Advertisement
Published: April 18th 2021
Edit Blog Post
This blog is about empty roads in the North-Western corner of South Africa. It's a first for me, I had no idea how beautiful the Northern Cape is. We are right South of Namibia and by the Atlantic Coast.
We are starting in Upington. This is a cute little town...they even have direct flight to Joburg at least once a day! The little city is built on the Orange River. Surprise...they even produce some wine here. We didn't go for wine tasting, but we did have some nice Sauvignon Blanc for dinner and the hotel nicely gifted us with another bottle of Sauvignon and one of Cabernet Sauvignon to bring along with us.
Next morning, we are up to Aughrabies Falls. This is a small National Park well-known for the Falls. They also have few giraffes and other bucks, but for this you need a proper 4x4 car...which obviously we don't have. They had huge floods less than two weeks before our visit. Those days, thousand locals do visits as the floods do not happen every year. Well, for us the crowds are gone, but the water is still pretty high and the visit pretty
unique. I'm not sure it must be that impressive when as most of the year, there is very little water. After all, we are next to the Kalahari. It doesn't rain often here...and in the middle of the Summer temperatures can easily reach 50 degrees by lunch time.
These few days we have beautiful blue skies, and relatively moderate temperatures....by 1pm, we may have reached only 37 degrees! The plan was to go back on the N14, than at Pofadder to cut South to reach the N7. Well...that was the plan and I was ready to do it only if the road was at least slightly tarred. For those of you who don't know what a tar road is?!? In South Africa...you still find thousands of kilometers of dirt or gravel roads. You can go through with most cars...but I'm not ready to do 275km in one go on a gravels road...with a Suzuki Swift! We back track by few hundred meters, back on the N14 all the way to Springbok...than heading South on the N7. Roads here are pretty empty and you can go 140kms without seeing a single village. The road is straight...the land is
red and the views are very special! So we drove a lot...and yes, you can speed up a little here. Just do not attempt this by night, there are way too many animals crossing those roads!
Our stop for the night, the little town of ClanWilliam. Hotel is basic, dinner too. This is exactly the kind of place where I don't specially want to live. They do have a 9 holes golf course...but as this is the week, they don't even have flags in the holes on the green! Well, it was just a stop for way better. 90 minutes drive South, next morning, we are ready for the first serious wine tasting of a long list. This is the middle of the "vendange"...so people are busy! But I still spent 2 hours with Pieter and met also David. We are at Cederberg...David is the owner/winemaker of Cederberg, but also of Ghost Corner. The first is to produce mainly in bulk. You'll find Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc at Cederberg, plus one or two more things and MCC. Well, I would keep it only to the Chenin Blanc Five Generations...that's something special! But
David own also Ghost Corner. The vineyards are a good few hours drive from here...just North of Cape Aghulas, the Southern Point of Africa. If you are in the known, you'll be aware that their Sauvignon Blanc and Wild Fermented Sauvignon Blanc are some of the best in the world...and for sure better than anything France or New Zealand is producing right now. But on top of that, they do have some "specials". I speak of a production of way south of 5,000 bottles ...I name their Bowline (superb blend of Sauvignon Blanc/Semilon), but also a top Semilon...and yes, for the price...a very special Pinot Noir!
I knew all those wines before I reached Cederberg, so the 2 hours tasting and actually drinking some was more about the process and the future of one of the most special winery in the country. For one thing, you need to drive a gravel road for 50kms before you can reach the winery. They are simply the only ones there! Impressive!
Next, we are heading a little North, than South-West to Saldanha and the Langebaan area. This must be one of the coldest part of the country.
The Atlantic blow here. It is windy, all the time! So we had tons of local mussels and oysters. Point to know, South Africa never built a coastal road from Namibia to Cape Town. You will feel the Ocean, you'll drive close to it, but nealry never will you see it. Today, there are too many private interest...including diamonds and private reserves to make any coastal road an option. So let it be!
We slept two nights in Saldanha. I play the only decent golf course around, I name the Langebaan golf course. Was pretty nice not too drive too much after those long days on the road. Next, we did a little detour by Riebeek-Kastell before reaching Cape Town. This is the new up and going wine region....only super small wineries, lots of Syrah and Chenin Blanc, very Rhones style...cute little shops left and right...and next time, we'll spend much more time around here!
Not many pictures of Cape Town as we only spent a night here this time. Usual Ramen for us in Sea Point and a nice little room. Lunch was as usual at the V&A..I even put my hands on
some imported black truffles...and spent some time at Caroline's Fine Wines....
What a trip so far...next, I still have to decide if I do one or two blogs...there will be more wine...more wine tastings...some great meals...so solid golf...and even few elephants!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0512s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
John Roe
non-member comment
Northern Cape......
Steeped in stark, semi-desert beauty, the Northern Cape province is the largest of all the South African provinces and the most sparsely populated. ... In the desert, black-maned Kalahari lions and quirky quiver trees eke out a living on the scorching plains