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On our third day in Cape Town we did a full day Cape Winelands tour, and Desmond took us to three bodegas. As we left the Taj Hotel that morning at 8:30 AM, it was a beautiful blue sky morning, and we had a clear view of Table Mountain. Prior to this it was hidden in clouds.

This map shows the scope of our travels, yesterday to the Cape Peninsula for the Penguins, and today we travel to the Cape Winelands area.

Desmond picked us up and drove out of town towards the wine country. It was nice because the freeway traffic was very light in our direction, but in the direction heading into town it was a parking lot. The cars were essentially not moving. The first bodega we visited was the Fairview. We had a great time sampling several varieties of the wines they produce.

After the tasting, Desmond took us on a tour of the area where the vats and barrels were located. The stainless steel vats were very cold to the touch.

The oak barrels looked new, and Desmond said that they use them for five years, after which they burn the insides to a charcoal and use them to make brandy. Had I known that when we were doing the tasting, I would have asked to taste a brandy. The displays in the tasting room made us want to make a purchase, but we knew we could not unless we had it shipped to our home in Buenos Aires. Since Argentina is such a great wine producing country, what would be the point. The grounds and gardens were beautifully kept, making it a relaxing environment you could spend hours in.

On our way to the second winery we stopped at the prison from which Nelson Mandela was released, the Victor-Verster Prison, on 11 February 1990. Desmond, like many South Africans, held Nelson Mandela in very high regard. He had much to tell us about his release from prison. The statue of Mandella at the prison entrance was a magnificent tribute.

We also stopped at the Huguenot Monument. The French Protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries, largely Calvinist, were known as Huguenots, and suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Catholic majority, and many thousands emigrated from France and settled in South Africa. They brought with them their wine making skills.

Our second bodega was Reuben’s Chamonix. They had numerous awards displayed proudly on the walls. The Cape Buffalo head was impressive, and left no doubt that we were in Africa. We enjoyed their wine selection very much.

After tasting several wines, we left the winery and went to a town where we were to have our lunch. After a slow drive though the main streets where we reconnoitered restaurants, Desmond dropped us off so we could walk around the town a bit, and decide on which restaurant we wanted to have our lunch. The De Warenmarkt Champagne & Oyster Bar seemed to suit our fancy. We ordered both muscles and oysters for our appetizer course.

Pete got a sandwich which was enough for two people, and I got the spinach and mushroom quiche. Both were excellent.

That night we ate dinner in the Taj dining room. Unfortunately the meal was uninspiring. The soup was good, but Pete’s sandwich was not to his liking. I ranked my bagel similarly. The martinis and a good chardonnay balanced things nicely.

We would be leaving the next morning for the Cape Town airport and our 10:00 AM flight to Mpumalanga (Kruger) arriving there at 12:35 PM. We were met by a Mfafa Safari representative, who drove us to the MalaMala Private Game Reserve.

We passed through a security gate with warning signs. The green sign says “SABI SAND WILDTUIN IDEMNITHY - ENTER AT OWN RISK", and then lists a bunch of rules and disclaimers, much like reading the legal contract you must “AGREE” to when installing a software package on your computer. No body ever reads those things. The white sign reads “ARMED RESPONSE TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED” in three languages. Once we passed through the gate, we were in wild animal country, and the first thing we saw was a beautiful giraffe. We were heading for the MalaMala Camp.

MalaMala is the native name for the Sable Antelope, which is the emblem used for the camp. It is quite rare and is on the critically endangered species list. Both the male and female of the species have the beautifully long horns.

We had arrived at the MalaMala camp in late afternoon. The evening game drive usually heads out from the camp at around 4:00 PM. We were shown to our room and found that our bags were already there. We then went to the meeting area and were given a little snack and something to drink. Inside of 20 minutes we were ushered to our vehicle, an open Land Cruiser, and began our first evening game drive.

Impalas were ubiquitous, which was great for the lions, leopards and cheetahs. We came upon our first of the Big Five, a beautiful leopard sleeping at the foot of a tree, which had the remains of its recent kill.

The sun was low on the horizon, so we would be out of light soon. We would continue the game drive after dark, using a spotlight to scan the area as we drove for eyes staring back at us.

A lone hyena appeared on the scene. He probably smelled the game in the tree. What brought our guide to this particular tree was the vultures staked out in nearby trees. The leopard had no worries that anyone was going to finish up his meal. For now, she had her fill, and was just resting while it digested. Below you can see the hunk of impala that remains in the crotch of the tree.

Back at camp, there is a board listing the animals and a point value assigned to each. Our guide would tally up what we saw on a game drive. On a drive the next day we saw a kill, worth 200 points. It was a mongoose that caught a mouse and scurried off into the brush with it. The Kill category was actually supposed to be something like a lion, leopard or cheetah taking down an impala, and our guide was reluctant to check it off, but we moaned and groaned until he relented. ;o)

Dinner was to be served at 8:00 PM, so we had time to go to our room to shower and change. We came back to the bar in the lounge area to have a martini before dinner, which was served buffet style in an outdoor area protected from the animals by a bamboo fence. Yeah, like that would stop an elephant, and yes, there were elephant droppings just yards from our door. The appetizer was smoked salmon.

We had chosen June for our safari adventure so that we could celebrate our 35th anniversary in an exotic place. We told Christine about our anniversary, and she told everybody about it. Here at MalaMala the chefs made a cake for us and decked it out with candles and sparklers. That was a nice touch, and we shared it with everyone. And this is a nice place to end this chapter. More to come, much more.