Wine tasting (finally)
Second day of our wine trip. We started out in Franschhoek, strolling through the galleries where Sven bought some beautiful paintings, painted on old editions of the Cape Times. Then on to our first real wine tasting, at Blaauwklippen Vineyards. We sampled five different wines each, from a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon to a heavy Syrah. […] Read More
Wine tasting (without wine)
As South Africa is famous for its wines, we took off for a two-day trip to the wineries around Cape Town. Sven had sniffed out the best places, of course. Our first stop was the Babylonstoren Farm, one of the oldest ‘Cape Dutch’ farm yard. Cape Dutch is the specific Dutch inspired style of architecture, prominent in […] Read More
Along the Garden Route
After our morning ride on Elephant Sam, we hit the road again and drove another 100 kilometers East, along South Africa’s famous Garden Route. It is a string of coastal towns, starting from Mossel Bay and stretching all the way to Port Elizabeth. The name comes from the green and ecologically diverse vegetation, from African Fijnbos […] Read More
Elephant ride
The Game reserve offers a limited number of elephant rides each day in the morning, when the big one, Sam, and his family, take you on a 30 minute ride through the little valley. We were late with our booking, but our guide arranged for us to take one ride, cutting the morning tour a […] Read More
Rise and shine
Getting up at 5.15 in the morning is like torture to me. I don’t function properly. But the prospect of seeing more animals on the morning tour got me going. Especially because most animals we saw yesterday were lazy in the summer heat, and they were more likely to be out and about in the […] Read More
Animal Kingdom
Sven booked us in at a private game reserve a bit north of Mossel Bay, the Botlierskop Private Game Reserve. It lies between the impressive Outeniqua Mountains and the warm beaches of the Indian ocean, in the heart of the Garden Route, the long scenic drive along the southern tip of South Africa. We arrived and were shown […] Read More
Cape Animals
On our trip through the peninsula and to the Cape of Good Hope, we also encountered a number of animals. From the baboons that live around the Cape – and that tourists are constantly warned off not to feed them or approach them as they might become pretty unfriendly when after your food – to […] Read More
Playa dust explained
First dusty day today! So far, my Burn has been pretty good. The weather was outright nice! Only the first two nights were cold, the others were warm, to a point where you could have worn shorts. There was little to no wind, so no huge sand storms, the dreaded white-out, when you can’t see the […] Read More
Milford Sound
Up early in the morning (around 8!) and after a quick stop to get a Latte, on the road to drive the 120 kilometers to Milford Sound, or Piopiotahi in Māori, after the piopio bird, which is now extinct. It really is at the end of it all. Funnily, two days ago I was just about […] Read More
Rangitoto hike
Finally got my act together and set the alarm clock to 9 am. So I would make the Rangitoto Ferry at 10.30. The weather looked ok, warm, with lots of clouds, maybe not the worst to hike up a volcano. The Ferry took half an hour and let us ashore at Ragitoto‘s Ferry Terminal. I […] Read More