The Winelands

The day before Chris' 40th birthday the group piled unto the magic school bus and headed for a tour of South Africa's wine country.
Fabulous wine tastings awaited us. Cheers! (photo courtesy of David)
The drive was incredibly scenic
But before we got to drinking we had to start with some victuals. Reuben's in Franschhoek was THE perfect spot to load up on solids (granted lunch HAD to be accompanied with wine, we were in the winelands after all).

We first went to Allee Blue. Great service. Fine wines. Beautiful hostess. No pics.

Then we headed over to Glen Carlou. I loved the estate, but wasn't too impressed with the wines.

(the reason for the Cape Town get-together - Chris, and the coordinator extraordinaire - Dave. Aren't they just too adorable!)

From there we moved on to Kanonkop. The hostess was on the ball and was able to handle 8 drunken gay men without batting an eye. More power to her. And in Kanonkop they actually put the wine making process on display.








After a totally debauched day. A stroll through downtown Stellenbosch was just what we needed to be able to handle dinner.


Dinner was at the magnificent Tokara. The vistas from the restaurant were outstanding and the food superb. In all I most say the day was without doubt spectacular, of course I'm sure the company had something to do with it too.

Cheetah Park

Spier, in the heart of the Stellenbosch Winelands, has made land available to a group of hand-raised cheetahs in the care of the Cheetah Outreach Programme. It's a live and hands-on way to learn more about these incredible cats from a distance, or get up close and personal and even step inside the enclosure. Funnily enough, he cheetahs can also be booked for private functions.

The Cheetah Outreach assists the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in their efforts to ensure the survival of the free-ranging cheetah. This is done through education programmes that increase the awareness of the diminishing numbers of free-ranging cheetahs in the wild. Funds are raised for CCF to support their efforts in releasing trapped, wild cheetah and non-lethal predator control methods (i.e. placement of guard dogs in Namibian farmlands).

Cheetah Outreach was founded by Annie Beckhelling in January 1997 on a hectare of land donated by Spier. The education programme began with two cheetahs: Inca (6-year old male) whose role was to greet visitors at Spier and Shadow (1-year old male) who travelled to community events. At Spier, with an annual visitor-ship of 650,000 people, the cheetah ambassadors are able to greet more than 10% of the guests. By 1998 Shadow and his young nephew Nyana-Spier had already greeted in excess of 100,000 people.

These are my pics of this amazing experience:

Cheetah Lunch - Atkins would be proud

These creatures are truly majestic - the epitome of grace and power
Lazy bitches too - the sleep up to 18 hours a day

Circle of life - sure loves the bone

OMG! I'm petting a cheetah!!

Their purring is like an engine revving

Group pic with the Predator

Table Mountain

Cape Town sits in a valley surrounded by a small. yet beautiful mountain range. The center piece of this range is Table Mountain (some others include the 12 Apostles, and the Lion's Head).

To get up there you have to take a cable car. Unlike the small 6 seater in Gulmarg, Kashmir, this one held 60 and it rotated as you climbed, giving you a full panoramic view during the ride.

The vistas from the top of the mountain were majestic. And the strong winds and chilling cold actually added to the experience.

Good times were had. :-)

Chris working the queue

Way to the top

The cable car - kinda scary to think you are just being held by a wire

Valhalla...I mean the top station

Panorama

View of Robben Island

Bombay is -> that way->