Off the beaten track

As a visitor, you have some idea of what you’d want to see and visit, and understandably that would include most of the emblematic sites, which makes Cape Town and its surroundings famous. But there’s more to ponder.

First comes the question on how long you should plan for your stay in Cape Town. Ideally, if you include the winelands, not less than 5 nights.

Take into account that Cape Town is a worldwide famous destination, and it’s very seasonal. Our high season is between October and April, with a peak over the festive season, simply because this is our summer season. Our summer is rather dry, meaning little to no rain at all. Often windy, with the south-easter blowing to the greatest pleasure of the kite surfers. Named the wind Doctor as it blows all the clouds away, but gosh can it blow! 

The downfall of the peak season is that it’s also busy, and I mean r.e.a.l.l.y busy!... For instance, you'll have to queue up for 2 hours for the cable car to Table Mountain, and the same for coming back down. That’s how busy it is, and that applies to most of the emblematic sites.

But there are off the beaten track options

If Cape Point is one of the emblematic places to visit, you can also go to the West Coast National Park (WCNP) and get away from the crowds. It’s about 90min driving distance from Carmichael House, via a very easy straight (literally!) forward road.

Provided you’d go there during weekdays, it’ll be even quieter, as the locals tend to go there to braai on weekends.

Besides the endemic fynbos, you might spot any of the following: ostriches, bonteboks, kudus, and lots of birds, including flamingos, that you can watch in groups, filtering the salty waters of the lagoon. And that’s what makes the WCNP so special!

After a couple of km, you’ll have the most amazing sight with the impetuous dark blue ocean on the left, and the exact opposite on the right, being a flat quiet emerald lagoon, stretching all the way to its mouth, the end tip of the WCNP. You can try (I said TRY 🥶…) to swim in the ocean, but you’ll definitely enjoy a dip in the lagoon. It’s safer (no sharks other than the sand shark, which is totally harmless), and offers warmer shallow waters (I said warmer, not warm! 😅). 

Between August & September each year, the Flower Season is an event of note. Depending on the rainfall, the coast explodes in colours, from white to pink, purple & orange, it's just magnificent. If it's all along the coastline, it's more prominent in the "Postberg" section of the park (which is only open to the public during the Flower Season). This is also where most of the bigger game hides, with mountain zebras, wildebeest, bonteboks, springboks, eland and more.

Take into account that this is a real full day tour. Firstly, because of the return trip (2 x 1h30). Secondly because you’d want to spend at least a few hours on site, even including a nice picnic.

And thirdly, because you have other interesting places to visit on the way.

One of them is !kwa ttu, the San sanctuary. The San were hunters-gatherers, first inhabitants of Southern Africa. The site offers a very informative and fun experience suitable to all ages. It’s recommended to book a guided tour done by one of the San descendent. You can even have a late lunch there as well.

The other one would be Buffelsfontein, a small private game reserve, offering game drives. You can select one of their scheduled drives (9 AM or 14h) on board of one their 4x4 high track vehicles or even book a private one (POA). They have a variety of bucks roaming freely, together with a couple of white rhinos. The cats are in enclosures. Lots to learn from the ranger.

Don’t forget that coming back, once you get closer to the city, you might fall within peak traffic hours (16-18h during weekdays). Maybe aim at arriving just past 18h as not only would it allow you more time for your day visits, but you won’t be wasting time in the daily rat run.

If you need more information, please don't hesitate to send me an email ([email protected]), or a WhatsApp (+27 76 231 7752) as I’d gladly help you to the best of my knowledge.