TALES OF SOUTH AFRICA

Cape Town is so breezily beautiful; so First World efficient; so gloriously easy to adapt to. The time difference is only two hours and they even drive on the left.Within hours of getting off the plane, you can be unpacked and feeling normal and ready to go out and explore. I was, anyway, when I went last January. And even the motorways that criss-cross the city and spider out into the surrounding green and lovely  suburbs and Western Cape beyond are spectacularly inviting. As soon as the hire car was delivered to our guesthouse near the Kirstenbosch Gardens (big, luxurious and with a pool – Cape Town accommodation being in a class of its own), I was off to investigate Vaughn Johnson's wine emporium at the V&A Waterfront complex – quite unbothered that I'd forgotten to buy a map.

 

"Ag, shame", as South Africans say. Getting there was easy enough. It took 15 minutes. Getting back took two hours. I took a wrong exit from the centre and went via a giant, bewildering detour into the countryside that led through several townships and a multiplicity of perfect motorways – all virtually empty, as it was a bank holiday – as I tried in vain and increasing panic to find a sign that directed me back to Cape Town. The road surfaces may be perfection here but the road signage is decidedly confusing. So be warned!

In the following days, though, once I'd corrected my mistake, I had a great time swooping around the city, music up, windows down. Breakfast in a suburban shopping street coffee shop; lunch amid the greenery of Constantia; drinks at sunset on the terrace of the Twelve Apostles hotel at Camp's Bay; "virry naaars", as South Africans like to say.

 

Not that you have to have a car to make the most of what is arguably the most agreeable city on the planet. You can have a really good, interesting holiday staying in the city and not going much further than the sandy beaches of Sea Point or the lovely Kirstenbosch Gardens, each ten minutes from the centre in different directions. There's plenty to do in the city – from shopping, sightseeing, visiting the museums, having tea at the old Mount Nelson hotel (a bargain at about £10 a head) and checking out the buzzy restaurants and bars (excellent at the Cape Grace hotel) and jazz clubs. And you can get around by local bus, tour bus and, at night, by taxi. The V&A, on reclaimed land just in front of the centre, is a lively scene, too. From here you can do the boat trip to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and the core of the ANC leaders were imprisoned. Today, it's as much a must-do as the cable-car trip up Table Mountain.

 

Still, it's a shame not to explore a little further afield because the Cape countryside is astonishing in its diversity. From the lush and verdant winelands of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschoek, an hour or so inland, to the empty beaches north of the city and the gale-swept mountains that lie south, at the very tip of Africa; from old-fashioned seaside towns such as Hermanus, from where you can watch the whale migration, to the great vistas of Garden Route across on the east coast, which you can see by luxury train, the range of activities seems endless.

 

Although this is not serious safari country – for that you need the northeastern part of South Africa – you can get a taste of the wild outdoors at Bushmans Kloof. A luxury eco-retreat in the remote and peaceful setting of the Cederberg Mountains on the edge of the Karoo desert, this deeply soothing spot is a three-hour trip from the city if you drive, and an exhilarating one-hour flight if you go by twin-engine plane. There are no predators here, just nice jolly animals such as the Cape zebra, so you can go out walking without fear. A three-hour hike before breakfast, here is a highly recommended experience, as is Stone Age Bushmen cave paintings that make this place unique. I loved the quality of the food and eating every meal in the open. ("You want to take a squiz?" South African waiters say as they proffer their menus) .