South Africa: Part Deux

The second part of my trip in South Africa took me to Cape Town for my final few days. This was probably the exact opposite of my experience in Johannesburg. To begin with, I had a uneventeful direct flight from London Heathrow to Johannesburg, this was not the case flying from Johannesburg to Cape Town. I left at 2:30pm for a 2 hour flight and about 10 minutes before landing in Cape Town our captain announced a slight change in plans. Apparently a plane that had just taken off left a few spare parts on the runway along with some fuel that now had to be cleared up so we would need to circle in the air for ~30 minutes. Then 15 minutes later the captain came back on informing us that this plane now needed to make an emergency landing at the Cape Town airport so there was no ETA for our landing. Finally it was decided that we had been circling for so long that we were beginning to run out of fuel and that we would need to land at the airport in George, ~400 km away. In George we were allowed to make phone calls and rearrange our arrival plans but we could not get off the plane. Finally the mess at Cape Town was cleaned and we made our way back arriving at 7:30pm. To top it all off we had the screaming child who wouldn't stop to take a breath for the entire 5 hour ordeal. Typically I do feel for these parents but today was just not the day. Apparently events similar to this have occured twice in one week now at the Cape Town airport.


Once we arrived we were told that we had to go directly to the hotel, drop off our bags, and head right back out for a go-karting event. After the events of the day none of us were looking forward to pizzas, beers, and go-karting but we were obliged to be considerate to our host. I've been go-karting before but never driven competitively against 16 other men made up of mostly Germans who pride themselves in driving at 250 km/hr (155mph) on icy autobahns and drifting through motorway exits. I myself have only gotten to 200 km/hr (124 mph) on the autobahn. They split us into 3 groups where we drove 2 heats of 10 laps. The drivers with the best time made it into the semifinal for another 15 laps for best time. Then it was down to 6 of us in the final where we were racing full out against each other and not for lap times. It was a daunting race where I inadvertently pissed off a few Germans by not allowing them to pass. Sadly I did not clinch the race but I did make it onto the podium with third place with a German in second and a Brit taking home the gold. Third out of 17 drivers isn't too bad I think. How the other Germans must feel being beaten by a girl ;-)


On my one free day in Cape Town I was taken around to a few of the local wineries in the Stellenbosch wine region. I was very excited to go as Stellenbosch is a major up and coming wine region and never again would I probably be able to see these wineries first hand. The climate, scenery, atmosphere all reminded me so much of Sonoma and Napa Valley. It isn't quite as isolated though as you tend to drive through dodgier parts of town to go between some of the wineries. We visited Meerlust Winery, started in 1756, which had a great Bordeaux blend called Rubicon. My tour guides were very excited to share the Rubicon wine with me but unbeknownst to them I had tried two bottles the night before so I knew I was in for a treat. Following Meerlust we headed to Rust en Vrede Winery (Rest in Peace). They call in an "Estate of Mind" which I thought was really cute. They had a nice Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon but their Shiraz was unimpressive. Finally we went on to Neil Ellis which I had dragged my guides off the main road to see as a friend is in love with their Sauvignon Blanc. The setting at Neil Ellis was just superb at is in deep in the valley with the mountains all around, small lake beside, and lily pond. Unfortunately they did not have the wine that I was in search of as they only produce it for export but I was able to try a couple other very nice Sauv Blancs and Chardonnays. They do make some excellent white wines. At this point we were fairly drunk and my guides had made late lunch reservations so we headed out. Lunch was at La Petit Ferme which is a restaurant, winery, and hotel in the most picturesque spot in the French quarter of Cape Town. We ate out on the open all-weather veranda and I gobbled up a 3-course meal starting with a grilled pear salad, hoisin marinated roast duck, and finished with a warm apple tart topped with vanilla ice cream. I'm getting sick just remembering how much I ate. The best part about La Petit Ferme was that the 3 of us each had a 3-course meal with a bottle of wine for $75.


All in all I had a once in a lifetime experience in South Africa from "roughing it" in the safari to wine tasting in the valley. Honestly with the distance from the US I probably would never have considered traveling there on my own so I am so glad I was able to take this opportunity to have an amazingly different experience. At the end of it I was glad to get home as a week away for me does get really exhausting. When I returned to London I was missing home a bit and needed a recharge of Americana so I headed straight out the next morning to my local (and only) Whole Foods. This was my first time in the Whole Foods London and what a spectacular store it was. The Brits didn't know what hit them. I ended up doing my typical goofy homesick thing, every time one of the staffers with an American accent helped me my reaction was, "Oh my gosh! You're American? Where are you from? Canadian huh, same difference. Can we be best friends?" There you have it, I guess you can take the girl out of the safari but you can't take the safari back in hand carry, or however that saying goes ;-)