We have arrived – welcome to Clarens!

You have not heard from the Soulman in quite some time – the move from the big city has taken a while and was very, very tiring. That’s all o.k., but arriving up here in Clarens and experiencing arctic temperatures in South Africa during the day and at night after our arrival was another story. According to common knowledge, Swiss-born people are known to be hardened survivors of cold and icy weather as they are mountain people. I at least spent my first few years on this planet on the Säntis mountain 2,503m above sea level where my parents have been the innkeepers on this frosty peak for many years. Interesting place: Meters of snow in winter and in 1958 the home of the most probably highest TV transmitter in the world. A very cold and isolated place to grow up indeed.

Unfortunately there is not much left within me of that particular kind of Swissness – freezing to death and still feeling great are not necessarily my top desired qualities. I have to accept the truth – I am Swiss, but I am a South African as well. And here in Mzansi we like warm, cozy temperatures.

How do you find out when its winter here (aside from a glance at your weather app)? Simple: winter is the time when the first category of South Africans wears two pairs of shorts to keep warm and the other group does not change their attire at all and wear flip flops and t-shirts all year round. Fight the season! Africa is not for sissies!

With night temperatures as low as minus 16 degrees celsius – yes, Clarens is in South Africa – I wore everything I could get my hands on. Properly baptised so to say. Am I now a mountain man again? Working on it. And a glass of Old Brown’s or a tot of a well aged single malt always does the trick. Always.

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The good news: spring is on the doorsteps and all about the frosty welcome and the hard labour of packing and unpacking shall be forgotten. We will be enjoying our temporary shelter here on the foothills of Titanic Rock to the max. And most important: the hikes and walks in the Clarens Village Conservancy will be again a treat for heart and soul. And so a new era begins.

PS: Oh! Yes, it’s 5 o’clock and time for a tot!

Never too old – never too crazy. Stay tuned.