Imagine quaffing champagne and viewing penguins frolicking all around you from a beautiful sailing yacht off Cape Town. That’s what I was doing a few days ago. It’s a hard life in Africa! But putting aside the gloating, what’s particularly attractive is how easy it is to some sort of boat cruise in Cape Town. There are plenty of boats taking visitors from the V&A or Hout Bay on whale-watching cruises, romantic yachts at sunset or thrilling jet boats.

Where does the Titantic remake come in? Well, our sailing yacht, the Spirit of Africa, had a distinct prow along which you could gingerly edge your way until you found yourself perched high above the water with only the Atlantic Ocean stretching ahead with nothing but a few Southern Right whales, dolphins and penguins between you and South America thousands of kilometres away. Once perched here you simply had to fling your arms wide and imagine you were Kate Winslet.

You can sail for 1 or 1½ hours around Table Bay on the yachts, Spirit of Victoria, a traditionally designed 58ft Gaff Rigged Schooner, or Bonne Esperance, a 64ft Marconi rigged schooner, enjoying South African champagne as you go. You’ll have stunning views of Table Mountain and the city skyline and we particularly recommend the sunset cruise in summer as very romantic. From July to November you may be lucky to see the odd glimpse of a whale but seals and penguins are commonly sighted.

If you are keen to see whales, during July to November you can take a longer boat cruise specifically in search of whales. This lasts for 3 to 4 hours as the boat sails up the West Coast towards Paternoster or around the Cape Peninsula to False Bay, depending on winds, sailing conditions and where the whales were most recently spotted. They average 6 or 7 different whale sightings per trip so there’s always excitement. Sightings include Southern Right whales in season (July to November), African penguins, Cape Fur seals, dolphins, basking sharks, sunfish and many species of pelagic birds.

Dare-devils will enjoy a one hour jet-boat ride: its hectic speed delivers an adrenalin rush par excellence and a broad grin magically appears on your face.

If you are keen to do this during your time in Cape Town, don’t wait until you get there. It’s very popular and the sundowner cruises get booked up. We recommend that you pre-book with your tour operator.

January sees the launch of the Cederberg Heritage Route, community-based portered walking trails in the Cederberg mountains in South Africa. This is a collection of three new walking trails of six to five nights.

The majestic and rugged Cederberg mountains are easily accessible, only two hours drive north from Cape Town. The 100km long mountain range rises above vineyards and citrus groves of and is a gigantic mass of sandstone, richly coloured by iron oxides and eroded into a variety of strange shapes. The Cederberg is famous for these unique rock formations as well as for fine examples of San (Bushmen) rock paintings and spectacular wild flowers in spring (August to early September). Most of the Cedarberg is a designated Wilderness area and thus remains one of the most undisturbed areas of South Africa.

Historically this wilderness status meant walkers had to choose between taking day walks into the mountains, which restricts you to more accessible shorter walks, or taking a pack and camping out in the forestry huts.  However the hiking trails of the Cederberg Heritage Route now make this beautiful area accessible to walkers via the use of charming community guest cottages in the Moravian Mission villages of Heuningvlei, Brugkraal and Wupperthal on the eastern side of the Cederberg Wilderness area and guesthouses in or near Clanwilliam on the western side. Thus walkers can explore some of the classic walks of the northern Cederberg; Heuningvlei, Krakadouw peak and Boontjieskloof in comfort and safety.

The trails are fully inclusive: guests stay at comfortable community guesthouses in the picturesque Moravian mission villages, guided by local community guides with their overnight luggage taken to their next night’s stay.  

The Cederberg Heritage Route is a not-for-profit association set up to market the trails and is supported by Cedarberg African Travel who arrange the walking trails, Cape Nature Conservation, the Moravian Mission villages and the Living Lanscape Project which focuses on rock art walks in the region. The revenue from these walking trails is directly helping the local community.
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The Trails
Most of the hiking/walking on the Cederberg Heritage Route Trails is not very difficult and is suitable for regular walkers or people with a reasonable level of fitness. However, some optional hikes are more challenging, to give keen walkers more of a challenge.

The three night Klein Krakadouw Trail is ideal for people wishing to enjoy a long weekend in the mountains. You arrive in the late afternoon in Clanwilliam where you settle into your guesthouse. The following morning you enjoy a guided rock art walk to a couple of the rock art sites nearby (2-3 hours). After a picnic lunch you are transferred to the top of the Pakhuis Pass where you meet the Heuningvlei donkey carts. You can choose to walk along the jeep track (2½ hours) to Heuningvlei or take the exhilarating donkey cart ride.  The following day you enjoy a magnificent scenic walk up and over the Krakadouw pass and down into the Boskloof valley (5-6 hours) where you stay overnight. On the final morning you are transferred back to Clanwilliam for departure.

The four night Groot Krakadouw Trail has a greater focus on walking with 3½ days spent walking. You arrive before lunch on the first day and enjoy a guided rock art walk in the afternoon. The following morning you walk (or take the donkey cart) to Heuningvlei and then continue after lunch to the remote hamlet of Brugkraal (another 2 hour walk). The next day you enjoy a full day’s walking up to Boontjieskloof, in the heart of the Cederberg Wilderness Area, and then down to Heuningvlei with swimming in the rockpools en route. The final day of walking is over the Krakadouw pass down to the beautiful Boskloof valley for your final overnight stay before being transferred back to Clanwilliam on the following morning.

The five night Wupperthal Trail differs from the other two trails in that it offers an optional hike up Krakadouw peak, the highest mountain in the northern Cederberg, as well as walking all the way to Wupperthal, the picturesque mission village founded in the early 19th century, via the hamlets of Heuningvlei and Brugkraal. On the final day you return to Clanwilliam and spend time walking the Sevilla Rock Art trail, a three hour trail visiting 9 separate rock art sites.