The Altruists: Cape to Jeffreys Bay

Altruist Nr. 1

Gert
Age: 52
Favourite colour: Blue
Motto: The choices you make, are yours alone.

Every journey starts with the first step and Gert took that step wearing big shoes to fill. He spent the previous night watching the Springbok’s wipe the floor with the French at Newlands, and was on his way home to Bredasdorp, where he owns a sportspub and a restaurant. He doesn’t know a lot about soccer, but all three his daughters have flags on their cars, and he forced his whole staff to take the afternoon off and watch the opening match at a community centre. (He didn’t mention this, but logic dictates that he could have rather been making a lot of money during the opening match, him having a sports pub and all.)

According to him he picked us up because we looked like we needed a ride. He said that he did consider us being dangerous, but that he preferred to not live with fear.

Thanks Gert!

Altruist Nr. 2

Cedric
Age: 18
Favourite soccer team: Congo
Motto: We’re all one, man. We are all ONE.

Returning from Friday’s World Cup festivities in Cape Town, Cedric was just thinking to himself how he needed good conversation for his long ride home, when he saw two scruffy guys next to the road offering just that.

Back in France Cedric once attempted to hitchhike to his favourite surf spot with his surfboard on his back. No one picked him up, not even the giant corporate Quicksilver Bus headed to the same beach. He vowed he would never do the same thing.

Thanks Cedric!

Altruist Nr. 3

Jacques
Age: +/- 60
Claim to fame: Driver of the Magic Bus



Jacques lives on a 48-hectare property in Wilderness. It is a vastly untouched area, consisting of scrubs and forest that stretch out right onto the sea. Jacques welcomed us with open arms in to his fully self-sufficient home. His little house is equipped with solar panels, generators and water filtration systems.

We spent the evening huddled around his fireplace watching the football and drinking beers. Jacques entertained us with stories from his past ranging from the time he “scraped” his colonel with his bayonet to leaving South Africa, joining the Israeli army, dropping out and then driving a busload of hippies from London to Kathmandu.

After the night’s festivities we spent the night in a caravan, overlooking the ocean.
Thanks Jacques!


Altruist Nr. 4

Annie/ Beach house Backpackers

On our second day, the rain and the wind came and we could feel ice forming around our bones. We found shelter from the storm in Beach house Backpackers, which is both comfortable and budget appropriate.

Annie, the manager, welcomed us warmly and was very accommodating to a film crew that lugged in all their equipment.

Annie also mentioned that if we were going to Jeffery’s Bay, we should stay at Ubuntu backpackers, which is definitely in sync with our altruist investigations. This little bit of advice had joyful consequences, which appeared later in the journey.
Thanks Annie!



Altruist Nr. 5

Chris
Age: 53
Favourite Band: “Have you seen how old I am? It all just sounds the same to me.”
Motto: “You can’t polish a turd.”

Chris came swooping down the Kaaimanskloof pass in a rental car, becoming our quickest pick up yet. We spent the first part of the ride slightly doubting the legitimacy of his claims at being a slightly famous journalist and documentary filmmaker.

Chris was the funniest and most cynical altruist, we have met so far. He took us to his house, made us coffee and showed us all his articles. Chris has quite a name in the industry: we worked at the Berger, was one of the founding members of the Vryeweekblad and the producer of Not quite Friday Night.

What a guy!

Thanks Chris!

Altruist Nr. 6

The Rastas
Age: N/A
Favourite word: “Appreci-love” (any words ending with the sound “hate” gets replaced with “love”).
Motto: One Love

Chris dropped us off right in the middle of Judah Square, a humble little area in the middle of the Knysna valleys. As we arrived, we felt immediately comfortable. Members of the community would walk up to us greeting us with “Jah Love” and inviting us into their homes. We spent a fantastic day chatting, learning and feeling the good vibes!

Thanks Brother Maxi, Sista Kerry, Sista Leah and Brother Ras Mau Mau!

Altruist Nr. 7

The Rothschilds
Motto: “You are as young as you feel.”

Standing outside Knysna, the lift we few and far between. Eventually a fancy looking 4x4 pulled over.

We climbed into the car and were greeted by the Rothschild family. Lance Rothschild pulled because his wife took pity on us. He said that he had hitched many times in his youth but feared that those days were now over.

Lance had originally worked as the station manager for 5fm and entertained us with anecdotes of his past.

Thank you Rothschilds!



Altruist Nr. 8

The Israelis

We were getting a little worried about obtaining a lift outside Plet. However pretty soon a car with a bunch of Isrealis student pulled over.

It seemed that in their eyes hitchhiking was a pretty normal pastime and saw no big deal in giving us a lift. They shred numerous hitchhiking stories and shared some of their ideas of Hitching etiquette.

Thanks Guys!

Altruist Nr. 9

The Germans
Age: 20
Favourite colour: Red, Yellow and black.

Getting dropped of under a sign reading “No Stopping – R500 fine” made us feel pretty hopeless about getting to Jeffery’s bay. However after half and hour a tiny little car, with German flags erupting out of its sides, pulled over to pick us up.

We squeezed into the car with the excited Germans and were on our way to J-Bay!

Thanks guys!

Day 1: And we're off

We handed ourselves over to the road yesterday. It was quite a rush for ten minutes, but after about an hour, the doubt set in.
Most of the cars slowed down to look at our signboards and at us; we got an abundance of smiles, laughs, and waves, but no one seemed to actually stop.


An hour passed and eventually a silver bakkie slowed down. We ran up eagerly to chat to the driver, and that’s when we met Gert.



Altruist Nr. 1:

Gert
Age: 52
Favourite colour: Blue
Motto: The choices you make, are your’s alone.

Every journey starts with the first step and Gert took that step wearing big shoes to fill. He spent the previous night watching the Springbok’s wipe the floor with the French at Newlands, and was on his way home to Bredasdorp, where he owns a sportspub and a restaurant. He doesn’t know a lot about soccer, but all three his daughters have vuvuzelas, and he forced his whole staff to take the afternoon off and watch the opening match at a community centre. (He didn’t mention this, but logic dictates that he could have rather been making a lot of money during the opening match, him having a sports pub and all.)

According to him he picked us up because we looked like we needed a ride. He said that he did consider us being dangerous, but that he preferred to not live with fear.



Just after he picked us up a local traffic official informed us that Sir Lowery’s pass was closed. This meant that we had to drive around the mountains, putting Gert near his destination but us 70km from any real highway. Gert being the altruist he is, decided to drive out of his way and dropped us off in Caledon.



We waited alongside the highway of the one horse town for three hours, with nothing but crickets, raisins and a rogue baboon. The sun began to dip and feared that we would have to spend the night in the nearby forest. Eventually, another small silver car appeared. It pulled over and the driver, a tall French student with a mop of curly hair, leapt out and made some space for us in his boot.




We spent the journey to Wilderness listenening to a variety of excellent tunes, and discussing the nature of an interconnected universe. The altruism was not over: Cedric drove more than 25km out of his way and dropped us off safely in Wilderness.

Waiting for us at a local petrol station, was our host for the evening, Jacques.



Jacques is an older gentleman, who has had a variety of jobs including, a soldier, a magic bus driver, a tree feller, and veggie burger salesmen. Jacques drove us up a steep dirt road and to his little wooden house looking over the eastern coast. He invited us into his home, shared his liquor and told some of the most fantastic stories. When he realized we would be camping out in the cold, he opened his home and luxury caravan for us to sleep in.

The next day he gave us coffee and took us on a 4X4 trail through his beautiful property.

So we took the last proposal and gave it an iron...

Open publication - Free publishing - More readwrite

Here's what it's all about:

Two guys hitchhike through South Africa during the Soccer World Cup, using only the goodwill of the people they meet on the road to get to their destination and hopefully into a World Cup match.

It's a documentary/hitchhiker's guide/social experiment/travelogue of interesting times with interesting people on an interesting continent.

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Open publication - Free publishing - More readwrite