Nieuwoudtville — the town famous for its bulbs reveals itself

Nieuwoudtville

The road to Nieuwoudtville is filled with unex­pec­ted sur­prises. For one, it rests on a plat­eau – sort of – called the Bokkeveld Plateau. You leave Vanrhynsdorp via the R27, which, after head­ing due north in a very straight line through the type of veget­a­tion I would have described as the true Karoo (it is the Hantam Karoo), takes one up Vanrhyns Pass.

Take the pass and its myriad hair pin bends faster than 70 kilo­metres an hour at your peril. We were lucky that there was no mist or rain when we ascen­ded, but on days when there is little vis­ib­il­ity, I can ima­gine that Vanrhyns could be pretty hairy. Particularly on the down hill, behind a truck – there are peri­odic sign­posts depict­ing a car upen­ded on the rear end of a truck, just so that you don't get any clever ideas about send­ing it round the corners ... Continued

Vanrhynsdorp discovered

Vanrhynsdorp dis­covered

Vanrhynsdorp, in the heart of the Nama Karoo, might appear small, but for a Sunday the place is buzz­ing. Even the tour­ist inform­a­tion is open and Shaun is very quick to thrust a town map in my hand, from which I quickly ascer­tain that there are seven build­ings of his­tor­ical note that include the Kokerboom suc­cu­lent nurs­ery on Voortrekker Road, that is closed.

Bad luck really, as we want to visit it. No prob­lem. Because we have also worked out that trav­el­ling along the dirt R364 from Nieuwoudtville, to which we are mak­ing our way, back to Clanwilliam is far from a sane idea in a sedan, and that we will more than likely make our way back again on Monday via Vanrhynsdorp. So, the chance to ogle suc­cu­lents is still high on the list of pri­or­it­ies. Particularly as we've very much missed the very short flower sea­son that places Vanrhynsdorp on the map every year and is the main reason people visit here. Continued

The Olifants River Valley — a stay in Vredendal

Olifants River Valley

The most amaz­ing sur­prise for me was see­ing the expanse of grapev­ines along the banks of the Olifants River. These begin just out­side Clanwilliam and con­tinue for miles like a great, green swathe on either side of the river.

I had read about the Olifants River Valley as a wine-producing area. I was pre­pared, in a way, but the actual evid­ence is non­ethe­less unex­pec­ted. Huge dia­ducts guide water to vari­ous parts of the wine  farms that grace the banks of the river and palm trees are aplenty. I think it is the sheer auda­city at this amount of green in an area that is pre­dom­in­anty dry and arid that gets me. Continued

De Hoop — three hours up the coast, friend to whales ...

De Hoop Reserve

De Hoop — three hours up the coast, friend to whales, well worth the trek: My geo­graphy is such that I thought De Hoop was just out­side Swellendam. It is. But I def­in­itely had it con­fused with the Bontebok Nature Reserve, so was more than happy to be rudely awakened to the beauty of De Hoop, because gor­geous it is (there are also plenty of bon­te­bok here too, for those who appre­ci­ate this petite, white rear-ended antelope).

When you turn off the R319 onto the gravel road that enters the De Hoop reserve, you leave behind you swathes of green wheat and fields of bright yel­low can­ola. The stark con­trast between this con­spicu­ous agri­cul­ture, and the almost imme­di­ate evid­ence of fyn­bos, all in flower, is dra­matic. It also makes obvi­ous how con­trived these seem­ingly benign farms are and how we have mar­gin­al­ised the Cape Floristic fyn­bos that is so obvi­ously threatened (it's the smal­lest but the richest veget­a­tion type in diversity). Continued

Struisbaai or Blue Lagoon?

Struisbaai

I have a very fond memory of swim­ming in a lagoon ten years ago. Not only found because I was ten years younger but also because the sur­round­ing were so exquis­ite. Basically it was like being in The Blue Lagoon. Ten years later I may have changed, but the Blue Lagoon hasn’t. It’s real name is Struisbaai and it’s well known for the longest con­tinu­ous stretch of white sand coast­line in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s also only ten minutes from Cape Agulhas, the south­ern­most tip of Africa.

Struisbaai is as close to a trop­ical para­dise as one can get with its exquis­ite white sand beaches, crys­tal clear water and little fish­ing boats.  Your first stop after the drive should be  Pelican’s Harbour, an awe­some little sea­food res­taur­ant serving fresh fish. Sitting on the deck, with the water lap­ping a few feet away from us at the harbour’s edge, you’ll be mes­mer­ized by the pic­tur­esque scene of Continued

A grand Old Mac Daddy time in Elgin

Old Mac Daddy

The weather was divine. It was a beau­ti­ful win­ters day, with rays of sun tick­ling your skin with warmth while leav­ing the sky clear and beau­ti­ful, when I left the hustle and bustle of the city and in just over an hour’s drive and a dirt road later I saw before me glisten­ing Airstream trail­ers nestled into the hill­side ... We had arrived at the Old Mac Daddy in the Elgin Valley.

Our first port of call was to sit and relax on the deck to enjoy one another’s com­pany and soak in the set­ting. I was told that the dam was soon to be filled with trout of many sizes and so those fish­ing enthu­si­asts will have plenty of fun, although once you see the deck I’m not sure you will want to leave that spot ... Continued

Kleinmond for history buffs and outdoor enthusiasts

Kleinmond

About an hours drive from Cape Town, along the pic­tur­esque drive of the R44 is the little town of Kleinmond. Sitting between the jagged Palmiet moun­tain range and the Atlantic Ocean, this peace­ful coastal town lies within the unique Kogelberg bio­sphere reserve boast­ing over 1600 spe­cies of indi­gen­ous plants. Although tra­di­tion­ally a retire­ment vil­lage, when hol­i­day sea­son hits, the town becomes ablaze with activ­ity. With its gor­geous beaches; tran­quil lagoon; fant­astic hikes and walks; as well as sump­tu­ous res­taur­ants, Kleinmond is a little piece of para­dise. Outdoor enthu­si­asts and his­tory buffs alike will enjoy the remote wil­der­ness as well as Kleinmond’s sor­did and excit­ing his­tory ... Continued

Rosendal — the "new" Clarens?

Rosendal, Free State

I'd heard that Rosendal is the "next" Clarens and see­ing as we were en route from Ficksburg to Clarens and Rosendal is only a teeny bit off track we used this as our oppor­tun­ity to pop in and see the vil­lage for ourselves.  One is greeted by a fairly large ‘map’ of Rosendal when arriv­ing but to be hon­est we drove down a dusty track and thought to ourselves ‘what the heck is all the fuss about’ — in fact we couldn’t even find a shop of any kind!  We spot­ted a church steeple and being the intrepid, seasoned explorers that we are made our way towards that landmark ...

Aha — good move that was.  Almost dir­ectly oppos­ite the church is Turvsy Trading; a cauldron of enamel signs, antiques, bicycles, wool­len goods and just about everything else you could think of.  I walked into the shop and my jaw hit the ground!  It was like walk­ing into a regter egter trad­ing store 100 years ago; Continued

Sodwana Bay — little one on its own

Sodwana Bay

Sodwana Bay was one of those places that I’d heard about but never really thought of going. My for­ays up South Africa’s east coast had gen­er­ally con­sisted of trips to the Transkei and some­how Kwazulu-Natal, des­pite its obvi­ous charms, had never really inter­ested me. Perhaps it’s because I’m Capetonian and the Kwazulu Natal coast has always been some­thing of a com­pet­itor to us for beach cap­ital of South Africa.

Whatever the reason, I’m glad I got rid of my nat­ural Cape Town aloof­ness and made the trip to Kwazulu-Natal’s Elephant Coast. Situated on the coast within the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park and only 4 hours drive from Durban, the area offers every type of excite­ment and enter­tain­ment  ima­gin­able. Whether you like diving, quad bik­ing, horse rid­ing or even kite board­ing, Sodwana Bay has it all ... Continued

Sutherland, the coldest town in South Africa?

Sutherland

I spent the first few days of August in the cold­est place in South Africa; Sutherland.  I had arrived pre­pared with my warmest winter wool­ies trans­por­ted from my London days and to be per­fectly hon­est, I was dying to wear my GAP down filled jacket again.  Unluckily for me though, Sutherland did not live up to its repu­ta­tion and instead we walked around in jeans, t-shirts and slops!

We arrived via Loxton and from quite a dis­tance out one can make out the domes of SALT (Southern Africa Large Telescope) for which Sutherland is just as fam­ously known but this Northern Cape town has a few other inter­est­ing points of interest ... Continued

Betty’s Bay — a perfect get away

Bettys Bay

The quaint sea­side vil­lage of Betty’s Bay is the per­fect get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Located between Kleinmond and Pringle Bay, Betty’s Bay is only an hour’s drive from Cape Town along the pic­tur­esque Clarence Drive Route (R44). Squeezed between the Kogelberg Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean and sur­roun­ded by fresh water lakes and the Palmiet River, this coastal town has a lot to offer.

Here are a few of the must see attrac­tions ... Continued

Visiting Genadendal

Genadendal

Tourist bro­chures speak about Genadendal as a 'must do' when in Greyton. The quaint little his­tor­ical vil­lage just six kilo­metres out­side of Greyton is described as the old­est Moravian mis­sion vil­lage on the con­tin­ent, never mind South Africa, and as a vil­lage 'frozen in the past' with streets of gor­geously neat little thatched white-walled cottages.

This descrip­tion is partly true — the care­fully main­tained his­tory and build­ings are beau­ti­ful. Some of them date back as far as 1738 and a visit here is def­in­itely worth it to soak up the his­tory of this mis­sion­ary town. But what descrip­tions don't include is that to reach the care­fully main­tained his­tor­ical build­ings, you have to drive through the abject poverty that is Genadendal's outly­ing com­munity. Continued

Never quite so happy as when in Greyton

Greyton

There are a couple of things you don't real­ise at first about Greyton by view­ing it on a map. One is that the quaint town is at the end of a road, it is not a thor­ough­fare (so no trundling trucks at mid­night), and the other is that it is undeni­ably one of the most beau­ti­ful towns in the Western Cape. I say this unreservedly.

Greyton is a quaint little English-style vil­lage just bey­ond the mis­sion town of Genadendal, on the east side of the Theewaterskloof dam, and on the other side of the Riviersonderend moun­tain range from McGregor. Actually, there is a hike you can do through the beau­ti­ful range of moun­tains from one vil­lage to the other, but con­sid­er­ing that on this occa­sion the moun­tain peaks were tipped with snow, we decided to give it a miss (to be hon­est, hik­ing across great swathes of moun­tain has never been my strong point and, con­sid­er­ing that the Boesmanskloof Trail is often done as a there-and-back hike, I was smil­ing pret­tily!). Continued

Aasvoëlkrans — more than a touch of whimsy in Montagu

Aasvoëlkrans B&B

Let me let you into a secret. Pretty Aasvoëlkrans is really worth your rand. To say that you are  spoilt for choice when it comes to accom­mod­a­tion in Montagu is an under­state­ment. There is so much to choose from that it can get a little con­fus­ing. But if you're after a little bit of lux­ury, with a huge dol­lop of con­trar­i­ness, indi­vidu­al­ity and per­son­al­ity, then this coun­try set­ting B&B is for you.

I have not been exposed to some­thing quite as ori­ginal as Aasvoëlkrans before. Set on an Arabian stud farm just out­side town — Church Street is a mere 10 minutes walk from here — the accom­mod­a­tion is a series of com­pletely indi­vidual and private garden rooms. Each has its own bed­room, en suite bath­room, bal­cony, and a couple their own kit­chenette ... Continued

Barrydale – much to explore

Barrydale

Arriving in Barrydale is like a breath of fresh air. Nothing quite pre­pares you for its uniquely arty bent or pret­ti­ness, other than the fact that people are talk­ing about it. And one soon under­stands why. Barrydale is quirky, home to at least two cob houses, dry shale walls, loads of res­taur­ants, the infam­ous Karoo hotel, a labyrinth, hot springs, a com­munity of both English and Afrikaans speak­ing artists, a fair num­ber of French, German, Spanish and Italian res­id­ents, vine­yards, a group of hand weavers, and views to die for.

The town lies in the lush Tradouw val­ley, at the north­ern end of the Tradouws Pass sur­roun­ded by the Langeberg and Swartberg Mountains, roughly an hour from Montagu. Drive a little way out of town and orch­ards filled with apple, pear, orange, apricot, fig and peach trees dom­in­ate the farm­lands, the odd derel­ict barn or farm build­ing next to a wind­mill a sign that you're in the Karoo and that aver­age sum­mer heat reaches up to Continued