Orange-red rocks and Rock Art
About 300 kilometers north of Cape Town begins a surreal landscape of jagged rocks in fiery orange-red and rust-brown terracotta hues: the Cederberg Wilderness Area. A mostly dry landscape with hidden waterfalls, trails where pebbles crunch under your shoes, where the sun can be relentlessly hot and where temperatures plummet at night. A fantastic landscape for a hike, where it is absolutely worth choosing a route that leads to magnificent Bushmen rock paintings. Some paintings are only 100 years old, but other drawings are some 8,000 years old. Take a moment to stop and imagine what life was like back then.... Some of the animal species depicted can still be found here: zebras, pied bucks, bat-eared fox and Cape fox, and even the shy leopard is found here. Because there is little habitation - and therefore little stray light - the night skies here are truly insanely beautiful. Enthusiasts can even visit The Cederberg Observatory on Saturdays where you can peer into the firmament through a telescope. Where the world can't find you...
Rooibos tea and delicious wine
The rugged wilderness of this part of the Western Cape is dominated by fynbos, but sometimes it gives way to the extremely ordered landscape where rooibos bushes grow. Only in this region is rooibos grown. The harvested leaves take on their distinctive red color and rich aroma only after drying. It is possible to visit tea producers and participate in a tasting at a tea house. Or are you more of a wine lover? Nowhere in South Africa do vines grow at such a high altitude; the grapes here can ripen extra long, producing a deep and concentrated aroma. You can join us for a wine tasting right after the tea tasting!
