Despite our hope to sleep in, we ended up awake at 6 am. I guess we are just naturally early risers. Breakfast was served at 7 am, so after a leisurely shower (we didn’t try the outdoor shower) we headed out under the tent. We loaded up on coffee – and realized how much we missed it yesterday. It was unlimited and flavorful – we had some great coffee on this trip.
Breakfast was nice – a veggie quesadilla and a waffle sandwich that had some serious bacon and grilled pork layered in. While we had a nice slow breakfast the sun rose over my shoulder and a cool breeze drifted through the dining area, passing between the tropical plants and the tent. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the cool air – sometimes great memories derive from simple moments like this.
We went back to our room and packed up our stuff – today is a travel day and we were moving on to Cape Town, South Africa. We settled up at the front desk, and gave them a box of Japanese rice crackers to share with the staff. The clerk said thank you but I could kind of tell he would have preferred a cash tip. He called a taxi for us, and while we waited I asked him to change my $20 bill to smaller notes. He disappeared and was gone a surprisingly long time before returning with four $5 bills.
Our taxi driver introduced himself as “Panel”, and was a friendly sort. He pointed out the sights along the way to the airport, including the new stadium being built for the Cricket World Cup. His vehicle was a Japanese minivan, and we noticed that the navigation screen had an error message in Japanese, telling the driver to insert a navigation map card. We explained it to him because he was curious what it said, but without a card we couldn’t fix the error for him. Apparently this is where Japanese trade-in cars end up. Chatting on the drive he expressed a wish to move to Japan for work, and even gave me his WhatsApp number to keep in touch.
We were back at the Victoria Falls airport. It is quite a small airport so it was easy to find where to check in. In front of us a family of four looked slightly overwhelmed but they had a good sense of humor. We later saw them in Cape Town near the end of our trip. Then we went through security (shoes off here) and a clearly unhappy man angrily stamped our passports to leave. He was one of the few people we met in Zimbabwe that was not friendly at all.
We had time to kill before our flight – we walked around but covered the whole airport in just a few minutes. I had the bright idea to get a soda to drink, and we found a place that was serving drinks from a cooler. I found a strange drink in a broken cooler – Pine Nut Soda – and the staff was nice enough to get a cup of ice for me to pour it over.
Our flight was running a little late, so I spent time journaling. There was a big Korean group lined up to board the flight, and once we got seated on the plane one of their members asked the flight attendant if they could sit in the empty exit row seats. The flight attendant explained that those were paid seats – the Korean lady who asked thought she had figured out a loophole and was clearly disappointed.
We were flying a new airline for us, Kenya Airways, and things were a little different. For example, the food they served was labeled as “traditional Kenyan cuisine” which I was excited to try. It was certainly different, but not as flavorful as I had hoped. I did get to order a Kenyan beer which had a distinctive taste that I found hard to identify. The food was served by a flight attendant that wore a sort of gold tiara that apparently reflects the traditions of Kenya. Hard to get a cultural read from a short flight on an airplane.
As we descended into Cape Town we were treated to some great views of the city, the ocean and Table Mountain overlooking it all. The weather was slightly cloudy, and I was surprised to see a black cloud of smoke just outside the airport property rising as we landed. By the time the plane was taxiing into the gate there were visible flames under the smoke cloud, but a few minutes later it the fire was out. Ominous signs for our visit?
Immigration and customs were a piece of cake and soon enough we had our suitcase and went out to meet Annelize and Robert. Annelize was an intern at Benziger Family Winery years ago, and thanks to her connection with my parents they graciously offered to show us around Cape Town and the wine country while we were there. They drove us around in their little Mazda, and our first stop was to go up to the top of Table Mountain.
Table Mountain is a landmark in Cape Town and is always subject to variable weather conditions. Annelize explained that while the weather was fairly good we should go up there, and we were happy to take their advice. On the way her husband Robert drove us past what I had earlier called “slums” or “shantytowns” but Annelize gracefully referred to as “informal settlements”. They were truly hand built homes, gathered in clutches with wires haphazardly strung between. It didn’t look like a place you’d want to walk through unless you lived there. Then a few miles later we saw upscale homes with heavily secured gates and windows – so interesting to see how close together the haves and have nots were living.
Robert was an excellent driver and Annelize gently gave directions as they went, finding the best route to the base of the mountain. It looked a little bit difficult to drive here – we were glad we had a pro at the wheel.
We went and found a parking space near the base of the mountain, and then lined up to buy tickets for a ropeway that ran up the hill. Apparently our timing was good – the parking attendant said that the wait was a couple of hours but now it was just 30 minutes. He turned out to be wrong – the wait was less than 15 minutes! The ropeway itself was impressive – it was a big, rotating room (sponsored by Corona Beer) that went to the top of the mountain (1000 meters!) in less than a minute. The rotating floor was cool – everyone had a chance for great views on the ride up and down.
I had imagined that there would be a small observation area at the top but we had access to almost the entire mountaintop. There was plenty of room to walk around and that made it feel less touristy because everyone was spread out. The views here were spectacular – not just overlooking the city but views far to the south and the beaches and coastline as well. The weather cleared up while we were there – Annelize commented on how lucky we were with the weather as it was raining hard last week.
While walking around Annelize and Robert mentioned that they had a day of wine tasting planned for us the next day, mentioning three wine farms that they want to bring us to visit. While it was really kind of them to make these plans, Kuniko and I were hoping to get a day of rest in Stellenbosch. We had been running hard since our departure from Osaka (just three days ago!) so I tried to diplomatically break the news to them. It was tricky because I imagined that perhaps they had made reservations at some of these wineries, and some of them may have required a deposit – who knows? But they were totally cool with us taking a rest day.
On the top of Table Mountain were some interesting plants and wildlife. Annelize seemed to be very interested in the natural aspect of the mountain and pointed out some native flowers. We even ran across some “dassies” – a sort of groundhog that was really cute and clearly thriving up there.
Eventually we decided to head back down, so we lined up for the ropeway. The wait was a little longer to go down as we were approaching the end of the afternoon, but again we got great views on the ride. We walked back to the car, and I was interested to see that Annelize passed a tip to the attendant – she said that it is not formally expected but having the guy around was a sort of peace of mind thing.
As passengers we were kind of along for the ride. Sometimes I had trouble with Robert and Annelize’s accents, so I know that it must have been even tougher on Kuniko. I’m sure they explained our next steps but since we were total newcomers it occasionally came as a surprise where we turned up. The next place we turned up was the beach at Camps Bay.
With a sort of Malibu feeling the white sandy beach spread out before us, and the sun was just starting to go down. We walked along the beach and the cool breezes of South African winter were refreshing – much better than the sweaty Japanese summer we just left. As we walked I was taking pictures of the palm trees, the stylish restaurants lining the streets, and I was surprised when a woman walking her dog asked me if I had taken her picture. I told her that I didn’t intentionally take her picture but together we checked my phone and she was not in the shot that I took. She thanked me and said, “at least you speak English.” Hmm… strange interaction.
For dinner Robert and Annelize recommended a local chain restaurant called “Mozambik”. We’ve never been to Mozambique and this was the closest we’d ever been so why not? Plus it was an opportunity to try some peri-peri sauce, which was new to both of us. The restaurant was really stylish – a cool vibe and it smelled good in there. There was a twist of paper with spiced peanuts to munch on while we considered the menu.
I had chicken curry with coconut rice (excellent) and Kuniko ordered a quarter chicken with prawns, and a side dish of “pap & ushatini” which was a potato and stewed veggie dish that I really liked. The food was really good, and with some peri-peri sauce spread around it was even better. I drank a glass of Merlot from KWV winery and Kuniko had a Cabernet Sauvignon from Nederburg winery. Annelize had a Sauvignon Blanc that came with a glass of ice cubes. I tried to hide my shock as she dropped ice cubes into her wine now and then.
While talking about peri-peri sauce Robert mentioned that now that he was retired he had been making some homemade peri-peri sauces to sell. He sounds like an interesting guy – he is newly retired and seemed to be trying to keep active. They both were genuinely easy to talk to, which was helpful as Kuniko and I are not naturally social people.
So after a great meal I picked up the tab to try to offset some of their expenses of driving us around, and we went back out just as the sun set over the ocean horizon. We walked down the beach a little and some local kids were singing and dancing – the rhythms of the dance were banged out on an upside down plastic bucket, and the dancers were just three or four young kids. We watched for a while but I didn’t take any pictures – I was carrying zero local currency and wouldn’t be able to leave a tip.
We got back in the car, and then Robert and Annelize were nice enough to drive us about 30 minutes past their own home to drop us off at our hotel in Stellenbosch. As we entered the town they mentioned that this side was a bit dodgy, and I was surprised to see people camped on the streets and some rough characters watching cars pass by. Some of the vibe might have been because it was dark now and it was an unfamiliar place. But after we turned a corner we got into the historic district and then we saw nice restaurants with people eating outside, and our hotel was well-lit with a couple of doormen keeping watch out front.
We said our goodbyes to Annelize and Robert and thanked them for showing us around. We made plans to meet back up after our day of rest, and then they drove on back home. At the hotel check in the staff passed us a map of the town, and then drew a rectangle around the hotel and a few blocks in each direction. She told us that we would really enjoy this area for walking around – and I joked out loud that it was the “safe zone”, she acknowledged my comment with a brief nod and a smile, and so we had the info that we’d need for our next day in town.
With check-in came a couple of vouchers for a welcome drink in the hotel bar, and that was how we came to be sitting by a warm fire, sipping a Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon from Bosman Wines before we went to bed. There was a chill in the air outside – a complete contrast to where we had started our trip.
Our room in the hotel was one of the nicest we’ve ever stayed in. The design and layout were comfortable and there was a huge bed, a hotel breakfast was on the menu tomorrow morning – life is good! We tucked into the giant bed thinking about the upcoming day of relaxation and wine tasting.
