Honeymoon in South Africa. January 2017

2016 was a busy year, we bought and renovated our first home and were busy planning our wedding, so apart from a few days in Palma, Majorca, holidays were off the agenda! After getting married at Middleton Lodge over Christmas, on New Years Day 2017 we headed off on Honeymoon!

We landed in Cape Town and picked up our ride before heading just outside the city to Camps Bay and our pad, Camps Bay Hotel. Its right on the beach and beautiful, our room had a stunning view of the ocean so after a quick freshen up we were straight in to the pool for an afternoon of sunshine, relaxing and cocktails. That evening we went to a local Italian restaurant and went for little wander on the beach. The Twelve Apostles are just behind Camps Bay so it’s a really lovely spot and as Cape down is straight down, there’s no time difference, winner!

We were planning to head up Table Mountain the next day but the weather was a little on the windy side so the cable car wasn’t running. Instead, we headed to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens which were really impressive and spent a couple of hours exploring the huge grounds. We then headed into the city and walked around the streets of Bo-Kap which are full of brightly coloured houses, before stopping off for a beer and some tapas. On the way back we stopped at Sea Point beach but to be honest it was a little sketchy and not really worth a visit, we would have been better stopping at Clifton beach which is nicer and protected from the winds.

That evening we headed up into the hills above Camps Bay to Roundhouse, this is a fine dining restaurant but we chose to sit outside in the sun and take advantage of their outrageous 2 bottles of wine and 2 pizza for £20 offer, glorious. We then headed down the hill to the Bungalow which is a cool beach bar on Clifton Beach and finished the evening with a cocktail.

The winds had dropped by the following day and we headed up to Table Mountain, this involved parking the car at the bottom, a sweaty bus ride half way up and then an insanely long queue in the boiling heat waiting for the cable car to take us to the top. The view once you make it is impressive but if I’m honest the hours spent in the queue tainted it a little and if I had my time again, I’d probably have spent it by the pool, sorry!

The V&A waterfront is another area of the city, right on the harbour and filled with lots of shops, restaurant and bars. That evening we were booked into Harbour House and enjoyed a lovely seafood dinner before walking around the area which is really pretty, all lit up with fairy lights.

Up next, the big day trip. We set off early for a trip around the peninsula, stopping of first at Kalk Bay which is a cute little town with some enormous sea lions knocking around, but not an essential stop. Next was Boulders Beach which is home to literally 100s of Penguins! They are pretty used to people and will just walk right by you, very cute. We then headed all the way down to Cape Point and walked the very windy coastal path right to the tip, the scenery here is rugged and the waves are pounding the coastline, its also the point where the Atlantic meets the Pacific, which is cool. The drive back up is lovely, some really impressive scenery with lots of little beaches and we rounded off the day with some good old fish and chips, shattered!

After spending our last very windy day (seriously, people don’t talk about the wind!) by the pool, later we decided to get dressed up and get a taxi into the city to visit steak restaurant CARNE (Keerom St), this was a great choice, the steak and wine really were amazing and after dinner we stumbled across a great little Gin bar with all the botanicals you could dream of, lovely evening.

The next part of our trip was the wine country! We jumped in the car and headed to Franschhoek and our Hotel, Mont Rochelle. Now this place is unreal, its absolutely beautiful and super fancy, some people even arrived by helicopter, sadly not us but we were greeted with a glass of fizz before checking into our stunning room, which by the way included a daily bottle of red, white and rosé from the hotels vineyard, ideal! We headed straight for the pool and settled in for the afternoon. That evening we headed to the hotels country kitchen for a wine tasting and dinner which was lovely. The next few days were super relaxing and of course we visited a couple of the other vineyards including Grande Provence where we had arranged a picnic which turned out to be a delicious selection of wine and cheese in our own private garden, idyllic. You can get a cute little tram around all the vineyards which is handy if you want to visit lots of them and there are several other towns nearby which also boast amazing restaurants and vineyards so this region is certainly worth a visit. Our last night even brought a huge rainbow across the lush green valley, we really didn’t want to leave.

The final part of the trip meant a flight over to the Eastern Cape and a transfer to Pumba Private Game Reserve for safari! 3 days of exploring the park with our guide and spotting the big 5 including a very close encounter with a male Lion as well of lots of other amazing animals. I would say that having done a safari in Kruger National Park that does provide a more authentic experience than a private reserve as the animals are completely wild and roam free but an awesome experience either way. Although the weather was a little overcast our accommodation was lovely and it was a brilliant way to round off the trip.