Enjoying South Africa

Last month we had a great vacation in South Africa. After awhile of living here it is nice to visit a place that is a bit more how should we say it ... "developed". We enjoyed the food, the smooth roads, the organization, and basically just the ability to be a bit more free to wander.

Camps Bay

It was a pleasure to walk the streets of Cape Town at night, see the bars overflowing onto the streets, and wander through neighborhoods in a couple smaller towns.

We also were excited that my parents where up for meeting us there.

After our arrival we walked from our guest house through the Company Gardens to the waterfront. While I argued with my bank's customer services reps back in the states that I wasn't a fraudster and it was really me trying to withdrawal rands - my parents took the kids on a Ferris Wheel over the harbor.

huge gondola to take us up Table Mountain

We spent the next two days seeing the sights, eating great food, and enjoying one gorgeous view after another.

looking out over Cape Town from Table Mountain

first time they've seen a sushi conveyor belt!

Along Chapman's Peak Drive

A long way from NY -- 7,800 miles at the Cape of Good Hope

We loved watching the penguins!

view from a yummy fish -n- chips at the harbor in Kalk's Bay

After our time around Cape Town we drove onwards to wine country and spent the night at a posh place in Franschhoek. ;)  Somehow we made it through the night, however and wandered through the quaint town the next morning-- we all did our own thing for an hour or two -- I spent many rands buying out the local biltong dealer from his choicest cuts, Rhonda did a bit of shopping, and we all enjoyed smoked salmon for breakfast.

After a nice drive through wine estates we made our way to Hermanus and spent a couple days there enjoying the coast.

Oma and Opa along the Cliff Walk

it was easy enough to spend hours watching the surf

friends from Nairobi we are also traveling and we met them in Hermanus

After Hermanus we traveled through the mountains to Oudtshoorn and spent some time there exploring caves, getting up close and personal to some big cats, and getting to experience everyday life in small town South Africa.

Matthew got real close to his favorite animal - a cheetah, at one point
they were even running back and forth along the fence together.

this guy is called a serval

After our tour through the animal park we made our way to the caves. Opa decided to join Matthew and I on the adventure tour -- and boy was that an adventure. See the picture below -- we all had to sqeeezzzeee through that rock! I think Opa's ribs still hurt!

Our last stop before flying back was Knysna. We had fun here enjoying the scenery, walking along the lagoon, and fetching hermit crabs out of the water...  it was hard to leave!

Matthew's book on South Africa