South Africa Safari – Another adventure begins …

A 3 week South Africa Safari round trip from Cape Town through the Winelands to the Eastern Cape via Route 62 and back to Cape Town via the Garden Route.   We have chosen Shamwari for our first safari experience because it gets great reviews and avoids the need to make the long journey to Kruger/Johannesburg with the added risk of malaria that you have to put up with there.  The Eastern Cape is malaria free, which sounds good to me.

We have a long flight ahead of us this evening. We leave the UK at 21.20 pm and arrives at 7.15 the tomorrow in Dubai. The onward flight leaves at 8.50 and arrives at Cape Town around 16.30 pm on Sunday afternoon. I am looking forward to exploring Cape Town.   A city that has coastline, mountains and a mild climate sounds heavenly to me.

I am determined to sample some of South Africa’s unique products:

Rooiboos – caffeine free red tea made from the fynbos shrub that only grows in South Africa (though others have tried to copy it). It grows up in the highland areas of Clanwilliam.

Biltong – many South Africans say this is the true taste of home – the one they yearn for if they are abroad for a while.  It is slender strips of meat that has been salted and sometimes marinated then dried, to increase its shelf life.  It can be made of wildebeest, warthog loin, ostrich steak or beef sirloin.

Bunny Chow – the South African hamburger.  This is fast food, perfected by the Indian population of Durban.  It is basically curry in a loaf – you eat the whole thing.

Beer – Africa is where beer was born, apparently. I’m going to try and find some beer from Fraser’s Folly, a famous South African master brewer.

The beef is supposed to be pretty good too.

Search for “Foodie Firsts” using the tag cloud in the sidebar to find our more about South Africa’s foodie scene – always a priority on my travels.