South Africa

This part of trip was less travelling and more reuniting with our good friends Caroline and Ewart (think we may now be on the way to pronounce his name kind of right every tenth time or so…). It was great to be together after a long time! Guys have also proved to be perfect hosts, they planned so many great things to see and do, so that this was our best SA trip ever!

So, first Cape Town. Such a lovely place – has everything: mountains, sea, city life, history… Definitely our favourite city on this continent. Obviously, we did what the tourist do – walked the sea-front, Long Street, city centre… Living in Ireland for the last decade or so, we thought we knew what strong winds are, but boy were we surprised. It can blow here is all we are saying!

Table Mountain is a must and since we missed it on previous occasions it was definitely on the list this time. It was really a special experience doing it with Ewart, who is a mountain rescue volunteer. And this is not just a posh name people, his phone keeps bleeping! Even had to go on a mission to rescue somebody in practically middle of the night. Anyways, we learned about all the nooks and crannies and best climbs as well as all the stories and history. After all this, lazy as we are, we took a cable car. And it was all concluded by a majestic sunset… Yup, life does not get much better than this… Ah sorry, it does – with a nice glass of red and braai (that would be a bbq for non-initiated) to conclude the day later on… 

They must have confused imperial and metric measurements here is the only explanation for food size (2kg steak is the norm) and, as expected we averaged 2kg weight gain per week per person (same as on all our previous visits really – nice to be consistent).

Next stop was wine touring in Franshoek and Stellenbosh. Reached via one of the most beautiful roads in the world on a perfect sunny day. On a motor bike! Yes, baby… We were there in no time with slightly numb butts (are we losing touch here?).

Can you even pronounce Franschhoek? We couldn’t neither before sampling the good stuff in this gourmet South African village / wine region. The place is littered with 5 star retreat lookalike wineries (we figured it’s a lot like a retreat – you leave happy and relaxed – and that’s the point, right?). Try as much as you can, but short of having AA on speed dial, there are just too many to visit them all… but you know us, tried our best. With six months of Asia and scarce wine availability at the very least ahead of us, we imitated a camel before heading into the desert. And yes, all stored in fat (hey, same as camels with water!). We truly believe that we made a serious dent of local stock. And they even have trains and buses to take you from one winery to another starting at 10 am and finishing at 5 pm! No we haven't died and gone to heaven - this place does exist! Town is lovely as well, although we cannot really say we remember everything crystal clear. Not to mention the food – some of best steaks ever! Thank god we planned only four days or we would have needed a new wardrobe!

Final place we had on the list was totally something else – Tankwa Karoo. Bet you never heard of it? Well, we didn't either. Remote is the name of the game in this part of the world – took about 200km of dirt roads and 2 tyre punctures to even reach the gate of the park. You better come here with friends who know how to fix tyres, as there is a very sketchy mobile reception as well. We wouldn't be writing these word without Ewart‘s off-road know how.

Idea of Tankwa Karoo is to try and live like the early settlers did… well sort of (our first panic was when Nives realized that she forgot the mosquito repellent – so much so for early settlers state of mind). We indeed did not have the electricity, but did have a solar heated hot water, fridge, pool, braai (and if you are wondering, Dejan did burn a small forest in those few days)… kind of roughing it, if you catch our drift? Park is on the north-west of SA, not that far from Namibia (well, this would be in African terms, we are sure you could put a few Slovenias in-between). It is basically a desert, with some bush vegetation and quite a bit of life. And this would include snakes and such. So, no electricity and snakes in one place at the same time. Let’s put it this way, Nives was not the most enthusiastic about this idea from the start. But the promise of some of the best star-gazing in the world (and it really was!) we were on the way. Such a good decision! This was one of those experiences you just never forget, absolutely amazing scenery, views, and really unbelievable stars at night (we were on schedule here – either staying late or waking up early in the morning). So special!

Very quickly, it seemed, our SA time came to end. Caroline even prepared a Christmas dinner (start of December) for us when we were leaving – with decorations and all! Neighbours probably thought we really lost it with all those empty bottles of wine in the bin…

For us, time to move to Mozambique and finally do some diving!

To build up some wine thirst and rest your eyes on beautiful landscape click here.