Chrysalis Airfares

Pongo Fever February 14, 2009

Those who prefer a degree of security can join some brilliant tours around Cape Town. For under $25, a number of companies run a full-day trip from Cape Town to the nearby Winelands region (a tour is often advisable, given the amount of inebriation involved), visiting four or five wine estates for tastings and lunch. For the same price (lunch included), full-day expeditions along the Cape Peninsula visit the surreal and sublime Boulder’s Beach, a natural habitat for jackass penguins (so-called because of their donkey-like iterations; the more sinister breed known as the jackass tourist developed its moniker because of a few people who beat the adorable birds), who swim and co-mingle happily with the flocks of people who arrive at its gorgeous waters. The Cape Point trip continues down the peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, in which ferocious baboons wrestle food away from unsuspecting picnickers, wild ostriches jog along cliffs, and gorgeous coastal hikes trace what seems like the edge of the world, with picturesque blue waters pushing out to the horizon.

Perhaps the most difficult element of travel in South Africa is that so little of it is do-it-yourself. The budget tourist industry is so eager to assist in every dimension of a journey that it’s difficult to get off-the-beaten-clich?, and those who are accustomed to sleeping in hovels with leaking roofs and dank odors before embarking on a mission into the great unknown will feel out of place. Still, the gorgeous wilderness allows for ample personal excursions, and adventures beyond the pristine shimmer of the cities and into the predominantly black townships on their outskirts can amply reward the adventurous (albeit cautious) traveler. But it speaks volumes about a country that the most significant challenge it poses is the discovery of discomfort.