The Island Explorer

It was a long yet amazing drive to Franschhoek , our final destination before we hit Cape Town.  The village of Franschhoek or the French Corner is tucked into the Cape Winelands of South Africa . It is known as the country's food and wine capital.  The vineyards here are established more than 300 years ago and cascade over the hills outside town.  Wine-tasting tours, trout fishing and hiking are popular here. We had limited time, so we weren't able to go on a wine tour. Instead, we checked in a vineyard to have that unique Franschhoek experience. Our villas was calledthe La Gallinere . It was secluded into one of the corners of the vineyard, providing us with utmost privacy. It was a self-catering villa, so we had a kitchen and living area again. It was again a very different accommodation from what we had experienced so far. The pool was just in front of our villa, so it seemed to be our own. However, the pool wasn't maintained, so we didn't dar...

We wanted this trip to be filled with different types of experiences.  Outdshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world , and we hadn't seen as many ostriches in our lives when we were driving around the countryside. There were ostrich farms left and right, and ostrich pens had as much as a hundred birds contained. Thus, we weren't as fascinated anymore with the ostriches. Part of the reason why we decided to go to Outdshoorn was another attraction: the Cango Caves . We went to the Cango Caves without any idea what to expect. We just thought that the idea of caving was a refreshing experience to the usual beach and mountain landscapes we have encountered so far.  Cango Caves is a main attraction in South Africa , and thus, there were a lot of guided tours to this site. A lot of them came in buses, and the Chinese and Koreans were already here. Hence, it was your typical tourist attraction. We were in a group of around 40 people, so there tour guide had a hard time co...

We reached Outdshoorn after almost 2 hours from Wilderness. We were to check in a guesthouse called De Denne , which again was highly recommended in the Internet. We had trouble looking for the guesthouse, because it turned out to be outside of town, around 20 minutes from the center of Outdshoorn. We were in the middle of nowhere when we finally found the gates leading to De Denne. I wasn't afraid, but the surroundings were making me anxious. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it was all barren land. Good thing De Denne was an oasis in the middle of this vast nothingness. De Denne is described as a country guesthouse. We chose this because we wanted to experience a whole range of accommodations for this trip. We already stayed in a luxurious chalet, a beautiful lodge, an opulent mansion, and now, De Denne seemed to be like a country farm. True enough, our room was like a farmhouse. The owners of the place were not present when we arrived, so we were esco...

A short 10km drive away from Knysna is  Brenton on Sea . We were looking for things to do in Knysna, and we were desperate for a beach already, so we decided to spend the rest of day there. To reach Brenton on Sea, we had to drive over the mountain that overlooked Knysna. We had another amazing view of the lagoon and the town again. As we started to descend, we caught glimpses of the sea already. And it made us very very excited. Brenton on Sea is another town with a vibrant community. It looked like an upscale village full of villas and mansions overlooking the dramatic Indian Ocean. Its main attraction, of course, is the sea and the beach that it kisses. This was Brenton on Sea. I really felt like a kid again when I saw this from where we parked our car. The beach was amazing. And this was just from afar. It stretched for around 4 kilometers, but seemed endless. The sand was golden and the waves were splashing incessantly and sprayed the surroundings with...