Kelly and Jenny’s African Adventure: Part 1 - Cape Town, etc.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted and I have to warn you, this is going to be a long one. Apologies, my loyal readers. To make it a bit easier on you, I’ve decided to detail my last few weeks in three parts. My own little trilogy.

So what exactly have I been up to? My longtime friend, “big sister” and travel companion, Jenny, came to visit for two weeks. We packed in as much of southern Africa as possible…probably a little more than is actually possible. But what’s a Kelly-Jenny trip without too much to do and not enough time to do it? :)

Jenny and I met in Cape Town and it was immediately apparent to her that I’m not around people very often. At least not people I can really talk to or who understand me. I didn’t notice, but she pointed out that I was talking a mile a minute. We took a shuttle from the airport to our backpackers (hostel), unloaded our luggage and got ready to go out for the evening. I have to admit, I’m not used to being outside after dusk and our first night in Cape Town, a very European-esque city, took a bit of adjusting. We had an amazing dinner (Italian!) and stayed out until 4 a.m. catching up and grabbing drinks.

Our first tourist stop? We headed down to the Waterfront, a complex of shops, local crafts and restaurants right on the oceanfront. After much searching and debate, Jenny purchased a wedding ring. Sorry to Will, Jenny’s fiancé, that he had to miss it, but I have to admit she picked out a very beautiful and unique one (hers was the first of that design to ever be made). Plus, we both got to drink free wine while she did all the paperwork. But, while it was fun looking at all the South African diamonds, I think I’ve had my fill of ring shopping for quite some time.

Up next was a tour of the Cape Peninsula. The first stop was Hout Bay where we took a ferry out to see a colony of seals. The bus then wound its way down the peninsula to Boulders Beach, home to African penguins. There were hundreds of them, black dots in the white sand in every direction. The wind was very gusty, blowing the sand so hard it hurt, but it was an amazing site none the less. After plenty of time for photos of the penguins, we continued into the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve where we had a picnic lunch before getting on bicycles and pedaling the rest of the way to the Cape of Good Hope. The scenery was amazing, clear blue waves crashing on white sandy beaches. As we neared the cape, a group of baboons crossed right in front of our bikes. We were warned that they like to steal anything not tied down, and it was a bit disconcerting having one just a couple feet in front of me, eying my camera. Of course, that didn’t stop me from taking pictures. We finished the ride at the Cape of Good Hope and took lots of pictures (hair being whipped in every direction by the ferocious wind) before hiking up to Cape Point.

The weather was more perfect than we could have hoped for. The skies were clear and the wind calm. We were privy to rare and amazing views of Cape Town, Robben Island (the island has served as a place of banishment since the 17th century but is most well-known as the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years) and parts of the Cape Peninsula from the top of Table Mountain.

We then headed to the aptly-named Stumble Inn in Stellenbosch, where we took part in a four-vineyard wine tour. We started off at the Simonsig Wine Farm where we took a cellar tour and learned about pinotage, a wine exclusive to South Africa. We received a short tutorial on wine tasting and, before starting in on our samples, our Simonsig guide gave us a traditional welcome by opening a bottle of South African champagne with a sword. The next stop was Fairview Wine Estate where we were able to sample several different cheeses along with our wine. For lunch we stopped at Franschhoek where I had bobotie, a traditional Cape Town dish of curry-flavored beef with dried fruit, banana and coconut served on rice. We finished up the tour with more samples at Dieu Donn and Boschendal Wine Estate, one of the cape’s oldest wineries. Jenny and I closed out our trip to Cape Town with a bit of a splurge on dinner at the Spier winery’s Moyo restaurant, modeled after a bedouin tribal camp. Our table was set on a wooden platform amongst the trees (almost like a tree house) and our faces were painted with African designs. Throughout dinner, a buffet of African dishes, a troupe performed beautiful, traditional African dances and songs.

That’s all for now but stay tuned for Part 2 – Lesotho or Life on the Left Side of the Road.