We started early for the best weather and after breakfast at the manor house, we headed to Table Mountain. The plateau towers about 3000 feet above the city of Capetown and the views were really spectacular. We had good weather for most of the morning before some clouds starting rolling in.
Next we headed to lunch and it was a humbling experience.
As a bit of background, more than a third of Cape Town’s 4 million people live in desperate poverty in the “townships” that are very poor slums with no running water or sewer. The “homes “ do generally have electricity but are made of corrugated siding with leaky roofs, no windows and mud floors. The unemployment rate in the townships is over 70%. It is in stark contrast to some very nice homes and neighborhoods through the the city. Many of the homes were surrounded by high walls with razor wire and electric fences.
Our lunch was at the Amy Foundation. It is an organization that helps people from the townships lift themselves out of poverty that grips much of the country. Young people who have finished a basic high school education are trained in practical skills such as carpentry, sewing and culinary skills. In addition to the other skills, they are taught business and personal interaction skills to help them be successful in lives outside of the townships. From there, they apply those skills to join or start businesses. it is named after a young American woman who went to help people from the townships and she ultimately lost her life during a riot. We had a great traditional South African meal prepared and served by the students.
They were all very proud of the skills they were learning.
After lunch we headed down Chatman’s Peak coastal drive. The views were spectacular! It is similar to the Big Sur coast in California but the cliffs were much higher.
Our last stop before heading back to the wine estate was the Simons town that is home to a colony of South African penguins. We enjoyed watching them swim and waddle around on the beach. You could get quite close to them.
With our final night before heading to Namibia, we had a wonderful meal of sausage and veal chops cooked over the fire pit. As a side dish we had maze (grits) and chakalaka.
And for dessert, we had a peppermint chocolate mousse.
Tomorrow we have a travel day where we take a 2 ½ flight to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia where we will spend the night before traveling on to Etosha national park.
Tampaskis Travel 