Hyrax, Robots, Stunning Oceans, Baboons, Penguins, Electric Fences, and Palm Trees
Anyone with any sense of wanderlust will eventually visit Africa. It is planet earth's second largest continent and is home to 1.4 billion people.
Africa's population is the world's youngest (averaging 19.7 years of age) and poorest on the planet.
We visited South Africa, a nation composed of 9 provinces housing 62 million people. It is stunning, resource rich, and strategically located. Yet it suffers from a devastating 32% unemployment rate and, by many measures, remains the most racially unequal nation in the world.
Africa is the last place on earth to experience many species of big game (including elephants, giraffes, lions, zebras, and hippo's) still living in the wild.
But, for a first timer, the ability to organize a carefully curated first trip is daunting. The logistics of Africa's shear size, terrain, and climate are one thing. Africa's dramatic political situation is another.
The upshot is this; Africa is not a place that can be appreciated without planning and time. My first realization was that my itinerary would focus on South Africa and would start in Cape Town. I knew I wanted the trip to include biking, and include a visit to Kruger National Park.
In the end I found a South Africa cycling vacation offered by Vermont Bike Tours (VBT). Their biking tour cohesively organized much of what I had decided I wanted to see and organized it in a logical travel sequence. And, the package organized and included much of the shuttling to / from the places I wanted to see.
As with many of my past VBT trips, I decided to organize my own airfare. Mainly because I wanted to bookend the trip with more time in Cape Town at the beginning, and a self directed visit to Kruger National Park (specifically, I wanted to stay at the Kruger Shalati's "Train on the Bridge") Resort within the park.
Using airline points to make this journey involved a degree of flexibility and a willingness to take some major layovers. First was a 4 hour flight to Philadelphia, followed by a big layover. Then we flew to on a 12 hour flight to Doha, Qatar, followed by another big layover. But, if one has to face a big layover somewhere, Doha's airport is a pretty amazing airport to spend time in.
Doha's Stunning Airport
Finally, the last leg was our 9 hour flight to Cape Town. The travel time with layovers ultimately consumed 36 hours, crossing the equator and the many time zones.
And, upon arrival in Cape Town we were vegetables. We took an Uber from the airport to our hotel in the Kloof neighborhood. The freeway to our hotel passed miles of "Townships" (slums) providing an immediate glimpse of Cape Town's poverty.
Endless Townships
After a few miles we rounded a bend over a hill and Cape Town began to appear. In complete contrast to the townships Cape Town is modern and clean. At that point the jarring comparison between South Africa's "Haves" and the "Have Nots" is immediate. Beautiful residences in Cape Town are surrounded by high walls topped with concertina wire and electric fences. Residential security signs don't warn of immediate response, they warn of "armed" response.
Essentially the whites still have most everything and, for the most part, blacks still don't. When we arrived into Johannesburg later in the trip the contrast is even more pronounced. The nation spent much of its last 300 years legislating inequality. Now it is trying to break that down and the process can get ugly. Everyone, white or black, that we talked to on our trip said the concept of abused white South Africans needing asylum per the propaganda espoused by our current president, is a complete exaggeration to suit his political agenda.
Once arriving at our hotel it was time to grab some dinner, shower, and get some deep sleep. The "arrive early" strategy worked. Our great little "on our own" hotel was just a couple of blocks from our VBT hotel. It was quiet, clean, economical, and quite lovely. The next morning we did a little sightseeing and just finished getting acclimated from jetlag.
We then moved hotels and joined the VBT tour.
Almost immediately we were amazed at how inexpensive travel is in South Africa. Whether it was the lovely hotels, wonderful meals, or Uber's, nothing made big dents in my pocketbook.
However, the price of luxury accommodations and safari lodges can be breathtaking.
VBT's Cape Cadogen Hotel in the Upscale Kloof Street Neighborhood
(Our VBT residence featured 3 bedrooms, a private pool, and a gourmet kitchen)
Roadboy Tip 1: Avoid converting more money than you need to. South Africa's Rand currently suffers from high inflation, plan to use credit cards wherever possible.
Roadboy Tip 2: South Africa uses a very unique plug. Maybe order a couple before you go.
The next morning our formal VBT time in Cape Town began with a shuttle to ride the Table Mountain cable car.
(Robben Island, the island where Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years is seen off the coast)
Table Mountain's cable car has been operating since 1929 and was renovated in 1997. It has carried more than 22,000,000 people to the top of Table Mountain. The cars are circular and rotate as the rise to the top. So there is no good or bad place to be in the tram.
Once you reach the top you can hike, admire the blooms, watch the cliff dwelling dassie's (hyrax), or just soak in the amazing views of Cape Town, its harbor, and the infamous Robben Island prison off the coast.
Interestingly, it became clear that the mountain top has its own micro climate and unique flora. I later came to find out that South Africa has the largest concentration of non-tropical plants in the world. Although I'd never heard anything about Floral Kingdoms it turns out there are actually 6 worldwide. And, of the 6 floral kingdoms, South Africa is the only country to have its own floral kingdom.
A bit more about the furry hyrax's (also locally called dassies). They lounge about on the rocks and look like huge guinea pigs. Amazingly they are closely related to both elephants and manatees.
After descending from Table Mountain we shuttled to Camps Bay to begin our cycling. This was the "warm up" ride. And, although there was some traffic, we pedaled aside the dramatic twelve apostles mountain peaks all the way to Cape Town Harbor. Along the way we passed Cape Town Stadium built to host the 2010 World Cup. We rode on the left (thanks to the Brits) and stopped dutifully at "robots" (the South African term for traffic lights).
Camps Bay Under the 12 Apostles
Our first bike ride ended at Cape Town's waterfront near Cape Town Stadium. From here we parked our bikes and walked the waterfront visiting some local artist shops. Cape Town's beachfront promenade resembles almost any international oceanfront setting. Gleaming high rise condominiums line up and face the blue ocean. Beachfront spandex clad joggers, skaters, and dog walkers all compete for pavement with the cyclists.
During the walk we began to further absorb Cape Town's history seeing its various memorials. As we would learn over the next week, this is a country struggling to unburden itself from the legacy of European Imperialism. In 1870 10% of South Africa was under European control. By 1910 90% was under European control. Cape Town's strategic port location led to development first by the Dutch - who built canals, and later by the British who paved the canals.
South Africa's turbulent history is defined by the brutal racial classification system known as Apartheid. From 1948 to 1991 institutional racism was the law in South Africa. and, during its four decades, it destroyed families, institutionalized grinding poverty, carried out mass evictions, and resulted in thousands of deaths.
Just as America must live with a shameful legacy of slavery, and Germany must live with it's horrific legacy of the Third Reich, South Africa lives with the bitter legacy of Apartheid. The evidence was exemplified by an emotional stop at the courts building where people were racially classified during Apartheid. Here people were labeled as black, white, indian, or colored.
The term "colored" in South Africa I came to realize is different from the offensive slang label used in America commonly used when I was a kid. Under Apartheid colored was the catch-all to address multi-racial people. And, like anything based in racism, Apartheid's complex and tortured classification system was uneven and chaotic. If you were Chinese you would be labeled black, yet if you were Japanese you were labeled white or indian. Whatever label you were assigned dictated how life would treat you. It would dictate where you'd lived, your lifespan, the job you would have, and the education you could receive.
Benches in front of the Courts building still define who could sit on them. Apartheid was Jim Crow on steroids. I highly recommend Trevor Noah's book "Born a Crime" as it presents in the starkest of terms what those terms meant during Apartheid.
"Whites Only"
Before dinner we had the honor of a presentation by Christo Brand. Brand, as a teen entering his government service, was given the responsibility to be a prison guard on Robben Island. He was assigned to guard Nelson Mandela. He spoke of the daily indignities Mandela endured. He went on to describe the profound respect and friendship he formed with Mandela. After Mandela assumed power he offered Brand positions in his government.
Christo Brand
Cape Town's brightly painted Bo Kaap neighborhood was another stop on our tour. Bo Kaap is home to a thriving Muslim population. It is filled with galleries that have (what I would call) outsider art. Think full size animal sculptures made from crushed nespresso capsules.
The next day was much anticipated. We first shuttled to Boulder's Beach to visit its African Penguin colony. Boulders Beach is part of the Table Mountain National Park. It was so odd to see penguins burrowing in sand, shaded by palm trees. I just can't see Morgan Freeman narrating anything about the residents of this colony. Surprisingly, these penguins are new arrivals (1983). Their numbers are shrinking and they have been moving as a response to habitat destruction.
In the morning we'd board an hour shuttle to picturesque Stellenbosch for lunch. Stellenbosch is home to one of South Africa's oldest and most prestigious universities. It is filled with an abundance of oak trees, superb restaurants, fine gallery's, and beautifully built and maintained Dutch inspired architecture.
The Oak Lined Streets of Stellenbosch
Cycling the Stellenbosch / Franshhoek Vineyards
Wednesday Market / Winery Lunch
The contrast between the pristine beauty of Stellenbosch and the overt poverty of the many townships that lined the highway from Cape Town continued to be staggering. Our guide, who went to college in Stellenbosch, carefully explained its history including its 1964 designation a "White Group Area". This resulted in the forced relocation of its Colored and Black residents. So, although justifiably attracting many tourists, it has yet to overcome an ongoing reputation for pervasive racism.
From Stellenbosch we shuttled to a beautiful winery where we collected our bikes and commenced cycling through one spectacular vineyard after another (including Sir Richard Branson's vineyards). The end of the biking was our arrival into Franshhoek. It was lunchtime so we stopped at the local community farmers market for some wine tasting and (for me) a delicious sandwich.
After getting settled in we regrouped for a visit to a local vineyard (Black Elephant) for a music based wine tasting. Here each wine was paired with the music that inspired it.
Roses (Natures Insect Alarms) in the Black Elephant Vineyards
This entire region was home to many Huguenaut settlers. These French protestants fled France landing at the Cape of Good Hope before settling into what is now Franshhoek (French Corner).
In the morning we began a 6 hour shuttle to the Little Karoo desert to spend two nights on a working ostrich farm (La Plume).
On the way out of Franschhoek we stopped briefly at gates to the Victor Verster prison in Paarl. This is the prison where Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990 after serving 27 years of incarceration. A statue commemorating his release was dedicated on August 21, 2008 with Mandela present. It celebrated his 90th birthday which was July 18, 2008.
The trip to Little Karoo was interrupted by our bus having mechanical problems. So our 6 hour trip turned out to be much longer than anticipated. But the drive was still lovely.
Eventually we arrived at the La Plume guest house, get settled and then start to learn about ostriches. It turns out that there is a significant worldwide demand for ostrich leather, feathers and meat. And, much of the worlds supply of ostrich products is furnished by farms in South Africa.
The next installment will start in the Little Karoo, the Garden Route, and end with our visit to Kruger National Park.
Roadboy's Travels © 2026
