This was my first trip to South Africa. I intended to see the Namaqualand flowers in blossom, but unfortunately they did not have enough rain there this year and there was only the occasional flower at the roadside. But anyway, the main objective was climbing which also meant that I did not see very much of the country, not even Cape Town. However, I did manage to squeeze one wine tasting in – on the winery that makes my favourite sundowner. So there was at least one standard tourist activity.
For climbing I visited the Rocklands in Cederberge. It is a fantastic landscape with amazing rock formations and the vegetation is as green as in Europe. The rock has a rough surface with very good grips, lovely to climb. It was quite a bit colder than in Namibia, generally good for climbing although one day we finished early because of a very cold wind. The other climbing area was Montagu, 200km east of Cape Town. There are hundreds of bolted routes of all grading which kept us busy for days.
