Wine and biltong in the Karoo
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
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201
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Oudtshoorn,
South Africa
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Oudtshoorn, ZA
Our rental vehicle is a compact straight stick hatchback with no name. There's a symbol on the front in the shape of the letter Z but we don't know the brand name. The rental rate turned out to be 205 rand per day as the agency gave us a 20 rand per day discount as an apology for not having the car ready on time. We are driving off to the Karoo on Cape Route 62, on the left side of the road. This is also called the wine route. The last time Arvid drove a vehicle was back in Australia. Back then it was hard for him to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Irina had to keep telling him to stay to the left. But more than a year has passed and he must have lost some of his right-hand-driving instincts because he did somewhat better this time. Also, the roads here are much better than the ones in Oz. They are wide, smoothly paved and even have a wide paved shoulder. We are amazed how good the roads are. It is a pleasure driving on them. The ozzies' excuse was that theirs was such a big country with so few people they could not budget a lot for roads. But it's not the number of people that is important; it's the number of cars. The road along the east coast of Australia was crowded. Here we have these great roads almost to ourselves. Maybe that is why the roads here still look brand new. And to be fair Australia is not blessed with loads of gold, platinum and diamonds. With such good roads there are only two dangers in driving in the Karoo: first is the scenery.
06-01
It is hard to keep your eyes on the road. A second dangerous thing about driving route 62 is the wine estates with their wine tasting shops. You are supposed to just swish the wine around in your mouth and then spit it out in a stainless steel cuspidor fitted into the counter. But that seemed like such a waste. With all the biltong (jerky) outlets, wine shops and restaurants Route 62 is a visual and epicurean delight. We never knew ostrich steaks could be so tender and delicious - and almost no fat. And there is cheese; not a great selection, but, with the ridiculously cheap wine, any cheese with a few sticks of biltong enjoyed at one of the many roadside viewing spots is a feast. The mountains take our breath away; they are rugged and awesome. And between the mountains are valleys of vineyards. We don't make much progress and stop for the night at Backpacker Oasis Shanti in Oudtshoorn. The cost of our en-suite room is 280 rand.April 7, 2008
Riversdale, ZA
Oudtshoorn is a pleasant little town in the mountains. We have come to Oudtshoorn to see the famous Cango Caves, one of South Africa's most popular tourist attractions. They are really very impressive but after the fantastic scenery we drove through getting here they are more like a sideshow than a main attraction. Still they should not be missed. The cost of admission for the standard tour is 52 rands per person.
After visiting the caves we have to stop at one of the Ostrich Show Farms. Admission was 50 rand each, almost the same as the caves.
06-02
It is not worth it. Arvid wanted to ride an ostrich but it turned out he was over the weight limit; a real disappointment. He would only be allowed to sit on one to have his photo taken. Not surprisingly an ostrich farm is the cheapest place to get those ostrich eggs. They range from the plain empty egg shell for 12 rand to elaborately decorated ones for 350 rand. By now we are ready for lunch -- 112 rand. Later we stop at a farm shop for some wine and cheese - 97 rand and in the evening dinner for 193 rand, after which we went to a Pick n Pay for more cheese, biltong and wine for 146 rand. The wine route is killing our budget and making us fat; but we are loving it. We are spending the money we saved in Ethiopia and Arvid is getting back the weight he lost in Tanzania. From the Little Karoo and the wine route we head down to the coast to what is called the "Garden Route". Our LP guidebook defines the Garden Route as starting in the west at Mossel Bay and ending at Plettenberg Bay in the east. Of course other towns will disagree and say they are also part of the garden route. So our next stop is Mossel Bay where besides seeing the bay we visit the Bartolomeu Diaz Museum.
Next we drive to Stilbaai where there is a nice beach but it is too cold to swim and all the lodging is too expensive. We decide to change direction and drive inland to Riversdale to find a place to spend the night. On the way we pass a town called Albertina which has two Aloe factories and a few Aloe product shops which were all closed at that time of day. Everything in town is named Aloe. There's even an Aloe Butchery which has nothing made of aloe, but did have nice biltong. We make a note to return during business hours when the aloe product shops are open. In Riversdale we at the Rivers Dale Hotel, at the cost of 360 rand for a nice en-suite room. That's about $50.
