Betty's Bay

Things don't come much better than this! I've only been out here a little over 24 hours and already a sense of place and peace has descended. But, I won't bore you with all that emotional stuff! Veronica only arrives on Monday, so this is like an old-fashioned retreat. Just a few days of solitude, for me to consider the essence of things, before re-entering the frantic whorl of modern existence.

I am in timeless Betty's Bay; staring out at an ocean just below the house which stretches all the way to Antarctica. The sea today is a curious pewter colour, so typical of the black South Easters, well known in these parts. Later today I will be going into Cape Town to attend a public meeting on another symbolically vital issue. A major oil company (one I used to work for) is planning to drill for "tight gas", methane constrained in the ancient rocks of the Karroo. They are having the meeting to "consult" with affected persons. They are of course sincere, but it won't seem like that to all the farmers from the Karroo who revere their land in a way which few city people can appreciate and who have a sense that extraction of resource is a crime against the Earth, especially as there is no prospect of compensation. The Government owns the mineral rights and, especially in South Africa, could not be more distant from the interests of these traditional farming communities. Will the oil company be its normal arrogant self, or will it really be listening? I will be so interested to find out.

First though, a quick walk along the waterfront in Kleinmond. I didn't know this path existed. I had previously walked along the residential street on the waterfront, which was uninspiring. This path was a revelation! It has been lovingly constructed by people who love nature and who have the available resource. I snapped a few pictures along the way that convey something of the contradictions that are always so apparent in this peculiar part of Africa.

But before we get serious, for those of you with a few miles on the clock, I snapped this as I set out! Is this not Andy Capp? He seems astounded that anyone should be walking for pleasure and as I climbed the first hill, I thought he had a point....  The rock formations are amazing. Years of erosion by sea, wind and sand on exceptionally hard sandstone. Shapes everywhere.

But this remains a very strange society. The people who built this beautiful path understand nature at a fundamental level. Perhaps they don't always understand their place in it? This magnificent path has been constructed by people who love the Fijnbos (Western Cape flora) and love the coast. They are also people who love the sea, but they see no contradiction in using low-cost labour to improve it for the enjoyment of  the odd visitor such as myself.

To my amazement, I saw no other person during the entire duration of the walk except for these two fellows, both of whom were immensely friendly. The first was using a strimmer to remove leaves from the edges of this wild path through the coastal vegetation and the second was using a rather temperamental blower to scatter the debris of the strimming back into the Fijnbos. Incredible! No doubt, on high days and holidays, there would be more people around, but the economics of the operation do not bear scrutiny, no matter how cheap the labour. Though, of course, without this life-line, these two individuals would have absolutely nothing, and would probably have to resort to crime.... Maybe there is a logic, after all. Who am I to judge?

The path is just amazing!  There are bridges over every little stream and the most exquisite flora along the way.

Every now and then, though, one can’t avoid coming up for air! This is the view away from the coast at the high points. Like many developing countries, there is a stark contrast between the natural environment and the architectural atrocities of man. These utilitarian human warehouses owe nothing to any architectural tradition. They have in common nothing other than a desire to avail their residents with a view of nature at its pristine best. It is a matter of intense speculation for me to consider a society which evidently so respects the natural environment, but seems completely incapable of transferring that aesthetic to their own built environment. Do they just not see it? Or is it just a matter of simple economics? “ I would prefer to live in a comfortable abomination so that I can at least look out on sheer beauty”.  And, lacking the conservative strictures of an established community, there is nothing in the body politic which can interfere with these frontier rights. It is the same logic that ultimately projects the strip logic of American development. The difference is that this happens in Paradise, and it is an affront to human nature…

OK. So having got that off my chest, I feel the need to lighten up!

Off to Cape Town for the oil company public meeting. Such a chore along this coast! The temperatures were interesting. In cloudy Betty’s Bay, the temperature was a pleasant 21deg C. By the time I had crossed the pass to False Bay, it had risen to 34deg C, all in the space of 10 miles. The reason is that the howling South Easter had forced the air over the steep mountains, which then warmed as it descended back to sea level. Some of these shots show the condensed vapour at the tops of the mountains as the cold air descends to its dewpoint.  A Science lesson in spectacular Technicolor.  I was exhilarated beyond excitement, so much so that I had to stop along the way to take these pictures and I was almost late for the meeting!

The meeting turned out much as I expected. The representatives were earnest, professional and blinkered. They had little understanding of their audience, despite all the right words. It is a complicated country. No-one is completely honest.  Motives are carefully concealed. I didn't hear the word NIMBY all evening, despite the fact that that is what everyone was thinking. It is also clear that the professionals are just incapable of understanding the connection of the farmers to an array of arid rocks and the life forms it supports.

Once, when I was young, I had a girl-friend from those parts. She had an uncle who owned the most profound collection of fossils from the Karroo. It was his life's work and a collection of immense scientific and aesthetic value. He had made himself an expert in the science and welcomed many international authorities to the museum he maintained on his farm. When he spoke of these things, he spoke with an authority that connected him viscerally to the land. He saw himself as the custodian of an ancient and vitally important resource for mankind. His view of modern business could not have been more dismissive.

Yet these professionals wouldn't even have recognised him. To them, he would have been a conservative amateur, a representative of a discredited, racist aristocracy with no more title to the resources on his land than any other person. They would have totally misunderstood his commitment to the people on his farm and his traditional sense of noblesse oblige towards their welfare.

This is a clash of cultures and the tragedy is that both sides are pretending that they have every intention of understanding the other side's argument. But they have no such intention. They are riveted to their own point of view.

And so the authorities will decide. The farmers feel very strongly disenfranchised in this discussion. The bureaucrats in Pretoria are as far removed from these issues as it is possible to be. They have their own pressures and objectives, not the least of which are the macro-economic issues that press on a country short of energy resources. They are unlikely to understand the timeless concerns of the Karroo farmers.

The tragedy is that after all the struggles, there is unlikely to be any gas. The oil company itself is desperate. It is looking in ever more remote areas for ever-decreasing and ever more risky sources of energy, because the easy energy is controlled by governments who are increasingly antagonistic to international oil companies. They are spurred by their own investors and they have almost no choice.

Even if they understood the farmers, which they don't, their behaviour wouldn't change....