South Africa and a Promise

July 17, 2023. The Otter Trail in Tsitsikamma National Park

With Rachel still joining for a couple more weeks, we left Tanzania, headed to South Africa. This was a very special destination for me and Rachel, as it is where we had discussed having our girl's trip for our 40th birthdays. Life has other plans and, although our trip was not what we originally envisioned, it represented a promise made to a dear friend that we would look at the big skies of Africa together.

Country #10 started with a quick stopover in Johannesburg and some very cold temperatures, including getting to experience the first snow the city has seen in over a decade. It even made international coverage.  We stayed in the Maboneng area and had an afternoon out in the Melville neighborhood, but it was so cold it was difficult to explore much of the city. We did visit two art museums and the Apartide Museum. I really enjoyed the Apartide museum, but it was a lot to take in as it was yet another example of major global history that I should have known more about, but was largely unfamiliar with. I didn't get many photos from Jo'berg as everyone was constantly reminding us to keep our cell phones away and stay vigilant, which we heeded, but if I did have photos they would be of cool coffee shops, cute bars, and some delicious traditional African cuisines that included many stews to warm us up. 

From Jo'berg, it was a flight over to Cape Town to pick up the rental car and another travel companion, Alex, and then start our road trip to explore the Garden route. Although there are so many picturesque stops along the way, we stayed in Swellendam, Plettenberg, and Stormsrivier heading East, then Knysna, and Montagu heading back West before landing in Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands to experience some of the famous South African wines. 

Two highlights of the Garden Route were Robberg Nature Reserve, outside of Plettenberg Bay, and Tsitsikamma National Park, outside of Stormsrivier. Both offered amazing seaside hikes with waterfalls, wildlife, and crashing waves. It was so beautiful and although we were there in the winter when it was a bit colder than Johnny would prefer, it also meant that we basically had all these places to ourselves as we were visiting everywhere in the off-season. It also meant that we were there during the whale migration which we were able to spot several times.  

Here is where I will mention again just how unprepared we were for the cold of a South African winter, but fortunately, mother nature took mercy on us. Although rain was predicted for much of our time on the Garden Route, we lucked out with sunshine and beautiful days for the entire trip. The nights were still chilly given that houses here aren't really equipped with effective heating systems, but a few spots had heated blankets and space heaters to help with the worst of the cold. 

I can't talk about this leg of the trip without mentioning one accommodation that really stood out. Technically not part of the Garden Route, one of our final stays was outside the town of Montagu, a stop meant to break up the long drive between Knysna and Franschhoek. Rachel had found an adorable farm cottage with a wood-fired hot tub that we thought would be a fun way to spend an evening with a bottle of local wine. Well, after an amazing dinner in town, it was pretty dark by the time we headed up to the cottage. To be fair, we had been warned that there was no electricity in the cabin, so we were expecting rustic, but nowhere had we been told that Johnny would need to Rally car us through muddy roads, careening our way until we stumbled across what struck me as a medieval milk maiden's abode. It took the whole team and several hours to get the fires going, but after Alex's instance that we stick it out, we were eventually rewarded with a toasty hot tub and that bottle of wine...even if it was a plastic bottle. The next morning Johnny's superb driving skills managed to get us out of the mud and we left the farm cottage with a memorable experience, on our way to the famous South African Winelands.

Franschhoek was lovely and all the wine tastings really lived up to the hype I had heard about the wines of South Africa. There was an old-timey wine tram that we took between wineries, and we visited Boschendal (our favorite, by far), Solms Delta, and Babylonstoren. And when the wine tram dropped us off back in town, we wandered into the nearest (and only) bar to find it happened to be Karaoke night. At this point, we had enough of a wine buzz going to be super stoked about it being Karaoke night. So after singing the night away, including a Beastie Boys duet from me and Alex and excluding anything from Johnny, our Garden Route tour was officially at its end. 

After our 9-day road trip, it was time to say goodbye to Alex and settle into what would be our Cape Town home for the next week. Situated just off Kloof Street, it was a great area with endless coffee shops and bars. I was also beside myself with the gluten-free options at the grocery stores. Johnny pretty much did his own thing while Rachel and I had a packed agenda to make sure we didn't miss anything in the city. 

We explored the V&A Waterfront, visited Woodstock to hit up the Neighborgoods food market, and wandered around the colorful houses of  Bo-Kaap. We hiked to the top of Table Mountain, and then unexpectantly hiked back down as the Cable car wasn't running for maintenance. We saw the Penguin Colony of Boulder Beach (stinky, but cute little guys) and drove the scenic Chapmans Peak along the cape. We even spent a misty morning exploring the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. When I say we didn't miss a thing, I mean it! 

We also spent a memorable day in the seaside town of Hermanus. We were there on July 26, on what would have been our friend Liberty's 40th birthday. We walked along the coast and sat to watch the whales, a day that Liberty would have loved, hiding pictures of her in different spots to leave a little piece of her there. It felt really special to know that we were fulfilling one of her last wishes, for us to travel to South Africa for our 40th Birthdays. 

It was so amazing to have that time with Rachel, I mean, how often do you get to spend a 5-week international vacation with a childhood bestie!?! But all good things must come to an end and Rachel returned back to LA July 29. We closed out South Africa visiting our friends, Mike and Maryke and their baby David, in their lovely new home. They were such gracious hosts and it was nice to get some laid-back "family time", even if it wasn't our family. It felt a little bit like being back home for a few days. And just like that, it was a wrap on country #10 and it was off to country #11, Namibia, and our truck camping adventure.