9 Days in South Africa: Wine, Penguins & Safari (20 to 28 Feb 2020) Trip Report Menu
Day 1: Singapore – Stellenbosch
Day 2: Stellenbosch – Stony Point – Cape Town
Day 3: Cape Town – Old Biscuit Mill & Super Rugby
Day 4: Cape Town – Lion’s Head
Day 5: Cape Town – Bo Kaap, Chapman’s Drive, Cape Peninsula, Muizenberg, La Colombe
Day 6: Cape Town – Phinda
Day 7: Phinda
Day 8: Phinda
Day 9: Phinda – Singapore
Day 2: Stellenbosch – Stony Point – Cape Town
Our rate at Webersburg included breakfast and it turned out to be fairly decent with both hot breakfast and a small buffet of cold cuts, cheese and fruits.
The morning view was amazing as previous afternoon.
Initially we were thinking of visiting Franschhoek, a smaller wine town to the east of Stellenbosch. However, it seemed that the vineyards were likely to be very similar to Webersburg and we decided to head somewhere else.
A quick check on Tripadvisor revealed that an hour’s drive away from Webersburg lies Stony Point Nature Reserve, one of the two places on South Africa mainland where there is a penguin colony. We changed our mind and decided to head there instead.
We would be driving down R44 on a cloudless hot day.
The first real urban area that we would have to drive through is Strand (‘beach’ in Afrikaans), a seaside resort town famous for its 5 km of white sandy beach. The next one was Gordon’s Bay, where we stopped for bathroom break and to pick up some supplies at the local Pick n Pay.
The scenery and the drive started to get more interesting after leaving Gordon’s Bay; with False Bay on one side and rocky cliffs of Hottentots Holland Mountains on the other, Clarence Drive was a pleasant surprise.
There are plenty of places for tourists to stop en-route and the silhouette of Cape Peninsula can be seen in a distance.
After the leisurely drive, we arrived at Stony Point Nature Reserve. There are plenty of parking spaces to go around and there was an on-site shop and cafe for visitors. There are plenty of informative materials about South African penguins.
The first pair of penguins arrived at an old whaling station in 1982 and the colony has grown to over 3,000-strong these days.
We could spot the penguins even before we reached the ticket office. It is a very affordable 25 ZAR per adult, compared to 152 ZAR at the other more popular penguin colony at Boulders’ Beach.
Poem from Jack the Penguin
African penguin are also known as Jackass penguins because of their loud donkey-like bray. They were very audible in the penguin colony.
Napping penguin
Just woke up
Videos: –
Beside penguins, we spotted other animals as well.
Gecko
Rock hyrax or dassie
How many birds can you spot?
There were plenty of information about nature and conservation.
View at the end of the boardwalk
We spent slightly over an hour at the site and it was almost time for lunch. Checked Google Maps for restaurant recommendation and we ended up eating at Hake Away in Pringle Bay, approximately 15 minutes’ drive away.
A satisfying meal of hake, calamari, fries and chicken wings (141 ZAR)
The journey back to Cape Town went via Clarence drive again and we never got tired of the amazing views.
We had to stop for bathroom break en-route and no complaint about the view from the loo.
I had to say that South Africa is incredibly blessed with amazing scenery.
Since it was only mid-afternoon, Mrs suggested that we could visit Muizenberg before heading to our hotel in Cape Town. The fastest route would require us to use Baden Powell Drive (R310) and I told her that it’s best if we checked on the safety first as I had read previously that there are areas to avoid in the Cape area.
The first result on our search turned out to be a 2017 news article about Singaporean couple being robbed on the same route. We immediately changed our minds and headed directly to Cape Town instead.
It was start of the weekend and the traffic in the opposite direction heading out of Cape Town was gridlocked. We were also reminded by the huge income disparity of the country with the sight of Cape Flats township along N2.
I got a very good rate at Protea Hotel Cape Town Victoria Junction through Marriott’s travel industry discount and we could check in as soon as we arrived.
Our room for four nights:-
It came with a (really) partial Table Mountain view.
Every evening, the hotel operates two round-trip shuttle between it and Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. We took the first one which departs at 7pm and there was still light when we arrived.
Named after Queen Victoria and her second son Alfred and since been gentrified, V&A Waterfront is Cape Town’s premier tourist attraction with over 24 million visitors, not unlike Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. It is considered one of the safest areas in Cape Town, with many security visible throughout the 123-ha development.
Obligatory shot of Table Mountain from Waterfront
Am I the only who see the similarity?
Only 9661km away from home
Met up with its brothers and sisters earlier
Dinner was at Knysna Oyster Company inside V&A Food Market. The prices were very reasonable compared to Singapore’s.
Ordered a dozen giant oysters, mussels and two glasses of Rose and it was a nice meal which came up to 585 ZAR including tips.
It was already dark by the time we were done with dinner and we walked around for a little bit more before taking the shuttle back at 8.45pm for another early night in.
Local elites living it up in a stretched Hummer
