Gansbaai Sharks | Travellinglight

The shewee arrived with an hour to spare before we left for Heathrow. Strange to think that this might save my life. I’ve read that lions think a zipped up tent is an impenetrable wall, and I don’t want to shatter that illusion by clambering out in the night for a pee. Short of catheterising myself every night the shewe it is.

Here it is. Disgusting, yet liberating. I could have a wee at the side of a road if I wanted to. Must remember to use it the right way up, unlike friend Margaret.

We are hiring a 4 by 4 with a tent on top to cross Namibia in a few weeks time. We are doing this purely on the basis that my sister told us “everyone does it,” although she didn’t camp, and no-one we’ve met who’s been to Namibia has either. She did have three small children with her and although I am sure the prospect of one of them being snatched by a baboon might have seemed attractive at times, I can see why camping might not appeal. I hoped that Namibia being mostly desert might confine the lions to the parks where there is water, but they have adapted. Baboons know how to get through locked doors and form raiding parties, so I can’t imagine they’ll find zips very taxing. If the lions and baboons are in cahoots, we’re in trouble.

We are now in Cape Town. My mind is completely distracted from the last few days of hopping on and off a tourist bus and whale watching as we are swimming with sharks today. Clive keeps emitting little yelps of excitement and yips of joy, to a background of a quiet keening sound, like the wind currently whistling across our balcony, which is me. Why why why did I say I wanted to do it when my inner psyche is screaming with fear? Well, my outer psyche got the memo too late. There is a shallow fish filled corridor of sea around Dyer Island which is very popular with sharks.

The sea off L’Agulhas, where two oceans meet. (Atlantic and Indian).

It’s near Gansbaai, on the way down towards L’Agulhas, the southern most tip of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans merge. The two oceans are around 5 degrees difference in temperature, affecting the wind, clouds and precipitation as well as bringing nutrient rich eddie’s of cold water up from the deep, attracting all manner of wildlife.