Orange River and Stellenbosch, South Africa

After crossing the border into South Africa (nicknamed “the rainbow nation”) we headed for Fiddlers Creek campsite. The campsite sits on the banks of the Orange River, which sits along the border of Namibia and South Africa.

In the afternoon a few of us canoed down the Orange River from about 10km North of the campsite. It was a very scenic paddle downstream, there were a few small rapids and the scenery was quite dramatic with mountains and cliffs around us. Our guide pointed out a number of spots along the river bank where people from Namibia crossed into South Africa without using the border crossings, you could see the reeds on the bank had been bent over by people. We saw a number of South African army vehicles on the river bank roads, our guide told us they were patrolling the border and stopping people from attempting to pass into South Africa.

With a long drive ahead of us we set off south, stopping overnight at Citrusdal, before heading to Stellenbosch. The roads were immediatly different from Namibia, tarmac all the way, cutting through lush green mountainous landscapes, it’s heading into Spring and it was quite noticeable, with brightly coloured flowers appearing along the roadsides and in the fields.

As we approached Stellenbosch the hillsides of the Great Drakenstein and Stellenbosch Mountains were covered in vineyards, there are over 140 wineries in the area and we only visited four of them. Established in 1679, Stellenbosch is the second oldest European settlement in South Africa, after Cape Town. This is very noticeable in the architecture, with heavy Dutch and German influences.

We were staying at the Stumble Inn, quite aptly named as we embarked on our wine tour the next day with Easy Rider Wine Tours. Our first stop (at about 10am!) was Simonsig, we got a tour of the cellars and shown where they make the wines and the processes involved, then we tasted six different wines sparkling, white and red, some I liked some I didn’t, but one thing was for sure, I wouldn’t be sober but the end of the day!

Our next stop was Fairview, where we had a cheese and wine pairing tour, quite interesting, the pairing for blue cheese was sweet red wine (I didn’t agree). We stopped for lunch in the quaint village of Franschoek (French quarter), before heading to our final two wineries, time for a strong coffee!

Dieu Donne was our third tasting, it was set in a beautiful location, on the slopes of the Franschhoek Mountains with views out over the valley, whith mountains all round. Our last tasting was at Boschendal, set in beautifully manicured gardens, and you could play boules!