Choose life, choose a job...

Tuesday 20th September

Volmoed Community, Hermanus, Western Cape

Today we said goodbye to the Cederberg hills and headed to the south coast.

En route, we stopped at Solms Delta vineyard, a community empowerment programme started by South African Mark Solms and British businessman Richard Astor.  Members of the local community whose lives were impacted by slavery and apartheid are helped to buy and manage a vineyard which is then used to produce Solms Delta wine, with the profits earning a living for many families.

They state their aims as being to ensure that future generations can choose a living based on preference and skills rather than being forced into one by fate or necessity.  Solms Delta is a true success story of Black Economic Empowerment and a model that could well be followed across the country.

Dassie

After lunch in nearby Franschoek, we drove over the Franschoek Pass, where the scenery of the whole world lies before you: first, the lush vineyards of Southern France, then looking down the valley into the Swiss Alps, heading over the Rocky Mountains into a desolate stony outcrop on the Western Isles and arriving into the rolling green hills of middle England.

We arrived in Hermanus, which claims to offer the best land-based whale watching on earth.  There were no whales to be seen, but the hundreds of dassies (rock hyrax) jumping about on the cliffs kept us amused.

Dassie

"For added adventure, take your partner to the top of a really steep cliff..."