I promised to show the caves that were inhabited by the locals a long time ago, and in here you will see them, on our river walk. There was a very serious flood here recently and I will also show you a video of it.
I took this photo from the balcony of our apartment. You can see the main cave in the mountain and the Keisie river runs through at the bottom of the mountain.
Soft white sound impregnated by little rocks, didn't make for an easy walk.
I was so surprised to see this staircase that was built up to reach the second lower cave.
Ouch! I for one could have hopped, skipped and jumped up that staircase in my younger days. But now I can only look at it with tears in my eyes. Ageing does that for one.
The stairs lead to this lower cave below. This is the second cave and there are three caves, but we couldn't see the third cave, as I think it was further on along the river walk.
That's my wife standing next to the riverbank further on the walk.
By looking at how the rocks choke the river into a gentle stream here, one would never think that during a flood, this little stream rises up to halfway of the mountain sides.
Two photos of the stream.
I was determined to walk until we found the third cave, and I think that this was it.
This was our turn around spot, as the path continues around this rock outcrop at the left and it carries on for miles.
Then we had a look at the river upstream towards the right hand of our starting point.
The river was wider here, and the flood damages were on show.
This whole area was flooded, as the water rose above both of the white ends of the low water bridge.
This below didn't look good to me.
Apparently, this area became a dam.
And finally, here is a video of the flood. It also dislodged and carried many little houses downstream and Montagu was cut off.
We were the first guests to arrive at Avalon Springs in Montagu, as they had been closed until the previous day of our arrival, so it was also the first day for them to open again after the floods. Thankfully, everything was in working order, and they did a wonderful restoration job. All of the hot spring pools were restored, and the flooded restaurants and little shops around the pools were also repaired. The staff was also very friendly, and we had a very happy stay.
South Africans are very resilient people, and after so many floods and other problems, we all just continue to keep on going even with the bad power cuts.
Such is life.
I hope you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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