Incoming!

While walking the dogs today, I spotted this chap. He has been in the village for several days, painting Klein Hangklip - the mountain (308m) that looms over Rooi Els.

His easel is pinned to the ground by supermarket bags filled with rocks and his bakkie (pickup) is reversed as close to his chosen spot as possible to provide some additional shelter from the sun and wind.

I asked him if he knew much about the mountain and it turns out he didn't even know what it was called!

Klien Hangklip looks almost due north across False Bay, very much in the direction of Simonstown, the historic naval base for not only South Africa's navy, but a haven for many other fleets over the last century or so.

This area was closed to public access until the '60s, as it served as a testing range for a local armaments company. Given that, I can't help but wonder if the huge cave on the lower left of the mountain isn't the result of some (Simonstown-based) naval gunnery training back in the dim and distant past. It's about 30km across False Bay - an ideal distance for those huge naval guns of yesteryear.

No-one in the village seems to know if this is the case, but each and every person I ask comments that this and many of the other caves on the mountain don't look as if they were put there by Mother Nature...

Leica D-LUX 3