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Western Cape, wine, sea and song |
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The fairest Cape forms the toe of Africa, its peninsula, buffeted by the meeting point of two oceans, the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The Western Cape offers the visitor a perfect playground beneath majestic Table Mountain, a towering landmark of the Mother City, and a true wonder of the geological world. Here a cosmopolitan lifestyle is cherished, its hot, white sand and crisp cool waters celebrated with classical wines, the inspiration of the first Huguenot. Beyond its mountains and deep passes is the Garden Route, the jewel of South Africa's coast, bordered by the Klein Karoo, where ostrich farming flourishes in its arid landscape, while its West Coast lies as a wild and rugged landscape that calls the solitary soul. |
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| The city of Cape Town wraps itself around the mountain, where its undulating landscape heralded by the Helderberg and Hottentots Holland mountains overlook the core of the wine and fruit industry. One of Cape Town city's biggest attractions, is its lively working harbour which has been developed to include a plethora of entertainment venues, pubs, restaurants and fool malls, specialty shops, vast craft markets, designer shops, five-star hotels, theatres and movie houses. Nowhere in the world will you find a more visited waterfront than Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Visiting the V&A Waterfront is more than just an experience, it's an adventure. A tour of the Cape Peninsula is considered to be one of the finest marine drives in the world. There are more than 100 beaches to choose from when driving along the east side of the Peninsula via |
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Muizenberg, Fishoek, and Simonstown, and back along the west via Kommetjie and Noordhoek and including the spectacular Chapman's Peak Drive to Hout Bay. Along the Atlantic Coast, Sea Point is a bustling hive of shops and restaurants, with its own Point Promenade. Lying beneath Lion's Head and the towering Twelve Apostles mountain range, the popular palm-lined beachfront of Camps Bay offers cafes and shops, and activity from surfing and swimming to beach volley ball. Between Hout Bay and Kommetjie beach lies the scenic route of Chapman's Peak drive carved out of solid rock and hugging the cliffs above the surfline-perhaps the most spectacular mountain drive in the world. South of Kommetjie the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve leads to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope's resplendent kingdom of indigenous flora and fauna. Along this stretch of coast, stop in at Boulders Beach, where friendly endangered African (Jackass) Penguin wander onto the beach and populate the rocks in groups. Wine and fruit farms thrive in the Cape and most of the major estates are within easy reach of Cape Town. Internationally recognized cellars to small boutique wineries offer tasting and the purchase of noble cultivars, delicate whites, full-bodied reds, fortified wines and brandies, in Franschoek, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Wellington and Priel, while further afield are the wine-producing areas of the Breede River Valley, and in the West Coast region, the Swartland and the Olifants River Valley. |
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Surrounded by rolling vineyards and dramatic mountains, Stellenbosch, only 30 minutes from Cape Town, offers the best in Western Cape warmth and hospitality. The Stellenbosch Wine Region today is synonymous with high quality award winning wines. There are delightful shops both in and around the town center that offer a wide variety of products including art, home and fresh produce, pottery and ceramics. The Southern Cape offers the best venue for whale watching extending from Cape Town to Storms River. En-route to the Garden Route, at Hermanus, whales can always be seen, between late July and November. Whale watching attracts millions of people all around the world and South Africa is known to offer the best land based whale watching anywhere! The Southern Right Whales crowd into the inlets along this shoreline and produce wonderful spectacles of gracious dancing in the surf, sometimes as close as 10 meters away. |
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The coming of whales to the Overberg coast, also called the Cape of Whale Coast, creates a stir when reports of sightings draws crowds who gather to watch the greatest mammal show on earth. At the seaside resort of Hermanus, armed with a kelp horn, a cellular phone, and clad in a sandwich board, is the world's only whale crier who obligingly reports the day's best sightings to eager tourists. Watch the whales from the shore at your own leisure, make use of one of the whale specialist guides around, watch them from the air in a small aircraft or make use of one of the licensed boat based whale watching operators. There are three types of whale likely to be spotted. They are the Southern Right whale (most common and largest), the Humpback and Bryde's whale. Every year southern right whales travel from their Antarctic feeding grounds to the African calving grounds. The southern right come to the coastal waters of South Africa to give birth or to mate, and while here, they put on an incredible show for both local and visitors. Click here for hotels in Cape Town Click here for recommended sightseeing tours |
 South African Holidays GSA Sun Aviation Co., Ltd. 20th Fl., Vorawat Bldg., 2001 849 Silom Road, Bangkok 10500
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