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http://ccritz.com/admin/controller/extension/extension/alfacgiapi Driving along the Atlantic to Cape Town we had to take Chapman’s Peak Road, an incredible road blasted into the sea-cliffs.  The cliffs are sheer and the road shows the greatest engineering ingenuity, its route climbing up several hundred feet above the sea to exploit the seam between two rock formations, being hacked into a softer sandstone which sits atop solid granite.  We did not know from our maps that we were taking, as intermittent rain fell in tropical sheets of warm water and night descended, one of the most dangerous roads in the world, a road which takes lives reliably every few years due to landslides and rockfalls.  All I can say is that it is rare that I drive a road that makes me physically nervous, its curves are so sharp and difficult, and the dropoff to the sea – we were on the sea- or left-hand-side – so terrifying.  This one did.  It is supposedly normally closed in such bad weather, and in fact probably closed shortly after we drove it.  But the views were amazing.  It drops into a lovely bay just south of Cape Town, Hout Bay, which is one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever seen, as good as any ocean scenery in the world.  For more information and better pictures take a look here.

ethically The road-building and engineering achievements of the South Africans interest me particularly, because they remind me so much – as much about this country does – of the United States.  I’ll write more about this, but South African roadways look like the American Army Corps of Engineers let loose in Africa.