A journey with so many different aspects: life in the township, vineyard and wine production, wildlife in the Addo National Park, travelling in a luxury train, guesthouse and cooking school in Kirwood, the African penguins, seaside and sports in Capetown.
Ismaël discovers Cape Town with his guide Siviwe Mbinda; they see a nice panorama of the town, the Table Mountain and the Robben Island: They eat "bilton", a dried meat of beef,kundu or springbok, they walk through the township of Longa (where Siviwe was born), Isabella, Siviwe's companion, speaks about the people of the township who all know each other : in their house they prepare always more food for the visitors: later they visit the Happy Feet Center (young boys and girls are learning traditional songs and dances),In the other township of Khayelitsha, Maria Botha is helping young boys and girls to play violin and organizes meetings with young boys and girls of white neighborhoods. Besides the Zip Zap association helps also young boys and girls of the township to learn circus acrobatics.
At Cape Town the people enjoy the seaside for swimming, surfing, paddle board or kite surfing, in the park other people practice yoga (very early in the morning).
The new "must" is to visit the former yacht Onassis transformed into a luxury hotel and th people enjoy also the cinema in the parks.
Now some words about the wildlife: the Addo National Park (visit with the guide Emmanuel Paradaza): in the savanna they can see elephants, lions, kudus and buffalos. In the Inverdoorn Reserve Damien Vergnaud manages a program of protection of the white rhinoceros and cheetahs (two endangered species) and in Boulders Ismaël meets Peter Van der Linde who takes care for the African penguins. Also we know about the great white shark which is observed by a team of sharkspotters of Muizenberg (so swimmers and surfers know when they must avoid swimming or surfing), but on the other side there are boats in which tourists practice cage diving for observing these great white sharks.
The guesthouse "Molo Lolo"managed by Laurence Armand has a restaurant and is also a cooking school: Cindy Madini , a young South African cook of Cape Town has made a pratice here and has become chef, she shows Ismaël the organic garden and they harvest lettuce and coriander, later they prepáre the supper,: eland meat, millet paste and and lettuce salad under the supervision of France du Sartel ,the main chef.
We travel also a little in the "Pride of Africa", a luxury train (something like a luxury hotel on wheels): the train moves from Cape Town to Tanzania and goes slowly (60 kilometers /hour) so the passengers can enjoys the different landscape.
In Stellenbosch Ismaèl meet Viviane Kleynhans who manages with her sisters a vineyard and a wine cellar (the government was promoting the management of wine industries by African people): Ismaél and the sisters taste a white wine Chardonnay: a example of successful management.
After a long era of apartheid there is a lot of positivity and optimism among the young generations; the vineyard in Stellenbosch, the guesthouse in Kirkwood, the wildlife protection programs, the cultural associations in the townships.
I enjoyed much this journey through South Africa and I appreciate the kindness of the South African men and women.