The Western Cape

The fourth largest province in the country, the Western Cape boasts a contrasting spectacle of scenic beauty, from unspoiled beaches to sun-bleached semi-desert; dense coastal forests to lush vineyards nestled amidst rugged mountain ranges. Its host of interesting tourism activities coupled with the fact that climatic conditions are moderate throughout the year, merely contribute to captivating all who visit its shores.

The Cape is set between two seas, between East and West and for nearly 350 years the European cultures of the Atlantic ocean, the Eastern cultures of the Indian Ocean, and the cultures of the African interior have met and mingled here. This mix has influenced food, architecture, lifestyle, customs, and gardens. The best way to investigate Cape culture is to walk, look, talk, listen, eat and drink the Cape.

The Winelands, less than an hour from Cape Town, give full reign to the  pleasures of eating, drinking and visual feasting. Dutch colonial heritage reaches it peak in this region of gabled homesteads sitting among vineyards against a backdrop of slaty peaks.

To the northeast lies the Breede River Valley, a region usually bypassed along the N1 en route to Johannesburg, but featuring among its faceless fruit-farming towns some hideaways favoured by Capetonians as weekend retreats. Further east, the country opens into the timeless landscapes of the Little Karoo, the curtain-raiser to the semi-desert that drifts across one-third of South Africa's surface, and is nowhere more rewarding nor more easily accessed than here. Less visited than it deserves, the Little Karoo is skirted by the N1 to its north and the N2 to its south, and offers a succession of dramatic passes switchbacking across one mountain range after another.

Southeast of the Winelands, the Overberg is another region that remains hidden behind the mountains during a hasty journey east. The Whale Coast, an angry stretch of Indian Ocean to the south that has claimed hundreds of ships, is known for being the best area in the country for shore-based whale-watching, and there are a couple of pleasant coastal towns off the main routes along here.

The best-known name in the Western Cape is of course the Garden Route, a drive along the N2 that technically begins at Mossel Bay, where the freeway hits the coast, and continues for 185km to Storms River. In reality it is taken as part of a journey between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, simply because these are the easiest places to catch flights and to pick up and drop off rental cars. The Garden Route proper can be driven in half a day, but to cover it so quickly would mean missing its essence, which can be found off the road in its coastal towns, lagoons, mountains and ancient forests, the highlight being the Tsitsikamma National Park, where the dark Storms River opens into the Indian Ocean. Partly because it lies along a single stretch of freeway, public transport along the Garden Route is better than anywhere in the country.

North of Cape Town, the less popular, remote and windswept west coast is usually explored during the wildflower months of August and September, when visitors converge on its centrepiece, the West Coast National Park. Its other major pull is the Cederberg mountain range, 200km north of Cape Town on the N7,a rocky wilderness with hikes and hidden rock art sites.

Apart from the annual explosion of wild flowers in the north, the Western Cape really scores on wilderness and flora, and is South Africa's "fynbos province". The plants you'll glimpse from afar all along the coast and up every mountainside look like a nondescript grey-green blur of vegetation, but on closer examination reveal a rich kingdom of delicate flowering plants that rival the Amazon Forest for biodiversity.

Several national parks and nature reserves make excellent places to explore fynbos, as do all the hikes mentioned in this chapter, but you shouldn't expect to see much African wildlife here. Most reserves have a few zebra or antelope, but to see the Big Five you have no choice but to extend your adventure beyond the realm of The Western Cape.