Exploring beautiful wild coastline and geological features on my own hiking trail

Welcome to another edition of The Shape of The Cape, with your host and adventure travel guide Jules. Here I show you some of the jewels of the south Cape coast of Africa, where the continent meets the Indian Ocean.
In the very early days of the first 21 day hard lockdown, I was able to roam around freely on the rocky shoreline of the continent here at the very south because there were no other people around. So lockdown never really bothered me much at all. In March when we were all told to self-quarantine and not leave the house except to buy food, I simply carried on as normal with my outdoor explorations.
I am in such an isolated place already, so there was no concern about any virus or risk of contagion since there were no people to contract the virus from. I was free to roam around for miles along the coastline, knowing that I would be alone.
So by default I was already self-isolated. I have all this space to myself, which is such a pleasure and a privilege. By making the correct lifestyle choices years ago already, I found myself in the perfect place to ride out the lockdown, which went from an initial 21 days to a massive six months.
Now six months later, I am looking back and reflecting on my amazing adventures on the rocky shoreline of the African continent, way down at the very south. Even in mid winter the conditions are relatively mild, and so almost every day is conducive to outdoor activity.
The shoreline is wild and rugged in places with no people around at all, so I have been able to spend the weeks and months of lockdown roaming around at my leisure. The call of the wild, so to speak, was stronger that the call to lockdown, so I carried on my adventurous solitary lifestyle without any cause for concern.
The most epic part of the coastal cliff edge is a massive arch carved by the waves out of the land mass. I took some photos, although it’s hard to judge just how big the arch is without some relative sense of perspective. Basically it’s big enough to fit a house in it. Yet it is very difficult to actually reach just by climbing.
And it is almost impossible to reach by sea. The waves are too rough to swim at this particular part of the shore. The beautiful sandy beaches for swimming are just around the corner at the nearby town itself, just a few miles away. So it is not totally remote, yet still hardly anyone comes this way. I have been hiking and exploring this isolated part of the shoreline for months, with perhaps dozens of visits, and I hardly see anyone around. A few fishermen from the nearby lower income bracket suburb also occasionaly clamber down to the shoreline but that’s it.
So most people are missing out on this epic view and wild natural experience. I presume they have other things to do with their time. I however, even during hard lockdown, require my outdoor exploration pastimes regularly, so I simply carry on roaming along the cliff edge and down to the sea.
Fortunately it is probably too dangerous for most people, so this section of the coast remains deserted. As a result I have the place to myself mostly. What a pleasure to be able to wonder about without the risk of meeting anyone. Nowadays the risk of human contact is even more dangerous than the risk of steep rocky cliff edges – or so the government wants you to believe.
So without any paths around, I simply found my own way down the treacherous cliffs, all the way down to the sea shoreline itself. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like. On this particular day, it was overcast and about to rain, but the temperature is always mild, being situated in a temperate so-called “Mediterranean Climate” zone, even though I’m way down at the south tip of Africa. The latitude correlates with the Mediterranean sea in the northern hemisphere (around 34 degrees), so it is a real goldilocks zone – not too hot and not too cold.
You can see in the photos how dark the clouds look, which make the sea appear even more menacing and ferocious. I love the wild, pure energy and power of nature under these moody-looking clouds. Perhaps you could even call it a romantic setting, although the beloved is more nature herself and our beautiful Mother Earth. What a joy to be in love with life.
This is the bliss of the lone hermit wondering freely upon the nurturing Earth, without the need for anyone else to feel complete and content. Without any fear of government or some virus. You cannot contain a free spirit. May you also feel as free as you really are.

(image pixabay)