The Eastern Cape to the Wine Country

The Eastern Cape, whose coastline forms much of the Garden Route, is amazingly varied in topography, geology, and ecology.  We left Storms River and the lush forests of Tsitsikamma National Park (where we hiked along its rocky shores to a waterfall and swimming hole (see previous "Swimming Holes" post)), and drove west into increasingly dry farmland, always with a spine of rugged mountains to the north.

The mountains form a coastal barrier on whose north side is the Great Karoo, the vast country's interior desert.  We stayed one night in Swellendam at a B&B that, thankfully, had a swimming pool. We arrived in 95 degree heat, so it took us almost no time to plunge!  

For us, the main attraction of the area was Bontebok National Park, a small, arid expanse with a stunning antelope as its namesake.  They were easy to spot and relatively unperturbed by humans.

From there, we drove down into the peninsula whose terminus is Cape Agulhas. Contrary to popular understanding, it is Cape Agulhas, not the Cape of Good Hope (to be discussed in a future post), that is the southern most point of Africa and the claimed meeting of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.  As one local told us later, the only way to know if you're at the great oceanic collision is if you go out in a boat, put your feet in the water on either side and, if one side is appreciably warmer (Indian) than the other side (Atlantic), you know you're there! 

Anyway, advised that main attraction of Cape Agulhas was the idea of it, not its beauty, and because we had a long ride ahead of us, we cut across the peninsula north of the cape.  It was an odd terrain, grazing land and hay fields clearly planted on sand dunes; couldn't have been more than a few inches of arable land for seeds to germinate.  But farming was happening somehow. 

Our destination was Franschoek ("French quarter," as it was the French Hugonots who established the area's wine industry back in the last 1600s), part of the large wine region east of Cape Town. We approached the Franschoek valley from a beautiful mountain pass.

Franschoek, itself, is a Napa or Sonoma-like town, lots of wine tourists and wealth, with the workers housed in the outskirts.  High-end restaurants, art galleries, and, of course, tasting rooms.  But first we had to find our AirB&B, which turned out to be at the far end of a crappy road nestled in a steep mountain ravine. It was a chiropractic adjustment-induced drive at 5-10 km per hour.  

But the pain was worth it.  Oh my, the views of the mountains behind and the valley below. 

  

And great hosts!  Estelle and Pieter were wonderful, engaging, and generous.  Here we spent an early evening drinking some wine and talking; Kate is showing her art work and explaining the various media she uses. Pieter, a retired university and corporate economist, was especially intrigued. 

Of course, we were in Franshhoek to task wine, and we did for much of one day.  We visited two wineries, Boschendal and Babylonstoren ("tower of Babel" founded by Dutch settlers), both of which were very large estates with restaurants, gardens, lots of things to occupy a family for most of a day.  And some great shiraz s, pinotages, and even a drinkable Chardonnay. 

Check out the huge beanbags for lounging in the winery's garden.

Our mountain home also gave us lots of bird sightings, including this brilliant Southern double-collared sunbird.