Editor’s Note: This is the first blog post in a three-part series about our South Africa Hiking, Safari & Wine Adventure and is written by our Zephyr guide and participants. The “penguin” part of this title is obvious. The “pinotage” part refers to the South Africa’s signature red wine grape, and the “protea” reference may be less obvious if you are not a botanist. Protea is a genus of South African flowering plants, and they were in full bloom while we were there last week.
Day 1 / Sunday (written Zephyr guide Kris Thomas)
Today is my birthday and I feel so lucky to be spending it in South Africa. Since we don’t meet our 25 Zephyr travelers until this evening, our South African guide Annelee takes me on a nice hike to a couple waterfalls in the mountains near Stellenbosch, which I call the “Napa of South Africa.” The mountains here are stunning. This is her birthday gift to me – usually on “Day 1” of any tour I get pretty frantic, trying to be sure I have done all I can to prepare for the upcoming trip. The exercise does wonders, calming and centering me in preparation for meeting our guests.
At 6:30 PM the lobby of our Cape Town hotel – the Cape Heritage, my new favorite hotel – begins to fill with all the Zephyr adventurers. We pop a few bottles of champagne, do a fun round of introductions and head out to dinner, walking past both the Company’s Garden and Parliament. Because it is Sunday, not many places are open tonight, but months ago I managed to convince the Planet Restaurant (located in Cape Town’s iconic, pink Mount Nelson Hotel) to open up just for our group. We have the entire restaurant to ourselves! We girls are delighted when the waiters bring us little stools for our purses to sit on next to us during dinner and we all have a lot of fun being waited on hand and foot in such a swanky place. We had several choices for our three courses, but I choose the Black Pepper and Coriander-Cured Carpaccio of Springbok (an African antelope) for my starter, a Mushroom-Crusted Kingklip (a tender, flaky white fish that is caught locally) for my main, and a lovely Hazelnut and Pear Torte with Salted Caramel, Praline and Pear Butter for dessert. Happy Birthday to me, indeed!
Day 2 / Monday (written by participant Kathryn Fischer)
Today our awesome Zephyr adventure started with a drive on the bus from Cape Town down the peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope where, among other things, we hiked high above the ocean as a gentle and refreshing breeze blew through our hair. We admired the flowers as they swayed, the birds as they glided, and the blue ocean waves as they unrolled at the 3000-foot cliff base. We climbed to the lighthouse and looked north to the African continent, south to the bottom of the planet. As we drove to our stop at the southwestern-most tip of Africa we saw wild ostriches to the side of the road.
Our second memorable event of the day, and of our Table Mountain National Park visit, was seeing the penguins at The Boulders. After diving into the sea from the massive rocks and emerging en masse onto the beach, they shook themselves off like dogs do and waddled toward us and under the boardwalk. Again we were refreshed by the zephyr (breeze from the west).
We stopped at Groot Constantia, the oldest winery in South Africa, for a wine tasting in their massive hall. A sauvignon blanc started us off, with numerous whites and reds in between, and we enjoyed the Ruby port to finish. There was much laughter and enjoyment as old Zephyr friends reconnected and new friends were made, and the fun continued into the night during a slightly windy dinner at Baia in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront. While we’ll be sad to leave the Cape Heritage hotel and Cape Town, we look forward to traveling to Stellenbosch and the wine country tomorrow!
Day 3 / Tuesday (written by participant Kathryn Fischer)
More beautiful South Africa, more hiking, more food, more wine! Our day began with a short bus ride to our next city, Stellenbosch. Our knowledgeable South African guide Annelee took us on an historical walking tour of the heart of the city and after lunch we hiked to our wine tastings.
Our first tasting was at the lovely Jordan (Jardin in the U.S.) Wines, situated on a small lake teeming with waterfowl, shorebirds, and weavers; the weavers are fairly large, brilliant yellow birds that build beautiful nests of grass woven into roughly spherical orbs. A short hike along a dirt drive lined with spring blooms in various shades of purple and we were at our second tasting, at the very pretty vineyard of South Africa’s wealthiest woman, DeMorgenzon. At this vineyard, Baroque music is played to the Shiraz grapes – speakers are mounted on the top of posts, strategically placed throughout the vineyard.
We checked into our rooms at the Oude Werf Hotel, the oldest hotel in South Africa. Oude Werf was a lovely place with contemporary rooms and extremely comfortable beds. But there was no time for lounging around, not until more wine tasting and dinner at the Wijnhuis in Stellenbosch was complete. The springbok was extremely tender and delicious!
To see additional photos of the Cape & Winelands by Kris Thomas, click here.