Top Picks - South Africa

• Countryside living and fantastic food at Chrislin African Lodge in Addo
• Surfing with the locals in J-Bay
• Road trip down the Garden Route
• Breathtaking ocean side hiking on the Otter Trail
• Highest bridge bungee jump in the world at Bloukrans Bridge, Tsitsikamma
• Walking with cheetahs at Tenikwa Wildlife Center
• Brunch at East Head Cafe in Knysna
• Cage diving with great white sharks in Gansbaai
• Spending a night (or two) in the beautiful vineyards in Franschhoek
• Visit the famous Vergelen wine estate in Somerset West
• A meal to die for at La Motte in Franschhoek
• Paired wine and cheese tasting at Fairview, Paarl
• Drive through Chapman’s peak, Cape Town
• Trying not to get blown off the cliffs at Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town
• Camps Bay Ridge Guest House in Camps Bay, Cape Town
• Sunday night cocktails at trendy Caprice in Camps Bay, Cape Town
• Sundowners at the Roundhouse in Camps Bay, Cape Town
• Addis in Cape, etheopian restaurant in Cape Town
• Hiking up Table Mountain and Lion’s Head
• Afternoon at the Neighbourgoods market in Cape Town
• Watching hundreds of kite surfers at world-renowned Sunset Beach in Cape Town

December 1 - 20: South Africa

Before we get started, our apologies for the length of this post… but we really feel that South Africa merits a few extra paragraphs!

One of the interesting aspects of travelling is comparing your preconceptions of a country to your actual experiences. While certain places turn out to be exactly as you envisioned, others couldn’t be more different.  South Africa was definitely the latter – and turned out to be our favorite country yet. Indeed, within a couple days of our arrival, our stereotypical concerns about car jackings, petty crime and great white sharks were quickly overcome by a sophisticated, inviting culture, an outdoor adventure paradise, and possibly some of the best food and wine in the world.

After landing in Port Elizabeth, we picked up our car and started our second big road trip of the year. First stop: Addo, the citrus farm capital of the country, where we later discovered Ace’s grandmother was raised on an orange farm. This was our first true South African experience: staying in a mud hut amongst the orange trees in the countryside, enjoying a surprisingly fine dinner, and then being treated to an impromptu African song by the kitchen staff to finish the night. Not a bad start!

From Addo, we moved on to J-Bay (a world famous surf break and stop on the Billabong pro circuit) for Ace to check out the surf. While the waves were small and it was a bit of a wind tunnel, Ace had a great time with the locals. We were pleasantly surprised to see that SA is one of the few places left where they still actually offer up a good wave to a foreign visitor! We hung out here for a few days and enjoyed the slightly odd nature of the town, which felt less like Africa and more like a tiny Californian beach town… but trapped in the 1970’s.

A little bit sad to leave before the big swell rolled in, we moved on from J-Bay to the Garden Route, which is (with good reason), one of the most popular drives in SA – not as much for the scenery (although it is beautiful) as for the abundant outdoor activities. Where else in the world can one go for a breathtaking hike along the coast, take your own pet cheetah for a walk in the forest, do the highest bridge bungee jump in the world, and go cage diving with the great white sharks?!? The only problem is deciding which things to do… so we did them all J. The cheetah walk was our definite favorite; we found a whole new level of respect for these beautiful animals. As for the bungee jump… well… luckily Ace wasn’t wearing white underwear!

Last but not least, we moved on to Cape Town, our grand finale before going back to Montreal for the holidays. Coincidentally, this couldn’t have been more appropriate as it turned out to be our new favorite city in the world. Cape Town is one of those places where you feel like you could spend endless weeks without running out of new things to discover.

We started our week with a delicious (dirt cheap) Ethiopian dinner with Trip (an old friend from McGill who now lives there) and his girlfriend Jenn. Little did we know of what an amazing week they had lined up for us: dinners at their favorite restaurants, sundowners at some of the classiest spots in town, sunsets beside the ocean, afternoons at the local food market (amazing!), a big night out on the town in trendy Camps Bay (also where we were staying at our gorgeous B&B), a trip to their end of town to watch the hundreds of kite surfers (Trip’s passion – we watched him repeatedly fly 40 feet in the air), a home made BBQ feast, and an incredible hike up Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain overlooking Cape Town – it’s difficult to describe, but there’s something about it’s unique natural beauty that draws you to it like few other places we’ve been. Simply put, it was the hike of a lifetime.

In addition to all of this, we did an awesome scenic day trip driving through Chapman’s peak down to Cape Point, and spent a couple days at the vineyard regions of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, which are within 45 minutes of the city, offering a countryside getaway with wine and food of quality rivaling the nicest European wine regions, but for a third of the price. What more can one ask for?

 

On a final note, we do acknowledge that the appreciation for places one visits when travelling are significantly impacted by the people you meet and having an inside scoop on where to go / what to do, and we must shout out a huge kudos to Trip and Jenn for doing such an amazing job of showing us around. That said, local friends or not, Cape Town is an incredible city that MUST be at the top of everyone’s list.

So this ends the first 7 months of our trip…we made the decision to fly home for the holidays and spend some quality time with family and friends (including our newborn twin nieces J) before heading off to South America. It has been an amazing journey, but we’re also truly looking forward to our own bed and some home cooked meals!

Photos - December 1-20: South Africa