South Africa | Western Cape

Hiya people!

This summer I left my boyfriend and all of my friends alone for a month to visit the beautiful southern part of Africa with my mum, dad, sister and little brother.

I was in a doubt for a while about how I wanted to share this experience with you guys. That’s why I just filmed everything, made a lot of pictures ánd written down everything. Just in case I changed my plans. I decided to write two blogs about my holiday and show you some pictures. Besides that I also want to make an after movie which I will post on YouTube IF it ever happens and IF I can edit everything. So, there we go!

The story starts on the 22nd of July at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam. That is where we started our adventure with a 11 hour flight to Cape Town. Cape Town is a beautiful city. Unfortunately it’s winter in South Africa in July which made it really cold. I had to wear 3 sweaters some days. In Cape Town we stayed at the ‘Sweet Ocean View Guest House, Sweet Berries’. It was great!

On the first and the second day we bought a Hop on Hop off bus ticket. We thought it was a great way to see the city for the first time. We fed some squirrels, went to the ‘Two Oceans Aquarium’ and had a ride in the Ferris wheel at the Waterfront. We also went to restaurant Gold. This was our first real experience with the African Culture and it was amazing. We got Djembe lessons and after that we got 14 different small dishes from countries all over Africa. In between, the staff sang and danced and all the guests had to dance with them. This is a real recommendation!!

 The day after we went to Robben Island, the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Due to the weather improvement it was possible for us to make this trip because we had to go there with a boat. Robben Island was very impressive even though I felt like it became a bit too touristic. We got to see mister Mandela’s cell and we saw other cells. The man who gave us the tour was also, just like Nelson Mandela, a former political prisoner. That made it all a lot more interesting.

Our fourth day in Cape Town was a busy one. We had already planned a Township Tour. Which started with a service in a church in a township. The atmosphere was great and the people were so nice. They all danced and sang, it sounded beautiful. After that we went to an orphanage which was a lot less beautiful.. The children were all so cute and it was hard to imagine that they don’t had parents anymore or that they were cast out. But it actually was beautiful to see them becoming so happy when seeing us. I seriously hope that we made their day. Unfortunately I can’t share any pictures of the children since I’m not allowed to, but if you want to help them too, you can donate here.

After the impressive township tour we immediately went to the Table mountain cable way. It was closed for our first three days in Cape Town because of the weather conditions. But thank god, it opened on our last day in Cape Town! At first we wanted to climb it, but we couldn’t do that because of time shortage. That is why we used the cable way. The view was stunning, I think we spend about two hours on top. We couldn’t get enough of the view.

Some pictures of our four days in Cape Town:

Monday 27th of July we had our first drive of the holiday. Next stop: Stellenbosch. We made quite a detour because we also wanted to visit Boulders Beach, Cape point and Cape of Good Hope. We didn't used the highway, instead we drove the Chapmans Peak Drive, beautiful!! We started with Boulders Beach. Boulders beach is a beach where a lot of penguins live. It also has become a bit too touristic for me, it isn’t even a real beach anymore and you have to watch them from a distance, pity! But overall it is a must see. So much penguins in one place, and you have the opportunity to swim with them (for a hefty price). The second stop was Cape Point and Cape of Good hope, which you also had to pay for. These two are in the same national park so you only have to pay once. They are about 10 minutes driving from each other. Both are really beautiful and worth visiting. Remember that you have to climb them both for the best view, so don’t wear sandals or anything. Also be aware of baboons, they became really smart and even know how to open a car. Be careful and lock your car even when riding!!

In Stellenbosch we stayed at a wine farm called Knorhoek Guest House. Also a great place to stay and you can join dinner from an amazing cook! We immediately had a wine tasting. The next day in Stellenbosch we made a walk through the wine lands which was pretty impressive. It was huge. We also visited the town centre where we went to ‘Oom Samie se Winkel’. It means ‘Uncle Sam’s Store’ and it is Afrikaans, which is very similar to Dutch, which is my mother tongue. The shop was very messy but so nice. This is a perfect place to buy souvenirs. Not too expensive and you don’t have to bargain about the price which I absolutely hate myself. Great day again, and also our last day in Stellenbosch.

The next day we drove to a town called Hermanus, which is famous for his Whale Cruises. That’s exactly what we planned for the next day. But unfortunately our Whale cruise was cancelled because of the bad weather. I was really disappointed, but luckily me and my sister saw a whale’s tail above the water a couple of times when we were looking through the bay. Instead of the Whale Cruise we did a wine tasting again. Very good again, but I was still disappointed. In Hermanus we stayed at the Auberge Burgundy. A very nice inn with an own restaurant where you can have breakfast and dinner. The town itself is very nice, a lot of cute shops and bookstores. We had dinner in a place called ‘La Pentola’. It wasn’t a place you would visit immediately when you see the exterior, but some other Dutchies we met in Cape Town recommended this place. Which was totally right. This restaurant had the best meat I had ever eaten. It was so soft. Great!!

Some pictures of our trip to Stellenbosch and Hermanus:

The next day, 31th of July, we drove to Cape Town again. Today we planned a domestic flight to Durban. The other side of the country.. To be continued.. 

Lots of Love,

Daphne