Die Boer Maak a Plan

Here is the story of my Easter Break. There is one rule: If you’re are really interested, read the whole thing. If you aren’t then don’t even start.

Before I begin I will warn you that I will go into intense detail, as this was possibly the most incredible week of my life. I’m partially just writing this just to remember it all, everything was so amazing, I’m still in awe. This blog wont even do it justice.


Alyssa, Alicia and I started planning our road trip about a month ago. I spent hours researching backpackers and all the best spots in each city, and reserved beds in all the nicest backpackers. We spoke to our friend who said he had friends that worked for a car rental company and said he could get us a cheap one, and to just let him know after we booked everything else. This was pretty far into the planning, so about a week before the trip. We booked everything else and then found out his friend was on leave for the month and he could no longer help us with a car. We called every car rental company in Cape Town and there were no automatic cars available. Instead of panicking, we decided to pack up and go anyway, figuring we could just change the trip a little and find a car outside of Cape Town, where there are less Americans (we are the only ones who prefer automatics).


On Saturday morning we packed our bags and went to the train station, we needed to get out of Cape Town in order for our adventure to begin, and Stellenbosch was the perfect destination. It is a college town on the skirts of Cape Town, about an hours train ride away. It is surrounded by vineyards and wineries, and is home to South Africa’s most famous wines. We explored the town at night, which was a little emptier than usual due to school break, and stayed a small hostel called the Stumble Inn. In the morning we went on a wine tour that was offered with the hostel, which brought us to tastings at 4 different wineries and a cute, casual restaurant for lunch in between. It was just the three of us and a young, friendly German couple on the tour. Eike and Carina were graduate students exploring South Africa on holiday.

Each winery was a little different. The first one was Tokara, it was artsy and had a sort of business casual feel to it. The tasting room was big and open and show-cased all their best wines. We learned the basics of tasting and got to try 5 different wines. I can’t really say which was the best, we didn’t take notes, we are just trying to gain an appreciation for wine. Alyssa really liked the dessert wine, which tasted almost like a fruit syrup. It probably would have been good poured over ice cream. The next winery was the second oldest in the country, and was more casual, and almost seemed French. We tasted the wines outside at a table that was already set up for us with 5 wines to taste. We took our time enjoying each wine and the beautiful background of the gardens and vineyards layered before the immense mountains. Afterwards we drove to a Greek restaurant in the French part of the Afrikaans part of Cape Town. Talk about multicultural. We had a delicious lunch and, of course, a refreshing glass of white wine. Our third vineyard was a little further away, and was called Dieu Donne, meaning a gift from God. We tasted the wines in a small garden amidst the grapevines. It was one of the most beautiful places I had ever been. The final destination was one of the most popular wineries in South Africa, called Fairview, where we got to taste 6 wines and several different cheeses. We got a taste of a specific wine in some sort of fancy tasting room full of barrels and barrels of wine, and then went to the wine bars to chose the rest of our wines. After we got to taste various cheeses also made by Fairview. I think we really made a dent in the cheese samples, we went for like 4 or 5 rounds of cheese. My favorite was a Chalaka spiced goats cheese or of course the classic blue, although they also had a fantastic brie.
    After getting our fill of wine and cheese, we went back to the backpackers and napped in the sun, until we were interrupted with a phone call from our friend Christian. He had decided that he thinks our trip might be fun, and if it’s not too late he would like to join us. We weren’t that far away, and he had a car which made things easier, so as you might have guessed, he picked us up the next morning and the four of us headed East.
    We decided that Port Elizabeth might a little too ambitious of a drive for one day, and he had a friend from school with a farm outside the city, in a town called Cradock. We had no idea what to expect from this farm, but he spoke to his friend, Breddell, and his friends mother on the phone the night before, and they were excited to have us as guests. When we first started driving it was still dark out, but it was worth waking up that early to see not just one, but many sunrises.
    Since Cape Town is so mountainous, the sun would come up over one mountain, but would still be behind so many others, so as we drove through it was magestic series of pink sunrises over the rolling green mountains.
    Once out of Cape Town it was a very long drive through the Karoo, which means ‘land of thirst,’ And that’s exactly what it is, miles and miles (kilometers and kilometers) of dry, barren land, with the occasional pack of sheep or goats. We started to realize that it wouldn’t have been a good idea to drive alone as soon as we had to stop for gas. Everyone spoke Afrikaans, we would have immediately been targeted as American Tourists. Christians native tongue is Afrikaans, so everything went smoothly, but the three of us were already having communication troubles with the gas station attendants.

We got to the farm around 4, which was just enough time for a tour while it was still light out. We were kind of expecting a small, cute farm, with maybe a few animals. We realized we were wrong when there was a sign for the farm and the dirt driveway was longer than the street we live on in Cape Town. The place was enormous, and the house was closer to a palace. We were greeted by Mrs. Michau, three energetic small dogs, one of the daughters, and her friends who also happened to be American. We brought flowers for Mrs. Michau, and she welcomed us warmly to her home. It was hands-down the most beautiful house I have ever seen. The front yard leading up the stoop/patio had an adorable wading pool across from the tennis courts enclosed by ivy covered fences, and colorful and fragrant flower beds lined the walkway and patio. The patio had a set of very comfortable couches around a fireplace and a few tables for outdoor meals or just to hang out and relax. Inside the house was old and rustic, yet very well-kept and decorated elegantly. We were showed to our room, which faced the front of the house and a had a beautiful view of the gardens and mountains. The kitchen was very homey, with a huge old wooden table, that didn’t have chairs around it, so I can’t imagine it was used much. I understood why when I saw the dining room. It looked like something out of a movie. It was long and extended into a formal sitting room, that looked rarely used. There were shelf sort of china cabinets things along the walls with perfectly shined silver platters and serving dishes. I swear everything in the house was an antique. The bathrooms were also older looking, although very well-kept and clean, and had antique bathtubs and faucets. It was so elegant and beautiful I felt like I was in the presence of royalty. Christian, whose nickname is Bottel (Bottle), and Breddell gave us a tour of the farm, which was full of sheep and goats and an emu. The sheep were farmed for wool, and they had a barn full of piles of wool since the sheep had recently been sheered. The land was enormous, and there were also horses, which I think were on a different camp of property. Behind the house and barns were houses for all the families of the farm and house workers. Most of the families had been there for 15-20 years. Apparently they also used to have a springbok on the farm but it was killed by a lynx. We all went outside to the patio couches to enjoy homemade organic iced tea and homemade jerky, made from an animal hunted by one of the family members. We chatted and got to know each other while Mrs. Michau prepared dinner. Mr. Michau came out to say hi, the family doesn’t often speak English, and I think they felt awkward speaking English to each other. Occasionally, mid conversation, it would just switch to Afrikaans, almost without them realizing it. We would sort of just start talking to each other or zone out to the beautiful landscape. We had a late dinner, but it was well worth the wait. I think it was venison, although I’m not exactly sure what type of animal, I just know it was also hunted by the family. It was served with a lentil and rice type thing and a side salad and was very delicious. It was a formal dinner with all ten of us around the dining room table. Mrs. Michau was very motherly and as we discussed our plans with her she and her husband gave us many suggestions of where to go and whats not worth it, which was very helpful. After dinner we had a relaxing night swapping stories in the living room and went to sleep early so we could get to our next destination, East London, at a reasonable hour.
    In the morning we enjoyed real coffee on the patio in the sunshine while planning the route to East London. We had a traditional South African breakfast of pap, or mealy-meal, with milk, butter, and sugar. It’s a bit like oatmeal only made of corn. Kind of interesting to get used to but very delicious. We packed up, said our goodbyes, and got on the road around 10:30 with the Michau family waving goodbye in the background.
    Before heading to East London we stopped in Grahamstown which is a historical college town a little north of Port Elizabeth. It is home to Rhodes University and is a cute town full of old buildings and churches. We stopped to walk around, and like Stellenbosch it was a little quiet with the school being on vacation. We walked up to Rhodes University and walked around the campus, which Alyssa and Alicia said was similar to their home universities, Lehigh and Bates, respectively. There were fountains and gardens and was pretty small. After we found a small cafe to have a light lunch before hitting the road again.
    The drive to East London was beautiful, with vast sheep, cow and game farms with rolling mountains in the background. We made it East London mid-afternoon, and it took us a minute to find our backpackers. We had made reservations at a place called Santa Paloma Guest Farm. I had looked at all the backpackers in a book and the description seemed really interesting. Lucky for us, the description didn’t even compare to what we got. It was on a side street right off the highway, so we expected a small farm. We came to the gate and once inside we were immediately greeted by a pack of zebras right by the driveway.

We continued driving down the long dirt driveway and came to a few small houses surrounded by woods and a large field. There was only one car in the lot, so we parked and walked up to a young friendly girl who we learned was Nadia, one of the owners. She showed us to our room, which was the nicest room we have ever had at a hostel. It only had 4 beds, perfect for us, they weren’t bunk beds, and we had our own bathroom and shower. The front was a panel of windows looking out onto the yard. We settled in and while Alyssa and Alicia went for a run, Christian and I chatted with the owners, played with their puppy, Lucy, and took a dip in the pool. This was the beginning to my favorite night of the entire trip. While taking a dip in the infinity pool, sipping a Black Label, the sun was going down behind the mountains and a pack of zebras came right beside the pool to graze. Behind the zebras a pack of impala had been grazing since we had arrived, and the entire scene was magical. We tried to capture pictures, but they didn’t turn out good and pictures wouldn’t do it justice anyways. We relaxed by the pool and enjoyed the nature until the other girls got back from the run and we got ready for dinner. Nadia had prepared dinner for us, chicken with rice and vegetables, with ice cream for dessert. The family sat and ate with us on the deck, and we chatted about the farm. It turns out the parents bought the farm to fix up, retire to, and gave it as a business to their children (Nadia and her brother, Ruann). They showed us pictures of what it had been like, I think it was a cow farm, and it had been incredibly run down, with trenches in the cement floor where the cows had walked through in the milking room. They had turned that room into a living area, with couches and tables, and on the side was the tack for the 4 horses they had there. Connected was an enormous kitchen, which could be used by the visitors and was where Nadia had cooked our meal. Adjacent was a quaint room with a small bar surrounded by trophies of game that the father had killed. He displayed the head of the first of each species he had hunted, which didn’t bother me, although I can see how some people might find it haunting. Athough totally open to the stoop, the room was very cozy with a huge fireplace and a waterbuck hyde placed as a rug. The old 4 car garage was turned into the guest rooms, obviously with bathrooms added on, and the house was renovated and is where the parents resided.

    After dinner we sat around the fire, enjoyed sherry provided by Ruann, and chatted about everything from rugby and drinking to science and religion. (And no, I’m not kidding, thats actually what we discussed. It was a fabulous conversation). After the fire died down we retired to our peaceful room.

    In the morning we woke up early and went a walk around the trails of the reserve, with Lucy leading the way. We don’t know the pasts and ended up having to wade through a few rivers, but it was worth seeing wildebeast, more impala, zebras, and waterbuck. The wildebeast were huge. We then changed and went into town, to meet our friend Athi for breakfast. We picked her up from her house, which was enormous and beautiful. It was very modern, and seemed like it would be similar to house in California; it had a pool sort of in the center of the house, with everything opening up to the outside, and large spacious rooms. We just went to Wimpy for breakfast, which a popular chain breakfast restaurant in South Africa.

    From there we headed to Coffee Bay, which was about 4 hours North. It was a trecherous drive, although very beautiful, with potholes that were more like ditches. In order to dodge them we had to swerve all around the road. On top of that there were children playing chicken, random animals, and crazy minibus drivers. We decided that it should be a video game, we gave out points for dodging random things, subtracting points for hitting things (the only things we hit were potholes). It was also very interesting because the Wild Coast is very primitive. It wasn’t just that it was poor, it was under developed, like a completely different world. The main road that we were on was the only road, and there were no other cars. The homes were all circular and a light aqua or teal color, made of clay with straw roofs. There were no walkways leading up to the homes, and the ladies carried things on their heads as if by magic. Not even just small things, like long sticks, probably longer than they were tall, just like 10 of them somehow balanced on their head. The sheep and goats roaming around were marked with paint or dye to make them distinct to their owner. I’m not really sure if these people used money, it seemed more of a self-sustainable community.

    We were very afraid of getting a flat tire from one of the potholes. Not only would we probably be pretty useless at changing a tire (remind me to have my dad teach me that),  but I think if he stopped we could have possibly gotten everything we had with us stolen. There weren’t other cars and the area is known for being ruthless with crime.  Along the way we were following a car for a long period of time. There aren’t many side street (correction: there aren’t ANY side streets) and after seeing similar homes and landscape for a while, I dozed off to a nice slumber, I woke up about an hour later and within two minutes and minibus coming the other way crashed head-on with the car in front of us. The small sedan went flying in the air, landing upside-down on the side of the road, totally destroyed. The minibus was a bit damaged, the windshield was smashed as well as a front corner. The horn was blaring and the 20 odd occupants started exiting the van, a few bleeding, but all okay. We all kind of freaked out, unsure of what to do. We were in the middle of nowhere, we couldn’t stop, we would be bombarded by people asking for rides, food, or anything else. Somehow, there happened to be an ambulance nearby. We slowed as we maneuvared around the crash,  trying to see if there was any movement coming from inside the car. The driver of the minibus had run down to the car and we drove at a snails pace still freaking out until we heard the ambulance coming. Then we knew we had to leave, there would be no point in staying and it would just be dangerous. It was quite the wake up call, had we been ahead of that car it would have been us.  I didn’t nap for the rest of the trip.

    Anyways, on a lighter note, we arrived at coffee bay about two hours later.  We were staying in a place called Sugarloaf backpackers, and I’m not gonna lie, we were a bit sketched out when we first arrived. I guess we expected it to be a little more populated, but the town was right by the huts, and the backpackers was enclosed by chain-link fence. Christian seemed a bit tense, and we were just curious. It was definitely a bit sketchy from the outside,  but inside there were children running around and puppies, friendly staff, a welcoming fire,  fully stocked bar, and a beautiful view of the beach. After settling down we took a walk to the beach, which we had to cross a river to get to. On the way back the river broke one of my favourite flip-flops (Rest in peace) . But anyways, the beach was gorgeous. The water was warm and the waves crashed again the cliff up ahead. We walked along until we found a nice log to use as a bench, where stopped to chat and enjoy the moment. After about 20 minutes a young boy came up to us and started singing the National Anthem, only he missed the Afrikaans part, which was a bit awkward. It was obvious he wanted money, his clothes were torn and ill-fitting, and he was eyes Alicia’s purse the whole time. We weren’t about to give him money, so we tried everything to get him away. We were perfectly polite, told him he sang well, and after many awkward silences we finally just asked him to leave. This is especially where having a guy comes in handy.  He wouldn’t leave after being asked many times, and was still fixaed on Alicia’s purse. Christian stood up in an intimidating manner and said “John, it’s time you walk away,” and he ran away like a scared little puppy. We hated that that was what had to happen, but it did. It was also pretty epic and we were quoting that for a while.  The moment was kind of ruined and we headed back to the backpackers. On the way back we got asked twice if we wanted to buy dagga (marijuana) or mushrooms. We politely declined and decided we would just hang out in the backpackers for the night.  It was actually a very nice evening; the backpackers cooked a very delicious traditional meal, and we sat around the fire and chatted with people from all over.  There was a boy from Canada, that was a full-time student at UCT and was really good friends with my friend (small world), a few America study abroad students, some travellers from Norway, and a bunch of South Africans. One of the locals was friendly with the owner, and was allowed to sit around the fire with us. He was a Xhosa speaker, and his English was very spotty,  which made it very interesting. At first people seemed to be a little sketched out by him, and I heard someone saying that they thought he was tripping. I’m not sure if that was true or not but after a while I started to pay attention  to what he was saying, which was very hard to follow, but I understood after a bit, and realized the serious communication barrier. We had our legs dangled over the wall of the fire pit and there were sparks flying everywhere, and when they hit our legs it would burn. He was trying to tell people to watch out for that, and that Alicia was smart for wearing pants. Alicia thought he was saying she looked like a scuba diver. I understood where she was coming from, but I also felt bad that he was having such a hard time getting his point across. He was actually just trying to be nice and people thought he was on shrooms. He very well may have been, but what he was saying was totally normal. I’ll talk more about that in another post. I learned a lot culturally and that’s a separate topic.
    In the morning we woke up early to try to see Hole in the Wall before leaving, but unfortunately it started to rain and it would be impossible to make it there with his car in the rain. It was only about 15 kilometres away, but the road was so bad it took up to an hour in good weather. We left to try to get to Durban in time.

    It was an incredibly long drive, and we got stuck in roadwork for atleast 30 minutes. When there is roadwork on a highway there is literally no way around it, so they make the area a one way lane, and have the cars on one side wait while the others go. This wait can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes, this one was supposed to be around 30, and so we got out and stretched. The guys in a pickup a few cars ahead of us cracked a few beers. It wasn’t a bad idea, we were there for a very long time.
    We stopped for a seafood dinner in Port Shepstone and got delicious baked Hake at a restaurant right on the ocean. Unfortunately it was getting dark, and driving is very unsafe at night, so we decided to stay the night at a place called the Spot Backpackers. We pretty much passed out as soon as we got there, and it wasn’t the nicest place, although it was right on the ocean.
    We were only an hour from Durban, we got to enjoy the gorgeous drive there. We were between the coast and the mountains, and we knew Durban would be a winner. 

    We got there around 10, and were planning to stop for some breakfast and then go to a market before hitting the beach and boardwalk. We got to the place we had planned for breakfast and quickly realized it’s not where we wanted to be, it didn’t exactly seem safe or welcoming, so we skipped it and headed to the market, which was even worse. The city streets of Durban were dirty, with trash everywhere and probably twice as many homeless as Cape Town. We didn’t get out of the car as we drove past the run down market and decided we should just stick to the safe, touristy area of the boardwalk. It was a very good decision. The boardwalk was beautiful, it was called the Golden mile, and was 4 miles of beaches, pools, piers, bars, hotels, restaurants, and ice cream shops. We were pretty hungry, so after a few minutes of walking and absorbing the environment we went to a restaurant right on the boardwalk for a nice lunch. We all ordered cocktails and delicious meals. Unfortunately Christian was the only one who received his drink on time, and the three of ours didn’t come until after the meal was finished. We’re pretty sure he was just ignoring us because we are American, so we pulled the classic American move, and Alicia told them we weren’t paying for our drinks. It didn’t fully work but we got the price reduced to like half off. We then continued to go to walk the boardwalk, where we found beautiful sandcastles, a surf competition, and a nice beach where we could finally do some tanning. We all fell asleep on the beach and fortunately didn’t get sunburnt, although we were covered with black sand for the rest of the afternoon.

    We woke up a bit late, but still wanted to make it to UShaka marine world, where we could dive with sharks. It wasn’t the same as diving in the ocean, which I’ll be doing next weekend, but it was still pretty cool. Alyssa has already done it in the ocean and didn’t enjoy it, so she took pictures. It was interesting because we were in an aquarium, so we had an audience.
    We explored the aquarium after, it’s supposed to be one of the best aquariums in the world, and then headed to our backpackers to get settled in. The backpackers was huge. It was called Tekweni, and there had to have been atleast 10 rooms, ours slept 14, and it was fully booked for the night. We changed, had a few drinks at the bar, and went out to get dinner.   
   We were set on getting bunny chow, or bunnies as we call them, which is what Durban is known for. It’s essentially just a loaf of bread hollowed out with curry in the middle, with the bread that was removed placed on top. It sort of looks like a bunny’s tail, which is our theory behind the name. They came to be back in apartheid, when coloreds and blacks weren’t allowed in the same restaurants as whites, but they were still allowed to purchase the food so this was sort of a curry-to-go. They were great, although definitely the spiciest Indian food I’ve ever had. Christian wasn’t really keen on spicy food so we sort of felt bad.
    Afterwards we walked along the street and stopped in a few bars for drinks and chatted, enjoying the last night of our trip. We saw some Americans we had seen in Coffee Bay, and they joined us at a bar called Chill (it was a very chilled atmosphere).
    The next morning we got up early and headed to the airport where we said goodbye to Christian, since he was driving back through the Free State to see some friends, and got on the plane. It’s sad that it’s over, it was an amazing experience that I got to share with friends that I’m sure I’ll have for a lifetime. This will be a story I will tell my children’s children. Best week of my life. I knew the blog wouldn’t do it justice, thanks for reading anyways.


Oh and if you were just reading to find out what "die boer maak a plan" means, it's Afrikaans for "the farmer makes a plan", which was our theme. Hope you enjoyed reading, I'll be posting again soon to discuss some of the cultural discoveries.