my views

Waleed and I were fortunate to spend the weekend of 5 to 7 May 2017 at Aquila Private Game Reserve situated in Touws River. We celebrated our 8-year wedding anniversary, which was the  perfect excuse for a local getaway. From Cape Town, it is about a 2-hour drive on the N1, using the toll road. It is an extremely scenic drive where you are towered by the Hawequas Mountain Range, part of the Hawequas Nature Reserve, where the indigenous shrubs and proteas are mesmerising. You pass Rawsonville and Worcester and go through the Hex River Valley. The pass is littered with baboons who often sit in the middle of the road and are unperturbed by oncoming traffic. The Hex River Valley The Hex River Valley is awash with different shades of green as the vineyards shed their late harvest and there are numerous hawkers selling grapes on the side of the road. Caution if you do go this way that there is a sign up to say they use it as a hijacking tactic. Despite the sign, which was an offic

We spent the Valentine’s weekend, celebrating my dad’s 62nd birthday, on Good Hope Farm . It is about a 2-hour drive from Cape Town (during relatively low to no traffic). Travelling on the N1, through the Huguenot Tunnel, you will pass Goudini Spa, go through Worcester and Robertson and cross the Breede River, where the farm is a little oasis at the end of a gravel road, at the base of an amazing mountain range. The route is scenic and lined with loads of vineyards and you pass quite a few wine farms on your way to the farm. You don't get more rustic than a vintage petrol pump One of the cottages on Good Hope Farm The mountains go on forever and ever... framed by marshmallow clouds. A digital detox We reached the farm just before sunset and as soon as we entered the gate my google maps app lost connectivity. I was surprised, and in hindsight, pleasantly so that there was no signal on the farm and no internet in the cottages. We connected to the WIFI at the main