What better way to celebrate the arrival of winter in the southern hemisphere than by touring the beautifully diverse Cape Peninsula during the mild month of June. To start your journey, head for the colorful display of ruby, golden and bright orange canopies in the leafy suburbs of Newlands and Bishopscourt. From Cape Town, follow the M3 south, take the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden exit and follow the winding road past lush residences to the main entrance of this oldest indigenous botanical garden in the world (founded 1913).
Here you can admire winter beauties such as the Transvaal Hard Pear and Mandela's Gold; visit Colonel Bird's Bath for a contemplative moment, and replenish yourself with a cup of Earl Grey and a muffin at one of the restaurants in the garden.
Leave this botanical paradise through the verdant forest stretching toward Constantia Nek, exit the circle on your left and head straight to the Constantia Wine Route, home to the stately Groot Constantia - the oldest wine estate in the Cape, granted to the first governor of the Cape Colony, Simon van der Stel, in 1652. Get amazing offers and tour packages with Delta Flights to Cape Peninsula.
Van der Stel being a man of great political stature and a dashing womanizer with an immense amount of charm (possibly acquired on his travels to the Bourgogne and Bordeaux regions in France?), it seems fitting that he named this grand estate after the apple of his eye - the daughter of one of the Dutch East India Company's Heeren XVII whom he had acquainted on his passage to the Cape in 1679. Legend has it that Groot Constantia's red wine was even savored by Napoleon Bonaparte while in exile on the island of St. Helena.
Turning your back on the world-acclaimed wine of Groot Constantia, head in the direction of Tokai (echoing a Hungarian wine region by the same name) with its haunted houses deep in the forest (urban legend has it that at midnight, one of the former Cape free burgers sons rides through the woods on a white stallion). At the end of Tokai Road, follow the signboards to Muizenberg and Fish Hoek. Take panoramic Boyes' Drive and witness the renaissance of the preferred holiday destination of the Victorian times, Muizenberg - today a year-round beach popular with surfers and Great White Sharks alike!
The drive will merge with the main road running through Kalk Bay, a traditional fishing village founded by shipwrecked Philippine sailors. This quaint town is alive with art and culture - stroll down the main road and visit the many bric-a-brac and trading stores, art galleries and retro cafés.
Cruise through Fish Hoek, the former halfway stopover en route from Simon's Town to Cape Town and a Calvinistic teetotal town until the mid-1980s when the mayor of the time - of Scottish origin - decided to introduce a nightcap to pubs and restaurants (liquor stores, however, are still non-existent.) The neighboring harbor town and South African naval station, Simon's Town, prides itself on having had the only Great Dane with a maritime rank in recorded history - Just Nuisance, as his mates used to call him, is remembered in the form of a statue on Jubilee Square, which provides beautiful views across South Africa's central naval station.
It is well-known for its uniformed seals and penguins; Simon's Town attracts many visitors with its penguin colony at Boulders beach. Watch the newly hatched African Penguins - commonly referred to as Jackass penguins - as they wobble their way through the Camphor bushes and over slippery boulders lining the coast here. Male and female are easily distinguishable - male penguins are black and white, female ones white and black. Know everything about DELTA CANCELLATION POLICY before booking a flight to Cape Peninsula.
A short journey later, passing through Chacma Baboon country (keep those yummy sandwiches to yourself), enter the Cape of Good Hope area of Table Mountain National Park. Here you'll find the only baboons in Africa to have taken to shellfish, and clever enough to scrape Kaolin from the soil whenever their tummies get sore from fizzy drinks and sweets grabbed from tourists (next time you visit, they might just be sporting hook, line and sinker...)
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