Africa

Travel Diary - A South African Roadtrip: The Western Cape

This story is about a trip I made a while ago. Back in July 2015 I made my very first big trip outside of Europe, which infected me with the travelvirus. My parents took me, my sister and little brother on their dream trip: a one-month road trip through South Africa.

Cape Town

The story starts on the 22^nd of July at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam. That is where we started our adventure with a 11-hour flight to Cape Town. The city of Cape Town is believed to be one of the most beautifully situated cities in the world. And I have to say, I have never seen a skyline this beautiful. It’s location in between the Table Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean is mesmerizing. We were picked up from the airport by Johnny, he immediately showed us the incredible hospitality of the country. During our stay in Cape Town we slept at one of the Sweet Berries Holiday Houses in the Seapoint quarter. Cape Town was very cold because it, of course, was winter on the southern hemisphere.

On our first and second day we bought a Hop on Hop off bus ticket to discover the city. We got off the bus at the Compagnie Gardens where we fed squirrels, went to the ‘Two Oceans Aquarium’ because it was raining heavily and had a ride in the Ferris wheel at the Waterfront quarter. On our first night we went to ‘Restaurant Gold’. This was arranged by our travel agent, as compensation for an overbooking of a hotel later in our trip. It was our first real experience with the African Culture and it was amazing. We got Djembe lessons and after that we got 14 different small dishes from countries all over Africa. In between, the staff sang and danced, and we, as guests, were able to join them. It was a very nice way to start this trip.

The day after we had planned an excursion to Robben Island, the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Over the last few weeks all the excursions were cancelled, because of heavy storms, and since the prison is on an island you have to go there by boat. Luckily the weather improved right when we needed it, and other than all the other people before us, we were able to make this excursion. Robben Island was very impressive, but I felt like it became a bit too touristic. Even though we bought tickets beforehand, we had to wait in line for at least another hour. Luckily, we met some other Dutchies which we could join and therefore skip a big part of the line (no karma points for us there). On the island we drove around in a bus to see everything and even got to see mister Mandela’s cell. The man who gave us the tour was also, just like Nelson Mandela, a former political prisoner on Robben Island. That made it much easier to imagine what has happened on the island.

Our fourth day in Cape Town was packed one. We had already planned a Township Tour, which started with attending a service in a church in a township. The atmosphere was great, and the people were very nice. We were introduced as ‘People from The Netherlands’ and everyone stood up and clapped for us. While we expected to see a service with a gospel choir, the whole church turned into one big choir. After the service ended, we went to an orphanage which was a lot less beautiful. The children were all so cute and it was hard to imagine that they don’t had parents anymore or that they were cast out. But it actually was beautiful to see them becoming so happy when seeing us. I seriously hope that we made their day. While orphanage tourism is a very sensitive topic nowadays. Back then we had no idea about this. Luckily, we were able to donate money afterwards, and we could indeed see that this would end up in a good place. However, currently, I would never visit an orphanage again as a ‘tourist attraction’.

After the impressive township tour, we immediately went to the Table Mountain cable way. We planned on doing this earlier on in our trip, but because of the bad weather it was closed. Thankfully, it opened on our very last day in Cape Town! The original plan was to climb the mountain by foot, and then go back by cable way. But unfortunately, because we only had half a day left, we couldn’t do this. That is why we used the cable way both ways. The view was stunning, I think we spend about two hours on top, because we couldn’t get enough of the view. It was very busy, because it had been closed for a couple of weeks because of the weather, and the day after we went there it was about to close for maintenance. This made that, even though the cable way was supposed to close at 6, we were still on the mountain during sunset (in the very long line to get back though..), and therefore we also had the amazing view over Cape Town in the dark and saw thousands of lights.

Stellenbosch

Monday 27^th of July we had our first drive of the holiday. Next stop: Stellenbosch. We made quite a detour because we also wanted to visit Boulders Beach, Cape point and Cape of Good Hope. We didn't used the highway, instead we drove the Chapmans Peak Drive, which was beautiful! We started with Boulders Beach. Boulders beach is a beach where a lot of penguins live. It also has become a bit too touristic for me, it isn’t even a real beach anymore and you have to watch them from a distance, pity! But overall it is a must see. So much penguins in one place, and you have the opportunity to swim with them (for a hefty price). The second stop was Cape Point and Cape of Good hope, which you also had to pay for. These two are in the same national park so you only have to pay once. They were about 10 minutes driving from each other. At both places we climbed all the way to the top and the views were absolutely stunning! We were also warned for baboons who could even open car doors while we were driving, so we had to lock our doors at all times.

In Stellenbosch we stayed at a wine farm called Knorhoek Guest House. Also, a great place to stay and you can join dinner from an amazing cook. We immediately had a wine tasting, and the next day we made a walk through the wine lands together with the dog of the guesthouse who joined us on the way. We also visited the town centre of Stellenbosch where we went to ‘Oom Samie se Winkel’. It means ‘Uncle Sam’s Store’ and it is Afrikaans, which is very similar to Dutch, which is my mother tongue. The shop was very messy and small, but also very nice. This is a perfect place to buy souvenirs. Not too expensive and you don’t have to bargain about the price which I absolutely hate myself.

Hermanus

The next day we drove to a town called Hermanus, which is famous for his Whale Cruises. That’s exactly what we planned for the next day. But unfortunately, our Whale cruise was cancelled because of the bad weather. I was really disappointed. Instead of the Whale Cruise we did a wine tasting again, which was very nice. In Hermanus we stayed at the Auberge Burgundy. A very cute inn with an own restaurant where you can have breakfast and dinner. The town itself is very nice, a lot of cute shops and bookstores. We had dinner in a place called ‘La Pentola’. It wasn’t a place you would visit immediately when you see the exterior, but some other Dutchies we met in Cape Town recommended this place. Which was totally right. This restaurant had the best meat I had ever eaten. It was so soft. During our stay in Hermanus we often went to the viewpoint at the coast where you sometimes can spot whales. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any. When we packed all of our stuff, my sister and I went back one more time with the binocular. Again, nothing. So, we walked back and also put the binocular in the car. Then, out of nowhere, people started running with enormous camera’s and binoculars. We looked at each other and started running back towards the view point. And during our very last hour in Hermanus, we finally saw some whales. Even though it was from far away.