Nature all around

From Tsitsikamma national park, after enjoying our last night at Desiree her guesthouse in the heat of the airco and the warmth of the bathtub, we moved on to Wilderness. Right at arrival in our appartment at the oceanside we spotted many dolphins and even a whale, right there in front of us in the bay. Wow! Binoculars are a must in this country, proven once again by this beautiful gift of nature's pride.

Eating homecooked dinners (with a mediterranean flair ;) in our little crib for a few days, we started discovering the inland mountains and the most beautiful hiking at the shore of the atlantic ocean during daytime. And so seals have been added to our list of animals spotted along the way. One day we decided to leave the (seemingly very dangerous) Swartberg drive behind and made our way to a hike in some forest close to home instead... Now after paying some money to enter the nature reserve, we started on the road inbetween trees, next to the river. The path quickly narrowed, turning into a curvy, real jungle walk! Surprised by this amazing nature once again, we crossed the river twice in between the beautiful mountains. I mean, just when i thought we have seen it all, this was my most pleasant walk of the whole trip so far. I just loved every minute of it. Documenting many of Dami's newly discovered talents along the way... Hey ho, sailor!

To finalise our solo trip before meeting up with the group again, we decided to stay in a more luxurious surrounding. Again, within a beautiful mountainous scenery: Franschoek. Sleeping in an amazing manor together with the lovely family who owns it, we had the most luxurious baths and views of the mountains, right from our bedroom. Dami making fire in the fireplace in our room, enjoying a complementary wine and a book in the light of the dancing flames was something i could get used to very quickly!

The luxury didn't end there though, because Franschoek is known for it's vineyards and winetours. So off we went, using the (very touristy) winetram. This took us to 4 vineyards in one day, tasting our way through different pairings of wine and chocolate, wine and cheese, wine and meat and i don't even know what else there was to pair ;) it had a lot to offer, including beautiful wine estates on big terrain looking out over fields of grape trees and, again, mountains in the background to round it off. Or was it the wine that rounded it off?

With some pain in my heart it is now time to leave nature, at least i think we will, because today we are moving on to our last stop: Capetown. The oldest city (but not the only capital) of South Africa.