Taking the family HOME - South Africa - May 2012 through September 2013 (Part I)

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November 2nd 2013

Published: April 6th 2015

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Looking for the Dirt Roads

The Heads

Wildflowers everywhere

South Africa - home for me. Always will be. Also a place we have been to many times over the past couple years. First-up a trip in taking the in-laws to Africa to let them see my world from years back. We did the long direct flight from JFK to Johannesburg. I always get out of Johannesburg as fast as I can. My brother lives in the former diamond mining town of Kimberley (about 6 - 7 hours away) so this generally is the first place where we head.

We spent a couple days in Kimberley just relaxing and trying to catch-up on some much needed sleep. This generally is the time where we also make the best food as we are home and just hang out, cook, and drink. Eating usually involves a "braai". Make a huge fire, wait for it to burn out and then start cooking various things over the coals. Start with a quick appetizer such as "boerewors" (sausage South African style) or mushrooms with garlic, butter and cheese. At the same time throw some pork rashers (just think thick bacon) on and have a couple Castle beers (the local favorite) or brandy and coke. After

South Africa

Love the cornfields

this the night is most likely still young. Next up is some chicken followed by steaks or just any big slab of meat and end with some ribs. On the side there is usually bread baking in a black pot at low heat over simmering coals. There are no rules for eating. You just grab things when they are ready. By the time the bread and ribs are ready everyone is most likely stuffed and tired of smoke from the fire - usually lots of food left over for breakfast the next day. That's how we do it. Long slow dinners where you just sit around and talk. We also make "potjies" which is a 3 legged-pot put over coals and all kinds of things are mixed and combined to make the potjie - vegetables, spices, and some form of meat. Let it cook for hours and hours and eat up with rice. Oh the bliss of a good braai or potjie.

While in KIMBERLEY do take some time to visit The Big Hole. The original diamond rush in South Africa (I think it is the biggest man made diamond mine hole in the world). A really cool museum

South Africa

Rows and rows of corn

explaining the rush, the conditions and the history of the place and all the awesomely cool gems that has been mined from here. Otherwise there is no real reason to come here so generally avoid this town or even area.

So after somewhat getting use to the time change we started to make our way south. DRIVING ACROSS THE GREAT KAROO. Flat and flat and flat with the occasional meerkat or ostrich making an appearance with a lone WINDPUMP creaking away. It's a beautiful landscape in its own way. This is where all the good South African meat comes from. The drive is from JOHANNESBURG TO CAPE TOWN and can take anywhere from 14 - 16 hours. We took the long route and went down to the southern coast first. Just before Oudtshoorn you hit a beautiful stretch of road that winds through tall tall cliffs with some amazing waterfalls.

We stayed over in KNYSNA for the night at Carmel by the Sea. A Christian camp that rents out little houses. We arrived late at night. Accommodations are basic and include breakfast and dinner and it is laughable how cheap it is (around $40 per room). We woke

South Africa

We just kept going with it

up and our deck had the most amazing views down to the coastline. Basic accommodations but oh so pretty. My mother-in-law loves elephants so we made a quick surprise trip up to The Elephant Sanctuary in Plettenberg Bay. You get to walk around with full grown African elephants, holding their trunks and touching and feeding them. Definitely an experience for the first time visitor to South Africa. On the way back we did a small little detour and stopped over at THE HEADS. A beautiful lookout on the cliffs high over the rocks where the waves come crashing in. We stopped over in Knysna for a quick bite at Tapas and Oysters (this is seafood country after all) and they are known for the oysters in this part of the country.
- the sushi was ok
- the prawns were really good
- gesmoorde snoek is a South African fish (ok)
- the homemade meatballs were really good
- the Hake Goujons (small pieces of fried fish) was really good
- the calamari rings were ok
- the seafood bisque was ok
- the snails were really good
- and the locally grown oysters were good too
- and

South Africa

... and one last final one

to wash it all down we got a couple bottle of local bubbly for cheap and a couple bottles of locally brewed MITCHELL'S ALE

And off we went. Wish we could have stayed longer to explore this beautiful area, but we still had many hours to drive along THE GARDEN ROUTE on our way to HERMANUS. We made it very late at night after a gorgeous African SUNSET. Sunsets are spectacular all over the world, but it just feels like the sun is a little bigger when it sets here. Mulligans Guesthouse welcomed us for the night. Awesome hosts, great rooms and right on a golf course with beautiful mountains in the background. The breakfast spread was delicious. Highly recommended if you are in the area.

We explored the town on foot. It's one of the more popular vacation towns in the country and during the summer months it is packed. It was not too busy and we visited the little flea market with all sorts of African artifacts for sale, good food such as pannekoek (type of crepe) and samoosas. It was also the HERMANUS WHALE FESTIVAL. Not too much of a festival at the time we

South Africa

Driving down to Kimberley

were there - some exhibits, signs, events going on. We parked close to the HERMANUS CLIFFS - a sight with the waves crashing and splashing everything in sight. We walked around and watched the cliff jumpers. This is also great white country. Cage diving with the great whites is a massive business here. We back-tracked a little bit to see if we could find any tours. No luck, but the COASTLINE and the WILDFLOWERS were incredible. You drive on these little 2-lane back-roads that is right next to the ocean. On the one side you have waves crashing, on the other side you have yellow wildflowers everywhere and straight-ahead you have lighthouses popping up. Yeah this is pretty country.

As always we had places to be so we started driving again to Gordons Bay where we were to spend the rest of our trip. We finally made it to our destination - a beautiful multi-story rental with endless views of the ocean and Table Mountain. On the menu the first night was a braai. We spent hours and hours next to the fire - drinking, grilling something new and eating right off the braai.

Our first day in

South Africa

More roadside scenes

CAPE TOWN we decided to head over to KIRSTENBOSCH BOTANICAL GARDENS. Known word-wide for its beauty - adding to it is the location in the shadows of Table Mountain. We started inside since there was a misty rain falling. All kinds of plant varieties in all shapes and sizes. We eventually braved it outside on the miles and miles of pathways. It was a steady rain. Just misty, but enough to get us wet. I was on a mission though so we kept going. The grounds were pretty spectacular. And then we found KIRSTENBOSCH BOTANICAL GARDENS FOR PROTEAS. These are beautiful flowers. The national flower. Also coming in all kinds of sizes, but really pretty. I love the deep, deep red ones. Once we found this treasure we decided to get out of there. Even walking back it was still crazy pretty with all the flowers. Definitely need to spend much more time here.

We made our way through mid-town Cape Town around Table Mountain and on to Camps Bay. Beautiful houses and incredible beaches with crazy views. We were debating driving all the way around to Cape Point, but at the end of the day decided against it.

South Africa

The sun always seems to be behind a cloud or two when we first get here

We turned around and went to EAT AT VICTORIA AND ALBERT WATERFRONT. The waterfront is one of the star attractions in the area as it has everything desired to keep you busy for days and days. A great aquarium, many shops, tours to Robben Island where Mandela was in prison, entertainment, restaurants, and beautiful scenery. It's a little too commercialized and touristy, but still a must do. We had a decent meal of seafood - kingklip and snoek are the most famous South African fishes and also the best. Fish and chips is always a good bet and anything with curry is almost always guaranteed to be good. We tried the Cape Town Fish Market.

We also made our way to the Bo-Kaap. A historic area in Cape Town for the Malays and many other ethnic groups. As you can guess the food is to die for. We stopped at BIESMIELLAH RESTAURANT on a very cloudy day. It was earlier in the day so the restaurant was empty. Service was awesome and friendly with the owner even giving us some background on where the recipes came from and how they originated. We are always interested in the ingredients and

Olifantshoek

Hanging out at Pops' place

they gladly shared the ingredients of each dish and even where they imported it from as it is not locally available. EATING CURRY is a must. We got the:
1) Tomato bredie (a very South African dish with tomatoes, lamb and onions) - really good
2) chicken tikka (chicken in a tikka sauce with Bombay spices) - awesome
3) kingklip curry (kingklip fish in green chilis, tumeric, curry leaves and coriander) - loved mixing this with rice or scooping it up with the roti
4) denningvleis (lamb stew) - one and only South African dish

EAT DENNINGVLEIS is a must and it was exceptional here. We loved the food. There were 6 of us so we just ordered family style and shared everything. What a treat. One of the highlights of the trip. Walking out of the restaurant we had an excellent view of Table Mountain just getting covered in clouds, the COBBLED STREETS OFF THE BO-KAAP, and the BRIGHTLY COLORED HOUSES OF THE BO-KAAP. The houses are the attraction. All colors of the rainbow for a rainbow nation. It is pretty. Really pretty. Love this city.

Our final days were spent on the beach in Strand playing

Olifantshoek

As fresh as it gets!

beach tennis, beach cricket (always ask if you see people play and they will gladly have you join), and going for draai-roomys (soft serve) afterwards. Get a flaky in the middle (crumbly chocolate bar) and the day can't get any better. This is also wine-country so we decided to make our way through wine-country to Paarl - one of the hubs for wine. We visited the K.W.V. WINE EMPORIUM. One of the leading producers of wine and brandy in the country. We first ended up at the welcome center on main street. They sell some brandy and wine here and have some nice pieces of art on display, but the real gem is the warehouse where they make the wine and do tours. So we headed over there for the real stars of the show - K.W.V. WINE EMPORIUM FOR BRANDY and K.W.V. WINE EMPORIUM FOR WINE. We did the obligatory wine tour which was very informative as to how they obtain all the grapes, struggles they have sometimes (fires, droughts, etc.) and how it affects production. Afterwards we did an excellent tasting and went to town on the store. We walked out with Hum cream (a type of cinnamon

South Africa

Potjie!!

liqueur), KWV Roodeberg wine, Cathedral Cellars Brut, KWV Cape Tawny (a port that we really liked as we generally don't like ports), and Imoya Brandy. And when I say that this was cheap I am not kidding. It was like $40 - $50 for 8 bottles of liquor. Time well spent. On the way back we stopped at little stalls and got some fresh produce for a good home cooked meal to finish off a delightful trip.

Before leaving the next day we stopped at Eikendal Vineyard before leaving and had a quick lunch - what a treat it was. The food was delicious and so was the wine.

And lastly there is the Johannesburg airport where you can sit down in Jackson's for a pretty decent meal and beer right before leaving the country.

Likes
- love the scenery (even driving through the desolate Great Karoo)
- love the food (such a diversity of food)
- definitely visit wine country (it is cheap and really good)
- the sunsets are one in a million

Dislikes
- sorry I am a little bias, but there is not much to dislike

Advice
- it truly

South Africa

Love the fires we make under the stars with no lights in sight

is not as dangerous as people make it out to be. Yes there are many things to watch out for. Don't do dumb things and don't get into any dumb situations - this really goes for any country though.
- we went once in May and it was cold already so probably not the greatest time to go.
- we went again in September and it was still pretty chilly (this may come as a surprise, but yeah it does get somewhat cold)
- we had a bigger crowed so it was cheaper for us to rent a house. South Africa can get pricey with hotel rooms as they generally charge per person and not per room so I have found it is cheaper and most of the time better to rent private homes
- most people I know just rent tour guides while they are in South Africa. I have heard that they are fairly cheap. If you do decide to go the route of renting a car (which is not that expensive) just be warned that gas is incredibly expensive.
- wherever you drive in the country always look to the side of the road. There are many

South Africa

Burn away baby!

many creatures just hanging out, but they are pretty good at hiding and blending in so it takes some careful spotting at times
- flying from the US there are many options. Direct which is about 15 hours and through Europe which takes about 16 - 17 hours with a nice break in between. I use to prefer the flight through Europe as it breaks up the flight a little bit and you get to stretch your legs, but now we are to the point where the 15 hours do not really bother us anymore.

And that's another one in the books. Love this country. Only 3 things to cross off here including the Garden Route, Hermanus and Across the Great Karoo. So 249 down and 5,532 to go. Making our way there - one travel at a time.

Til' next time from the home country

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