By Gwynne Conlan
“It seems I have spent my entire life chasing those things that have stretched the limits of my belief systems,” says Andrew Attwood, “and the idea of giving up a comfortable life entrenched in security is something that not everyone can understand or accept.”
He’s standing in front of his open-fired stove in the Antbear Guest House in the KwaZulu-Natal hinterland. He’s clearly comfortable in a kitchen and plays the role of chef with some skill. He’s cooking a fragrant concoction in a Moroccan tajine while he’s filling me in on his path.
It seems the beginning of his journey was his decision to hitchhike through Africa during the dark days of the 1980s.
Starting in South Africa he went through Botswana, Namibia, then Zambia, up Lake Tanganyika on a ferry, then Burundi, through Rwanda and Uganda, Zaire, and the Central African Republic, “where I had no alternative but to go by myself through the Sudan and Egypt in the rainy season - at least 150km on foot”.
A master of timing, Andrew turns around, leans back, sips his chardonnay and says: “At the embassy I was told that getting a visa was a waste of money - it would expire before I managed to get through. Then I thought: 150km at 20 a day - I could walk that easily, and it wouldn’t take that long.”
It’s at this point in the conversation that Andrew does something very interesting to the tajine - which has a lid not unlike a Sotho hat - by adding a little water into the cup at the top of the lid. This, he tells me, is to keep the fragrant vegetarian victuals moist.
He tells me that the clay isn’t kilned and is more porous than the more common, commercially available cooking receptacles and therefore “breathes”.
“You soak the tajine in water before putting it directly onto the fire. If what you’ve got in the pot isn’t very moist, you put water in the hollow on top of the lid, which then seeps through the clay,” he instructs.
Moroccan recipes? Here’s an Andrew axiom: “If you cook from the way you know it works, then you know the way it works. Cooking isn’t an exact science and I don’t like recipe books. I need a shake of vinegar, a pour of wine to make magic.”
Back in the Democratic Republic of Congo he managed to hitch a lift almost immediately: “I was laughing, thinking about the guys who had warned me about this terrible place - I had done around 500km the first day.” This, he tells me, was in spite of the fact that the potholes in the roads were so big that if a six-ton lorry fell into them, it would disappear.
“The Sudanese border was about 800km away from there, so I thought okay, if I’ve done so well thus far, let’s go. And about five kilometres further I find the ferry had been washed away.
“This was the real Africa - there were crocodiles in that river - so I paid someone to get me across in a dugout.”
Once across, Andrew starting walking, expecting a truck to come along any minute. Of course no transport would be passing him, either from the front or the back. Everyone knew that the river was, as happens every year, in flood. “But I hadn’t worked that one out until I had walked quite a few kilometres.”
When he finally reached the Sudan he feasted on his first real meal - camel intestines with goat’s cheese in pita bread.
“And it was the best meal I had eaten in my entire life,” he smiles, watching my reaction. “Until today, I’ve never had better.”
Today, at the Antbear Guest House perched on a precipice which overlooks the spectacular Drakensberg in the rural hinterland of KwaZulu Natal, and somewhere in the middle of a spider’s web of dirt roads, Andrew’s journey continues.
His father - renowned sculptor Bruce Attwood - first discovered the disused and crumbling 1940s structure and rebuilt it using mud for the walls of the thatched guest house and local exotic trees for the rather eccentric, Gaudi-like furniture and fittings.
I’m sitting outside, under the grapevine with its small, sweet Catorba grapes hanging overhead ready for picking, which I do by simply reaching above me while tinkering at my laptop.
My view is of the mountains in sharp relief against the washed-blue sky after the rains. In the distance, to the left, Giant’s Castle is shrouded in mist.
At breakfast we talk about life imitating art. “One day we were sitting outside with some friends, gazing at our view. In the far-off distance was some cloud; to the left, a rainbow. It was getting towards late afternoon and the rays of sun shone through under the clouds. A flock of birds dutifully flew across the scene, as, as true’s kookies, a rietbuck jumped onto our lawn. It was almost too perfect to be real,” he laughs.
Once through Africa - and some additional meanderings (Andrew spent some years in Germany, became a sought-after computer expert and married his wife Conny) - he returned to South Africa to rediscover the land of his birth and settle to a life of simple self-sufficiency.
The name of The Antbear comes from a previous resident who lived beneath the floorboards before restoration. The antbear scurried off when they started to renovate, and sadly has not been seen since.
With its thatch and wooden interiors, the cottage is a charming retreat and good home cooking an essential part of the menu. They use their own homegrown organic vegetables, or produce from the local farmers.
Scrumptious home-baked bread and fresh scones are on the menus at breakfast.
Activities include fly fishing, a guided horse trail through a game reserve, hiking in the Drakensberg mountains, viewing Bushman rock art and enjoying a gentle drive down the Midlands Meander. There are a number of shorter, self-guided trails to the local waterfall, starting at the guesthouse.
Of course you could simply relax on a deck chair with a great book or in winter view snowcapped mountains while having dinner beside a crackling fire.
The guest house is located 25km from Estcourt, 23km from Mooi River and 35km from Giant’s Castle. The gravel road to Antbear could be better. Use a 4×4, or travel slowly if you have a car with a low suspension.
Contact The Antbear Guesthouse on tel: 036 352-3143, fax 036 352-3143, e-mail: aattwood @antbear.de or website: www.antbear.de
* Gwynne’s transport provided by Europcar. Phone Freecall 080001 1344. Listen to Gwynne Conlyn’s Delicious Travel show every Saturday at lunch time on 702 and Cape Talk.
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