It had been a while since we had seen Mom, and since we are no longer bound by school holidays, the idea was hatched for a 3-week trip to South Africa in November with an increased chance of better (summer) weather.
Other than our week in Costa Rica (back in 2006) this would be our first holiday together without any of the children – all of our holidays had always been with one, two or all three of them. Uncharted territory for us, with no idea how that would be …! 🤔
Cape Town, and the Cape Peninsula, was our first stop, and based out of a B&B in Somerset West we would have a couple of days here. Primarily to visit Mom and to ‘taste’ the Cape, but also to catch up with old friends and family; although it was a really brief stop, it really was good to see to all again …!
From the Cape Peninsula we had chosen to do a meandering multi-day drive to the Crags. After a farewell visit to Mom in Gordon’s Bay, our first day on this route took in the Stellenbosch winelands with a stop at one of our favourite wine estates, Kanonkop, and then on to the scenic Du Toitskloof Pass (the old pass) to Worcester & Roberston for our overnight stop. Our arrival timing was slightly off so we missed our last wine tasting of the day (🙄), but we made that up with a great stop at the Four Cousins restaurant …!
Our second day took in the Montagu Pass and the rural idyll of Montagu, Barrydale, Ladismith & Calitzdorp, ending up in Oudtshoorn at a charming old B&B; along our route a mandatory stop at the Montagu Farm Stall, a lovely lunch stop in Ladismith and two wine tastings in Calitzdorp (at De Krans & Boplaas, both specialists in dessert wines). Based on a chat with our host we elected to do a walking tour into town for dinner, and visited the historic Kerk Street suspension bridge before being treated to some supercar jewellery(!).
Our third day took in ostriches at De Rust, and the fantastic Meiringspoort Waterfall before heading towards Uniondale, Joubertina & Kareedouw before heading back towards Sharon’s farm. The Langkloof valley is one of the fruitbaskets of South Africa, and amazed Ellen with it’s length and breadth; en route we also acted as a protector for a mountain tortoise crossing the provincial road and, in doing so, suitably impressed a local law enforcement patrol(!).
One of our highlights of the Garden Route was our ocean safari – great weather, a fairly calm sea, and well-spoiled by being in the middle of an estimated pod of ±1.000 common dolphins for quite a while. Ab-so-lute-ly spectacular! A humpback whale and calf were close by too, but unfortunately no particularly good views to be had of them; returning to base, we saw many seals close to the Robberg; compliments to our crew, anyway! 🙂
Our remaining days in The Crags were a relaxed affair, spending time with Sharon and Gavin & Lauren; a visit to Mossel Bay to see Gavin’s daughters; a visit to the Harkerville Market; moonrise in Nature’s Valley; dinner with Sharon & Lizette at Villa Villekula; and, just in general, a catch-up with the locals.
In advance of our trip we had already arranged a nature destination together with Sharon – this would be Addo Elephant Park, relatively close by, and one of Sharon’s favourites. Sharon’s RAV4 would do duty as game ranging vehicle, and our own rental was relinquished in Plettenberg Bay; Sharon would drop us off at the airport in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) when we returned from the park. And so we set off towards Addo, and our operational base for the coming three days …
Our first activity was bird- & monkey-spotting before dinner at the main camp, and then on to a guided evening game drive. On this (mostly dark) 2½ hour drive we saw Cape Eagle owls, dikkop, plover (lapwing), Cape hare, spotted hyena, kudu & Cape buffalo. But the cherry on top was a wonderful waterhole scene where a small herd of Addo elephant of varying ages were enjoying the water just like little children …!
For the next 2 full days we toured the park at an appropriate pace, with Sharon doing the lion’s share (pun intended … 😉) of the driving while Ellen & I continuously gave direction (‘Oh, stop‘; ‘Back up a bit‘; ‘OK, that’s great‘); and, boy, did we get some great pictures …! Also wonderful to be with someone like Sharon, with her vast knowledge and eye for detail. Over the 2 days we were treated to Cape buffalo, lion, impala, zebra, wildebeest, red hartebeest, various birds of prey, and much, much more. The main drawcard was, of course, the Addo elephant (a distinct sub-species of the African elephant, and less temperamental than its savannah cousins), and there were plenty to see – all ages, from solitary bulls to larger matriarchal groups.
All too soon it was time to bid farewell to the Garden Route and Sharon, and we were on our way to Johannesburg for the last leg of our stay. It was good to see Lynne & Graham again, and spend one-on-one time with them; also good to see Carianne again, and to meet Chris and his boys. For the most part our couple of days here were just a catch-up with each other; our only real outing here was to the wonderful Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden.
All too soon it was time to return home (wine-, braai- & biltong-levels back to spec again), but this would be with the satisfactory feeling of a well-accomplished break for the two of us … 🥰
[Edit: this was our last visit with Mom, she passed away a month after we last saw her … 😢]
📷 A photo gallery with more photo’s is available here.