Cape Town - If you can’t get out to a wine farm, let the wine farm come to you with this fabulous new offering in association with Durbanville Hills.
Table Mountain is without a doubt our best known landmark and a world heritage site.
While a trip to the top in the cable car, or a hike if you’re feeling energetic, is on every visitor’s to-do list – and for spectacularly good reasons – you can be sure several thousand other people had the same idea at the same time.
We found a new way to enjoy the mountain and its views of Cape Town which will make you feel like a VIP.
Hikers and those crazy mountain bikers know you can drive up to a point on the Tafelberg Road, after which you can walk or cycle quite a bit further, around Devil’s Peak and even as far as Kirstenbosch.
This section of the mountain, however, is closed to normal traffic. Unless you take a Durbanville Hills wine tour in a customised 4x4 safari vehicle like those used on game farms.
The tour begins at the Sanparks office just off Kloof Nek, and winds along the side of the mountain all the way to the end of the tar road. It then switchbacks along bumpy gravel tracks until you reach the other side of Devil’s Peak.
From there you can see almost all of Cape Town from the harbour and Table Bay to the left, and all the way across the southern suburbs to False Bay on the right in a 180-degree panorama.
At your feet is the open ground where there is a breeding programme established for the protection of the Cape Mountain Zebra and other animals that once used to roam freely on these slopes.
There is something exciting due to happen there soon, the guide told me, so watch the press for details.
It is here, below the block house which was once used as a lookout point and alongside cannons – you have to wonder at how challenging it must have been to get them up there all those years ago – that your guide will whip out some comfortable camping chairs and several bottles of Durbanville Hills wines for you to taste, along with cheese and bread.
What makes this even extra interesting is you can actually spot the estate and from this vantage point pick out the vineyard from which your wine originated.
It’s all terribly civilised and far from the madding crowds, but still incredibly beautiful. Plus there’s wine.
l The tour costs R130-R200 with collection and drop-off at hotels and guest houses on selected days. For bookings, contact Henri Bruce on 076 788 4992.
Weekend Argus