The sign says “Beware of Bees” as you enter the West Coast National Park. Bees are not exactly one of the Big Five, but the park does have caracal (rooikat — a sort of lynx), red hartebeest, Cape grysbok and eland.
In 2005 the park brought in 51 eland from the nearby Postberg section, but eight of them swam home, crossing the wide lagoon.
The lagoon itself is an intense turquoise — like copper phosphate, apparently because of an exceptionally low tide on the day I went for lunch.
The fynbos is spectacular all year, though pinks and yellows are dominant now as spring fades.
We passed some ostriches — two prancing males sharing three females, which made me think of Herschelle Gibbs’s autobiography. There is a 50km/h speed limit because the road attracts tortoises — the aptly named padlopertjies (road walkers).
Ten kilometres into the park, a line of old gum trees leads to the Geelbek Restaurant in a Cape Dutch manor house built in 1744. In the 1920s it belonged to the governor general, Henry de Villiers Steytler.
Old traces
The park is also where the famous “Eve’s footprints” were found. An exact replica of the 150 000-year-old trace fossil is on display in the visitors’ centre next to the restaurant.
You can dine inside in Cape country-house style or outside under awnings with a view of the Langebaan lagoon. You can also wander down to the two bird hides built on stilts in the water.
The palaearctic migrants arrive for the summer and there is usually a big variety of aquatic and shoreline birds with fabulous names, such as godwits, whimbrels and curlews. There is also a dense flock of flamingos shimmering in the heat mirage.
Birds make their presence felt at the restaurant too. If Hitchcock’s horror film, The Birds, traumatised you, you best beware not of bees but of birds. The last time I lunched there, red-winged starlings with bald-faced daring, wings beating past your ears, gleefully pinched sugar sachets from the table.
This time Cape weavers and yellow bishops surrounded us, sitting on the backs of empty chairs. They even hopped on to the table and, if we had not reacted, they would quite happily have snatched food from our plates while we ate.
A Swiss gentleman arrived by bicycle. He had been pedalling around the reserve. Geelbek nearly always has a few tourists. There were some English women in hats and a group of young Frenchmen.
Geelbek’s menu includes a “kiddies” section and you can order picnic baskets or a high tea for groups of 20. The park closes at 7pm, so the restaurant is restricted to breakfasts and lunches. There are dishes for most pockets.
Something in a bottle
The wine list, stocked exclusively with regional wines, is reasonably priced.
A bottle of Mrs Balls chutney on the table lets you know that the kitchen focuses on traditional Cape cuisine with “portions to satisfy a good African appetite”. Dishes include an ostrich burger (R110), a Cape Malay chicken curry (R80), a smoked venison carpaccio salad (R120) and denningvleis (a lamb dish — R120).
The menu pre-empts the service, stating: “You are now in the West Coast time zone. We tick on tortoise speed. Relax and enjoy.” This time the food arrived promptly, but I have been there a few times before when the place was busy and a 40-minute or longer wait for mains was not uncommon.
For starters, I recommend the snoek paté served with long, thin slices of buttery toast. The paté is thick, has the expected snoeky saltiness and is pleasantly lifted with mustard seeds.
Keeping traditional, the bobotie (R90) is rather bland but on the upside it is not too sweet, having substituted almonds for raisins. The mains all come with a pumpkin fritter, deep-fried roti, tomato and onion sambal and coriander straight from the garden. The yellow rice (turmeric not saffron) is flavoured with sultanas.
For dessert, an enormous helping of Amarula malva pudding (R35), oven-caramelised, served with vanilla ice cream, eventually defeated me. An alert fiscal shrike seemed to relish the last of it. It was good pud too and as fluffy as a malva gets.
For its rich flora and bird life, Geelbek is well worth the trip and it is only 90km from central Cape Town. This one is not just for the birds.
Geelbek Restaurant, West Coast National Park, R27, Langebaan Restaurant. Open 9am to 5pm, seven days a week. Tel: 022 772 2134