Cape Town and Beyond
Our itinerary included 3 nights in Cape Town, 2 nights in Hermanus, 4 nights at the Aquila Game Reserve, 3 nights in Stellenbosch and 2 nights in Cape Town before our flight back home to Dubai. Since we didn’t want to do a self – drive we had private transfers booked to take us from one place to another. Our driver, Mr Younes, a Capetonian himself, was also our guide to show us around the city of Cape Town on the two must-do tours of the Cape Peninsula and the City Orientation Tour with a visit to Table Mountain. I would definitely recommend getting a private tour to explore the city of Cape Town as Mr Younes was not only able to make amendments to our plans due to the weather being windy and rainy on our first two days in Cape Town but he also shared a wealth of information about the Rainbow Nation and its people making the long drives more engaging and informative. He also made sure that before we left Cape Town we were able to do everything that we had planned.
During both stays in Cape Town, we wanted easy access to the V&A Waterfront so we decided to stay at the hotels around the area. However, Kloof Street and Camp’s Bay are two other locations with easy access to V&A Waterfront to consider for your stay in Cape Town. Both Camp’s Bay and Kloof street are buzzing with tourists and Capetonians alike at the restaurants and bars. There is a variety of restaurants offering seafood, steaks, and game meat if you fancy trying that which you can pair with the local South African wines at all these 3 locations. A visit to Cape Town is not complete if you have not visited the infamous Café Caprice at Camp’s Bay offering all-day casual dining.
The highlights of our stay in Cape Town were definitely the visit to Table Mountain with the Cable Way, coming across ostriches when driving past on our way to the Cape of Good Hope and an inspirational and educational visit to the Robben Island. When planning the itinerary I also had to keep my 9 yr old in mind so we also managed a visit to the Two Oceans Aquarium which was a big hit with Luca and a boat trip from Hout Bay to Duiker island to see the seals. The stories and the facts that Mr Younes shared with us about the colourful town of Bo Kaap, Chapman’s Peak Drive and Simons Town made our stay in Cape Town a really memorable one. Our next stop was Hermanus where we did the two boat trips on both days that we were there which called for an early morning pick up. The boats leave from the town of Gaansbai so if Shark Cage Diving or spotting the Marine Big 5 is on your list of things to do then Hermanus is a lovely little coastal town to be based for a few nights. Although we didn’t see the great white sharks on our dive we did get up close with the bronze whalers and spotted dolphins, seals, penguins and birds common to the region. We were also fortunate not to have any interruptions due to load shedding and watched the World Cup Finals during our stay at the Lavender Manor guest house in Hermanus.
Our four-night safari experience at the Aquila Game Reserve in the Western Cape was a blast! Here, we had a chance to catch up with some R&R in the lap of nature. Besides spotting the African big 5 on our game drives, the game reserve organized fun activities such as quad biking and a horseback safari. The highlight of the stay was gathering for sundowners at the fire pit, roasting marshmallows in the evenings and a stargazing experience at night. The game reserve has a kid’s club and also organizes children-oriented activities like Junior Rangers Program. I highly recommend this game reserved for families with young children. Wine lover or not you must definitely put the beautiful wine region of the Western Cap on your list to explore. We stayed at the Devonvale Valley Golf & Wine estate during the festive Christmas weekend. On boxing day we set out to explore the vineyards of Franschhoek on the Wine Tram. We picked the grey line on the Wine Tram as it stopped at the vineyards that were family-friendly and offered playgrounds for kids. We were offered a Kiddies pairing at the Rickety Bridge which was a hit with Luca and he also had a chance to try oysters for the first time at the Grand Provence.
We concluded our trip in Cape Town for the last two nights before our flight back home. A little bit of serendipity on our last day led us to Scratch Patch Mineral World and Cave Golf, an interesting place where you can have loads of fun collecting gemstones with your family. Do check this out on your visit to Cape Town next. A few tips to remember if you are visiting South Africa in summer – Carry layers of clothing and even a rain poncho as you might experience 4 seasons in a day. A visit to Table Mountain is weather permitting so give yourself a few days to make this happen as mostly during the summer months the city gets heavy winds and the access to the Mountain gets shut for the whole day. A fast-track ticket to Table Mountain is advisable if you want to avoid the peak hours from 9:00 am to 4 pm but if you want to see the glory of the Mother city from the top during sunset then after 4 pm is a good time to go when the queues have subsided. The view from atop the Table Mountain of the Cape Town stadium proudly anchored at the V&A waterfront represented the progress the nation has made. This trip to South Africa left me inspired when I went deeper into the history of the rainbow nation and how it has evolved in the current times.
Looking forward to visiting this bountiful country again and definitely will venture into exploring the country on a self–drive trip from the west to the east coast the next time we visit.