Security (cont.) – by Gary

We met this guy early one morning while walking on the mountain above Simon’s Town.  As he was carrying a rifle the meeting was a little confronting.  But he was ok, although he was on serious guard duty!  His job is to protect houses in the valley below from raids.  According to him the raiders can strike at any time although early mornings just after people have left for work tends to be a favourite.  He went on to tell us the raiders can work solo or in groups, are highly intelligent and spend hours on reconnaissance, just waiting for the right moment.  He warned us to be careful!

He was guarding these particularly vulnerable houses right on the edge of town

A little further up the track we were confronted by a large group of raiders!  Boy that was a little scary too!

The raiders!  In South Africa it seems the criminal class is not just restricted to humans.  

They only need the smallest gap to get in, a cat flap will do fine!

Once in generally they don’t mess about but head straight for the refrigerator (see open door, bottom left)

But they can be very naughty too!

Its good to think these guys were keeping us safe!  The rifles they carry are paint ball guns.

_ _ _

The Heart of Cape Town Museum – by Gary

On 3 December 1967 cardiac surgeon Dr Christian Barnard entered the history books by performing the world’s first heart transplant.  The operation took place at Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital, and today the suite of rooms where this event unfolded have been turned in to a museum.  Visitors receive a two-hour guided tour including two short films and entry to the actual operating theatres used, set up with life-like manikins and props recreating some of the drama of this historical event.  We really enjoyed the experience and what follows is a quick summary of what we learned.

Barnard, a promising, highly motivated and self directed young doctor, won a scholarship to study surgery in the USA. He went to the University of Minnesota, at the time a world leader in cardiac surgery.  Returning to Cape Town in 1958 with a PhD degree and a bubble oxygenating machine Barnard immediately started work performing and teaching cardiac surgery.  He used surgery to correct a variety of problems, most particularly faulty valves; he having designed an artificial valve that could successfully replace a human one.

The bubble oxygenator that allowed Barnard to start performing heart surgery in Cape Town.  It performs the job of the heart and lungs while the heart is being operated on.

Not all heart problems can be repaired, and for some the only hope of continuing life is a transplant.  In the USA surgeons had already mapped out a draft procedure and there was a race to put it to the test.  Barnard threw his hat in the ring.

Barnard started by testing the procedure on stray dogs collected from the city pound.  You can see the bubble oxygenator in the background.

  

Here you can see the dog’s sternum has been cut and a special jig applied to prize apart the ribs exposing the heart and lungs (remember it is a model!). Barnard (according to our guide) performed almost 50 successful operations on dogs.

The problems of tissue rejection had still not been properly resolved (a point skirted by our guide) – however Barnard decided it was time to put the procedure to test on humans.  He assembled and placed ‘on call’ a large team and all the necessary equipment. For his first recipient he selected Mr Louis Washkansky.  Washkansky was suffering an inoperable heart condition and was dying.  All he needed now was a donor.  When 25-year old Denise Darvall was declared brain dead, the victim of a drunk driver incident while crossing a busy road near the hospital, the final barrier came down.

Here Barnard is in the first of two operating theatres removing Darvill’s heart.  He is assisted by his brother (also a cardiac surgeon), an anesthetist, various nurses and a crew working to oxygenate the now still heart.

The heart is moved in to the theatre next door where Washkansky has already been ‘preped’, i.e. his chest cavity exposed, his circulation bypassed to the heart/lung machine and his dying heart removed.  

The job of plumbing up his donor heart takes almost five hours. Here Barnard is using a defibrillator to kick start Washkansky’s new heart – it takes a few jolts before it bursts in to life again.

Washkansky is moved in to the ‘intensive care’ ward, (our guide says this is another of Barnard’s many medical innovations) and is soon conscious and cheerful, saying he feels better than he has for years. 

Unfortunately Washkansky had only had eighteen more days to live, falling victim to pneumonia as a result of the drugs being used to suppress his immune system. But Barnard and his team had learnt a great deal.  They went on to perform many more transplants, each one (according to our guide) more successful than the previous.  Heart transplants have apparently now become quite a common procedure with thousands(?) performed every year.

Washkansky’s donor heart, along with his old one, are displayed in jars at the museum.  It seemed goulish, but visitors to the museum are mostly the medical fraternity whom presumably have a technical interest (for instance you can see all of Barnard’s suturing).  The bottled hearts are the only things they ask you not to photograph – so if you want to see them you better go yourself.  We all highly recommend this museum; it is an absolute corker – although with an edge of propaganda.

_ _ _

Security in South Africa - by Gary

Continuing to own any portable asset in South Africa presents challenges judging by the many elaborate security precautions we regularly see.  High walls, steel bars, electric fences, alarms, vicious dogs, armed security guards and closed circuit TVs are all among the most commonly employed devices.  But I rather liked the below approach to deterring driveway vehicle theft.

It's a bar  inserted into a special concreted fitting in the driveway  then secured with a
large padlock - it prevents a would be thief  reversing the vehicle out of  the driveway

here is a close-up of  the bar - subtle huh?

Table Mountain Cable Car - by Vicki

Tuesday 8 January 2013
Today Zeke, Nina and I set out early to catch the 6.30am train from Simon’s Town to Cape Town to make our ascent of Table Mountain. I had checked the weather the night before, it advised sunny, no clouds and moderate winds. Winds speed is important because they do stop the cable cars ascending and descending in high winds.

We arrived in Cape Town on schedule and in Adderley Street caught a taxi to the lower cable car station. The mountain top was clear with high cloud moving sedately overhead. On the approach road there are many cars – many people walk up and ride the cable car down. We chose the easy option – ride up and down in the cable car.

Near the ticket book we are marshaled into a queue under a linear shelter. We join the other tourists from all corners of the globe. As we wait I spot the notice board; Wind strong, temperature cold! Ticket purchasing is quick and efficient, and we progress up to the cable car departure point.

Zeke studies the cable cars as they ascend and descend. Zeke notices water dripping from the bottom of one car and wonders why this is so. The cars carry up to 65 people and we certainly felt like sardines in a can on the way up. The cable car revolves under its support post and does one complete revolution on its ascent providing spectacular valley and close-up cliff views, and no bangs or jolts along the way to frighten the height challenged.

Table Mountain Cablecar has been running for 80 years and was last upgraded in 1997

At 9.00am the air is brisk and moderately windy as we wander along the mountain plateau catching picture postcard views at every turn – south to Hout Bay and Simon’s Town (Cape of Good Hope is hidden in the sea mist), north to Robben Island, and east to the Cape Flats.

North - Cape Town 

Southwest – Hout Bay

We hunch our shoulders in our polar fleece jackets and hope the sun will shine a little brighter. Nina spots a Dassie or Rock Rabbit, which looks a bit like a guinea pig, before it darts under a rock. Wild flowers are blooming everywhere. The terrain is slightly undulating and mostly rocky, paths are created by concrete in-fill. The vegetation is low, wind pruned heath and looks very similar to Mt Wellington's.

Rock Dassie emerging to forage

Vegetation on the mountain top

Rocky area interspersed with vegetation

We complete the circuit walk close to the cable car in about 30 minutes and because the weather looks fine we decide to head to the highest peak in the Table Mountain Range – Maclear’s Beacon (1085 metres). This circuit walk takes us 1.5 hours including a stop for morning tea. The walk is pleasant on good tracks and some board walk and there are only a half dozen walkers heading out and back. On the outward section the track looks south revealing bays and peaks. On the return we curve to the north along the escarpment with amazing views along the cliff face and into the valley and Cape Town below. We do not wander off the path having spotted a number of rock overhangs. The scale of the mountain makes it very difficult to capture good images; likewise the weather produces lots of haze making for fuzzy photos. The scenery is rugged, steep and worth the effort to explore.

Nina and Zeke atop Maclear’s Beacon

 The scenery is rugged and steep

At our toilet stop Zeke found out why the cable car’s were dripping water – there are tanks under the floor to take water to the restaurant, cafe, toilets on the mountain top. This water is also used to in high winds to stabilise the cable cars. Sewage is taken off the mountain in tanks attached externally to the bottom of the cable cars.

Retail opportunities are catered to on the mountain top – we purchase one postcard from the gift shop but by-pass the cafe. We do not linger, making our escape from the now teaming masses and catch a taxi back into the city and then the next train to Simon’s Town just after midday.

The escarpment of Table Mountain

 The Cablecar descends

 

_ _ _