare a posting describing the extraordinarily fine South African highway system. . .until we encountered R102 east of Plettenberg Bay on the country’s southern coast.
Until then, the pavement was smooth, the markings clear, and the traffic signs unambiguous. The city names could be easily pronounced if you are Dutch.
But, when we decided to take the scenic route rather than the N2 toll road to view what is supposed to be some of the world’s best bungee jumping, the R102 narrowed (without warning in the direction we were traveling) into an unmaintained, rock strewn, foliage encroaching mountain pass. We encountered not a single vehicle of on-coming traffic traffic, probably due to the “road closed” sign at the other end of the pass.
We reconnected to the N2 for two dozen miles until our guide book directed us to exit for our overnight accommodations at the Oyster Bay Lodge located in a protected dune and bird sanctuary along the Indian Ocean. The tourist book said the trip from the N2 to the lodge was “somewhat difficult,” but our maps and highway signs indicated this was a connector to the R102, which is the equivalent of a state highway in the US; so how difficult could that be?
What we discovered was 20 miles of axle-shuddering rock, rutted and wash board road. And what I discovered once again was the risk of judging too much of South Africa on the basis of too little information: South Africa’s roads are not all as good as the first impression.
I do not criticize South Africa for this and its other unpaved roads. The world has too much pavement already. And some people in South Africa, (bless that country’s conflicted heart) are doing their darnedest to set aside land for the protection of plant and animal species and education of the human species: national parks and marine reserves managed by the national government, public nature reserves managed by provincial and local governments, and abundant nature and game reserves managed by private landowners, most of whom were born in other countries but have adopted South Africa’s charm and accepted its challenges as their own.
Still, the World Bank reports that in 2018 less than 8% of land surface and 12% of water ways in South Africa enjoyed protected status (about half the still pitiful percentages of the USA). So in this, as in so many other ways, South Africa has a very rough and long road yet to travel.
JER
ALL OVER THE MAP 