The Simple Life

On the Langebaan Lagoon in the West Coast National Park there lives a man alone. He is 81 and has lived here in solitude since birth. He does not read, neither write, and never got married. When I first saw the photo album which inspired this post, I was in awe of the wonderful neatness and simplicity of such a life, and the obvious character and integrity of the owner. I felt that in reality there was nothing lacking in this existence and I have subsequently returned to the album many times to ponder on "the simple life".

The painting shows a little outhouse, a washing line and some bokkoms drying in the fresh lagoon breeze. I am sure you will also love the comfort and tidyness of everything inside the cottage as shown in the photos.

My thanks for the inspiration go once again to the lady who can pick out the essential order of everything, photographer Mary Ann Bosch. Her portraits of the Lagoon gentleman and pictures of the rest of his home will be a special treat. So, (after leaving me a comment) you can visit one of the last of the remaining lagooners as Mary Ann has called her album.

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Coffee in Langebaan

What is more relaxing on a clear lazy day, than drinking good coffee in Langebaan, the town where the sea is "everywhere"! In my painting the sea is behind me and the people on the left are walking away from it. I visited Langebaan 25 years ago as a place I have never heard of before. There was a type of general store but this row of informal eateries was still in the future.

There is still one problem for the strollers and for photographers, though : This pleasant corner of Langebaan is car-friendly and not pedestrian-friendly. Everyone seems to park right where they need to be, at the ATM, in front of the restaurants and so on. The people doing watersport or just going for a walk, will even park right on the beach. I mentioned photographers having problems, because as an artist I just did not paint the cars, some of them right in the entrance of shops!

Once the road here is closed off as as pedestrian walkway, the little shops in the arcades and all the coffee places will be discovered and visited. A nice thing to do between walks along the beach and next to the lagoon would be to dine in one place and have coffee at another, then browse along to see the gift stores. Delivery vans could be allowed in for an hour early in the morning........Let us learn from Newport, from Charlotte Amalie, from Veli Losinj and remove the traffic from this pleasant corner of Langebaan!

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West Coast National Park

It was still not high season for the flower display on the West Coast when I decided to enter the West Coast National Park for a drive, to experience the scenery and stop for good coffee. Odette, Odille and Oswald halted me and demanded to know exactly where I thought I was going! In case you did not know, ostriches are polygamous. Several females will lay the eggs in the same nest and make turns to keep them protected by day. At night the male will take his turn in keeping his future brood warm with his luscious plumage. The brownish-gray plumes belong to the females while the males are black&white. There are many areas in South Africa where ostriches are domesticated and used for their eggs, eggshells, plumes, meat and skin, but our ostriches live in their natural habitat in the wild and are protected.

Soon there will be hundreds of visitors per day to this reserve with its many bird species and its endless carpet of flower species, its seaviews and lagoon views. There are special birding spots, whale watching, mountain bike trails, hiking trails and picnic sites. Geelbek Restaurant in the park offers an information centre. The West Coast National Park is part of the greater West Coast Biosphere. There is a section for watersports and sailboats. The great tranquility of the Langebaan Lagoon is guaranteed by the exclusion of angling and powerboats. Mmmm, that is why it always seems like such a perfect hideout there......the only sound the lapping of the water and the gentle staccato of the cleats.

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The Serene and the Restless

Enjoy Langebaan with me for the next few weeks, the tiny town on the banks of the large Langebaan Lagoon, a calm spell of water 17 km long, ± 4 km wide. Langebaan in the early 20th century was mainly a whaling station, until, of course, man belatedly changed his ways. Slowly, but ever so slowly, the whales, now protected and appreciated, are returning and we have spotted a few along the West Coast for the last couple of years, and a great thrill it was!

Langebaan Lagoon is part of the protected area of the West Coast National Park and offers excellent sailing conditions as it is protected from the deep sea!! If you approach it from the reserve side by a roundabout road, you will see small boats, some with a very lived-on look, just hanging there on anchor, quietly absorbing the gentle movement of the water. Hey, who said that there was nowhere to hide? Occasionaly, one of these small boats may rig a sail and glide around for a bit to join the large luxury yachts on the bay, or even go out and brave the wild old ocean.......

That brings us right up to the very popular sporty side of Langebaan! An energetic crowd of wind-surfers and kite-surfers form a beehive of activity on the beach. They unload their magnificent, very expensive and colourful equipment, brissling with logos and brand names. Dressed in head-to-toe diving gear, they take confident strides into those perfect waves, and just go! I have stood here quite a few times to admire the sunset, and can assure you, some of these people will be on their boards until the very last bit of light has disappeared. By then they are possibly ravishingly hungry and ready for the many pleasant informal eateries!

Watching those fearsome waves on a normal day, I can easily imagine what they must have been like during the recent ‘Mother of All Storms’! There lies a lot of seaweed on the beach, having been thrown right up to the line of the first row of houses. Nestling on the pieces of kelp, there are a few forlong-looking boats, heaved there by the waves, heavy anchors and all. I painted this little guy, undamaged but far from where it should be, patiently waiting for an owner to reclaim find it. In this picture the fishing harbour and the lagoon are situated south, to the left , and the open sea is north, to the right.

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