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South Africa - January 2024
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jan. – feb. 2024

South Africa - January 2024

Savanna, safari, sun, sand, stuff Läs mer
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    19 januari 2024
    Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Pub, beer, Brazil planning...
    Not sure photo does the sunset justice. Amazing view out of Heathrow T5Spoons beers!How you're supposed to leave your plane dinner tray.Um....

    Day 1 - A bit weird and civilised

    19 januari 2024, England ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    We’ve grown accustomed to flying West over the past couple of years - whether to the Caribbean, the US West Coast, or New York - and the timing of those flights to work with time differences has dictated our airport experience. 06:00 alarms, early morning cab rides, early afternoon flights - there’s nothing wrong with them, per se, but it can feel a little rushed. Flying South for this trip, with only a two hour time difference means an overnight flight, and an evening departure. Our cab isn’t due until 15:30, and our flight doesn’t depart until 21:10. As a result, we have what feels like a luxurious amount of time to get ourselves ready. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’d finished packing yesterday. For me - that’s actually a pretty good result. I’ve been known to start packing a week before we’re heading off somewhere.

    Around lunchtime, I realise i’m both bored, and not really of any help to Vicki’s packing efforts, so I relocate to the pub. It’s all a bit weird, but also civilised. We’re heading through Friday rush hour traffic to get to Heathrow - a journey which can be a ball-ache at the best of times. We’re amazed though, when what could have been a 2 hour journey is done in 75 minutes. We’re at the airport with some 4 hours to spare. Happily, we’re more than capable of passing the time. We locate a bar, and settle in for the duration. We read, we cackle, we booze. A couple of hours passes in the blink of an eye, and it’s time to board our flight. As we’re heading towards the gate, we get chatting to a few different couples, and we’re both struck by how relaxed and easy going everyone seems to be. The rush of the short haul business flights has ended, and all of the flights remaining for the night are long-haul - Joburg, Rio, Buenos Aires, Sydney. Folks are heading off on their travels, going to see loved ones, starting a new life in some cases. There’s a positivity to the throng that I just can’t remember experiencing in recent times.

    We’ve treated ourselves to Premium Economy, as we’re on an overnight flight. With the best will in the world, I know I won’t get much/any sleep in an economy BA seat. We arrive to our seat to find a young couple directly in front of us, with their newborn baby. Our hearts sink. I mean - noise cancelling headphones can only do so much… Vicki is a little disconcerted when the pilot says that our wings need de-icing. It’s a fairly common occurrence in colder climates than the UK, but it’s a new experience. Whilst she’s soooooooooo much of a better flyer than maybe 15 years ago, there’s a lingering distrust of aircraft and flying. Meanwhile, I’m enthralled by it. I’ve never seen the wing de-icing happening. In the dark night at Heathrow, the cranes lowering a massive pressure washer type spray onto the wings kind of reminds me of an alien movie. It’s v cool. The de-icing delays us a little, and we take off closer to 22:00 than is ideal. The pilot assures us though that we’ll have a quick flight, and should still land into Johannesburg on time.

    At the end of the dinner service, I’m struck by the gargantuan difference between my neat and orderly tray, and the devastation wreaked by Tropical Storm Vicki. She’s not delighted when I capture this feeling for posterity’s sake.

    It’s getting late, and we both want to try and maximise sleep. One more wine to see us off, I reckon….    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    SO good to have some warm sunshine after a bitter couple of weeks in the UK
    Sandton sundownersKudu? Yes, I could.Beautiful Nelson Mandela SquareIbiza-by-Joburg

    Day 2 - Sun, Sandton , Savanna

    20 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Day 2 - Sun, Sandton, Savanna
    Fair fucks - the baby did not make ANY noise. Not a jot. Bless her little cotton socks. Her Mum and Dad are equally surprised / pleased. Vicks and I both sleep fitfully, but manage around 5 hours - enough to see us through the coming day. As we start to descend into OR Tambo airport, my view out of the window speaks of sunshine and warmth. Coming from a week of sub-zero temperatures in the UK, it’s going to be a blessed relief.

    Our driver, Norman, meets us in arrivals, and whisks us over to Sandton, a plush and lush suburb of Johannesburg. I’ve only ever used Joburg as a stepping stone - a first or last pit stop on my way in or out of the country, and this trip will be no different. It’s just never held an attraction for me. Going back 20 years to my first visits to South Africa, all I heard about the city was the risk to tourists, which didn’t exactly endear it to me.

    We’re staying at the familiar Sandton Sun hotel. We unceremoniously dump our bags in our room, and head out in search of sustenance. Sitting on the sun deck (albeit in the shade), we both find ourselves sinking into our chairs with a warm sense of wellbeing. Vicki dives into a large Chardonnay, while I have my first Savanna on African soil in 5 years. Both hit the spot in the best possible way…

    We have actual chores to do this afternoon. Grocery shopping, hire car collection and so on - so despite the incredibly strong temptation to put roots down, we drag ourselves away. 30 minutes of mall wandering later, we’re back in the Atrium bar at our hotel. I get the car collection out of the way, and reward myself with a stunning glass of Cabernet Franc. Of such things will our days be made…

    We’re ready for dinner a little earlier than needed, so head back to the sun deck for sundowners. The sun is still hot, but the Savanna is cold. I’m struck by how the balance of the clientele has changed. When I first visited in 2003, it was unthinkable that a smart hotel like this would have had black customers. Now, the balance is 90/10 in favour of customers of colour. There is a growing indigenous middle class in South Africa, the happy result of decades of affirmative action policies that are seeing folks get a fair break. I suspect not all of white South Africa is entirely supportive, but fuck ‘em.

    Dinner this evening is at Trump’s Grill on Nelson Mandela Square. I’ve avoided eating here in the past, for the daft reason that it might be associated with that orange faced dipshit. It’s not - Trump's is a decades old family butchery in Johannesburg, and in 1994 they opened their restaurant. I’m the idiot. We’re given a brief tour of the wine cellar by the enigmatic Michael, and a quick tasting of some reds that should go well with our meal. Our food is delicious. Simple, but incredibly tasty. Kudu fillet for me, and a South African rib-eye for Vicki. We judge the amount perfectly, and even have some of our amazing Pinotage left to accompany our post dinner ramblings. We’re not quite ready for bed, so head back to the sun deck for one last glass of wine. The place is jumping. The DJ is playing a passable version of house music, and for a moment - it feels like we’re in Ibiza or Croatia.

    One glass turns out to be quite sufficient. We wobble back to our room, and collapse into bed, knowing we’ve got an early start tomorrow…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Stunning views from the bar at Umzolozolo
    Solo thumb, as Vicks decided Umzolozolo was too posh for a thumbs pic!View from our chalet's balconyLocal brandy drinks tray in our roomHis and hers outdoor showers

    Day 3 - Pt 1 : The long/not winding road

    21 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We are both less than impressed with our 06:15 alarm call. It’s a necessary evil though, as we’ve a long drive ahead of us. After our Las Vegas / California road trip in 2021, I reflected that somewhere around 4 1/2 to 5 hours should be the limit of what we attempt in a single day. I’m testing the reaches of that today, with a drive of 4 and a bit hours down to Umzolozolo, the safari lodge that will be our overnight stop. We’re both a bit more organised than we give ourselves credit for, and are ready to check out by 07:30. We’ve done a decent job of rinsing the hotel bars and restaurant while we’ve been here. We’re both pleasantly surprised to find that our total sundries bill is a shade over £70.

    I’m not normally a fan of motorways, and typically much prefer the road less travelled, to the one infested with idiots that make the average journey a pain in the ass. Today though, we’re covering a shade over 400km, and have a relatively narrow arrival window - after 12:30, but before lunch at 13:00, so motorway it is. We head off at a steady 120 km/h (the speed limit) on the mighty N3 between Joburg and Durban. The car intermittently beeps at us, and it takes us longer than it strictly should to figure out that this is the automated toll pass letting us know we’ve passed a toll point, and have been automatically charged. Further down the road, there are toll booths to pass through, but closer to Joburg, it’s a highly efficient automatic system. Driving down the N3 evokes memories of a similar trip 20 or so years ago, LONG before the advent of average speed controls and electronic toll gates, of 160 km/h cruising speeds to shorten the mammoth distances between stops, of a fairly lax attitude to the so-called alcohol driving laws… Our journey today is a somewhat more sensible affair. Highway driving in South Africa is, it turns out, a much less stressful experience than the UK. For a start, there are WAY fewer vehicles on the road. Secondly, the roads are pretty simple and straight (pardon the pun) forward. There are stretches where the road disappears in a straight line into the horizon 20-30km away. Some find the lack of corners at best boring, and at worst stupefying. I am not amongst them. After 2 hours, we’ve covered more than half the distance.

    We leave the highway maybe 20kms from our lodge. After 10 of those kilometres, we turn off onto a dirt road, which takes us deep into Nambiti private game reserve. The road is, well - let’s not call it names. It’s a rocky, slippery track, with hidden pot holes and the occasional ditch. We’re in a small Suzuki. The two do not mix brilliantly. We take it fairly steadily, but there are still a couple of hairy moments. We’re both pretty pleased when we arrive at the park gate. Parking up, we’re met by our driver, Lymon, who drives us the last couple of clicks to our lodge.

    Oh. My. God. This place is freaking amazing. Our last safari experience in South Africa was at Kruger, a place I’ve visited many times, and which I love. It’s intentionally targeting the mass market, with accommodation options from as little as £10 per night. It’s usually self-catered, with a small cafe and restaurant for those not fussed with cooking. Kruger has paved roads, and you’re as likely to find folks driving themselves around the park as taking an organised game drive. One of the big rest stops in Kruger will likely have 200-300 people staying at any one time, and there are 10+ such big rest stops across the park. Umzolozolo has 5 rooms. On arrival, we’re greeted by the team singing a song of welcome in Zulu. We’re welcomed by name by every member of staff, wherever we go. They even spell Vicki’s name correctly. We grab a much deserved drink, before tucking into a fabulous lunch. We’re taken to our room, which is spectacular. An incredible view over the game park valley, a stunning plunge pool, a bathroom that is quite a lot bigger than is strictly necessary, an outdoor his and hers shower… We have a couple of hours before our afternoon game drive. I spend some of it in the plunge pool. We’re conscious that our game drive is three hours long, and there’s not always a great place to use the bush bathroom, so we’re somewhat parsimonious with our liquid intake. I reason that wine is a dehydrating agent, so it’ll probably all be fine…

    Lymon collect us and our sundowner coolbox just before 16:00. We were asked earlier what we’d like to drink at the rest stop during our game drive. Savanna for me, G+T for Vicki. Another couple were due to join us in Lymon’s truck, but have decided to rest this evening (the guy is ensconced in a Premier League game…), so we have the luxury of our own personal driver. Lymon asks what we’d most like to see during our stay. Our last safari together in Kruger was great, but lacked one game experience - big cats. He nods, and we head off into the park.    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Beautiful Kudu. The spirals in their horns tell you hold old they are.Most commonly known as wildebeest, but also gnu - due to the grunting sound they makeThese buffalo make SUCH a racket when they're eating.Poshest bush bar EVERZebedee!Black backed Jackal. Massively jaunty little fella.Braai grilled Eland fillet with gem squash and mashed potato. Delish.

    Day 3 - Pt 2 : The Circle of Life

    21 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The roads towards the part of the park where the lions were sighted earlier today are pretty basic - very bumpy and rocky. The jeep makes short work of them, but in the back, we feel a little like we’re being thrown around at times. It’s still very hot, with hardly any breeze. Driving across the African plains is one of my very happiest places. En route to the North of the park, we meet some kudu - easy to spot from the white stripes across their back, and the amazing spiralled antlers the males have. Whisper it, but they’re also incredibly tasty… We see a herd of wildebeest (or gnu) alongside some mighty water buffalo and some zebra. In the distance, we can see some Waterbok. I’ve only brought my iPhone for photography, as:

    a) we’re only here for 1 night, and I typically only use my SLR for wildlife, so it felt a bit of a faff, and
    b) when I took my SLR out to charge its battery, it was covered in an as yet unidentified sticky substance, and I didn’t have time to figure out what it was, much less clean it ready for use.

    As a result, I’m conscious that my photos won’t do justice to the majesty of these amazing creatures, but we’re maybe a little less worried about that than we used to be…

    The two male lions we’re tracking have been spotted near Nambiti plains, having taken down a young giraffe. It sounds like they’re in a food coma, and readying themselves for a deep sleep. They may not move until tomorrow. We spend some time trying to locate them, but it’s ultimately fruitless. We elect to stop for our sundowners. Jeez - it’s the smartest bush bar I’ve ever been to. Previous safaris have been more of a toss a beer from the cooler / open it with your teeth type scenario. Here, Lymon sets up a small table for us (part of the jeep’s optional equipment apparently), and lays out some snacks for us - dried mango, chilli corn kernels, some drowoers (a kind of dried boerewors sausage), and some nuts. Vicki’s gin and tonic is poured in front of her and she’s given the choice of lemon or lime. Lymon says we can use the bush bathroom (behind the truck), which we do. It’s incredibly civilised for the middle of the African bush.

    Lymon suggests we take another look for the lions, as he’s had some intel in from the network of rangers across the park. We head back to the spot we were looking earlier, and find another truck parked up, who have figured out where the boys are, but they’re not visible in the long grass. We can see long stems of grass moving as the lions roll around in their slumber, but it’s not exactly a Kodak moment. Tracking them down has taken quite a chunk of time, and trucks are supposed to be out of the reserve by (around..) 19:00. We head back towards Umzolozolo at a brisk pace. We quickly see a large, female giraffe. Lymon is all but certain that this is the mother of the youngster killed by the lions, desperately looking for her child - it’s a reminder of the brutality of the circle of life…. In the distance, a thunder and lightning storm is kicking off. Huge forks of lightning around 20km to the West of us. As we drive back to the lodge, it feels like we might just be aiming for the eye of the storm. Happily we’re not, but it provides us with some entertainment as we bundle across the rocky terrain.

    Arriving back at the lodge, we freshen up, and have dinner. The food is amazing. I have venison for my main course, which changes daily depending on what local antelope are available. Tonight it’s Eland, which is the largest antelope in Africa, and compares with the Canadian Moose in size. It’s delicious eating though, with a much finer flavour than the Kudu I ate in Johannesburg. Vicki’s Kingclip fillet is delicious as well. We’re eating outside in a boma - a generic Swahili word for an enclosure. There’s a raging fire in the centre of the boma, and our fellow guests and we are seated around it. It’s a spectacular little piece of Africa. It’s trying to rain, but we never get the sound and light show of the thunderstorm that we feared. We manage one more glass of wine in the bar after dinner, but we’re both tuckered after a long and busy day. We’re back in our cottage before 22:00, and asleep before 23:00. We’ve an even earlier alarm call in the morning…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Mornings in the bush are so special. Utterly tranquil...
    Male hippo having a nap at the water's edge.BIG male rhino. Apparently quite grumpy, so we didn't chance getting too close...George!Cheetahs 1 - iPhone 0. Honestly, they're there...1A staggeringly accurate recreation of my cheetah sighting that I drew for Vicki.Umzolozolo from the valley floorFound a small herd of Kudu grazing between the lodge and our chalet

    Day 4- Pt 1: What time do you call this?

    22 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ 🌫 16 °C

    The 04:45 alarm is brutal - for one of us. Vicks has not slept well, and elects to stay in bed instead of going on our morning game drive. We’ve had a pretty full on few days, including transcontinental travel, and I think she’s just tuckered. I head out though, grabbing a quick coffee before heading into the park at 05:30. As I’m on my own, Lymon suggests I join another group going out. We’re still only 4 guests in the truck. My guide this morning is Noles - Umzolozolo’s chief ranger. She’s a pint-pot bundle of energy, and has the most amazing eyes for spotting game. At one point, she spots a rhino a couple of kilometres away from us. Even through my binoculars, I’m not 100% convinced it’s not a big boulder. Our game drive is pretty successful - lots of kudu, zebra and wildebeest. We see a huge male hippo having a snooze in a small lake. The sun rising over the savannah is beautiful. There’s a dewy mist in the air that the sun is desperately trying to burn through. It’s quite ethereal. We spend some time with a hunting black-backed jackal. It leaps around looking for its prey of small rodents. Utterly jaunty. We spot a small herd of Eland - one of the biggest antelopes on the planet. They’re skittish, so can ’t get too close for fear of spooking them. Around the corner, we come close to that rhino that Noles spotted earlier. He’s a big boy - recently imported into the park as part of efforts to continue to rebuild the population after decades of poaching. Poaching remains a critical threat to these majestic beasts, but the anti-poaching tactics *seem* to be working.

    We receive a radio call from another jeep that two of the park’s cheetahs have been spotted to the North West of us. There are also two lions sleeping with a kill nearby. We choose to head over to the cheetah spotting, and take off at pace. We stop to say hi to some giraffe, and after 15 minutes of being thrown around the back of the truck, arrive to find two cheetahs with very fat bellies snoozing after a kill. There’s still some blood around their mouths, so fresh is the kill. We spend 20 minutes with them, swapping between the naked eye, binoculars and the camera on my iPhone. They’re such stunning creatures - so graceful on the move. These two are going nowhere though. I flick through my photos, and the distance to the cheetahs is just too far for my phone to take decent pics. I shall draw a picture for Vicki so she doesn’t feel she’s missed out.

    We stop for a bush coffee - black coffee, with a glug (technical term) of Amarula cream. Delicious. The sun’s getting properly hot now it’s 08:00. We decide to head back to the lodge for breakfast. I check in on Vicki, who’s had another nearly 4 hours of sleep, and who feels much better for it. We have a quick breakfast, hear a large warthog butchering an orphaned baby warthog (circle of life etc etc), and get ourselves packed for the next phase of our journey.    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Butter!1BUTTER!1We very very nearly checked out because of this.Movie night

    Day 4 - Pt 2 : Foot off the gas...

    22 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ 🌫 15 °C

    We’re having a much deserved, lazy afternoon. The last few days have been pretty full-on, and some slower paced meandering is called for. We’ve a ‘relatively’ short drive down to Nottingham Road - about 2 hours all in. Back on the N3, despite it being a week-day/work day, the motorway is still blissfully quiet. We stop for a critically urgent Savanna at the Nottingham Road Hotel, then head down to our stop for the night, Rawdons, which is just a few minutes down the road. I remember coming here 20 years ago for a pit-stop beer while heading through the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands. It’s a very pretty country hotel, with a pub attached, serving beers from the Nottingham Road Brewery that’s located onsite. We have a quick snifter, get checked in, and then have a late lunch. The weather has turned decidedly cooler. Vicks is a little chilly sitting outside the pub having a drink. As we walk down to our cottage, there’s the faint hint of some rain. Not what we ordered at all. My early start catches up with me, and I have a deep, afternoon nap. We’re staying in a lovely cottage by the estate’s lake. As I wake from my nap, I open the curtains to a beautiful view, and the sound of Ibis calls.

    Our late lunch means we don’t need dinner, so we grab a bottle of wine from the bar, and spend an hour or two in the guest lounge. I think we’re amongst maybe 4-5 total guests? It’s certainly very quiet. This week is the first week back for school kids in SA after their long summer holiday. It’s a Monday. These things combine to mean that we very much have the run of the place. We decide to take the rest of the bottle back to our room to watch a movie. The pace of our day is exactly what we needed. We’re both looking forward to a good sleep, and are in bed shortly after 23:00…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Low lying cloud over the Rawdons lake
    Beautiful Howick FallsBrooding sky at Umhlanga Rocks1Astonishingly good prawnsA monster of a Kleftiko

    Day 5 - Not the weather we ordered

    23 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    I’ve sprained my ankle. Completely own fault - in Sandton on Saturday, I wasn’t looking where I was going, and walked full pace into a metal bollard. The sprain has worsened over the past day or so, to the point that I suggested I sleep in the second bedroom in the cottage, to save Vicki from kicking it in her sleep. I’m a little discombobulated when Vicki wakes me at around 04:00 to let me know there’s *something weird* flying around the other bedroom. I briefly consider putting my brave boy pants on, and going to investigate, but determine that ultimately, that’s a much later job. We’re up by 07:30 for breakfast, which we eat in a deserted and eerily quiet dining room. There’s a persistent drizzle in the air. By the time we walk back to our cottage from breakfast, it’s become rain. The sky broods, and we both make sure our waterproofs are readily accessible should we need them. There’s a bit of a chill in the air as well. I suspect we’re not going to be doing a lot of outside stuff today…

    We check out at 10:30, and head South towards Pietermaritzburg to meet my v old friend Jooj for lunch. It’s been fully 18 years since we saw each other and sooooooo much has happened in that time. We stop at Howick Falls on the way, a beautiful 100m and powerful waterfall on the Mgeni river. It’s mizzly overhead, and the spray from the falls contributes to an overall sense of dampness. We head off the southbound N3 at Hilton, and cruise down into Maritzburg, through some places that jog deeply seated memories. One brings back a particularly haunting flashback of a crushing hangover the day after the Rugby World Cup Final in 2003. I considered myself fortunate that most South Africans wanted England to win more than Australia (just) so I had a lot of folks with whom to celebrate. That was also the night I learnt that ‘Double Spiced’ is not the name of a rum, and that I’d been drinking double Spiced and Cokes all night. Ouchie.

    Meeting Jooj is amazing. We fall back into an incredibly easy sibling-like patter. She’s just great fun to hang out with. I tried to describe her to Vicks the other day, and the best I could manage was a bundle of crazy fun energy… She doesn’t seem to me to have changed at all from the teenager / young adult I first met 20 odd years ago. All too soon, it’s time for us to continue on down to Durban. This is the shortest, and yet most stressful drive we’ve taken thus far. The highway south of PMburg is properly busy, and contains more like the proportion of dickhead drivers we’re used to in the UK. Happily, we’re only an hour from our overnight stop in Umhlanga Rocks.

    Checked in and settled, we head for a wander on the beach. It’s windy, overcast, and trying to rain. We decide to cut our losses, and head to a cool little beach bar called Sunsets and Mermaids for some wine… A lovely bottle of Vergelegen later, we realise time’s getting on a bit. We hustle back to our hotel (it’s all of 15m away) via the Pick N Pay for a bottle of wine, and get ourselves a bit freshened up for dinner.

    We eat at a new place called Mitera. Greek influenced Mediterranean menu, very reasonably priced, very tasty. The rain is really coming down now. We’re seated on a little outdoor but not outdoor terrace, so don’t get drenched. I commit a bit of a FUBAR by accidentally ordering Pastitsio (a carb and protein laden, heavy, pasta based meat pie type thing) as a starter, when I had meant to order Spanakopita (a feather light, filo pastry pie containing spinach and feta). It’s very tasty, but I suspect is going to leave us whatever the opposite of light on the loafers is. Our mains are sensational. I have some amazing grilled prawns, while Vicki wades into a lamb shank Kleftiko. More than sated, we waddle across the road back to our hotel, and briefly discuss watching a movie before falling into a deep, food-fuelled coma…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Airport beers at Zululand Brewing Co
    Cape Town sundowners

    Day 6 - Westward Bound

    24 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    I have a bit of a weird night’s sleep, and when Vicki wakes, she tells me she’s been the same. Some loud noises through the night, and I actually wake up during the night feeling a little queasy - the result, no doubt, of the oversized feasting at dinner last night. We skip breakfast, and get ourselves ready to head to King Shaka, the new international airport built outside Durban for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As it’s a domestic flight, the security protocols are quite a bit lighter - no real worries about liquids and the like. We’re here in plenty of time, so park ourselves after security control at the brilliantly named Zululand Brewing Company pub for a couple of wines/Savannas to ease us into the flight. The 2 hour flight is largely uneventful, and quickly enough, we’re landing into Cape Town International, where we’re told the temperature has been in the high 30s for the past week.

    Happily, our drivers MPV is heavily air-conditioned, and the traffic gods are kind to us. We’re soon checked into Hyde Hotel, our home for the next week. It feels quite luxurious to be unpacking clothes, rather than living out of a rucksack as we have been for the first few days of our trip. We’ve not eaten much today, so head out in search of sustenance. We find a great little seafront bar called Rockpool, and settle in. It’s busy - for a Wednesday night, really busy. The views of the dying daylight sun over the South Atlantic are beautiful. There’s a real southern California feel to this part of the Cape Town coastline - palm Trees, long stretches of beach… Fed and watered, we head back to our hotel, and have a bit more of an explore. There’s a rooftop pool and bar, which has amazing views towards Table Mountain and Lion’s Head. We sit at the bar, and chat to Adrian, the bar manager, over a glass of a decent Pinotage/Malbec blend. We start to watch a movie, but the long day is rapidly catching up with me. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open by 23:00, and collapse into bed.    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Lion's Head and Table Mountain from the rooftop bar
    Nap timeAMAZING bit of tuna...Oldest art-house cinema in South AfricaDefinitely no trainer in the corner of this oneLove the sound of an Oude Meester

    Day 7 : Cape Town Capers

    25 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We both sleep much better. At 09:00, the sun is already warming our apartment. We take a look around the rooftop pool and bar during daylight, and take in the views. We grab an Uber into the city centre to the District Six museum. It’s a very simple museum, taking up a small corner building in the heart of what was District Six during segregation. The story it tells is anything but simple. It leaves me angry, sad, and dejected. For those unfamiliar, after the Western Cape had been colonised by white ‘explorers’, District Six became a bustling, multi-cultural neighbourhood following the ending of slavery in and around Cape Town in 1834. In 1966, the white, apartheid government decreed that the neighbourhood would be razed to the ground, and rebuilt as a whites only district. More than 60,000 inhabitants of District Six were forcibly removed from their homes, and relocated to the Cape Flats, outside the centre of Cape Town. It remains one of the most egregious acts of racist abuse under the apartheid regime. The everyday stories of everyday folks that lived through this horrific treatment are both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

    We head over to Bree Street in search of food and wine, and find both at a great little seafood place called Seabreeze. We manage to find a shady table (in the shade, not dodgy - obvs), and cower from the stifling afternoon heat. It’s 32-33C today, and feels it. After a lazy lunch, we walk for 20 minutes to the Mount Nelson hotel - one of THE great hotels of the world. It’s set in plush gardens, standing in which you just wouldn’t know you were in a bustling, modern city. We’re both staggeringly hot after our walk, so hide out inside the Planet Bar where the air-conditioning does wonderful things. I have an Inverroche Amber - a local (ish) Cape gin, and Vicki spends some time paddling around in the deep end of her Chardonnay. It’s a very civilised place to spend some time. We grab an Uber to pick up our hire car for the next 10 days, make a quick pit stop at Pick N Pay for wine/Savanna/biltong supplies, and head back to Sea Point. The heat is still with us, so we head to the rooftop bar for a well deserved sharpener. I have a dip in the pool.

    We freshen up, and head out for dinner further down Sea Point beach - The Greek Fisherman. It has a beautiful courtyard set back from the road, which even on a Thursday evening is packed. We have some calamari and Spanakopita (ordered correctly this time…) to start. Both are sensational. Vicki’s main of simply grilled Kingklip is aces. Kingklip is actually part of the eel family, and has a firm, white texture not dissimilar to hake or halibut, and a beautiful flavour. The roast lamb I have is beyond brilliant. It’s also the size of one of Jupiter’s moons, and I struggle to finish it without assistance from my coaching team. When it’s done properly, Greek food is one of my very favourite things to eat. The philosophy is to do simple things to very high quality ingredients, and the result can be magical.

    A 20 minute walk back to our hotel serves primarily as a digestive aid. We briefly consider a nightcap at the rooftop bar, but defer to watching the second half of the movie we started last night. We bravely make it to the end this time, and celebrate by falling into bed for sleeps.    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Hout Baai from Chapman's Peak Drive
    Noordhoek Beach - all but desertedAmazing beer at the Aegir ProjectI am idiot."Steve! How d'ya get up there?" "Fucked if I know, Dave."

    Day 8 - Pt 1 : Penguins on the Peninsula

    26 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    No idea why I’m not sleeping well, but I’m not. I wake up at 04:30, and just can’t get back to sleep. I get up for a couple of hours, do some vaguely useful stuff, and happily manage to fall back to sleep for another hour or so before our alarm goes off. I know it’s not anxiety or stress driven, so really have no explanation for it. I can always nap later if the need takes me.

    We’re up and out in decent time today, heading over to the Cape peninsula. On the way South, we take the coast road - meandering through Sea Point, Camps Bay and down to Hout Baai. These are some of my favourite coastal roads - just stunning scenery… In Hout Baai, we take the road up and over Chapman’s Peak, a tight and twisty road over the mountains. The views are breathtaking, and we stop a couple of times to breathe them in. On the South side of the Peak, we take a wander down onto Noordhooek beach - just the most stunning expanse of pure white sand I’ve ever seen. It joins up with Kommetje to the South, and runs for around 4 miles. It’s all but deserted. The sun is beating down, and the march across the sandy beach is a little more body taxing than we’d signed up for. We cool down in the car a little, and head to a brilliant little brewery called Aegir, just up the road in Noordhoek. Their house beers are terrific, their food equally so. A burger for Vicks, and a proper New York style hot dog for me. They also make a hot sauce in-house. I pour a little on my purlicue and lick it. For 5 seconds, it tastes amazing! The flavour is then overtaken by intense heat. Beads of sweat appear on my forehead almost instantly. I hiccup. Turning the bottle, I read the ingredients. I am idiot. 100% idiot.

    Recovered (me) and sated (both), we’re back in the car for the quick drive down to Simonstown, where we’ve an appointment with some African Penguins. We’ve visited these guys before, but they’re always great fun to hang out with for a while. We both adore the way they walk - which can best be described as ’10 pints in’. The juveniles are just shedding their soft fur, and readying to go in the water for the first time. Some are mid-moult, and look more than a little dishevelled.

    We take the inland road back to our hotel, which takes us up and over the mountains, and down into the city bowl. Traffic’s building as we approach the Friday rush hour. Vicki passes the time by dozing quietly next to me. We’re back in our room by 16:00, and I’m ready for an ice cold Savanna.    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Sashimi salad, fermented Nuoc Chom, Guacamole, grapefruit pearls, mint oilFish sliders, Mojo dressing, miso mayoPickled mussels, braised beef tongue, kale chicharron, black rice, mussel and parsley velouté1Coal fired linefish, vongole, grilled chokka, trout roe, smoked bouillabaisseLamb rump, crispy sweetbread, cauliflower purée, tomato and oregano vinaigretteLamb belly SsamSmoked Wagyu fillet with black pepper and truffle Café au LaitChickpea, Goat's cheese and Parmesan friesPeanut butter bombe, Frangelico Sabayon, banana mousse, honeycomb

    Day 8 - Pt 2 : Pot Luck

    26 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Dinner tonight is at one of our favourite Cape Town restaurants - The Pot Luck Club. We had dinner here when we were last in town, and it was sensational. We’ve been struggling to spend our daily spend budget so far. The £ to ZAR exchange rate is so favourable at the moment, and South Africa has always offered outstanding value to Brit travellers. That might all change tonight though.

    It’s still warm when we head out, and we’re glad of the air-conditioning in our Uber. Arriving at The Pot Luck Club, it immediately feels familiar and welcoming. We kick off with some pre-prandials - an Inverroche Amber and tonic for me, and a kiwi and strawberry Daiquiri for Vicki. Yum.

    It’s a sharing plate kinda place - and we’re encouraged to order between 6 and 8 dishes to share. We go for 7, figuring that average doesn’t always have to be average. What follows is a succession of show-stoppers. Some really imaginative cookery on display, but brilliantly executed. The Chef Patron is a guy called Luke Roberts - Brit by birth, traveller by nature. The geographically diverse nature of his life is evident in his food - hints of southern Europe here, a dollop of South East Asia there. There are a couple of fish dishes in particular that are as good as any we’ve eaten anywhere. Just sublime…

    While we eat, the sun starts to track to the horizon. Behind us is Table Mountain, shrouded in mist and cloud. Over towards Lion’s Head though, the clouds are dispersing, and the sun’s rays are starting to push through. By the time we’re finishing our savoury dishes, there’s a spectacular sunset on display, and diners are queuing at the fire exit door to take pics. We don’t need, but very much want to share a dessert - a peanut butter bombe, with a banana mousse and a Frangelico sabayon. Neither Vicki nor I have a particularly sweet tooth, but this dish straddles the line between sweet and savoury perfectly. It’s big - big enough to share very happily. We wash it down with a glass each of the Joostenberg estate’s noble rot Chenin Blanc dessert wine - a wine I first tried way back in 2003. It’s a brilliant partner.

    We’re not full to bursting, but we both know we’ve had a good feed. The bill is incredibly reasonable for the experience we’ve had. Whilst it’s pricey by South African standards, in London, it would cost several times as much. We’re forklifted into the back of an Uber, and head back to our hotel. We stop in at the rooftop bar for a glass of wine before we fall into bed...    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    White nutritionist determines dietary needs of different people of colour...Beer for thirst, wine/Savanna cos we deserved it.Moules frites!Kingklip basilic with a tomato beurre blanc

    Day 9 - A sobering truth

    27 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I have another somewhat sketchy night’s sleep, waking at 06:00, when I don’t need to be up until 08:00. No such worries for my beloved. We agreed our 08:00 alarm call last night, and I’m enthused when she seems properly awake not long after. The hotel driver drops us over to the V&A Waterfront at 10:15 - up and out quite a lot earlier than either of us thought would be necessary on this trip. We’re heading over to Robben Island. I’m fully prepared to be part angered and part heart-broken by this place, based on what little knowledge about it I’ve accumulated.

    We start badly. We’re corralled into an airless room to wait for our ferry. We’ve previously been told we must be there by 10:15 for an 11:00 departure. The reality is that the boat docks at 10:55, moments before our departure time. We board. It’s hot and stuffy. There is no bar. Mutiny festers. We are both hot and bothered. As the boat finally gets underway, some breeze finds us. The ferry owners have missed a massive trick - we’re in an enclosed deck, when windows and open air would have made the journey far more memorable, and massively more enjoyable experience. Some 90 minutes after we rocked up for our ferry, we finally land on Robben Island. We board a bus to tour the island, and our hugely enigmatic guide tells us about the various buildings that were a part of the apartheid management of the prison facility. My blood very quickly begins simmer, soon after it boils. Some of the stories she tells are both unbelievable, but utterly credible.

    Most of what you’ll hear about modern South African history, and the overturning of apartheid is about Mandela - and let’s not fuck around, the guy’s a saint. BUT - there are so many other stories that should be told as well. The guy that shows us around the prison complex itself was imprisoned for seven years for sabotage - a pretty beige crime at the best of times. When he tells us his personal story, I’m torn between anger and sorrow. He was imprisoned on Robben Island at the age of 18. He admits to his crime - arson of an administrative office that charged unmanageable rents to people of colour, in houses they never wanted to live in at all. His parents defaulted, and were instantly evicted. They couldn’t find anywhere else to live. It’s unsurprising that this young man found cause to fight back. When he did, he and his friends targeted an administrative office, with a desire to stop the white managed office from executing its racist policies. They set the fire after hours, making sure no-one could be hurt. Two of the five were caught, and jailed for 7 years - for trying to make sure their country had an identity and a future. What beguiles me the most is Derek’s calm - he is not angry, and he is not bitter. He is assured that his country is becoming something better, albeit slowly. I adore listening to him speak. I could spend hours hearing stories of his experiences, no matter how dark and dangerous.

    We’re shortly back at the dock waiting for our ferry back to the mainland. It’s a clusterfuck. We’ve spent a lot longer in the sun today than we’d planned or hoped. No one can tell us what time the boat is actually supposed to leave. We briefly consider swimming the 13km back to Cape Town. We finally board the boat. By the time we land back at the Cape Town Waterfront, we’ve been the go for 5 hours. Only 90 minutes of these have actually been hearing about and learning about Robben Island. Those 90 minutes are incredibly powerful, and hugely heartbreaking - but we both end up feeling that the day is both organisationally and informationally challenged.

    We’re both parched and ravenous. We agree on the ferry back to Cape Town that our first drinks order will be sizeable - a beer each, and a glass of wine/Savanna for follow up. We find a very cool Belgian restaurant. The server looks a touch confused at our drinks order, but does the decent thing and brings it anyway. We eat fish - mussels and kingklip. We have a fabulous bottle of Chardonnay. We move seats several times to avoid the sun, as we’re starting to feel a touch crispy.

    The V&A Waterfront is the shopping centre of Cape Town. I buy a 3rd ostrich egg to complete my collection. Vicki finds a couple of hats that really suit her. We demand 1/2 kilo of really good biltong. It’s pushing 19:00, and we’ve been out for most of the day, so we grab a cab back to our hotel. Not quite ready to call it a night, we hit the Sky Bar. The sommelier instantly asks if we want to do a wine tasting. We accidentally agree. In the background, there’s a guy doing very passable acoustic covers of Tom Petty, Dave Matthews Band, even Cher. We spend a great 1/2 hour chatting to Akonwe about his wines, watching an achingly beautiful sunset, and then decide it’s maybe time to call it a night. Back in our apartment, we throw on a movie (admittedly after spending 20 minutes trying to figure out lighting), and relax a touch….    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Trucker tan...
    Captain Turpin - authorised to buy a considerable quantity of wine1

    Day 10 - A little more wine than planned

    28 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We wake up with vim and vigour. We’ve planned a late breakfast/brunch, followed by an improving walk through Tokai Forest. We *might* stop at a Constantia wine farm on the way back to Sea Point. Showering, I discover yesterday’s sun-based queueing has left me with a hell of a t-shirt tan.

    Arriving to our brunch booking, we discover that Blockhouse Kitchen is located ON a wine farm - Constantia Uitsig. We have a lovely feed, and decide that since we’re here already, we might as well have a wine tasting. Our host is a jaunty chap from Zimbabwe. He is generous with his pours. Some of the wines are stellar. We both love the Chardonnay Reserve, and the Estate Red is sensational. We’re going to try and be well behaved, and not buy tons of wine along our travels. It’s tempting to cast these good intentions to one side.

    We quickly abandon plans of a walk, and take a lovely little drive to Buitenverwachting - brilliant name. Correctly pronounced, it’s ‘Bay-ten-vare-vack-ting’ We visited back in 2019, and had a sublime oaked Sauvignon Blanc. I’m very excited to try it again. We are, however, foiled. The estate is closed on a Sunday… Not to be deterred, we head onwards to Groot Constantia, where we have a tasting of the estate’s red wines. Again, we could buy several. We’re going to head up and over Constantia Nek to get back to our hotel, and accidentally stumble across an estate with which I’m unfamiliar - Beau Constantia. Reasoning that it would be rude not to, we stop in for a quick glass of wine, and some pretty good Dim Sum. The views across to Muizenberg are stunning. We sit back, and ease our way through a happy half-hour of watching the world go by.

    The drive back along the coast is beautiful - even moreso heading North than it is when driving South towards Hout Baai. Camps Bay is packed - an actual traffic jam. Back at our apartment, we’re not 100% sure what to do with ourselves. We have some biltong, and I decide a nap is probably gonna work for me. An hour later, I wake up feeling refreshed, but a little less than fresh. A Savanna and some Drowoers later, I’m ready to go out.

    We go to the Codfather - not our first time, but maybe our last. They do fish, really REALLY well. They seem to both of us to have become a little greedy since our last visit. The tables are packed SO tightly that we basically share a conversation with our next door table. Anyone gets up, and they have to run the gauntlet past our table, and invariably bump into us. The concept is brilliant - you choose your fish of choice from a beautiful, market style array. There is a host from which to choose. There is some confusion when I ask for a crayfish, and what turns up is clearly a lobster. The food is really well cooked, but there’s just a sense that we both have that the restaurant is now more about profit than enjoyment. I recently recommended it to some friends visiting Camps Bay - I’m not sure I would do so again.

    We walk down the Camps Bay beachfront as the sun sets, and are struck by the beauty of the place. We stop in at Tiger’s Milk - half way between a pub and a bar. There’s a DJ banging out some pretty decent progressive house. We both comment that we’d love to see a DJ playing this kind of music in the UK, but it’s SO tough to find these days. What was going to be a quick post prandial turns into something quite a lot longer. We finally pour ourselves into an Uber just after 23:00, which based on our trip so far, is VERY late. Arriving back to our apartment, we crack open the bottle of Amarula sitting in the bottom of the fridge. We have nothing to wake up for tomorrow, so will deal with Monday when it arrives.    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    V decent cow, with bone-marrowPina Colada!The tablecloth11

    Day 11 : Cow, cabernet, clouds

    29 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We’re both a little groggy this morning. Last night was comfortably the latest and booziest night we’ve had while we’ve been here. We’ve nothing much planned today. After being pretty hectic for the past 5 days, we thought a slightly slower day before we head over to the winelands was deserved. We’ve a late lunch booking, and the formings of a plan to head up Table Mountain for sunset.

    Lunch is at a steakhouse called Bo-vine, over in Camps Bay. It’s just over the road from the beach, and the views are stunning. The beef is great - rib-eye for me, and sirloin for Vicki. Incredibly simple food, but sourced well, accurately seasoned, and perfectly chargrilled. A bottle of Warwick Cabernet Sauvignon is a great accompaniment.

    We walk down the beach back to Tiger’s Milk for a post-prandial. Vicki locates a Pina Colada, I bathe in Savanna. The clouds are gathering over Table Mountain. High winds are forecast later this evening, and our planned visit to the top of the mountain is looking increasingly unlikely. While we’re at Tiger’s Milk, we decide to sack it off, and head back to the hotel. Checking the Table Mountain website, we discover that the cableway service has been suspended.

    Back at the Hyde Hotel, we head to the Skye Bar for a glass of Shiraz. It starts to rain. The cloud draping itself over Table Mountain is spectacular to watch. We decide to have a chilled evening, and have some dinner at the hotel. The clouds continue to amaze us. There’s a heavy shroud over Lion’s head now, but out to the coastline the cloud is lifting, and there are some amazing views of the sunset. We’re pretty tuckered, so end up having an early night, and cross fingers for a long and deep sleep…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    The view from Glen Carlou
    Beautiful ostrich filletSome of the best pork belly crackling either of us can remember...The Franschhoek valley from Vrede En LustTheo became interested in us moments after the steak came off the braai.

    Day 12 : The temperature's rising...

    30 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ 🌙 34 °C

    We both sleep pretty well. Today is moving day - we’re heading up to Paarl in the Vineland’s, then on to Franschhoek tomorrow. It’s been great to spend 6 days in and around Cape Town - one of our very favourite cities, but we’re ready to move on. Neither of us is particularly hungry, so we skip breakfast, and get on the road in decent time. Traffic is a little clunky in places, but we still manage to get out towards Stellenbosch a little after 11:00.

    Our first port of call is a winery called Joostenberg, who produce (amongst others) a sensational dessert wine from noble rot Chenin Blanc grapes, a process where fungus is sprayed over the grapes to encourage intentionally a form of rot that sweetens and intensifies the flavour of the juice. I’d not tried the wine since 2003 until we each had a glass with our dinner at The Pot Luck Club last Friday. We want to grab a bottle, and see what else the estate has to offer. We are foiled however - the tasting room is only open Friday to Sunday.

    Undeterred, we move on to Glen Carlou, which IS open. We’ve had a couple of glasses of their estate Chardonnay during our trip, and want to see what’s up with the rest of their range. Between us, we try 10 different wines - some good, some great, and a couple that are spectacular. We’re stopping here for lunch, and grab a bottle of the awesome Estate Cabernet Sauvignon to go with our roasted pork belly (Vicks) and ostrich fillet (me). Both dishes are sensational. The views accompanying our lunch aren’t bad either…

    From here, it’s a short drive to Vrede en Lust, a winery with which neither of us is familiar. The enigmatic Abbey looks after us brilliantly, and takes us through a tasting of some 12 wines - again, some are better than others, and there are some real gems in there. We buy a bottle of their flagship red, a Bordeaux style blend called Boet Erasmus. We’re braaiing tonight, and it’ll be a fab companion to whatever we end up cooking. The views, again, are stunning. We enjoy them from inside the lovely, air-conditioned tasting room. The temperature is pushing into the mid 30s, and it is HOT. Thursday and Friday this week promise heat of 40C and above, which is the kind of temperature at which we both melt.

    We stop in Paarl at a fab butcher’s shop for some steak, kebabs and boerewors, and grab some simple salad ingredients from the supermarket. We arrive at Mooi Bly a little before 16:00. The estate is a little slice of peaceful heaven. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, the only noises audible are the dogs, geese, chickens and insects that occupy the lush, green surroundings. I was last here in 2005, and have been wanting to come back ever since. Our cottage is fab - everything we need, nothing we don’t. Liesbeth, the Belgian-born owner stops by to say hi, and we catch up over a glass of wine while Vicks has a well deserved afternoon nap.

    By 19:00, it’s cooled enough to stand at the braai pit in the sunshine, tending to my fire. I’ve not lit a braai fire this organically in quite some time… I do a half decent job of it. Vicks has decided she’s not all that hungry, so I’m left with a chunky t-bone steak to myself. Again, I do a half decent job of it. It’s accompanied by a simple greek salad, and a glass of the Cabernet Sauvignon left over from our lunch at Glen Carlou. We eat outside, under the vines that cover the patio trellis, and amongst the beautiful surrounds of Mooi Bly, as the sun sets to the West of us. It's a sensational way to spend an evening.

    Vicki is in bed shortly after 21:00, and I’m not a million miles behind her.    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels

    Day 13 : The Franschhoek Valley

    31 januari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We’ve not really talked about load-shedding. The electricity grid in South Africa is not fit for purpose. It’s decades old, hasn’t been maintained effectively, and South Africa has a booming population. The electricity companies are run by mates of the folks in Government, and they cream off billions of rand each year, which should be spent on the power grid. As a result, the grid can’t cope with the everyday power demands of the South African population. Load shedding is a nationwide policy that sees the power cut off to businesses and homes alike, for around 4-6 hours each day. The timing varies by day and by region, and there’s a calendar maintained by the Government so you can plan around when load shedding is going to take place. A lot of businesses have back-up generators so there’s no interruption to power supplies during shedding. Mooi Bly does not.

    Vicks and I fell asleep last night with fans blowing on us. There’s no A/C at Mooi Bly, but the floor-standing fans do a good enough job of cooling us. Load shedding starts at 02:00, and is due to run for a couple of hours. I wake up at 02:35, conscious that the fan is no longer blowing, and I am no longer cool. I toss and turn for a good 45 minutes, but struggle to fall back to sleep. Around 03:15, I get up and a have a cold shower. Properly cold. Squeal out loud cold. I towel off the worst of the moisture and back into bed. I feel cool for perhaps 5 minutes - certainly not long enough for me to drift off. All too quickly, I’m feeling hot again. I’m about to give up/get up, when the fan suddenly kicks back to life. Rejoice! A few minutes later, I’m comfortable enough to sleep, and drift off into a dreamless, deep sleep.

    Waking again at 06:30, I’m struck by the peaceful silence around Mooi Bly. I can hear a chicken somewhere, and some insect calls, but that’s it. I sit on the verandah as the sun rises, and feel completely at peace. Vicks has not slept well, largely due to the heat / load shedding during the night. We check the details of our Franschhoek accommodation, and find that:

    a) There is no air-conditioning, and
    b) There is no back-up generator

    Given the anticipated 40C temps over the next few days, we make a snap decision to book an alternative. The options are pretty thin on the ground at this late stage, but we find a guesthouse a couple of clicks outside of Franschhoek town centre which should meet our needs. What it doesn’t have is a braai. Having already bought supplies for an evening braai, and not wanting the food to go to waste, we have a breakfast braai - boerewors, and some sosaties. Cooking even at 10:00 is sweltering. Max temp today is expected to be 35C. We find a load-shedding schedule. The power is off between 10:00 and 12:00, and the temperature inside our cottage quickly begins to rise, at just the time we want to shower, pack etc. It’s uncomfortable at best. We get the car packed, and get ourselves into its air-conditioned cocoon of coolness as quickly as possible. I’m sad to leave Mooi Bly - it’s been wonderful to come back and see Liesbeth. We’ll be back for sure.

    We’ve a 40 minute drive over to Franschhoek, and will see where the road takes us. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it takes us past about 20 wineries, one of which we decide to stop at - Plaisir De Merle. Turning off the road, we’re unsure if we’ve been here before. Arriving at the tasting room, we conclude we have not. We plan to taste 4 wines each, but our host decides that we shall taste about 8. We’re there for nearly 90 minutes. There are some absolute belters - a mature, oaked Chardonnay that we both love, a couple of reds that are just brilliant, and a rosé sparkling wine that I could happily drink all afternoon. Some of the pours are a little generous, so we decide not to stop again.

    Arriving to our guesthouse around 15:00, we’re delighted to find the room frosty. The air-con is kicking out, and we congratulate ourselves on a choice well made. Around 16:00, I decide a nap is in order, and am quickly snoozing. Vicki wakes me around 17:00, and does not appear best pleased. The room feels warm. The power has been off since 16:00 - taking the air-conditioning with it. Load shedding strikes again. It transpires that our guesthouse has back-up generators for hot water, and for WiFi, but NOT for power to run the air-conditioning, or other appliances. We feel semi jipped. We head out to avoid the worst of the heat, and have drinks and some food at Tuk Tuk Brewery, a craft brewery in downtown Franschhoek. It’s noticeably cooler than earlier, and the wind is getting up. Checking the load-shedding schedule, we determine that we shouldn’t have too many problems from this point onwards. There’s a power outage due at 06:00 - 08:30 in the morning which we can manage. There’s then one in the afternoon when we’ll be out with Eon anyway, and then nothing till Friday morning.

    Back at the room, the A/C purrs. We cool down quickly, and decide an early night is called for. Vicks is asleep just after 21:00. I manage to read by book until nearly 22:00 before my eyes get heavy, and I follow her into slumberland.

    As a form of load-shedding protest, I appear to have taken no photos through the day. I'll rectify this tomorrow...    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    Breakfast
    An extra thumb for the day!The purple foam bubbles are wine fermentation starting to happen...I could live in this cellar....SERIOUSLY good wineOur friend Eon! Cool times....

    Day 14 : Stellen-BOSH

    1 februari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    An early night predictably means an early waking. Load-shedding is in effect from 06:30 and 08:30, and the room is already warming up. Happily, we’re not heading out till 09:30, so have time for a shower after the A/C is back on.

    We’re spending a day with Eon - our good friend who drove us around the winelands on our last visit. He commented then that he’d wished he wasn’t driving, as it would’ve been much more fun to be tasting with us. 5 years later, here we are - and he’s planned a fabulous day of behind the scenes wine experiences for us. We start at the Anthonij Rupert estate, producers of a high-end range of wines on the outskirts of Franschhoek. The estate is stunning - lush green gardens, a Cape Dutch manor house, and a beautiful terrace where we’ll taste our wines. We start with a glass of a rosé MCC sparking wine to freshen our palates. MCC is Methode Cap Classique, and means the wine has been made in the traditional Champagne method - consisting of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. For our tasting, we have 4 different sparklers, and 3 different reds. A couple of the sparkling wines are sensational - the reds, perhaps even better. They’re at an excellent range of price points as well. As a special treat, we’re poured a couple of extra red wines - their Cabernet Franc, and their flagship red blend. Both are eye-poppingly good. The red blend retails at £60 in South Africa, making it a seriously premium bottle. In the UK, you’ll pay North of £100.

    The sun is starting to beat down. The temperature is predicted to hit 39C/40C later today. The van we’re being driven in is beautifully chilled. We take a drive over into the Stellenbosch valley. We arrive at Kanonkop, one of the oldest vineyards in South Africa. They are masters of the Pinotage grape, the incredibly South African hybrid of the Pinot Noir and Cinsault grapes created in the early 20th century. Bad Pinotage is BAD. Good Pinotage can be great. We’re hopeful of the latter during our tasting… We’re having a private tasting in the winery’s art gallery with the lovely Heidi. She’s a story-teller, and we spend a fantastic hour listening and learning, all the while tasting the estate’s greatest hits. There’s a rosé that retails for all of about £3.50, all the way through to an ultra premium Pinotage made from the very oldest Pinotage grapes on the farm. As vines get older, they produce less fruit, but that fruit is super concentrated, and can make wines that are stellar, as in this case. We have a vertical tasting of the estate Kanonkop Pinotage - from the 2014 and 2021 vintages, allowing us to see how the wine matures over time. It’s such a treat. As we go to leave the tasting room, I comment that I’ve tried their Paul Sauer blend, so we’re poured a couple of extra glasses of this, and their estate Cabernet Sauvignon. We feel very fortunate.

    About 200m up the road is the Warwick estate, a producer whose wines have started to pop up more regularly in the UK in the past few years. As we park up, Eon recommends we pop on some sunscreen, as we’re heading off on a wine safari (!?). We acquiesce, and climb aboard a Land-Rover safari truck with Jaap, an old friend of Eon’s. He takes us on a tour of the estate, giving us a fascinating insight into the strategy and planning that goes into deciding what wines the estate will produce. We pull to a halt at the highest point of the estate, and stop for a glass of rosé sparkling wine. The views across the valley are stunning. Hazy, due to the countless wildfires in the region, but somehow all the more spell-binding as a result.

    Back at the estate tasting room, Jaap takes us on a jaunt through Warwick’s premium wines. Their range includes a staggeringly good Chardonnay, and some brilliant red blends. We’re vaguely conscious that we’ve had a lot more wine than we normally would have by 13:00, without breakfast. Happily, Eon has arranged for us to have a picnic in the Warwick estate grounds. We pick a bottle of that Chardonnay to accompany our lunch, and dig in. The picnic is amazing - great sandwiches, a range of local pâtés, beautiful salads… It’s a wonderful way to spend time. We struggle to finish our picnic, so it’s packed up for us to take home for dinner later. The heat is crushing, so we elect to head back to our guesthouse and cool down. It’s been a real treat to hang out with Eon. He’s such fun, and so utterly knowledgeable about the winelands. We’ll hopefully see him for a quick beer on Saturday before we head home.

    We’re back at our guesthouse around 17:00. We both decide a nap is in order, and end up sleeping for nearly 2 hours. We’re then awake for a little over 2 hours, before we decide that it’s bedtime. Honestly, we’ve had a very tough day…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    View of our guesthouse
    Tram breakfast wine!Rickety Bridge - our first port of callHaving our picnic inside the A/C cooled dining room at Mont Rochelle...

    Day 15 : Holy shit, it's hot

    2 februari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    We wake up and compete over who’s had more sleep. We’ve both topped out at 10+ hours. YUM. We’ve got a pretty early start in Franschhoek, so get a hustle on, and an Uber into town. The Franschhoek wine tram is great fun. It leaves at 09:30, and the first wine stop is about fifteen minutes later. Not to be outdone, the guys on the tram give us a snifter to get our day moving. Our first port of call is Rickety Bridge - a winery neither of us have visited before. It’s just before 10:00 when we request some sparkling wines, and some of their flagship estate wines. The sparkling wines are really good. The flagship wines are a little variable, but of a decent standard. The sun is already heating up, so we stay in the shade as long as we can. A tractor drives us back to the tram stop.

    Our next stop is Grande Provence - again, new to both of us. We do a similar sparkling/flagship wine tasting - some crackers in here. We notice they sell both a semi-sweet and dessert wine based on Muscat, and ask if we can try those as well. Good grief - they’re good. Designed for very different purposes, we can quickly imagine ourselves enjoying a bucket load of each of them back home. By now, it’s all of 11:30. We’re both getting properly hungry, having foregone breakfast in the interest of expediency. Our next stop is Mont Rochelle, where we’ve booked a picnic. Arriving just after 12:00, we dive into the air-conditioned tasting room. We taste their flagship Chardonnay and Syrah, as well as their estate white and rosé wines. They ask if we want to eat our picnic outside - we quickly decline. It is just too fucking hot. The mercury is reading 38C, and we’re simply not built for it. We pick a bottle of their high-end Miko Syrah to accompany our lunch. We grab a table inside their heavily air-conditioned dining room, and unwrap our picnic. There is an avalanche of food, We fall upon it - perhaps a little too quickly. We are ravenous, and just perhaps a little drunk.

    We briefly consider heading straight back to our guesthouse, before we remember that there’s load-shedding between 14:00 and 16:00, so we may as well stay out. Jumping back on the bus, we head to the next winery. As we drive down the road at 50mph, the wind whipping around the bus is honestly like someone is blowing a hairdryer on us. We spend 5 minutes discussing when we’ve ever felt this hot before. Melbourne on Christmas Day in 2016 was 42C, and we both felt like we were being cooked alive, albeit slowly. This is in the same ballpark. It is ball-bustlingly hot. Arriving at Klein Goederust, we are unenthused to find that we need to sit outside for our tasting. We are both beyond flagging. Happily, we spot an air-conditioned tasting room to one side of the main tasting area, and we occupy it with vigour. It is joyful. The wines are a disappointment - perhaps because we are sooooooo hot. All we can think about is getting back to our room, our A/C, the pool etc etc.

    Dropped back at the tram terminal, we walk a few minutes down to Franschhoek Station Pub, in the hope that a Savannah / Spiced and coke might cool us down. They do not. Sweltering, we appeal for an Uber to take us back to our guesthouse, where the power has just recently kicked back in, and A/C is available to us. I decide the quickest route to coolness is a plunge in the pool, and I’m not disappointed. Air-drying in the shade, I read my book, amidst the stunning surrounds of the Franschhoek valley. It might be fucking hot, but it’s still fucking beautiful.

    We head back into town to grab a bite. We aim for the Franschhoek beer company, only to find it closes at 17:00, and ultimately end up back at the Station pub. We saw someone setting up a sound system earlier, and wondered if we’d see a DJ this evening. No - karaoke. The quality is, let’s try to be kind here, mixed. Couple of drinks and a pizza later, and we’re back in our room, feeling like an early-ish night is in order. We’re both asleep by 22:30…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels
    The stunning Franschhoek ValleyTasting at Jordan EstateTime for home...Thunder! Lightning!!

    Day 16 : Northward bound...

    3 februari 2024, Sydafrika ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    We’re both woken at 04:00 by a booming electrical storm. Some of the loudest thunder we’ve ever heard, and at times, the lightning strike and thunderclap are all but simultaneous. There’s a brief but heavy downpour to of with it. It lasts for around an hour. The storm has clearly done something to the guesthouse’s power supply, as the A/C unit has shut down. Load-shedding, this is not. I get back to sleep, before waking to a rapidly warming room at 06:30. Vicki is awake just before 08:00, and we’re both miffed, but resigned. We’d planned a lazy morning getting ourselves packed and ready for our trip home. Instead, we’re in a room that rapidly reaches 26C inside, and feels warmer. It’s not pleasant. It also means we can’t charge electric devices for the journey home. Had we known etc etc… At 09:00, I decide enough is enough - and go for a drive. The car is a blissfully cool environs, and I can charge my phone and power bank from the 12V adapter.

    I head up the Franschhoek pass, a narrow and winding road that heads South East from Franschhoek village. I’m surrounded by cyclists doing cycling type things as they ascend the steep incline. The views from the top are staggering. The entire Franschhoek valley is laid out before me. It’s also a couple of degrees cooler up here, with a stout breeze. Back at the guesthouse, Vicks is planning to take a cold shower. Then the water stops. Not the hot water. ALL the water. We cannot shower, cannot brush teeth, we cannot flush the toilet. We hold a quick strategy meeting, and decide to see if we can find a hotel near the airport that rents rooms by the hour. We’d always expected to have quite a bit of time at the airport, so spending a couple of hours nearby in the cool, able to shower etc etc feels like a good trade off. We’ve previously stayed at Hotel Verde, right next to Cape Town International, and they helpfully have a reasonably priced 3 hour option.

    Somewhat relieved, we get packed up and into the car to head over to Stellenbosch. We stop at Jordan wine estate. We’ve previously eaten here, but not had a tasting of their wines. We spend a delightful hour with Leon, who guides us through the estate’s Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon offerings. Some real pearls in their range. By the time we leave a little after midday, the temperatures pushing into the mid 30s, and we need some shade. We continue down the road to Mulderbosch, where we’re having lunch. Their tasting room is inside, and air-conditioned. We get a slightly funny look when we asked if we can sit in there for both our tasting and for lunch. We have a quick tasting of their wines, and are then joined by Eon for lunch. Good pizza work, and I have a couple of beef brisket sliders that are awesome. Eon has very kindly brought me an outstanding bottle of Cabernet Franc to take home. It’s been great to catch up with him. Next time we’re out, we’ll plan a trip with him down the Garden Route for a week so we can spend some proper time together.

    Onwards to our hotel, and the room isn’t quite the icy paradise we were hoping for / expecting. It’s an eco hotel, so they’re very mindful of wasting energy. As a result, the A/C is only turned on when you turn it on - not in anticipation of your arrival. I leave Vicki to shower while I take the car back. This proves to be a little trickier than planned, as I nearly forget to fill the car up before returning it. This initiates a significant detour from the airport, getting pretty lost in a dodgy looking warehouse district, and generally losing my cool with other drivers. Having handed the car back, I end up having to wait 30 minutes for the shuttle back to the hotel. I urgently need a Savanna. My shower at least is hugely refreshing. I get dressed and packed up, and manage to find the England/Italy rugby on the TV. I grab an indecently quick Savanna in the hotel bar, and soon enough we’re jumping on the hotel shuttle back to the airport.

    The airport experience is a little weird. Things run smoothly where you don’t expect (getting a bag shrink-wrapped, security control) and slow where you do. There’s a 30 minute queue for passport control. Even the US doesn’t make you do that shit when you’re leaving. We find ourselves an airport bar and tuck into Savanna (me) and Chardonnay (Vicki). We’re both hoping to catch some significant Zzzzzs on the overnight flight, so we’re just greasing the skids. Arriving at our gate, we discover boarding is already well underway. We’re quickly into our seats, and accepting a glass of Prosecco to tide us over. The flight is a little delayed pushing back. Some cargo is missing, and apparently there’s no tow tractor for us. TIA (this is Africa…)

    In the air, we’re soon fed and watered. We both want to try and get some decent sleep, so I go to recline my seat. Nothing doing. I spend a somewhat frustrating few minutes trying to figure out if the seat is broken, I’m an idiot, or a bit of both. A succession of cabin crew come and try to fix the seat, but it’s just not happening. The flight is full to bursting, but the cabin crew head off to Business and First to see if there’s another seat available for me. There is not. I’ll get some compensation, probably in the form of some air-miles to use on a future booking. We’re also gifted a decent bottle of Champers, and some First class amenity kits. Vicki selflessly offers up her seat. I recline it to the max, and am quickly dozing, as we power over the heart of Africa…    Läs mer

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  • Tim's TravelsSouth Africa - January 2024Tim's Travels

    Day 17 : Home. Meh. Reflections...

    4 februari 2024, England ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    I manage about 5 hours, and then give Vicki back her seat so she can get some more shut-eye. She’s managed a few hours in the upright seat, but looks much more comfortable once reclined. We’re about 3 hours out from landing. I briefly wonder about having a drink, but realise I’m not too fussed. With about 90 minutes to go, the lights come up, and we’re served an almost inedible breakfast. As we land, we come down through thick, low lying cloud. The ground is wet from overnight rain, and the temperature is hovering around 10C. It feels quite nice actually…

    A few reflections:

    1) South Africa remains one of my very favourite places to travel. The food, people, wine, scenery are all brilliant, and for a Brit traveller, represent AMAZING value. We struggled to spend more than £60 for a high quality, slap-up dinner for 2 with a bucketload of wine.
    2) Franschhoek / Stellenbosch in January = a hard no. Climate change is happening, and the likelihood of 40C+ weather there in the peak of Summer is growing quickly.
    3) This was the safest I’ve felt on a trip around South Africa. It feels like change is continuing in this rapidly evolving society. You still don’t wanna act like a dick, but I felt less conscious walking around places than I have done previously.
    4) Society may be evolving, but it continues to face serious challenges. The ANC government is not running the country well. Basic facilities are failing, investment in public services is monumentally low, and corruption in the government is rife. While there’s huge evidence of a burgeoning middle class of people of colour, there remains far too great an indigenous population living in abject poverty.
    5) Load-shedding is a ball-ache, and we would definitely bear it in mind more when planning a revisit to South Africa - assuming it’s still in place (which it will be…)
    6) Well made Biltong is the best snack on the planet.

    Thanks all for reading. That’s all for now - until our trip to Lapland in 9 days time…    Läs mer

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    Resans slut
    4 februari 2024
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