Wanderlust – Cape Town, South Africa

Photo by Edith Mehiel

Voyage.tv brings together travel enthusiasts from all walks of life, not just our viewers, but also all of us employees. I work in the Editorial Department writing articles about all the fabulous hotels and unique places that we cover, so hopping on a plane is just another day in the office!

Over the New Year holiday I spent two weeks with my family in South Africa, first in Cape Town before making our way to The Bush. We flew business class on South African Airlines. This was a delight for those of us in rows one through four, but a bit less so for those in rows 15 and 16 (on airlines where the business class is separated into two sections, always opt for the front of the plane. It’s serviced by a dedicated galley, so there’s no heavy foot traffic to the back of the plane, and the temperature control is separated from coach, so you won’t be freezing with the masses).

We stayed at the gorgeous Cape Grace hotel in Cape Town, right in the marina, where the sea lions tanning on the docks were our first animal sighting. We only had a few days, but covered a lot of ground renting a car (mostly stick shifts, and left lane oriented). A drive down the west coast to Cape Point for a hike and back up the east coast was a great day trip. (Watch out for hungry baboons along the way!) Heading out to the wineries is another day well spent – we visited the Spier Wine Estate, which has not only a grand property but also an incredible cheetah rescue project (you can pet cheetah cubs!), an eagle rescue project, and a gorgeous restaurant serving authentic South African meats, stews, vegetables, and fish in a really magical outdoor setting (picture richly draped tents, fire pits, romantic tree houses and live music).

On our final day in Cape Town day we hiked Table Mountain, an incredible rock formation that towers over the coastal city. As the name suggests, the top is flat, but getting up there is pretty steep. There’s a cable car that runs up and down, as well as a multitude of hiking trails with varying degrees of intensity, and each requiring different amounts of time. We opted for a two-hour, near-vertical ascent that definitely had us winded, but left us with an incredible feeling of accomplishment. The views were spectacular, the flora on the way up was almost Seussian (maybe it was the endorphins), and the ride back down in the cable car was well earned! I’ll get into the Bush in my next post. Bon Voyage! –Erika Mehiel

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