Trip of a lifetime

Twillingate -

"Everything was so beautiful because everything was so different."

Bessie Stuckless, an 80-year-old resident of Twillingate at the time, was commenting on a special trip that she had made to South Africa in late winter of this year with Dr. Georgina Chaulker, a longtime family friend. Although they had left home in winter (Feb. 20) and returned again to winter conditions (March 10), the South African visit was during late summer with temperatures ranging usually from 25 to 35 degrees Celsius.

"That was difficult to handle," said Ms. Stuckless. "To help combat such conditions we just had to wear hats at all times when we were outside."

But those temperatures weren't going to deter Ms. Stuckless from a dream that she has always held if and when she visited South Africa. She had heard so much, especially as a young school girl, about the Cape of Good Hope that she was determined to get a good view of the Cape if at all possible. The actual viewing was not a novelty, however, because she had always had the opportunity of looking out over an ocean, but this was the Cape of Good Hope, a geographic location that meant so much to early sea travelers in their attempts to travel around the southern tip of Africa especially to establish a more direct trading route between Europe and the Far East.

Ms. Stuckless explained that the Cape itself was simply a rocky headland that now forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, but more meaningfully, it was a site that is steeped in history and myth. Noted as the mystical meeting place of two oceans - the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic - it was for a considerable time known as the Cape of Storms. And history records the tragic ending of many a ship attempting to round the Cape, but there are also recorded many myths including the oft told tale of the Flying Dutchman, a story that has many variations but each one filled with mystique and fantasy. At the centre of those tales is the ghost ship of the Dutch East India Company later always referred to as The Flying Dutchman under the command of the infamous Captain Hendrik van der Decken that some still report seeing at times as it is doomed to continue its effort to fight the storms but never to succeed in its mission.

To access the viewing area, explained Ms. Stuckless, tourists have a choice of either travelling up to the site by a special conveyance or take the steps provided.

"There were some 120 steps to climb," reported Ms. Stuckless, "but I was determined even before I saw them that this was the way I was going regardless of temperature. And I was the only one in our party of six to do so. I suppose the others were all too old," she suggested with a chuckle.

Their group, by arrangement through a travel bureau in Toronto, consisted of a couple from Alberta, another couple from Ontario, Dr. Chaulker and Ms. Stuckless. As a guide for their complete tour throughout the whole visit, she said, was a young man of about 21 years of age who was exceptionally informed on all aspects of the trip. In addition, he was quite talented, she recalled, for during their visit to the Cango Caves he treated them with a solo chosen from his operatic training.

The solo came while they were visiting one of the larger chambers of the Caves that is often used for recitals. It was in a chamber featuring an especially majestic stalactite formation called the "Organ" for its uncanny resemblance. This particular cave, noted Ms. Stuckless, was remarkably huge (about the size of a football field) and the main one for tourists. However, it was but one of many chambers and tunnels that make up the system carved by nature in limestone, a labyrinth that travels underground for over four miles in length (with only about one-quarter open to the public for fear of damage that may be caused to the colours in the limestone by the people's breathing).

"That young man was unbelievable," said Ms. Stuckless. "He was the nicest guide that you would ever wish to have. And what a voice!"

How about the different foods that they had encountered?

"We went with the menu wherever we ate," explained Ms. Stuckless. "We tried everything and there was nothing we didn't like. And as for hotdogs and hamburgers - we didn't see a single one."

All their travel was by a seven-passenger van, with individuals in the group taking turns riding in the front passenger seat so as each could get a better view. Among the other sites visited were Kruger National Park, a wildlife sanctuary "like no other" according to literature provided. It was here that the group was given the opportunity to view many of the species of African animal life that are now protected and as well the opportunity to sleep for one night in a thatched hut.

Also the opportunity to view another animal sanctuary offered itself in a short trip of some six kilometers offshore from Cape Town to Seal Island, a small granite site devoid of any vegetation where seals in abundance could be seen. This was not a new sight for the Newfoundlanders but it left a somewhat negative impression, reported Ms. Stuckless, for the stench was almost overpowering. Actually, the collection of guano (for fertilizer) from the hundreds of seabirds of various species had ceased several years before and thus the resultant offensive smell.

The very first visit for the group had been north to Zimbabwe to see the famous Victoria Falls that produces the largest curtain of falling water in the world with a width of some 1,708 meters and dropping between 90 and 107 meters into the Zambezi Gorge. The fact that per minute an average of some 550,000 cubic meters of water is dispersed into the gorge makes one realize the enormity of this natural phenomenon. The Falls are now a National Park and declared by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site.

The most meaningful impression, she explained, was without doubt from their visit to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. There, all the repressive tactics and devices used by those in support of racial segregation in South Africa for the many years prior to the return of Nelson Mandela could be viewed.

"Wherever you looked from Johannesburg to Cape Town," noted Ms. Stuckless, "there was evidence of the honor accorded to Nelson Mandela. He is a much loved and respected leader."

Reference to the heroic part he played in bringing the dreaded Apartheid to an end and engineering the first fully representative democratic election in South Africa was readily available. They also had a visit to Robben's Island, some seven kilometers off shore from Cape Town, where Mandela spent 27 years of incarceration. They got to see one of the cells, a small room measuring some five cubic meters where he was quartered for most of the time. The Island is now classed as a national memorial and museum and a reminder of an Apartheid "hell hole".

"It was heart wrenching to think of how he and others had been treated," suggested Ms. Stuckless. "How he managed to hold his sanity and not seek revenge is remarkable."

In Johannesburg as well they were shown one of some eight stadiums built just recently for the upcoming FIFA tournament (international football) and Ms. Stuckless snapped a photo of the structure that will accommodate some 90,000 fans. The FIFA tournament (scheduled for June 11 - July 11) is the hot topic of conversation throughout the area, she said.

"Overall it was a whirlwind tour," explained Ms. Stuckless, "where it was next to impossible to absorb all that was shown and discussed. It was an historic tour that was mind blowing and the scenery unbelievable. Certainly, there was no time for shopping."

In 2004, Ms. Stuckless along with Dr. Chaulker visited New Zealand and Australia, and in 2005 toured Italy. Since then she has returned personally to Australia to attend a wedding. Next she hopes to be able to visit South America - probably Peru.

On May 16, Ms. Stuckless celebrated her 81st birthday. In true Newfoundland style we wish Ms. Stuckless the traditional birthday wish, "Long may your big jib draw!"

Editor's note: No, Howard Butt hasn't come out of retirement. He had expressed an interest in writing this story before his retirement, so you could call it his farewell story.