This blog is about empty roads in the corner of South Africa. Its a first for me, I had no idea how beautiful the Northern Cape is. We are right South of Namibia and by the Atlantic Coast.
We are starting in Upington. This is a cute little town...they even have direct flight to Joburg at least once a day! The little city is built on the Orange River. Surprise...they even produce some wine here. We didnt go for wine tasting, but we did have some nice Sauvignon Blanc for dinner and the hotel nicely gifted us with another bottle of Sauvignon and one of Cabernet Sauvignon to bring along with us.
Next morning, we are up to Aughrabies Falls. This is a small National Park for the Falls. They also have few giraffes and other bucks, but for this you need a proper 4x4 car...which obviously we dont have. They had huge floods less than two weeks before our visit. Those days, thousand locals do visits as the floods do not happen every year. Well, for us the crowds are gone, but the water is still pretty high and the visit pretty
unique. Im not sure it must be that impressive when as most of the year, there is very little water. After all, we are next to the Kalahari. It doesnt rain often here...and in the middle of the Summer temperatures can easily reach 50 degrees by lunch time.
These few days we have beautiful blue skies, and relatively moderate temperatures....by 1pm, we may have reached only 37 degrees! The plan was to go back on the N14, than at Pofadder to cut South to reach the N7. Well...that was the plan and I was ready to do it only if the road was at least slightly tarred. For those of you who dont know what a tar road is?!? In South Africa...you still find thousands of kilometers of dirt or gravel roads. You can go through with most cars...but Im not ready to do 275km in one go on a gravels road...with a Suzuki Swift! We back track by few hundred meters, back on the N14 all the way to Springbok...than heading South on the N7. Roads here are pretty empty and you can go 140kms without seeing a single village. The road is straight...the land is
red and the views are very special! So we drove a lot...and yes, you can speed up a little here. Just do not attempt this by night, there are way too many animals crossing those roads!
Our stop for the night, the little town of ClanWilliam. Hotel is basic, dinner too. This is exactly the kind of place where I dont specially want to live. They do have a 9 holes golf course...but as this is the week, they dont even have flags in the holes on the green! Well, it was just a stop for way better. 90 minutes drive South, next morning, we are ready for the first serious wine tasting of a long list. This is the middle of the vendange...so people are busy! But I still spent 2 hours with Pieter and met also David. We are at Cederberg...David is the owner/winemaker of Cederberg, but also of Ghost Corner. The first is to produce mainly in bulk. Youll find Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc at Cederberg, plus one or two more things and MCC. Well, I would keep it only to the Chenin Blanc Five Generations...thats something special! But
David own also Ghost Corner. The vineyards are a good few hours drive from here...just North of Cape Aghulas, the Southern Point of Africa. If you are in the known, youll be aware that their Sauvignon Blanc and Wild Fermented Sauvignon Blanc are some of the best in the world...and for sure better than anything France or New Zealand is producing right now. But on top of that, they do have some specials. I speak of a production of way south of 5,000 bottles ...I name their Bowline (superb blend of Sauvignon Blanc/Semilon), but also a top Semilon...and yes, for the price...a very special Pinot Noir!
I knew all those wines before I reached Cederberg, so the 2 hours tasting and actually drinking some was more about the process and the future of one of the most special winery in the country.
